Lian-Li B25F

[guachi]

I had an ancient Antec case I bought in 2000 that looked like this:

It was/is a beast. Steel strong enough you could stand on the case and jump up and down on it.

I upgraded to the Lian-Li B25F:

It's a very nice, slick case. Not too tall, but it's deep for easy install of video cards. The blue light on the front adds a little bit of flash without going overboard. And I FINALLY have USB ports that aren't only on the back of the computer.

But the best thing about the case is the tool-less design. Every time I went to install something in the computer, it was super easy. Everything I'd read about Lian-Li cases was true. Great stuff.

 

[Dirk13]

I am very interested in anything else you can say about your upgrade. My old case is the upgraded version of your old one, and The B25F is the top runner for a new case that I will probably buy in the next week or 2 or 3 heh since the B25S is no where to be seen.

 

[Nighted]

How snug does the top panel fit? The Hardware Canucks review of the PC-P50 said that it removes almost "too easily". I figure it should be about the same as the front bezel. What do you think?

 

[guachi]

All the panels are super easy to remove. They won't fall off merely by looking at them, but it's not that hard. Definitely NOT a computer to take to a LAN party.

If you plan on moving your computer around, I'd keep the box and the styrofoam inserts. The easy access is nice if you fiddle with your computer a lot. It made it less of a hassle putting together, though. I removed every panel while assembling it.

I was looking for the B25S (silent version), but, honestly, my computer isn't loud. Once I turned on the CPU fan control for the motherboard, my stock AMD cooler got nice and quiet. My video card is a vapor-x which is designed to be quiet, so I can't say how loud a normal video card might be. The five included fans aren't loud at all.

The case is a very 'black' black if that makes any sense. My black DVD player looks more like a dark grey installed in it.

I prefer the top mounted panel for USB/e-SATA to a front mounted panel. It breaks up the blocky nature of a computer case. My motherboard doesn't have USB 3.0 so the lack of USB 3.0 inputs isn't a problem for me.

The best thing I can say about the case is there were no surprises (I already knew about the easy to remove panels). The case is as good looking in person as it is in pictures and the advertising about how easy it is to work with are true.

 

[undertheradar]

silverpcs.com has it

 

[ODNT]

I switched from the Silverstone FT-01BW to the Lian Li PC-B25FWB a couple months ago. Before that, I had a Lian Li modded V1200B. The B25 series is great. The exterior panels do come off easily but they definitely won't fall off unexpectedly. The blue ring on the front facade adds a bit of bling without going overboard. I bought the optional left side panel that has a rectangular window to replace the stock dog bone shaped window and replaced all the blue led 120mm fans inside the case. After sleeving all the interior wires, I can't think of anything else to do to the case. It looks great and is very quiet.

 

[E.T]

I am very interested in anything else you can say about your upgrade. My old case is the upgraded version of your old one

There are couple different sized versions from Chieftec's same "basic theme".
Replacing B/C serie models again have some clear differences to old D-serie at least in maxi tower.

My motherboard doesn't have USB 3.0 so the lack of USB 3.0 inputs isn't a problem for me.

Actual I/O port module is replaceable:
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/pro...x=512&cl_index=2&sc_index=10&ss_index=131&g=f
But better to wait until USB3 becomes integrated into chipsets and there's standardized pin header for it so there's no need to get those cables outside.

 

[guachi]

That's one nice thing about the Lian-LI cases - you can change some of the parts around like the side panels or I/O port.

For whatever reason, the silent verison comes with USB 3.0 I/O ports.

 

[Dirk13]

I ended up going with the A71f, I hate being able to see my optical drives for some reason. However on a hot deals note: If you buy the gigabyteGA-890FXA-UD5 motherboard you get 45 dollars off of the B25f with a combo deal. This essentially makes the case only 125 with no rebate. There is also another combo with the B25f and the samsung 1TB f3 drive with 40 dollars off.