SPCR

Hello spcr,

Just joined you. Great work you're doing here.

Think you can swing a review of the Lian Li PC-B12?

Other than the Silverstone FT02, it looks promising for my new build.

Thanks,
Sun

SPCR reviewed the Lian Li B25S.
Other than the top vent the B10 looks similar, the pros and cons in the other case's review still apply.
The Silverstone cases have a lot of airflow from three 180mm fans. If you want to cool a very power hungry and hot graphics card (or two) it's the better choice.

Sunstar wrote:Hello spcr,

Just joined you. Great work you're doing here.

Think you can swing a review of the Lian Li PC-B12?

Not recommended. LL sent us a sample & we are probably going to can the review as the case is hopelessly choked for airflow. The only thing it could possibly run is a <100W integrated graphics only system... and probably not as cool or as quiet as with many other cheaper cases.

It has the most choked intake vent ever. There are no front panel vents. The 2 120mm fans you see on the LL page actually face a very narrow rectangular tunnel which vents at the bottom. The grill for the vent is quite impeded & measures maybe 5.5'x1.5". and this is the only intake vent for the whole case. A round inset photo of the edge of that grill is shown on the LL features page.

It's an unfortunate case with a fatal conceptual flaw, imo. A paean to quiet computing but w/o any sensible appreciation for cooling requirements.

Mike,

Is this the entire intake area? If so, at least that perforated plate looks removable. Did you test it with the plate removed to see if there was any improvement in the airflow?

Ralf Hutter wrote:Mike,

Is this the entire intake area? If so, at least that perforated plate looks removable. Did you test it with the plate removed to see if there was any improvement in the airflow?

That is it.

No we did not test it at all yet, enough other things to keep busy with. Still not decided whether it's actually worth a review. If we did one, it could probably be summed up thus:

The PC-B12 is classic aluminum LianLi chassis with high quality parts, precision fit and minimalist styling, and a level of airflow venting that's a throwback to cases from a decade ago... but for the use of 120mm fans. Its cooling capability is hobbled by the restrictive vents, especially the intake, but if you restrict total power to perhaps 100W, the absence of holes in the case might help you achieve a low noise level. Turning up the intake fans even just a bit, however, causes the air resonance in the intake tunnel to rear its ugly head.

Thanks Mike for affirming my one major concern for this case: not only the limited airflow, but the possible increase in noise resulting from such impeded airflow.

The Silverstone FT02 remains still at the top of my list, and has, to me, a nearly perfect design. I don't like some of the aesthetic aspects of the case however, and will probably never use all five 5.25" drivebays. Maingear's iteration of the case to me looks far better, but it appears they have modified the thermal dynamic of the case for the worse, not to mention it's exorbitant price.

The main reason I liked the Lian Li PC-B12, for a horizontal cooling case, is it offered a closed design in the front without a door that looks good. I don't like doors.

I'll continue evaluating options, and if, by chance, you ultimately decide to thoroughly review the case, I will read with interest.

Sun

Looks like a good setup for an experiment with seriously dusty expansion cards.

I just finished a watercooled build in this (Intel 960 D0 and GForce 670 GTX, both watercooled using EKWB gear).

The 280mm radiator fits snugly on the front fan mount, but intake/outlet needs to be at the bottom otherwise you'd need to drill new holes for mounting. Yes, the air from the radiator blows into the case. Yes, the intake is tiny. But it still works. The processor idles at around 38 degrees C and the GPU around 31. Max I have seen is 76/40. This is with the 960 running at 4 GHz with only a minor bump in voltage.

System (mainboard) temp is about 5 degrees C higher with the sidepanel off. 35 C with the side panel on, 40 C when off. Seems to me airflow is not a problem either.

I'm using the fans that came with the case - 2x 140 mm front intakes, 1x 120 mm rear exhaust, virtually silent even on max rpm.

If it wasn't for the vibrations from the pump it would be a very silent computer, but I need some better damping.

I like the simplicity of the case, so I'm extremely happy that I've managed to squeeze a watercooling setup into it even tough everyone seems to think it's a bad case. It does get a bit cramped especially because I used a normal pump + reservoir instead of a combo that would fit in a 5.25 bay, which I would recommend if possible.

I had to remove the disk case anyway to make room for the radiator, so I've mounted my SSD using a bit of velcro on top of the psu - looked so good, I did the same with the pump/reservoir.

Until I get more velcro it might not be transport safe - but it works.

I brought the B12 a couple of weeks ago and I have mixed feelings about it.

- The good -

It's a Lian Li, which means the build quality is beautiful , it looks really nice, virtually totally tool-less and a pleasure, generally to build in. Also it's a sometimes quiet case without a door, as I'm not into the door case thing. While web surfing the b12 is ever so slightly quieter than the Sonta.
-The bad -

Airflow, as predicated here is a big problem. My old case was an Antec Sonata with a single gentle typhoon 120mm exhaust fan and while gaming my gpu was around 65 and cpu at about 55. My gpu fans were running previously at around 2500rpm and was not too loud. My gpu is a twin fan model which sends the exhaust into the case, and the B12 fans are stock.

With the b12 while gaming my gpu sits at about 77 and cpu at 65, but the gpu fans run at around 3300-3500rpn. What I've noticed is once the gpu hits 3300rpm it gets a really annoying loud humming sound which is driving me crazy.

I contacted Lian Li to see if I could return the case a get something different and they haven't replied. I don't think my hardware is excessively high end, especially considering most people buying Lian Li are going to be enthusiasts with enthusiast grade hardware.

All I can recommend is if you're a gamer with a decent graphics card, and want a quiet case which is quiet while gaming, don't get the B12. Maybe look at the NZXT H630 instead if you don't like doors like me.