Today, Lian Li announced not one, not two, not even three, but four new cases. These are the PC-O5, the PC-O5S, the PC06S, and the PC-O7S, and they're hardly run-of-the-mill.
All the enclosures feature almost the same design, and they're built around the same concepts. They are open-air cases with a full aluminum design. The only part that's not made of aluminum is the side panel, which is made of tempered glass and covers the entire side – no partial glass opening here. You can see the full guts of the PC through this panel, so you better manage your cables well!
Of the lot, the PC-O5 is the smallest, whereas the PC-O7S is the largest. The first two, the PC-O5 and the PC-O5S, are Mini-ITX cases with support for a single graphics card. The PC-O6S is a Micro-ATX case, and the PC-O7S is an ATX case. All of the cases with an "S" in the name support a 240 mm liquid cooling radiator. Hard drives and SSDs are mounted behind or on the motherboard tray, and all the cases have room for a single slim optical drive. They all have room for only one graphics card, thanks to the flattened internal layout. This graphics card is installed with a ribbon-style PCI-Express riser.
Front I/O connectivity consists of two USB 3.0 ports and the standard set of HD audio jacks. The larger PC-O6S and PC-O7S have an additional two USB 3.0 ports on their front I/O.
These are very pretty cases, and you'd think that their simple design makes them perfect for just about anyone, but you'd be wrong. The open-air design will lead to higher dust buildup, meaning you'll have to clean it out more often, and the glass and aluminum finishes will be very prone to fingerprints and oil smudges. If you take good care of it, though, you'll be rewarded with a very fine-looking case. It's showy, but not styled like those flashy plastic cases.
All that being said, time and love aren't the only things the PC-O series will cost you if you want one, because they're not what you'd call affordable. The PC-O5 will sell for $289, the PC-O5S for $319, the PC-O6S for $379, and the PC-O7S will cost you a hefty $419. For a case that supports only one graphics card, that's a lot of dough. All the cases will be available in February 2015.
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