| Lian-Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Dragon Case |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |
| Written by Bruce Normann | |
| Tuesday, 25 May 2010 | |
Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Dragon Case ReviewThe Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R is a mid-size tower with a sleek black exterior, and some serious red highlights. That is until you get past the colossal dragon figure on the side panel and look through the clear window. Taking advantage of the full aluminum construction, Lian Li let the anodizing team loose on the interior with a bucket of red die, and the result is stunning. The case also comes fully outfitted with four red LED fans, two 120mm front and back, and two 140mm on top that enhance the red theme of the interior. Lian Li has never been shy about dressing up its signature products. They've produced some of the most original and striking PC gaming cases that I can remember. Unlike the wild show cars that are never meant to turn a wheel, these chassis get pushed right into the mainstream retail channels. Lucky us! Benchmark Reviews is pleased to review this special AMD edition of the Lian Li PC-P50 series. Special attention has been focused on the tool-free features of the case, including an impressive PSU clamp that will hold the largest units much more securely than the usual four small screws on the back panel. The slick expansion card clamps are not only tool-free, they are artfully designed, as well. The HDD cage and removable drive trays have a flexible mounting arrangement that allows the case to easily accept the largest graphics cards on the market. Dual 140mm fans on the top surface effectively extract hot air from inside the case, aided by the rear fan, which is also an exhaust. The case is lightweight, at 6.6 kg, and would be suitable for transport to LAN parties, even without a handle to make it easy to carry.
Many of the features of the PC-P50R aid in getting a full gaming system built quickly, or reconfigured with different components in a short amount of time. The cable management is simple, yet effective. The drive cage is easily removed from the front of the case, as are all nine drive bay covers, all without tools. The drive cage can also be slid forward without removing it completely, so you can move it out of the way without disconnecting any of the drives. This provides unparalleled access to an area of the case where most of the system cables pass through, which is usually one of the choke points in component installation. Enough about what I think for now, let's take a look at the actual features and specifications, direct from Lian Li. Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Features
Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Specifications
About the company: Lian LiLian Li Industrial Co., LTD was founded in 1983. We are the one of the largest and most reputable manufacturer of aluminum PC case in Taiwan. With over twenty years of experience in the computer products field, our dedicated team of engineers, production specialists and administrative staff provide the finest quality accessories available on the market. In 1993, Lian-Li Introduced the new lines of computer hardware, including bracket (for case & interfaces), Mobile rack (for H.D.D.), mounting kit (for FDD & HDD), aluminum PC cases, IPC, external cases, server cases and more. We also provide OEM & ODM services, you are assured of designs that will meet your exact specifications, and innovative ideas in manufacturing that will give your products an essential market edge. Our outstanding quality has earned us ISO 9001 certification for all of our products. In addition, we back up our quality assurance with a two-year guarantee on most of our products. R&D is one of the reasons why Lian Li is able to offer quality products to the market. Whether it is for OEM or ODM projects, our experienced mechanical and electrical engineers are capable of providing our customers with the best solutions in product design. Closer Look: ExteriorOne look at this side of the Lian Li PC-P50R and all most people can say is "Wow!" Gradually, they begin to figure out that it references AMD's Dragon platform, though in a completely different way than AMD does, and their expression changes. Instead of just amazement, they begin to appreciate the unique design on its own merits. I'm not sure exactly which school of art it comes from, but it could only be from the part of the world where Manga literature is such a dominant art form.
The front of the PC-P50R presents a more restrained, classical look, compared to the wild side panel. Nine 5.25" sized drive bay covers take up the majority of the real estate, with red aluminum trim running the full length on either side. All this is surrounded by a brush finished black aluminum frame. The outer frame is easily removed, providing access to the drive bay covers, and the ability to load and unload optical drives and the HDD cage, as well. We'll take a more detailed look at this later. Each of the drive bay covers is perforated and has a mesh filter located behind the front surface. Most of the airflow into the case enters through the front panel. There are small vents on the back of the case and louvers below the PSU, but they are minor contributors to the overall airflow.
The right hand side panel is simple and unadorned. Its main purpose is to provide access to the back side of the motherboard tray when removed and to look nice when it's in place. Like every piece of metalwork on this case, it is perfectly finished and fits precisely.
