Lian Li PC-76 Server case Review

Product Features:PC-76

Full Tower aluminum server case

4 Front Mounted 80mm fans with removable filters
2 Rear Mounted 80mm fans
Comes with Lockable Casters
Dimensions: 25 inches x 10.5 inches x22 inches
6 external 5.25 drive bays
2 external 3.5 bays
12 internal 3.5 bays
Supported Motherboards: P4, ATX, EATX, MICRO-ATX

Introduction

Being a fan of large server cases,I've felt left out in the latest craze of aluminum cases.The Addtronics W8500 has been my case of choice for almost two years and is starting to show its age compared to the new cases on the market today.However I had a hard time finding a replacement that could takes its place.One thing I knew, I wanted an aluminum case.

The search finally ended with the Lian-Li PC-76 Server case.The PC-76 fit my idea of the perfect case.Its large and I mean like house a small family inside large.Being made of aluminum also appealed to me.One thing that concerned me was cooling.In my old case I had more air flow than a large hover craft.Would the 8 80mm fans in the PC-76 be enough?Well enough of my rambling lets see just what came in that huge box.

The PC-76 comes with no powersupply.You get a box of screws,motherboard standoffs and the like.Everything on the case is held together with thumb screws which makes removing the side panels fairly simple.It also came with 4 80mm sunon fans installed up front and 2 80mm fans installed in the back below the powersupply.

Up front you have 2 filters covering the intake.My experiences with filters have not been pretty in the past.I've found that they are usually to fine and clog way to quickly.The filter material used on the PC-76 is a fairly open mesh.Now we want to keep dirt and dust out of the case but do we want to stop and clean the filter everyday?I know I don't want to have to worry about the air flow going into my case being choked down by a filter that clogs in just a few days.After everything running for 2 weeks straight I was impressed to find that the filters had not clogged up to the point where they were killing the air flow.Having a dog and a cat I do worry about hair and dust getting sucked into my computer.I also worry about keeping my components cool.The filters on the PC-76 seem to be a good compromise between air flow and dirt control.

Here you can see one of the filters after 2 weeks of continues operation.

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