Lian Li PC-B25

Verdict:

[+] B52

Great looks; thoughtful design; very quiet cooling

[-] The B52s

Not ideal for very high-end systems

When it comes to buying a PC case, a little money well spent can go a long way. For under £50, you can buy an adequate midi-tower, while £150 should buy you a functional, more spacious case. The Lian Li PC-B25 is a compact midi-tower case standing 450mm tall, however, so the £125 price tag means that it needs to be about quality, not quantity of space.

The first thing that Lian Li gets right with the B25 is its looks. This may seem a slightly odd judgement to pass - apart from the illuminated blue circle on the front door, the B25 is simply a black box. However, Lian Li has crafted this aluminium case with such finesse, and applied such a high-quality finish, that the B25 radiates class.

FRONT DOOR

The front door of the case is machined to a clinical level of precision and closes with a satisfying clunk. It can also be swapped around so that it opens either way (holes have been pre-cut in either side to accommodate the power cable for the illuminated circle on the door). The door can be locked, and there's a lug on the back that enables you to padlock the main case panel.

Behind the door are the power and reset switches, while the two USB 2, FireWire and headset ports are located roughly half-way up the right-hand side (as you face the door). There are no superfluous touches to the aesthetics; everything has been simply executed, and the B25 looks all the better for it.

INSIDE

The quality of the exterior design is replicated inside. The motherboard tray is removable, so you can install most key components without any trouble. There's also a pair of cable-tidying clamps on the back of the tray, so you can easily tuck in and secure the wiring behind the motherboard tray. The B25 has bays for three 5.25in external devices and one external 3.5in device. The hard disk caddy will accommodate up to five hard disks, and is perpendicularly orientated to the case.

Mounting the hard disk caddy in this way helps to preserve space inside the case, and Lian Li has avoided the usual concern of perpendicularly mounted hard disk bays obstructing airflow by using as little metal as possible for the hard disk mounting points. The caddy is very open as a result - it even has large holes in the top, allowing rising hot air from the drives to escape. This feature is typical of the attention to detail shown throughout the design.

Similarly, there's nothing to prevent you from using a long PSU in the B25 - Lian Li clearly knows that even modest PSUs such as the excellent BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro 650W can be longer than 150mm.

COOLING

Cooling for the B25 is handled by a pair of 120mm fans, positioned at the front of the case behind the door. Lian Li has cut neat vents in the sides of the door to let in air; this restricts the airflow but not to a worrying degree.

At the rear of the case is another 120mm fan serving as the exhaust, with more venting below it, adjacent to the PCI brackets. This arrangement provides the classic push-and-pull airflow system, which is helped by the open design of the hard disk caddy, numerous cable-tidying options and a generally clean interior. While there are also pre-cut holes in the rear for mounting an external radiator or reservoir, extravagant water-cooling systems won't fit in the B25.

NOISE DAMPENING

The B25 is part of the Lian Li silent range, so there are more additions than usual to help dampen noise. The fans are incredibly quiet, while the feet are designed to resist vibrations. The edge of the door and inside of the roof of the case have dense foam to block sound waves. The side panels are double-layered to provide further noise insulation. You won't hear more than a peep out of even a fairly powerful system built in the B25.

CONCLUSION

If you want a case for a compact yet fast PC, the B25 is pretty much as good as it gets. We'd be happy to use a single fast graphics card (especially if it directly vented its heat) with a modestly overclocked Core 2 Quad in the B25.

Thanks to the soundproofing, good cooling and understated design, a PC built in the B25 could be less obtrusive than a similarly fast PC built in a small form factor case. While you could buy bigger cases for a monstrous computer for the same price as the B25, you wouldn't find anything with the same level of quality.

You can buy the Lian Li PC-B25 from After Hours Computing for £123.36 inc VAT (price correct at time of review)

For more information on the PC-B25, visit Lian'Li's website

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