The rear of the case shows off the red and black color scheme better than any other view, I think. It also offers a preview of the finely detailed craftsmanship that is found on the interior of the case. There are eight expansion slot locations, two pass-thru holes with grommets for liquid cooling lines, one 120mm exhaust fan, with a wire cage finger guard, and standard openings for the PSU and motherboard I/O panel. There's nothing unusual about the elements on the rear panel, their locations, design, or quantity, they're just executed better than the majority of examples on the market. Ever hear the phrase, "Me, But Better"? If you haven't, ask your girlfriend, she knows...
The top surface of the Lian Li PC-P50R is primarily taken up with the grille for the two 140mm fans, serving to exhaust heated air from the case. Just like the front, the top panel is easily removed, for cleaning or access to the fans. The top-mounted fans both run at 1000 RPM and have four bright red LEDs integrated into their clear frame. The electrical connection to the LEDs is combined with the fan connection, so it isn't possible to turn the LEDs on or off independently. This is true for all the case fans, and it's a bright little box when they're all lit up. Having the lights controlled separately introduces a lot of additional wiring and increases the difficulty of good cable management, so I'm happy with the trade-off here.
The fans themselves are mounted directly to the case, and remain in place when the top panel is removed. This is much more convenient that having them mounted to the removable panel. They are mounted with rubber grommets for vibration isolation; all the case fans are mounted in this way. It's entirely possible that someone could modify the case to install a top-mounted radiator here, but the chassis is not designed with standard mounting points for a water cooling setup. Most radiators are based on 120mm fan dimensions, and there are only mounting locations supplied for the two 140mm fans.
We've seen all the major overall features now, let's focus in on a few of the exterior details in the next section. Detailed Exterior FeaturesOne of the more obvious features of the Lian Li PC-P50R is the side window. It's a bit of a litmus test, as to whether you like it or not, but the details that went into creating it are impressive. The laser cutting of the aluminum is paired with laser marking on the acrylic window to create an interesting 3-D effect. My only concern about this side panel is the lack of ventilation, especially for cooling the video card. We'll investigate that more closely in our testing section, but I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the results. The layout of the window hides the areas of the installation where most of the cables will be, and highlights the GPU and PSU sections. The CPU area is partially obscured, which is a shame, since the visual design is geared towards AMD, and most of us like to show off our CPU coolers.
The control panel is pretty basic; a pair of USB ports, Audio I/O and the Reset and Power buttons. The power button is illuminated in a way that seems impossible if you view it in the off condition. It's an interesting trick, lighting up a button that has a seemingly opaque, silver finish. It would have been better to get the power button illuminated in red, instead of blue, as it stands out like a sore thumb against the red LED lighting of the four fans.
The rear panel looks pretty standard, but there are a few details to mention. All the expansion card slot covers are well ventilated and are nicely finished in black, of course. The slot covers and I/O panel are inset a bit; looking at it another way, the mounting areas for the PSU and rear fan are pushed out further. One thing that may look a bit out of place is the "old fashioned" wire fan guard, most modern cases feature a hex grid for exhaust grills. Well, in this case, the old beats the new. Not only does the wire guard offer less airflow restriction, it's also a nice black accent piece. Now I just need to figure out a way to turn my I/O shield black, as well.
Swinging around to the bottom of the case, here's a close-up of the rear corner, showing one of the cushioned feet and the locking tabs for the intake filter for the PSU cooling air. It's relatively easy to latch and unlatch if you have case on its side, but difficult to do if the case is standing upright. I applaud the fact that you don't have to open the side panel to access the filter, but I think I would have preferred a slider arrangement. Maybe I need to move my case aside more often, and vacuum underneath it, but if I can just slide the filter out and clean it without disturbing the case, I'm more likely to do it on a regular basis.
The front of the case looks a bit different once you take away the outer trim. Here you can see that the drive bay covers are held in place by the main chassis, rather than the front fascia. They are easily removed and replaced, and I've detached the bottom four covers to expose the front fan, which is attached to the drive cage. The cage can be removed or installed from either the front, or the back. Once the case is populated with other hardware, it's much easier to get the cage in and out the front. The default location for the three-drive cage assembly is in the bottom position, as it is shown here. Alternately, it can be moved up by three slots to change the airflow pattern or put the hard drives in a better location. If you have a long video card, especially one with the power connections exiting the back, the ability to relocate the drive cage is a very useful feature.
