2003 Winter Case Review Part 2: The ATX Avalanche

Lian Li PC-6077, Continued

The PC-6077 marks a rather interesting chapter in Lian Li's history. The PC-6077 is the first case that we have seen that does not actually feature any 3.5" bays. Why is this? This is due to Lian Li's promotion of the new concept they call "Adjustable Bay Technology." The idea behind Adjustable Bay Technology is to provide users the flexibility to move their 3.5" bay in different locations within the case. Wait a minute: we said in our specifications that the PC-6077 did not have a 3.5" bay. That is correct, it doesn't: instead, Lian Li uses a 5.25" drive frame with a special customized Lian Li drive adaptor that allows the user to mount their 3.5" floppy drive or other device in any bay within the case.

Clearly, the driving idea behind this new concept was to provide users with more configuration flexibility when dealing with drive trays, which are certainly continuing to grow in popularity with more desktop power users moving to RAID configurations. Lian Li wisely chose to recognize this trend and to act on it by building a new styled configuration that attempts to address this issue.

A look at the inside of the PC-6077.

As for the construction of the PC-6077, while the outside has not undergone many changes other than the front bezel redesign, the majority of the new features of the PC-6077 are inside the case. Due to Lian Li's new configuration, they have been able to increase the strength of the case by using an l-shaped, two-piece bracket system that allows for enhanced structural rigidity by running these two pieces from top to bottom and front to back in such a way as to eliminate much of the bend and twist found in many cases.

This is a very good thing, as companies are always seeking to reduce the weight of a case, while at the same time attempting to increase the structural integrity of the case. Lian Li has done an exceptional job here.

The four 80mm fan configuration that we received from Lian Li worked quite well. In addition, Lian Li has installed a special ventilation designed air filter, which sits at the bottom of the case. The cooling potential of the PC-6077 is quite good. While with 4 80mm fans installed the case was somewhat noisier than some of the 120mm/92mm fan configurations that we have seen, the 80mm configuration in the PC-6077 still works quite well. It might have been just a tad louder than some of the other cases we reviewed with all of the fans installed.