Lian Li often takes a step away from the ordinary tower design for its cases, and the PC-M25 that the company announced today is no exception. It’s not too different from a standard tower design, but it has a couple changes to set it apart. The idea behind this chassis is that you can use it to build a compact yet powerful system with more storage space than you need.
For starters, the case can house up to a Micro-ATX motherboard, a 230 mm long ATX PSU, and graphics cards up to 410 mm long.
This case’s highlight is its room for storage. The spec sheet says that the tray at the bottom of the case has room for either three 2.5” drives or two 3.5” drives, although it looks like you may be able to fit two of each with a tight squeeze. Additionally, in the front area of the case, Lian Li built a hot-swap system. This cage has room for five 3.5” drives, and at the rear there is a PCB with the data and power headers already in place. This means that after popping off the side panel, swapping those five drives around should be a snap.
Due to the placement of the power supply, cable management won’t be this case’s strongest point. Of course, the hot-swap plate will keep things a little tidy, but at the end of the day you’ll still cover it all up with the side panel anyway.
Cooling in the case is handled by a 140 mm intake fan that pushes air through the hard drive cage, whereas exhaust is handled by a 120 mm fan that is mounted at the top of the chassis. The power supply will aid with exhaust a bit, too.
Being a Lian Li case, it is built almost entirely out of aluminum. The only parts that aren’t aluminum are the vibration absorption grommets, fans, the foam padding at the bottom of the feet, as well as a couple of minor bits and bobs.
The case measures 199 x 322 x 441 mm (WxHxD). It weighs 3.74 kg when empty.
The case will be available in silver and anodized black, with pricing sitting at $169 for each. Lian Li aims to have the PC-M25 on shelves in the U.S. by mid-February.
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