From the exterior, there is no doubt that this is a stylish and well built case. It may not look like the first choice for someone putting together a serious gaming system, but you might be surprised. The exterior only tells half the story, however. Anyone looking at high end cases expects the internals to offer some features and benefits as well. Let's see what the Armorsuit PC-P50R has waiting for us behind the dragon. Closer Look: InteriorThe first thing you notice, once the dragon is removed, is RED. The entire interior is finished in red anodizing. It's not like you aren't expecting it, the clues are all there, but it's actually a bit overwhelming the first time you experience it. When you look at the image below, there is a slight color shift as you go from the rear of the case, on the left, to the front of the case. The left hand side is more pure red, and it gets progressively more purple to the right. This is strictly an artifact of the lighting and my photography, and not indicative of the case itself. The actual color is quite consistent, and more like burgundy than a pure red. Once we get to build notes, you'll see what I mean, when I install an outrageous fire-engine-red PCP&C PSU and a red-themed Radeon video card from ATI.
Next, let's look at the bottom of the case, where the PSU sits on two raised rails permanently attached to the bottom plate. The top of these rails is covered with fairly dense foam, which reduces vibration and prevents scratched to the finish of your PSU. The rails put the bottom of the PSU about 12mm (0.5") off the bottom surface of the case and allow plenty of space for airflow, and clearance for a fan grill on the PSU, if there is one. Many cases have vents in this location, but the Lian Li PC-P50R is the only one I know of that has louvers. What's the difference? Louvers create an air path that does not have a line-of-sight path to the outside, which reduces the likelihood of starting your house on fire if your PSU explodes. It all sounds a bit dramatic, but at least someone's thinking of your best interests.
The front of the case houses all the drive bays, both internal and external. This image of the lower section shows that, minus the drive cage, it is a very clean, open and uncluttered space. On my first build attempt I ended up stuffing all the unused PSU cables here, and relocating the drive cage to the middle position. We'll see how well that works from an airflow perspective when we do thermal testing. I worried that I might not get enough fresh air to the video card, especially since I've had good results lately with cases that have side panel fans feeding cool air right into the heart of graphics card territory.
The upper drive bays are designed specifically to accept 5.25" size drives, typically Optical Disk Drives (ODD). The thin, rectangular brackets on the outside are the requisite tool-less mounting mechanism. They unlatch and swing out of the way when removing or inserting a drive into the bay. When locked in place, two pins mate with the mounting holes on the side of the ODD to secure it, and a thin rubber pad on the swing arm presses the drive snugly in place and eliminates rattling. There are also screw holes on both sides which can be used by the braces-and-suspenders crowd. There is plenty of space above the top drive bay to pass the front panel I/O, USB and Audio cables through, and there is a convenient portal located there to route them along the backside, if desired. The supplied cables are long enough to make it to the far corner of an ATX-sized motherboard, even when run behind the motherboard tray.
The right side of the case holds few surprises, but it's still pretty to look at. It's a little easier to see the various access holes on the motherboard tray in this view. I used all four of the large ones during my build, and at some point I know I would end up using the largest one directly behind the CPU, to swap out CPU coolers. There is about 14mm of space behind the motherboard tray for cable routing and storage. There is a vertical stiffening rib along the full height of the mobo tray though, that limits the space to 4mm for cable that have to pass between the front and rear sections of the case. Fortunately, very few cables need to traverse that area; most start and terminate in the same section, or can use one of the access holes to bypass the offending rib. It's not an issue in the lower portion of the case, below the motherboard. 
The rear panel on the interior is a whole lot more interesting than the exterior view. Two things really stand out to me here, the expansion card clamps and the fan guard. The clamps are a very slick design, and they look fabulous. There is no way around the fact that these are the best looking and best made clamps I have ever seen in a PC chassis. I'll give you a better look later, but this is how they look as part of the whole. The red anodized aluminum fan guard is also a bespoke item that combines good looks with efficiency. They could have used the same black wire-frame item that is on the exterior, but this custom made part speaks volumes about Lian Li. They don't mind showing off the fact that they have arguably the best metalworking talent in the business. Talk is cheap, I like their approach better.
