New Lian Li PC-X2000F w/ USB 3.0

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[H]F Junkie
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Very nice find... I love Lian Li :D

I would to have a no limit budget with that case and a new system and a few loops of water cooling :D

OH and the HDD cages are SICK!!!!!:cool:
 
Saw the MSRP was $500+ ... I think the original x2000 was close to that though...
 
The original x2000 was $600+, but has been on sale at Newegg for $399 for ~3-4 months now.

I've really been looking forward to seeing more info on this newer redesign although it looks like some of the new changes aren't all-out wins over the original. Examples: I'm not sure, but I think the mobo tray isn't removable.


The older version has a few great videos/reviews up at there with notables being TJHarlow's on youtube and Bit-tech's review. I hope someone does a review of this case early on. Visually this design is just sexay.
 
I never really got why people wanted removable motherboard trays. I never saw the point with a big case that you already have a lot of room in.

Except maybe in my Micro-ATX case where I had to stuff a lot in there and relied on the removable motherboard tray. I could have still fit the same stiff without it, just would have been a pain in the ass.
 
Its a great looking case that is basically laid out like the PC-X900 except that it bigger and so you get 140mm fans instead of 120mm and a lot more room to work. The high price is the only thing that would keep me from wanting to own one because I'd no doubt want to replace the 140mm fans with Noiseblockers which are $25 a pop themselves so it would be a pretty expensive investment.
 
This beautiful successor to the original is now IN STOCK at Sundial Micro, and the price is shockingly low (to me, anyhow)... $489.99 which is less than newegg is charging for the anodized red pc-x900! :p Now calling that price "low" might sound ridiculous to the uninformed, but considering the original pc-x2000 retailed for $599 and took forever to (finally) drop below $500, to see this newer redesign hit the market for such a low price is a pleasant surprise to say the least. Seems Lian Li was able to reduce R&D/fabrication costs by sticking with a design that reuses many parts from the first x2000; economies of scale ftw. Also, Provantage and a couple other retailers are listing the case, but nobody except Sundial has it in stock AFAIK.


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Caveat emptor though, because as we saw with the original, the x2000f, like all system chassis, has its compromises/flaws. For most, the price is the biggest barrier. Others will hate its unusual form factor or use of 140mm fans. IMO, the 140mm fans are a great choice because we're seeing more and more quality 14cm fans hitting the market all the time, so it's easy enough to upgrade to something decent (no Scythe GT's tho :( ). My complaints are that AFAIK the hdd bays don't support ssd right out of the box, instead we gotta use adapters that probably aren't included. I also suspect it doesn't have a removable mobo tray, unlike the OG x2000 (though it does have a huge-ass CPU cutout). Darn near everyone who did a review of the original loved the case despite its flaws. I'm itching to order this case, but just spent 4 figures on my g/f's Guccissima and budget dictates I wait till next month. Damn tempting though... *drool*. It'd also be cool to see Lian Li offer this case in anodized blue, or purple, or red, or white. Not that the all-black 2010 Space Odyssey monolithic tower vibe isn't badass in its own right.


If this newer version doesn't work for you, the original pc-x2000 can be had from newegg for $399 and is a pretty spiffy rig with some advantages over it's newer offspring. Dig the TJ Harlow vids for a thorough breakdown as he posted several videos of this case including his own mods done shortly after its initial release to market.
 
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*slaps self*

chalk that one up to me posting shortly after waking up from a late night on the town. Day off work = scatterbrained. Still, even for a ~$100 less, the pc-x900 is seriously overpriced vs the LL pc-x1000, the original x2000, or competing manufacturer's products. The newer x2000F isn't a bargain by any means, but it's a much better deal than the x900.


Edit: just noticed newegg is also listing it in stock, but the shipping is double what Sundial charges. Provantage has the best price by far ($488 with shipping included), but no inventory yet.
 
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Just got one of these yesterday from Sundial Micro. It's been a tough choice between a few Lian Li designs, Silverstone's ft02, Thermaltake's Level 10 and a few others. In the end I chose the big black monolith. Still on the hunt for another case, but that can wait since we haven't been gaming the last several months.

