Lian-Li Teases Slew of All-Metal, All-Black Pre-Production Cases at CES 2013

Lian-Li has a wide selection of computer chassis available supporting virtually every size of motherboard imaginable, but the company is about to release many more. We swung by Lian-Li’s booth at CES to see what’s coming down the pike, and we ended up ogling a whole fleet of all-metal, intriguing cases.

All of the cases we saw on display have the same basic look and design: they’re all black, with a brushed metal finish and gray metal interiors. That may sound somewhat dreary, but up close in person, it’s a striking and attractive look. Notably, there are no plastic parts on these cases; the Lian-Li brass reportedly won’t have it.


One of our favorites in the booth was the PC-V850, a sizable chassis whose sufficient if unexciting specs (E-ATX support, a smattering of 5.25- and 3.5-inch ports, eight PCI slots, and USB and audio ports) take a backseat to the overall design. The bottom has a set of wheels on the rear to make the case easier to move around when packed full of components, and there are two hinged walls of fans that help cool the CPU/GPU and drive bays but swing out of the way when you need to access in the internals.


There are plenty of ATX cases. The PC-K67 will support ATX motherboards and offer three 5.25-inch bays, five 3.5-inch bays (with support for four 2.5-inch drives), eight PCI slots, and three total stock fans. The top panel also has two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, along with audio jacks.


The PC-A18 has a virtually seamless top panel, with a sliding door that covers the I/O ports, as well as horizontal metal rails that serve as the motherboard tray and have channels in the back for cabling (which is a feature present in several Lian-Li cases).


 A more traditional-looking ATX gaming case is the PC-X3, which is loaded with fans (six total, stock) and an all-black interior for more a more muted and stealthy look.


There are a pair of ITX cases, the PC-Q27 and PC-Q28, both of which are simple and clean-looking boxes. Both have a single 5.25-inch drive bay, two USB 3.0 ports, and two PCI slots, and while the PC-Q27 has two each 3.5- and 2.5-inch drive bays, the PC-Q28 can six total drives of either 3.5- or 2.5-inches. The former comes with a single 120mm front fan, and the latter has two 140mm fans (as well as audio jacks).


Lian-Li also has a tiny chassis built specifically for Intel’s NUC platform, the PC-N1. Despite the dire lack of useful information on the placard, a look at the back of the case reveals two USB ports, two HDMI, and an Ethernet jack, as well as metal cleats on the bottom that ostensibly will allow users to mount the system just about anywhere.

Note well that these are all pre-production designs, so all of the details including designs are still in flux somewhat, but if the final models are reasonably close to what we’ve seen, Lian-Li has itself a gaggle of winners.