There is one final item to take note of in the image above, and that's the cutout in the motherboard tray for the ATX 12V cable. It's tucked up pretty high, but it has to be, to clear the motherboard. Let's continue looking in the next section, at some of the detailed features on the inside of the PC-P50R from Lian Li. Detailed Interior FeaturesThe Lian Li PC-P50R is a true mid-size case, and is not an outsized tweener. As such, it relies on some design features to make it easier to work on during the build process. One of those is the removable drive cage. It's easy enough to remove and replace (R&R for the car guys...) completely, that it becomes the preferred protocol for installing hard drives. Physically, it can slide either out the front of the case, or out the back. The latter is not really feasible once you have other components installed inside the case. It's plain to see here how the front intake fan is mounted to the drive cage, as well. All the fans are clear and are fitted with Red LEDs in each corner. This is another upgrade from the base PC-P50 case.
Speaking of fans, here is how the two 140mm exhaust fans on the top of the case look like from the interior. There are no finger guards here, and pretty much zero obstruction to airflow. The cable arrangement for both fans is well thought out and offers a lot of flexibility for getting the fans either hooked up to the fan headers on the motherboard or to 12V Molex connections direct from the PSU. There are plenty of 4-pin Molex adapter cables included, some preinstalled and another spare one in the accessory kit.
Here's a better view of those expansion card clamps we looked at earlier. As promised, they are simple to operate, very secure once snapped into place and gorgeous to look at. The only downside I experienced was that some of the clamps would not stay in the OPEN position. This required one extra hand while installing cards, and two extra hands if you are installing a dual slot card. They are definitely secure once they are locked down, with an over-center linkage that snaps the lever into place in the CLOSED position. When I first saw these, I actually thought they were overkill, as I am reasonably happy just using screws. The more I used them though, the more I appreciated their simplicity, reliability, and utility.
Folks who have jumped on the SSD bandwagon are well taken care of, as all of the 3.5" drive trays are designed to accept 2.5" drives. Hindsight is always 20-20, but Lian Li has chosen the simplest and most direct method of securing the smaller drives; just provide the additional mounting holes for them on the drive tray. I've done this on a DIY basis to some other drive trays I own, so I quickly warmed to the idea. 3.5" drives can be installed with the tool-less clamp that just snaps into place, and there are also a couple of extra screw holes if you really want to keep the drive from moving. To be fair, there are some undersize and oversized 3.5" drives out there, so the extra screw holes are good insurance in case the clamp doesn't fit.
Each of the front drive bat covers has a removable, washable air filter in it. The retaining frame snaps in and out easily, yet securely. The filter material itself is more of a stiff nylon mesh than a thin foam insert. Foam holds more dirt before becoming clogged, because of its depth, but the stiff mesh is ten times easier to handle when removing, cleaning, and replacing. Once again; if you make it easier to clean the filters, I'm more likely to do it on a regular basis.
One of the other tool-less features of the PC-P50R is the clamp for the power supply. There are mounting holes on the back surface of the case for the usual four screws, that will accommodate right side up and upside down mounting of standard PSUs, but the clamp supplied by Lian Li is more secure and also more universal. I've had difficulties in the past with power supplies that had various parts mounted on the back surface that strayed outside the area defined by the cutout on the chassis. If you're stuck using mounting screws, which is true for at least 90% of all cases, it can cause trouble. I've actually cut away part of the mounting flanges on these parts and/or cut away the case in order to make everything fit properly. None of that will ever be an issue with this case, because the metal case of the PSU doesn't have to be pushed tight up against the inner surface of the PC chassis during installation.