Although the case is mostly the same as the original 2-year old design, it's still gorgeous to my eyes. Took some video I might upload to youtube since I haven't seen any reviews yet. Gotta order a 14cm to 12cm adapter so I can use the Corsair h50 which means I prolly won't install any hardware till the weekend (or later). Here's a few pics of the thing. If anyone has any questions or wants to see pics of a specific angle, just post

dwarfing a popular ole Antec tower. Just recently quit using the Antec along with another 1990s beige tower. Oldies but goodies
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Counterstrike crews brawling over some Hawaiian Punch. Sure I haven't played CS or Source since 2004, but I still love those guys!
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interior shot with the PCIe support bar removed
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backside of the mobo tray
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Man the choice between those three cases, I think you made the right one! Someday...someday I will own one...someday... :D
 
Yeah, it was a tough choice mainly because of the $$. I mean, for the price of this thing, I could have bought any number of excellent Silverstone/Antec/Cooler Master/NZXT/Lian Li chassis and spent the extra money modding. I was also very tempted to build a case from the ground up but I've read enough Bit-tech threads to know $500 is a drop in the bucket for a from-scratch chassis. In the end, it boiled down to:
  • Number one reason by far is that I fell in love with the looks of this case after seeing the original design in 2008. It's good looking enough my g/f will let me put it in the living room. The excellent cooling, low noise (at least in reviews of the original x2000) and easy-to-access dust filtering are also primary factors.
  • We already have an ATX gaming/video editing system that needs a larger case to hold more hdds, otherwise I'd have been focused on an SFF build (or two) and a new NAS. Originally we wanted two new cases for some MMO gaming fun this summer, but we've been too busy; haven't gamed in like 3-4 months. With only one case needed now, decided to splurge.
  • this is likely the last large-ish tower we'll buy. Going forward our cases will be micro-ATX/ITX or some other SFF type. Figured this last tower needs to cover anything we throw at it. I'll probably end up being wrong & we'll buy yet another tower sometime down the road, but this one oughta last at least 5+ years. I got over a decade out of my last two 1990s beige beefcake towers.
Funny part of all this is we're selling our house and atm I'm up early taking a break from packing. If I had any sense, I'd have waited to buy the Lian Li after we settled into our new place. Till the fan adapter arrives, I just have the x2000f sitting in the middle of the room, unboxed, so I can look at it and fiddle with it all the time. It's like when I got my first Dremel, I couldn't stop tinkering and marveling at the engineering. Reality is, this case isn't built any better than any other Lian Li (had hands-on with many of 'em), but it's just so different, HUGE and.... cool?... As juvenile as it sounds, some cases, like the Silverstone TJ07/FT02 or Thermaltake Mozart/Level 10 really get me excited. Stupid case fetish owns me. While I wouldn't do it myself, I can totally understand how some people are constantly swapping out new cases. It's an appreciation for the technology/craftsmanship that non-enthusiasts just don't understand.
 
Prospective buyer for this case here with couple of questions:

1 - what's the difference between X-2000F and X-2000FB models?
2 - would a full-size video card fit nicely with a triple radiator and fans, all inside?
3 - is there enough space for cable management together with some extra insulation foaming?
 
1 - No difference. "B" indicates "black", but because the X-2000F doesn't come in any other colors...

2 / 3 - Wouldn't know. It's one of Lian Li's largest cases, except it lacks length.
 
Prospective buyer for this case here with couple of questions:

1 - what's the difference between X-2000F and X-2000FB models?
2 - would a full-size video card fit nicely with a triple radiator and fans, all inside?
3 - is there enough space for cable management together with some extra insulation foaming?

phantastic got the first one.

2- yes you can fit a HUGE vid card inside along with a radiator. TJ Harlow did this mod with the original ABS Canyon 695/x2000 (non-F) and a triple 140mm rad. Check out his vids part 1 and part 2. Downside is you'd have to either:
  • blow the hot air back out the front (thus negating the EXCELLENT dust filtering) or
  • blow the hot air right back over the motherboard compartment which is pretty silly
Plus, it'd be tough to top the air cooling of this case with an internal rad. Like the Silverstone ft02, the design is so focused around air cooling that watercooling is highly unlikely to improve temps. It's your money though, so if you got the urge, do it man! :D

3- The side panels already come with sound damping foam attached. Check Lian Li's site or google. I can take a pic if you need more detail. Don't worry about the noise output though. Even with the mediocre stock fans, the case is quiet enough we've got it in our living room as an HTPC/gaming rig. The only way it could get quieter is if we went used a passively cooled vid card or ran the entire computer fanless.
 
Thanks, coconut. The reason for water cooling is actually to keep noise levels down in a sli setup. Will check the vids later since im at work now. Those narrow towers are sexy so probably its worth to find a workaround for the hot air. Probably wc all components would make it, but the thermal capacity of a single radiator would have to cope with all the heat to meet the KISS requirements...
 
Oddly enough, there is a price difference between X-2000F and X-2000FB models.

Can the sata backplanes be removed? Are they mounted with screws or rivets? (I'd assume screws)
 
Also, can you post a photo of the case built up? So we can see what it looks like with components installed. Thanks.

Sorry about the double post, I should have edited my first post instead.
 
Oddly enough, there is a price difference between X-2000F and X-2000FB models.

