PC-B25S Hidden Fan Controllers
The intake and exhaust fans have independent three-speed controllers, located behind snap-away front and top panels. Additional photos should be searchable by double clicking an image to bring up our photo album view.
Not-So-Hidden Cables
The PC-B25S barely has enough room behind its motherboard tray to stuff a typical ATX cable, but doing so makes the placement of other cables nearly impossible. We’ll take the extra time to work this out in our build coverage, but suggest that builders can finish far more quickly if they leave the largest cable exposed to view.
A Gleaming Beauty
Since the PC-B25S has no window, users who normally find black interiors should have no problem with Lian-Li’s bright finish. By reflecting light, bright aluminum also makes it easier to see other components.
One of only two cases in today’s comparison to support a two-slot graphics card in a standard ATX motherboard’s bottom slot, Lian-Li uses the same card-latch style as the other case to have this feature. Lian-Li “classes it up” a little by making its latches out of aluminum, compared to the competitor’s plastic parts.
NZXT H2 Classic
The least-expensive of today’s cases, NZXT’s H2 Classic (also known as the Hush 2) is packed with connectivity features to wow the middle market in addition to its always-attractive noise reduction techniques.
You Can Take It With You
There are many ways to make a system drive portable, but NZXT might just have the easiest of these in its top-panel drive dock. Removing the top fan cover is easy too, since it’s magnetic.
A mix of three USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 ports sounds a little strange, but it appears that NZXT never heard about front-panel USB 3.0 headers. Headset jacks, power and reset buttons, and a three-speed fan control finish out the rather-busy top panel.
Easy-Access Drive Bays
Three externally-latched bay covers and two externally-latched fan covers fill the H2 Classic’s front panel for easy removal. Each fan covers four front-removing hard drive trays, though the lack of any backplane requires drives to be disconnected from the side.
Brush connectors on the fan holders allow both three-pin 120 mm fans to be removed quickly and potentially replaced with standard parts.
H2 Classic USB 3.0 Egress
The NZXT H2 Classic provides an egress hole for its single USB 3.0 pass-through cable, while its competitors rely on slot plates or liquid-cooling holes to perform this function. All of these solutions have been superseded by the internal front-panel USB 3.0 headers that motherboard manufacturers released nearly a year ago.
Minimal Cable Space
NZXT, like Lian-Li, leaves little room behind the motherboard tray for stashing excess cable length. A moderately-rigid steel side panel was the only thing that made it possible for us to stuff our ATX power cable into this location, and using that side panel to force the cable into compliance will also crush its already-thin acoustic foam lining.
H2 Classic Power Air Filter
An extra-long bottom filter serves both the power supply intake and an optional bottom-mounted 120 mm fan, and is easily removable from the H2 Classic’s rear edge.
Oversized, Not Supersized
The NZXT H2 Classic has enough room for an SSI-CEB motherboard, but not the larger Extended ATX parts. That’s fine for most performance builds, since the majority of high-end boards are no more than an inch wider than standard ATX. Those slightly-oversized motherboards will, however, partly conceal cable egress holes in the motherboard support plate.
The H2 Classic also supports expansion cards up to 12.2” long, though cards longer than 10.75” will consume the space required for cable ends of 3.5” hard drives.