Now that we've thoroughly toured both the inside and outside of the Lian Li PC-P50R, there's only one thing left to do, start building a system with it. I've chosen some typical gaming components to see both how they fit and how the cooling system performs. Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Build NotesThe rubber meets the road when you start putting all your carefully chosen components into the case that was chosen with equal care. Almost every other PC component interacts with the case in some way, so it's not unusual for people to spend even more time researching and deciding on which gaming chassis to buy. In my experience, people also tend to keep their cases and monitors longer than any other PC component, so the extra effort is worth it. Here's what my first full build looks like. It's pretty straightforward: air cooling, single GPU and one SSD. I'm getting pretty tired of always having to find a place to hide all the unused PSU cables, but I figure most people don't have modular power supplies. In this instance, I raised the HDD cage up to the middle position, leaving a huge space below it to store all the cables. I had to run the 8-pin 12V ATX power cable on the top side of the motherboard due to its length, so I was unable to take advantage of the cutout above the mobo that is specifically designed for this cable. Everything else fit right into place, and I was able to minimize the impact to airflow, which is always my number one goal in cable management. You can also see here the downside to color as a form of branding. Those three different shades of red make a pretty hideous color combination, IMHO
One of the key specs for any gaming chassis is the maximum length of video card that it can accommodate. Seeing as this is an AMD "Special" case, I can answer the question with two numbers, 5870 and 5970. Depending on where the HDD cage is located, the PC-P50R can take an HD 5970 in stride. In most instances, the HDD cage will have to be located in the lower position, and the HD 5970 will then be able to extend into the middle area of the drive tower without interfering. You can see in the picture below that an HD 5870 can fit anywhere, regardless of where the drive cage is located. This is true of the reference design cards, and also for the newer cards that are shorter, but have the PCIe power connections out the back of the card. I tested both types, and they both fit about the same.
Another major concern for gamers and PC enthusiasts is how well the case and its cooling system will work with their CPU cooler. There is every reason to believe that the PC-P50R will work well with your favorite CPU cooler as long as it can be set up in one of two ways. Because the exhaust fans are on the top and upper rear of the case, the CPU cooler fan needs to either push air up towards the top of the case, or push air back towards the rear of the case. This is a pretty common arrangement these days and most cooler/motherboard/DRAM/NB combinations will work in one of these two arrangements. For my component mix, because I have insanely tall DIMMs, I have to mount the CPU cooler fan on the bottom of the heat sink, blowing upwards. If I had a smaller CPU cooler, which means almost any other cooler.... I could also mount push-pull fans on it with this case.
Cable management was pretty simple, with the cutouts in the motherboard tray all in the most appropriate locations. There was plenty of space between the motherboard tray and the side panel to run any cable I wanted to, including the main 24 pin ATX power cable. I certainly could have made it look a lot better. For instance I got lazy when routing the SATA signal cable for the ODD and the fan cable for the front top-mount fan, but neither of these will have any impact on airflow, so I saved a few wire ties for another day. The thing that trips up a lot of cases is having enough space for SATA and Molex HDD power connectors to lie out in the open, as they are all daisy chained and sometimes you need to leave one or two in the clear. I wish Lian Li had included some cable tie attachment points on the back surface here; it's easy to punch a few straps into the tray.
All in all, there weren't really any issues with the build, which is a good thing. It fits in with one of the stated goals for this case, which was to make the build process quicker and easier. The aim was for people preparing machines for a LAN party, or for quick reconfigures during the event. I'm just happy if I never have to remove half the things I just installed, just to get the next thing into place. Let's plug it in and run some thermal benchmarks, to see how well the cooling system works. I've got some tough competition lined up. Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Testing & ResultsTesting the cooling performance of a case is not that difficult, but it is time consuming. It takes a long time for component temperatures to reach steady state. They'll get to within a degree or two within 10 minutes, but they continue to climb, almost imperceptibly, for 3-4 times that long. It's not that any one component is getting that much hotter; it's the combined effect of all the components feeding off one another that causes the slow rise to the final maximum temperature. For the load tests, I used a mix of applications that I've used for benchmarking in the past and I'm familiar with how they stress individual components. No one application gives the maximum load for all components, so the load temps reported here are the maximum each piece of hardware reached during the testing. For comparison, I have results from the exact same hardware, installed in a CM Storm Sniper Black Edition case. Both cases were tested with the same hardware and software configuration. Cable management was optimized for each case, based on the internal layout and features available. Note for those looking back in the archives: I used a different set of hardware the first time I tested the SilverStone FT01BW, so the results from that test are not comparable. Test System
Benchmark Applications
Test Support Products
ResultsI've had several cases in house recently with side panel fans installed, or the capability to install them. In every case, the side fan improved the cooling of the video card, so I was a little concerned that the Lian Li PC-P50R would be at a disadvantage. The actual test results show that either I worry too much, or I was over thinking this one. All temperatures are reported as measured, in degrees Celsius, and the ambient temperature for all tests was 26C. (We were having a Spring heat wave on the day I tested.) I did both sets of tests on the same day, swapping the hardware from one case to the other after the first set of tests was done. Let's look at the results:
The idle results for the Lian Li PC-P50R are about 2 degrees centigrade hotter than the CM Storm Sniper BE for the Northbridge and the GPU. This is really good performance on the part of the Lian Li case, given the 100+ CFM of ambient air flowing into the Sniper case from the 200mm side fan blowing at its 100% setting. Notice the excellent performance of the CPU cooler; it's keeping the CPU just 3 degrees over ambient, at idle.
