A Closer Look - Outside

As I mentioned before, the case is massive. It is up there in size with the Cubitek HPTX-Tank and Corsair 800D. In fact, it is about an inch taller than the Corsair Obsidian chassis. That said, with the use of Aluminum and the heavy, thick door, the Lian Li PC-V2120 manages to justify the big price tag in terms of build quality. Everything fits perfectly. nothing moves or seems out of place, there are no uneven openings between parts and we would expect nothing less at this point.


Taking a quick look at the outside of the case, the front is covered by the afore mentioned door. It has a heatsink like shape and is sandwiched between two Aluminum pieces and there are two little holes to allow for the power and HDD activity LEDs to be seen while the door is closed. In the back you will find a large amount of expansion bays, as the chassis may be used by HPTX mainboards like the EVGA SR2. Such compatibility with large boards should be considered one of the main reasons when buying this chassis. Both side panels are completely solid. There are no openings as Lian Li has lined the insides of the side panel with noise insulating foam. I have placed a standard optical disc in front of the chassis to show you how huge the V2120 really is.


The door opens up from right to left, which may be a bit out of place for some, but Lian Li does allow you to swith things around if required. In the bottom you will find two large openings for the 140 mm intake fans. The holes are large enough to let most dust particles through, which will in turn get caught in the filters in front of the fans instead. Even though there is no easy way to remove the entire front, there is no need to, as you can access the fan's dust filters from within the chassis. Lian Li has placed the power and reset buttons right above the intake fans. While this may be a very "diplomatic" spot, giving you fairly easy access, no matter how you set the chassis, I personally would have preferred them to be in the upper area of the front. The odds are very high, that this chassis will not be placed on top of a desk, but stowed next to it, which would make such buttons easier to reach. Five 5.25 inch bays occupy the top half of the chassis, and there is no 3.5 inch adapter anywhere in sight. One could argue that if you were to spend so much money on a case like this, the few bucks for an adapter would not really be noticeable, but I would have liked to see such a tray included.


The interior of the door has been lined with a fairly straight forward sound dampening material. While this is a great option, the foam used is nothing out of the ordinary and Lian Li has not really gone all the way in terms of surface coverage as we will see later on. A much better way to lower the operating noise coming from within the chassis is the included dial. This unit allows you to control all fans at the same time. This will be more than sufficient for most people, but considering the amount of fans included and the vast expansion possibilities, a separate controller may not be such a bad additon if you plan to fill this puppy to the rim. As I mentioned before, the door may be set to open to the left or right and Lian Li has gone all out on the mechanisms in place. You will not see any cheap plastic anywhere, instead it is all metals and screws. On top of that the front door may be locked to keep prying fingers away from your drives or to avoid someone resetting your system out of spite - or jealousy.


Moving our focus to the rear of the chassis, starting at the very bottom. you can see that the V2120 comes with casters which are also constructed of aluminum. Rubber rings protect your floor from any scratches and also give these casters some grip. The power supply bay has not changed from past Lian Li implementations and allows you to install the unit from the rear of the chassis and also gives you the complete freedom to use it with the fan facing up or downward. Above that are the eleven expansion slots. While an EVGA SR2 board will only have 7 physical slots, they are actually offset by three slots for a total of 10 slots, while the bottom and 11th one is required in case you want to stuff four dual height GPUs in there on such a mainboard. To the right of these expansion slots is an air vent with multiple mounting holes. You may purchase and install the famous metal clipping systems here to easily install expansion cards. Lian Li does not actually ship the chassis with them, but they are available separately. Once again, it would have been nice to have the chassis filled with every innovative feature from Lian Li - especially since other, less expensive offerings do come with such extras. Above the 120 mm exhaust fan are three openings for water cooling tubes, but one of these is actually intended to be used for the USB 3.0 cables. Considering the air vent above, I would have liked to see a more elegant solution to route these cables out the back. Lian Li has employed the same "slide and screw" locking mechanism for the side panels which we have seen on the Tyr X-Series cases for example. This system works extremely well and makes access to the interior a breeze.


Before diving into the inside of the V2120, let us take a quick look at all the small extras on the outside. First off, there is the top I/O which offers eSATA, four USB 3.0 and a pair of audio connectivity. While this will suffice, I would have liked to see FireWire as well - just because it would complete the line-up. Lian Li still uses the same little door mechanism which has been with them for years. It works well, but that is also the only area where you will see the use of plastic at the hinges. I think it is time for that to be phased out and replaced with a updated, sturdy and modern design. The afore mentioned casters are of unbelievable quality. No cheap plastic ones here! One axle also has a simple but surprisingly effective brake to keep the chassis in place. There is also a fine and fairly easily removable dust filter below the PSU air vent. This means that all intake areas are covered to keep the interior clean and free of any dirt particles.