Can the sata backplanes be removed? Are they mounted with screws or rivets? (I'd assume screws)
...
Also, can you post a photo of the case built up? So we can see what it looks like with components installed. Thanks.

Sure thing on the pics, but it'll have to wait till next weekend. I didn't know it but my g/f loaned our cameras out to family for a trip to NYC. The only pics I have currently are from when we first got the case.

The upper hdd cage is made up of two separate backplanes; each backplane connecting to a pair of hdds. Both of those have 4 small-ish Phillips-head screws per plane. The lower backplane is a single piece with 5 screws.
 
Just ordered up this case. I will be converting the fans to GT 120mm and using a H80. Should be kewl. Also, I had this idea to somehow use the top bays for even more positive air intake pressure or to left to right cool the HDs via a Lian Li HD Bay Adapter. Perhaps reversing that top back panel fan and installing two short 3 bay 120mm fan Lian Li adapters on the sides for exhaust. Or to really draw the hot air up and out, triple top exhaust. Loads of ideas there.
 
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Just ordered up this case. I will be converting the fans to GT 120mm and using a H80. Should be kewl. Also, I had this idea to somehow use the top bays for even more positive air intake pressure or to left to right cool the HDs via a Lian Li HD Bay Adapter. Perhaps reversing that top back panel fan and installing two short 3 bay 120mm fan Lian Li adapters on the sides for exhaust. Or to really draw the hot air up and out, triple top exhaust. Loads of ideas there.

Good lord man. That's like taking a Ferrari, then modding it into a Camaro. Sure it might perform better, but if that's your goal why not just buy a Camaro to begin with?

Plus, sounds to me like you're overblowing the need for positive pressure (which this case already does just fine). Airflow in the tower is massive and even in our rather warm apt, my temps are always darn close to ambient room temp. Cranking the fans from low to high hardly makes a difference so I keep 'em at about 50% for low dBs. As long as you go for a clean wiring job (mine is relatively neat inside, spaghetti out back), the roomy interior and huge airflow in the case does all the work for you. Example: I did a minor rebuild/parts swap with another box a few months ago and somehow lost the non-standard screws I'd purchased to mesh the Corsair h50 cooler to my lower 140mm and the attached 140->120mm converter (Bitspower makes/made a nice one in translucent or black). So for the time being I had to place the components like so-

case wall->140mm->adapter->120mm->h50 rad.

Totally fucked up arrangement, and you'd think it would have killed my temps w/o the h50 in the sandwich right? Meh, 1c to the cpu in the middle of summer here in LA. It's been unimportant enough, I still haven't gotten around to correcting the bass-ackwardsness of the situation. In fariness, I run a very modest OC but the point is, this case was designed from the ground up to move huge cfm while doing so quietly. Conceptually, it's really similar to an ft02 flipped on it's side with an even roomier interior. Ever notice how few of people modding their ft02s see an increase in temp/dB performance (except the top 120mm)? Exactly, the stock design is pretty damn good. The fans might be the weak point, but it's definitely not the layout.


Now if you're gonna run a heavy OC with 3-4 vid cards crammed in there you may likely wanna upgrade your fans, but that should be all you'd need. I do wish I could get some 140mm Gentle Typhoons (or something similar, I'm sketchy on the140mm Noiseblocker/Aerocool/etc). Unfortunately, even after 3+ years of cases shipping with 140mm fans (or bigger) as stock equipment, our 140mm aftermarket choices are still crap.

Apologies if I come across as trying to slam your ideas, because I do understand the desire to mod. I've modded many a case in the past. It's just this case is so damn sexy even last night my buddie's g/f was over before we went out and actually walked across the room to come look at it and then called it "cool". This lady is NOT a techie, yet even she found its looks worth admiring. If I was gonna mod to the degree you're talking, I'd just buy a different case versus dropping $$$ on this thing and then cutting it apart.

Then again, this is the [H], so if it's not gonna be done here (or Bit-tech/XS/etc), then who the hell else is gonna do it? Ahh fuggit, nvm me, mod that bitch just so I can see you cut holes in the side panels! :D :eek:
 
Well there would be no cutting as I was using lian bay covers and adapters, off the self parts designed to fit in there, but in any case I came to the same conclusion, not to change the hd or fan arrangement other than use 5 bitspower adapters and 6 GT fans and the H80 Cooler. The window side panel is no longer being made, I'm trying to find a left over somewhere online.

And I just have a simple arrangement of:

140mm fan grill - case wall - bitspower 140mm to 120mm adapter - 120mm gt fan - 120mm h80 rad - 120mm gt fan - 120mm fan grill
 
I read somewhere that mixing two different fan speeds/sizes so close was not recommended.
 
I read somewhere that mixing two different fan speeds/sizes so close was not recommended.