The load results are really excellent, and I had to run the test several times to convince myself that the smaller Lian Li case, with only one 120mm intake fan was really performing this well. The GPU results are much better than I ever imagined I would see without airflow directly in from the side, near the video card cooler. The twin 140mm fans on top apparently are doing a good job pulling in fresh air through the various vents in the case below. If there is a downside, it is noise. The smaller fans produce more of it as they spin up to higher RPMs, trying to push as much air as their larger counterparts. None of the included fans is really what I would call high speed; the two 120mm fans in the front and rear spin at 1200 and 1500 RPM, respectively. The two 140mm fans on top only go around at 1000 RPM, which is lower than many of the 140mm case fans on the market. I think it's probably the lack of obstructions more than anything else; there's very little to impede the airflow and the same goes for the noise from the fan blades. Some of the noise is also coming from the CPU cooler and video card, I can't pin all the blame on the case fans. Well, I hope I learned my lesson this time. I had imagined that the PC-P50R would be an average, run-of-the-mill performer for cooling, based on its unassuming complement of fans and solid side panels. It just goes to show the value of critical testing, over the guesses and conjecture that can cause us to make up our mind about a product before giving it a fair chance. Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R Final ThoughtsI wonder who buys Lian Li cases, for the most part. I'm sure Newegg could tell us; although they might not have the detailed demographic info I'm curious about. I think of them as a luxury brand, but I also wonder if that's really true. Certainly, many of their products have a luxurious appearance, and a classic design ethos that's associated with "old money". Not a bad market niche, even if it is a small one. Still, I scratch my head trying to think of the last nobleman that assembled a PC. Maybe Prince Harry is a gamer....you never know. But, I never, ever saw a PC displayed in the society pages of Town & Country or the British equivalent, Tatler. If they did feature one, I can only think of a couple chassis manufacturers that could pull it off, and Lian Li is one of them. Style and Fashion are two different things, though, and they don't always coexist. The PC-P50R is a fashion statement, meant to showcase the AMD brand, and it just happens to be produced by a company known for their stylish products. They've managed to create a mixture of the two in this instance, which is not a very common occurrence. Most attempts are substantially one or the other with just a sprinkle of duality. Think of the Lincoln Cartier Edition Town Car; it's 99.9% Town Car and 0.1% Cartier, not a real mixture of both. That's not true here; Lian Li has managed to meld the two concepts into one coherent product.
I once heard a Quality guru pronounce that "Quality is free!" (Management Gurus always capitalize the terms they are lionizing...) He was right, if you define quality as getting exactly what was designed into a product as the end result. Nothing more, nothing less, just consistent production of precisely what the design documents call for. By that standard, a Yugo could be the highest quality car produced in the entire world. I doubt that it ever was, but the possibility exists if you define quality as we did above. For most of us, when we think of a quality product the name Mercedes-Benz is more likely to come to mind. So, the term Quality has more than one meaning. When I talk about the high quality of the Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R, one reason is because of the consistent finishes on all of the metal parts. Not just "close enough", but dead on. Aluminum anodizing is actually a tough process to get perfectly consistent. There are usually minor variations from batch to batch, day to day, and week to week; either in the color, surface roughness, or the reflectivity of the surface. The quality is also obvious when I disassemble and reassemble sections of the case, and all the parts fit precisely, not tightly. They glide together with practiced ease and with very little play between them. Another example is hidden in the fact that there aren't rubber grommets for all the various openings in the chassis meant to pass cables through. On first thought, it might look like they're trying to save a few pennies, or maybe they just didn't think it mattered. The reality is, the edges inside the chassis are so well finished, there aren't any sharp edges left to harm the cables. I hate to make this section sound like a love-fest for Lian Li, because I need to remain objective and judge this product in comparison to its true competition. Depending on your preferences, anyone is likely to go gaga over a Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, or a Maserati. The problem is, very few of us can afford one, and comparing any of them to lower-priced vehicles is not a legitimate measurement. When I look at what separates Lian Li cases apart from their similarly-priced competition, I always come back the basics: their precision metalwork and the absolute perfection of their metal finishing processes. Even in the top echelon of PC chassis manufacturers, they still stand out in this area. My only complaint is that it's almost too nice to use. Like a bright, shiny, new Snap-On wrench, I don't want to put the first scratch in it. When I eventually do, I know it will be my fault, not the tool's. That's the burden that comes along with the joy of owning the very best. Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P50R ConclusionPerformance in a PC gaming or enthusiast chassis is mostly about cooling, and the noise that usually occurs to achieve it. The Lian Li PC-P50R really surprised me with its cooling capability. I never would have guessed that, with a full load of Crysis on the GPU and CPU, it would run cooler than another capable gaming case that had three 200mm fans running at 100%. The larger fans on the other case were quieter, but not silent. Overall, the sound from the case fans on the PC-P50R was about equal to that generated by the installed CPU cooler and video card. The extra noise is not a deal breaker for me, but without any built-in speed controls, you will notice it. There is a lot of open area for air to pass through on this chassis, and most of these areas have filters built in, which are easy to access and remove for cleaning. The appearance of this special AMD version of the PC-P50 is fantastic, IMHO. I love the effect of the red anodizing on the interior, and Lian Li has taken full advantage of this lightweight material to make a stunning fashion statement. The dragon motif on the windowed side panel is whimsical, rather than fearful, and totally unique to this product. The full red lighting treatment via four very bright red LED fans adds back a bit of menace to the overall look once the system is fired up. The only possible negative I need to mention is the blue backlighting of the power switch, it just doesn't fit in very well among all the other red lighting accents. Construction has always been a strong suit at Lian Li and the Armorsuit PC-P50R is no exception. There might be one or two equals in the PC chassis business, but there are none better. Some may take exception with the rigidity and/or ruggedness of this case, comparing it to prior Lian Li efforts, but low weight was a design priority. You have to accept that a 6.6 kg mid tower case isn't going to have the same rock-solid feel as an 8 kg case. It wasn't flimsy, by any stretch of the imagination, but you can tell the difference. Just to put it in perspective, the last gaming case I reviewed was steel, and it weighed 10.6 kg. I appreciate the lightness! Functionality is also a strong suit for this Lian Li chassis. The flexible mounting of the combined front fan mount and HDD cage means this is one of the few cases that will easily handle an HD 5970 video card. The case also accepts oversized power supplies and holds them in place firmly with a wide toggle clamp and raised support rails. The expansion card clamps are a marvel of design and execution. Easy to use and very secure once locked in place, they are one of the highlights of this, and other recent Lian Li cases. Cable management is good for a case this size, and there is just enough room behind the motherboard tray to run or store cables. I would have liked some additional tie down points on the back surface, but I made do. The tool-less mounting for all of the drives is simple and effective, with vibration dampening features, and all three HDD trays have mounting holes for 2.5" drives. As of late May in 2010, Newegg is selling the LIAN LI ARMORSUIT PC-P50R Red Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $199.99. There is really very little competition for this case, as the design is unique, but for a full aluminum case with this feature set, the price is competitive. Lian Li does offer two other versions: a full black model with blue LED fans and a basic side window, and a simpler one without a side window, a clear anodized interior, and basic black fans. This one sells for $50 less, if you like the basic design, but don't want the high fashion model. For me, I like the red interior and the uniqueness of the side window treatment. It's the closest thing to a full custom case-mod version that's available in the normal retail channel.
It should be obvious that I think this is a very nice case. It may not be everybody's idea of an attractive chassis, but I like it and that's all that matters. It looks great, performs better than I expected, is manufactured to a very high standard, and can handle just about any gaming components I can think of, including that extra-long 5970 video card. The cost is not trivial, but the combination of looks, performance, construction, and functionality is hard to beat. Pros:
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Comments
I admit the drive can wiggle a tiny bit when the OP Side screws are not used, but that's just cosmetic. The drive isn't going anywhere.
BTW, what drive wereyou installing that neede to use the rear set of pins?
Having built numerous computers over the years, including about 40 Lian Li's for various clients, I would offer the following comments.
