Lian Li PC-V354 review
Testing
To test the Lian Li PC-V354 I mounted an old mATX system into the case. Before you start you have to remove both side panels (16 screws!), the interior is obviously not as roomy as larger cases so the installation is a little bit more complicated than with a regular mid-tower case. I found it easiest to first install the DVD burner because this cage can't be removed when the motherboard is already in place. The DVD burner is mounted with four regular screw, at first I thought the eject button of the front bezel wouldn't properly line up with the eject button but this didn't turn out to be a problem at all.
Next, I mounted a HDD into the middle cage and then I installed the motherboard on the motherboard spacers of the right side panel. Getting the motherboard into the case was a little harder than usual as it requires more precision, you have to line up the holes of the side panel while simultaneously making sure that the I/O panel of your motherboard properly slides into the motherboard shield.
I used a small reference cooler from Intel but as you can see on the picture below there's a lot of room for larger CPU coolers. Installing a decent cooler should be no problem but there may not be enough clearance to install some of the biggest CPU coolers. When the right side panel is installed you can install your add-on cards and the final step is to install the power supply. Graphics cards of up to 235mm fit without a problem but if you have a card of up to 350mm you need to remove the bottom HDD cage.
Mounting the power supply is no problem and there's even sufficient room for an oversized power supply. With this case it's best to use a power supply with modular cables, I installed the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 and it wasn't easy to hide all the unnecessary cables of this unit. Fans of cable management are left in the cold as the V354 doesn't offer a lot of room to guide and hide cables.
When everything is installed there's not a lot of working space left. For instance, it's not easy to plug in a SATA cable without sliding the PSU a bit out of the case or removing the lower HDD cage. I'm not going to list this as a negative though, the PC-V354 is about half the size of a mid-tower case so as a buyer you have to realize that no matter how well the case is designed, it will never be as comfortable to work with as a larger case. If you upgrade your computer on a monthly base the small size may bother you but otherwise the PC-V354 will really please you. The only thing that could be improved is the 5.25" cage, to access it you have to remove the right side panel but I'm not going to list this as a negative either because the optical disk drive is usually one of the least updated components in a PC.
The following shot reveals all of the V354's fancy lights. These type of fans look very cool but I'd like to see an easily accessible button that enables you to deactivate the light show, the blue LEDs may be annoying in some situations like when your PC is placed in your bedroom and you want to download a large file at night. The round power button is illuminated by a blue LED and the reset button has a red HDD activity LED.
The V354's three fans keep your hardware cool and the case is relatively quiet. At full speed the fans are almost inaudible and there's little vibrational noise thanks to the rubber grommets for the fans and HDDs and the rubber strip for the PSU.
Conclusion
The Lian Li Mini Q PC-V354 is a sleek Mini-ATX case that will not disappoint you if you're planning to build a compact gaming system or a HTPC with lots of storage capacity. Thanks to its aluminium construction it's very light and despite its compact size it offers almost as much expandability as a mid-tower case. The PC-V354 most definitely lives up to Lian Li's name, the case has an amazing build quality and stands out from the pack thanks to several ingenious design decisions. The only major drawback is its high price, e-tail prices for the black/silver editions are around $149.99 (150EUR) and the red model is listed for about $179.99 (160EUR). If the case was a bit more affordable I would award it with a 9.5/10 but due to its excessive price I've dropped the score by one point.
The Good Stuff
The Bad Stuff
I give the Lian Li Mini Q PC-V354 case a 8.5/10 and our Editor's Choice award.
Previous Page (5/6)Added: December 20th 2010
Product reviewed: Lian Li PC-V354
Reviewer: Thomas De Maesschalck
Score: 8.5/10
Page: 6/6