That's true which is part of why I called my current arrangement "back-asswards. It becomes less of an issue however if the rad is in the middle of the sandwich between the 140mm case fan and the 120mm cooler fan. The 140mm+adapter effectively becomes the other slice of bread sandwiching the rad and disparity between the two different fans in terms of turbulence/cfm/etc is minimized.

The situation you're planning on with 3 reintroduces the problem with the 140mm->adapter->120mm side of the sandwich. Two slices of bread one side (it's a club sandwich! :D ). TBH I don't think it'll hurt nor help, but if that does turn out to be the situation, there's little point in adding the second 120mm anyhow. Plus, the depth (and weight) of all that stuff hanging off the side of the case is gonna obscure a good chunk of your mobo. I'll snap a pick of what mine looks like when my friend gets home later to return my card reader cable.
 
It's fine, it hardly adds any weight or looks bad, the 15mm adapter is hidden by the lip of the case, looks rather normal in fact. Very secure too, for how thin the connection is, the plastic on the adapter is thin by design, but of it ever becomes an issue, which it should not, I could always use nuts and bolts instead of fan screws like I am doing now.
 
I am liking the X2000F so far. I can't button it up just yet as I am waiting for my new 5.25" cage to arrive next week (mine was crushed by my clumsy uncle!), as soon as that comes the real Cable-Fu begins. But for now, here it is with all its 120mm adapter glory:


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And that my friends is how you use six 120mm GT fans in a all 140mm Lian Li case.

I removed the bottom cage for now to increase airflow around the GPU. With hard drive prices this high, I won't be maxing out the top cage anytime soon. I found the GPU bracket a confusing and useless piece anyway (which connects to the bottom HD cage) so instead I used a couple of zip tie ropes to brace both the GPU PCI card and the GPU heatsink separately, which provided more support as each piece hangs/creates a different tension area. Since I can't find that optional door window anymore, and Lian Li basically said it is not popular enough to make more, Zip Tie ropes are ok, not like I'm going to be looking at it. I was going to use interior fan grills but decided that was not needed after all. In fact, there is only two fan grills on the entire case, in the rear exterior, as the front fans are only buffered by that awesome easy to access filter strip. It was a tight fit to get that adatper and 120mm fan in the upper compartment. I had to flex the non removable top cage a bit and unscrew a few parts of it during the operation in order to give it some flex. The only reason you can't remove it like is that the top part is secured via the cases rivots. The H80 works nice, not too noisy at all with the GTs. In fact, while the entire case is louder than I thought it would be, without the doors off that is, it is very quiet as PCs go, just it will not replace my set top Blu Ray player for silent movie watching as I hoped.

I was a bit torn on how to do the fan controller wiring. Do I connect all 6 fans to the rear included one, buy my own, how will that affect the CPU adjustments for the CPU fan, ETC, so I hooked up the Corsair H80 to the mobo, the two fans for the H80 to the H80 itself, and the rest to the rear fan controller, but that bottom front intake will not reach without an adapter that was not provided, so that had to go to the mobo for now too. I might just buy a really nice fan controller instead, not sure yet. Not sure I want to reach around back every time I want to silence the fans, not sure if buying a fan controller is worth it with the nice one included. Not sure if the incuded one can power all 6 fans with adapters to reach it, or if the CPU fans should go there, I have no idea yet.

On other hardware, I sprang for the white low voltage Corsiar Low Profile Vengence RAM, the Displayport/HDMI endowed MSI 3GB GTX 580 GPU Lightning, looks great on my 47" 3D HDTV, the 850 watt Seasonic X series, the Maximus IV Extreme Z (I keep picturing the movie Gladiator in my head: Maximus!!! Maximus!!! Maximus!!!!), I plan adding an Intel Cherryville SSD when they come out, slumming it with the 2 TB WD Black for now for the OS. I have the Titanium HD sound card and plan on upgrading the 2500K CPU to an Ivy Bridge when they hit. Let me take this moment to mention that the Corsiar SP2500 Speakers are simply amazing, and I am super picky on audio. And I love my Filco Ninja Cherry Brown MX TenKeyLess keybaord. Rocking the G700 mouse which is nice, and a Dell U2312HM E IPS display. I decided on a LG 12x Blu Ray player as the Pioneer one is one cheap ass feeling product with that mushy eject button.

So now that I'm done building the best gaming PC I ever laid my eyes on, I'm off to play Zelda Skyward Sword on my Wii! Game of the F-ing year man, no matter how primitive the graphics are. I hold the fun level right up there with anything. But I suppose when I'm done that, I will fire up my Lian Li monstrosity and see what all this Battlefield 3 hype is all about ;)
 
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Interesting. Looks like a lot is going on inside you case.
See if you can take some pictures in natural light with the flash.
 
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