1) I have never, ever cut myself (or a wire) on a Lian Li - all the likely competitors should hang their heads in shame on this one. Blood sacrifices to the machine god are wearisome after a few hundred occasions.
2) Everything fits well - I have recently built 3 PC50 machines and their snap in 5.25 drives work well. Of course, showing my age here I guess, I still use the screws as well.
3) Using a gigabyte UD-7 motherboard (inbuilt passive air cooling), two gigabyte silent cell 5770 graphic cards and a Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler (quietest fan speed), 16Gb Kingston RAM, Corsair 950 watt non-modular PSU (less connections) in a non-airconditioned, bare brick environment in Australia, the client can sleep in the same room with the machine on. Further, I cannot hear it until I am literally at the keyboard. Highest temperature - AMD-1100BE CPU 48 Celsius, Intel i7-960 CPU (12 Gb RAM) 63 Celsius, case AMD - 58 Celsius, Intel - 61 Celsius, ambient - often over 30 Celsius. Yes, I checked it several times - the AMD with the Noctua runs at a lower temp than the case - even when she played Crysis at the top settings for a whole day... (the Intel was actually being built for a different client, however she tested it in the same room because she wanted to see if it was faster). Client's previous system - three quarter height steel tower (expensive, famous gamer brand) usin!
g the AMD CPU and AMD heatsink/fan. It sounded like a loosely mounted jet engine and ran over 10 Celsius hotter case temperature. Lian Li's don't resonate!
4) The plastic strap across the top of the 3.5 hard disk drives gave me a hot spot on a server system, so I removed it & went back to the screws - gamers beware... my only criticism of the PC-P50 may be disk threatening. The PC-P80 or PC-A77F are a much better, cooler cradle IMHO.
5) I am picking up another PC50 later today - this time a "dragon" - and will be placing more in less the same bits in it. Unless the fans are a lot noisier than the "black" case, it should be very close to silent.
6) This is being written on my workhorse - a (1999?) Lian Li PC62, my other is a (2009?) PC-P80 - which is quieter and cooler than either the PC-P50 or the PC62.
7) A very thorough review - well done.
Arron, Western Australia.
Thanks for sharing all this excellent info, based on real world experience. I'm curious how you detected the hot spot(s) on the drive. Thermal imaging, or low-level environmental reporting from the drive itself?
Thanks, Bruce.
I sent the first email in because your review was so thorough - some gamer type hardware reviews are so poor I would not waste my time. I commend you on your approach, and wish there were more like you in your profession.
I share your view on quality vs features. Pity some coders out there clearly don't...
My digital "instant read" thermometer plus thermal sensing strips are my essential friends in these days of massive "so far over the top I am stunned" power consumption. The original pentium 100 CPU pulled 4 (well, 3.9 actually) watts average - count 'em, one hand. Last year an nvidia graphics card pulled nearly 1000 watts - scary or obscene?
Anyway, back to the PC-P50 - I intended to hammer it the next day, however after only two hours of reasonably hard use just getting a feel for the machine, the drive's sound changed a little. I measured 85 celsius under the strap, 67 near it, both readings where the disk platter would be spinning. A temperature variance of zero to +18C to zero in less than three inches across a high precision device spinning faster than an angle grinder - shudder. Clearly HDD internal frame warping and / or platter shattering is a no cost option. I repeated it with temperature strips the next day - 86 and 67C after two hours.
Result - bin the strap, use those old obsolete things called spare aluminium screws from another Lian Li case. FWIW, that strap is probably the only thing Lian Li have ever come up with that makes no sense at all to me - fashion over function I guess. Even the individual disk cradle runs noticeably warmer than the PC-P80 or PC-A77F's older, lighter and more ventilated "3 drives at a time predecessors".
Oh, and yes, aluminium screws do make a small difference, especially in aluminium frames, conducting heat away a little quicker as well as avoiding hot spots compared to their steel cousins. Screws and closing all gaps also prevents clients losing expensive software - like a Novell server 50 licence disk that disappeared for 4 years until we scrapped the previous assembler's machine ? a technician originally installed it and it had vanished when they needed to reinstall it ? it was between the CD drive and the hard disk, scratched beyond use and already replaced by a not happy insurance company.
More than enough for now, please keep up the good work.
Thanks for your feedback.
Arron.