Lian Li PC-100 "The Hammer" Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Lian Li has been known for building sleek and sexy cases with simple aesthetics that make them a fit in almost any situation for many years now. Don't get me wrong, Lian Li has also had some designs for BTX and even designed cases to look like either a Hotel or a seashell, but in the realm of squared off cases, most of what Lian Li sells now is pretty straight forward designs, built from aluminum and deliver a very sleek and sexy finished product to grace your computing space. It just so happens that there is a new face on the design team, so new and intriguing designs are now rolling off the line at Lian Li.

Like just about any mid-tower chassis on the market, the design in simple - blow air through the front past the hard drives and into the main compartment of the PC. Once there it mixes with heated air from the coolers and usually is evacuated out of the back. At Lian Li, they thought, well what happens if we reverse the airflow of the case? While they were at it, not only did the airflow get reversed, but so does the interior layout. In this new chassis the installation is setup so that the rear I/O of the motherboard is now in the front of this chassis. I know it really must sound confusing, but as the review progresses, the design and layout is much easier to wrap your mind around.