Slashdot Mirror
Aluminum Server Case Review
Anonymous Coward writes: "Hi guys, Here is a review of the Lian Li PC626, which is a server case made entirely out of aluminium.
Unex from Belgium :)" Or aluminum, which is the only proper spelling, of course. Are these cases actually worth the premium price? I may be having heat problems (for the first time) with our latest PC purchase, so I'm suddenly more interested in cooling...
The best computer cases in the worlds IMO are available at www.coolermaster.com. They're so pretty. They have extra fans, alluminum body, and USB in the front, which is great for my gravis gamepad pro USBs. They're also extremely roomy and easy to work with. The trouble is finding a place that sells them, because the company doesn't sell them direct, and they have distributors in Japan and Europe, but not the US. They aren't all too expensive either. I personally reccomend the ATC-201 for anyone who needs a full tower and worries about heat. The fan in the top of the cast helps SO much.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
While aluminium is a metal with a silvery colour, aluminum is one with a silvery COLOR.
My biggest justification for the extra $$ spent to get the cases was this: I go through hardware like mad, but the one thing that will remain constant in my systems for the next few years is my case. It is an investment that will undoubtedly be in my top performance machine for years to come. If you can reccommend another purchase to fight hardware obsolescence as effectively, I'm all ears.
The English chemist Sir Humphry Davy who discovered the element derived the name from alumina, which was taken from the French tanning mineral "alum".
Sir Humphrey first called it alumium, then aluminum, and finally aluminium. Somehow the Americans ended up calling it by the intermediate name and it stuck.
It's a bastardization of the proper spelling. Or should that be bastardisation?
You can easily pay over $16,000 for a high end dual cpu Compaq Proliant server, $600 for a fabulous server case is not that bad. I've built three systems using the Lian Li PC-60 USB case and I've never been happier with any case. The newer model has an internal bracket that mounts five hard drives right behind two front mounted fans with dust filter and four front mounted USB ports for motherboards like the Asus A7A266 which has headers on the board for the four ports. It's an expensive case (now $159 from Directron.Com) but it's a joy to work with and it does keep the components cool.
Damn it, I was about to go onto page three in the review, and then this happened: /home/sites/site1/web/index.php on line 4
Could not connect to database!
Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Too many connections in
So does Slashdot ever warn sites that they're going to be posting a link to them?
RFC2119
I was wondering the same thing. If you made it out of steel or something that conducts heat better, then it would conduct some of the heat from inside the case to the outside. Or looked at another way, it would conduct some of the coolness from outside the case to the inside. Any thermo gurus care to elucidate?
Mine is one of the medium-high tower models. It's a really nice case, but yes, it was awfully overpriced. And mine didn't even come with a power supply - by the time you add the price of a premium power supply, it gets really spendy. However, I don't reget the purchase.
I got sick of all those garbage $50 cases made out of stamped metal with the razorblade sharp inside edges, cheaply riveted together.
The Lian Li case looks good (especially with Tux, Gnu, and Linux stickers on it!). More importantly, it fit my motherboard perfectly (a dual Slot 1 Tyan) and the drive cage at the bottom is PERFECT for a small RAID setup. I've got four 60 GB Maxtors stacked in there, and with the twin drive cooling fans right in front of them they don't even get warm to the touch. (I have a lot of MP3 and OGG files...) The cooling works well for the twin 800 Mhz CPUS as well.
The whole case comes apart with thumbscrews. You can pull out the power supply, the motherboard, all the drive cages... very quick and easy.
Best of all, even with all those fans it isn't too loud. The twin cooling fans on the front have a three-way switch that lets you adjust the speed (and noise) as appropriate for your cooling needs. I have mine at max speed, and I still have no trouble sleeping next to it.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
"HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
PC-76 server case
PC-70 full tower
PC-31 mini-tower
PC-60 midi-tower
"transister" was right in the first place. You see his sister is really his brother.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
They don't make anything, they just stick their name on things then charge inflated prices
Take for example their full tower case. The PC Power & Cooling full tower case is just a California PC full tower case with a different bezel on the front & an inflated price tag.
Its the same with every product they sell, for example their mid tower case is the same as one of the big OEMs (I forget which brand) with a different bezel & again an inflated price tag.
Their heatsinks & powersupplies are no different.
I remember when they used to sell a 275 watt 'Silencer' powersupply. It turns out it was just a generic 300 watt powersupply that was just de-rated to cope with the retro-actively fitted low speed so-called 'Silencer' fan (I think just a slow speed Adda fan).
The slashdot editor said...
"Or aluminum, which is the only proper spelling, of course"
Please, tell me, when did slashdot even give the slightest consideration to spelling? Does this means the editors will *gasp* spell check their witty comments, polls, and other writings? Oh please, tell me it ain't so!
Lawrence Lessig is my personal hero.
The use of spelling in this way goes back to the very founding of America. In early secret sessions of the Congress, it was decided to deliberately change certain spellings, at that time as an irritation to the British. The King's court in England would be plunged into a grammatical outrage when receiving a communication from the American colony, containing strategic abuses of the King's English. This prompted the King to send troops to whip the colonies into shape, which in turn inspired ordinary American colonists to rise up and throw off their oppressor's yoke.
This is why the "spelling bee" is such an important feature of America's education system. As any boy can tell you, "bee" is for "bomb". Indoctrinating young Americans to misspell is the secret weapon which America has used to devastating effect against its enemies, who are so flummoxed by the apparent illiteracy of their opponent that they forget to watch for incoming Tomahawks. Misspellings are behind some of the key events which have shaped our history. Next time you see a /. editor use "then" instead of "than", turn on your TV - the consequences are sure to follow swiftly.
Lian Li Website
Lian Li PC-70 aluminium full tower computer case
Lian Li PC-76 server case
Lian Li PC-60 computer case
Coolermaster ATC-201SX alloy case
Lian Li HDD Caddie Page
RH-620 Alloy HDD Caddie
RH-600 Alloy HDD Caddie
RH-29 Alloy HDD Caddie