Lian-Li's new PC-9N chassis is built using almost all aluminum parts. The outside is brushed aluminum, and comes in two colors, silver in the PC-9NA and black in the PC-9NB.
Lian Li has also opted for a number of interesting features. For starters, it has a rather new and innovative motherboard mounting system. Rather than a giant motherboard tray with a cutout behind the CPU socket, Lian Li has opted to go for a rail based mounting system. This rail mounting system should offer better thermals and more practical cable management. The rail system also uses fewer resources, thus making the chassis lighter and ever so slightly cheaper to build.
The enclosure can house up to three 5.25" optical drives, three 3.5" hard drives and a has a single mounting spot for a 2.5" SSD. The drive cage for the hard drives and the SSD is modular, so it can be rotated for airflow optimization or accessibility. Moreover, the mounting system is done with quick access thumb screws, and it has a system that should reduce noise and vibration. The optical drive bays are also of tool-less design.
An interesting bit is that the chassis has a massive amount of internal space for graphics cards and power supplies. First of all, the case features a grand total of 8 expansion slots, and as a result users could fit up to four graphics cards in the enclosure. Moreover, because there is nothing obstructing the length of the graphics cards, users can mount graphics cards that are up to 430 mm long. The only thing blocking the length of the power supply is the hard drive and SSD bay, so as a result PSUs can be up to a staggering 300 mm long. CPU coolers can be up to 170 mm tall.
The case also comes with two fans: a front 140 mm fan, and a rear 120 mm fan. As a result, the chassis will have a nice positive pressure, preventing the system from sucking in dust through spots other than the air filter in front of the front fan. The front panel of the chassis can also be removed without tools, making for easy access to the air filter.
The top I/O of the case is built using a small door, underneath which hide two USB 3.0 ports and s pair of HD audio ports.
Availability is set for end of February in the U.S. with a MSRP of $109.99.
