15 Cases For Review

Lian Li - PC-6089A, Continued

At first glance, the PC-6089A looks a lot like the popular Cooler Master ATC-210 series cases. We see these cases at many LAN parties, modded with many different design ideas that really push the envelope.

The PC-6089A is a marvel of design and quality. The edges are clean and rounded. Where necessary, they are covered with plastic to prevent any nicks and scrapes to your hands during the installation process. The case is sturdy and has no bend or twist. The PC-6089A is solid and well-designed.

Since the PC-6089A is silver in color, Lian Li offers a variety of aluminum drive plate covers that can be stuck to your floppy and CD-ROM/ CDRW/ DVD drives to help them better match your case. Pretty slick, if you ask us! Color matching the case and painting your drive faceplates might offer a better solution, but it will not yield the aluminum look that these Lian Li plates offer. The aluminum floppy plate was included with our case.

We found the airflow of the PC-6089A to be very good. The air is moved from the front of the case to the rear with two fans in the front; the air is pumped out of the case with two fans in the back. A washable filter is offered for the front fans to help keep dust and dirt out of your case. The filter material doesn't appear to obstruct the airflow through the case.

The most negative thing that can be said about the PC-6089A is that, although it offers front USB ports, for some reason it doesn't offer 1394 Firewire ports. You may or may not consider this to be a serious oversight, depending on whether you use 1394 devices or not. In my case, I would still have an Atech Pro III in one of the 3-½ bays that would offer a 1394 Firewire port for my iPod.

The front acrylic door was tinted blue with some white `frosting' on the door in front of the 5-¼ drive bays, which can help hide drives that don't match the case. We thought the frosting looked kind of odd, but it is an interesting idea, nonetheless. The door gives off a blue cast when powered due the included blue LED lighting, and this does add to the cool look of this case.

Upon removing the side panel from the case, you will notice that it includes a window. Lian Li puts a thin sheet of aluminum behind the window. This is placed there to protect the window from damage during transit and to prevent the window from being scratched on the inside. Of course, this can be removed to reveal the window in the side panel. The window is of high quality and is mounted nicely within the case.

We liked the PC-6089A and found it to be an exceptional case. The only negative comment we can make about the case is that we wished that it had offered a front-mounted 1394 Firewire port as well as the front-mounted USB ports. The PC-6089A is an excellent case and offers exceptional quality. We liked the design, which is excellent for most users. Most users will probably not complain about the case, but they will most likely gripe about the price. The high quality of the case is worth the price, but it is not for everyone.