Lian Li PC-P50 Armorsuit
Category : Cases
Published by Tanya Rothenburg on 18.11.09
With the PC-P50 Lian Li presents an aluminium midi tower which comes with practical features as well as a slightly revised design. Wether the final product is able to convince or not, that's what you can find out if you read on. 
On the following pages we will show you the strengths and weaknesses of the Lian Li PC-P50 Armorsuit.
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Preview
Specifications
| Model | ARMORSUIT PC-P50 |
| Case Type | Advanced Mid Tower |
| Dimensions | 210mm x 495mm x 490 mm (W, H, D) |
| Material | Aluminium |
| Color | black |
| Weight | 6.6kg |
| 5.25'' drive bay | 9 |
| 3.5'' drive bay | 3 ( Use 5.25 x 3) x intern |
| Expansion slots | 8 |
| Form factors | ATX, M-ATX |
| Cooling | Front:120mm Ball-Bearing Fan x 1 (1200RPM), Top: 140mm Ball-Bearing Fan x2 (1000RPM)Back: 120mm Ball-Bearing Fan x 1 (1500RPM) |
| I/O ports | USB2.0 x 2, HD+AC97 Audio |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Front
Overview |
Features |
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| The front is equipped with nine 5.25 inch bezels. Three of them cover a fan which actively cools the hard drives mounted. Looking at the whole front area the perforated bezels give the PC-P50 it's individual looks. | If later the case should be equipped with a fan controller, Lian Li has already provided the front with specific holes for their own three speed controller. |
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| All the bezeles, no matter if 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch, are fixed in the front by a "two point clamping" which makes exchanging drives childrens play. | The intake fans are aligned with inlet holes on the bezels. These are equipped with air filters to stop the dust. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Back
Overview |
Features |
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| On the backside you find an outtake fan with a diameter of 120 millimeters. Right below there are eight slot bezels located which should make the installation of a dual-slot-graphic card possible even if the card is put into the lowest slot. | The back 120mm fan extracts the hot air out at 1500 RPM. To reduce vibration noises to a minimum Lian Li provided the PC-P50 with a rubber mounting solution. Right next to the fan there are already two rubber covered holes for watertubes when using a liquid cooling system. |
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| To exchange PCI cards, Lian Li has added snap closing clips. The part, where the clip-mechanism gets contact to the card, is equipped with rubber pads to reduce noise and keep it safe and tight in place. | The Power supply slot bars are coated with anti vibration rubber strips. The mounting clip is also aligned with rubber to reduce vibrations but also and also secure the PSU without scratching the painted surface. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Left Side part 1
Overview |
Features |
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| The side panels you'll find are made of brushed aluminium. If we remove the side panel, we find lots of space to install hardware. At this point we have to mention that the side panels don't fit as accurately as with other more expensive cases from Lian Li. If you'd like to install a very long graphic card like for example an nVidia GTX 295 or an ATI Radeon 5970 this isn't a problem at all thanks to the cases comfortable depth. | Regarding the design of the PC-P50's top we find that Lian Li diverges from their standard "box-design". Because of the fans which are mounted on the top they had to alter the shape. |
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| The Multibay has three mounting bars to fix the drives without using a screwdriver. Additionally the mounting bars are equiped with rubber pads to keep the drives tightly in place. They even reduce vibration and therefore noise produced by the drives. | The drive bays have been split into three different compartments. At the bottom we find acage for hard drives, in the center you can mount either another cage for hard drives or DVD/CD-drives and in the top are you preferably install DVD/CD-drives bacause of the very easy to handle fitting mechanism. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Left Side part 2
Overview |
Features |
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| The in principal very practical mounting mechnism for hard drives comes with some problems combined with the PC-P50. Because of the reason that it is built into the case lenghtwise you'll have to slide the hard drive cages out towards the power supply. Therefore if the power supply is already mounted in the case, the hard drive cage will collide at least with the PSU's cables. The worst case scenario is that you wont be able to remove a hard drive cage at all when the power supply is mounted. | At the front side of the hard drive cage you'll find a 120 millemter fan which works at 1200 rpm. Futhermore the fan can be categorized as silent. |
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| Installing hard drives is very easy, and tool-less. Place the hard disk into the aluminum cage, and close the clip to secure it. | Even todays biggest graphic cards like for example the NVIDIA GTX 295 or ATI Radeon 5970 can be put into the PC-P50 without any getting any difficulties. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Right Side
Overview |
Features |
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| At the place we again find nicely brushed aluminium. As on the left side of the case also the right side wont close as perfectly as you might be used to from more expensive Lian Li cases. If you remove the side panel the first thing wich catches your view is the big hole in the mainboard tray. On the right hand side of the 5.25 inch slots you'll find two more holes . | As on the left side we find that Lian Li diverges from their standard "box-design" with the PC-P50 because of the fans which are mounted on the top they had to alter the shape. |
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| In order to make installing a CPU cooler which uses a backplate possible even when the mainboard is already mounted in the case Lian Li cut a comfortably big hole into the mainboard tray. | The mainboard tray has an additional hole for better cablemanagement. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Top
Overview |
Features |
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| All additional connectors including the power and reset switches are located at the top panel. | The top panel is detachable and it can be removed without tools. Underneath there are two 140mm Fans which carry anti vibrtion rubber grommets. These can be tool less removed. |
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| At this point you'll also find Lian Li typical anti vibration rubbers. The fans can easily be pushed in and they also fit tight. Furthermore the possibility to remove the fans is practical when you for example want to afterwards install a new CPU cooler. |
Bottom
Overview |
Features |
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| At the bottom you'll find the feet which Lian Li also mounts many of their other cases. | In the bottom of the cage there are some airducts which are covered with a removable airfilter. |
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Conclusion
With the PC-P50 Lian Li shows a good case which unfortunately has some problems. If we on the other hand look at the price it fits quite well into Lian Li's recent portfolio.
Compared
with other cases from Lian Li the PC-P50 with its 6.6 kg isn't what you call a
super lightweight but still if we compare it with other brands it is on an
overall good level.
If you look at the manufacturing quality it is also good only the side panels
don't fit as tight as you might expect it from Lian Li if you're familiar to
their higher price cases. Regarding 5.25 inch drives, motherboard as well as the
expansion cards Lian Li equipped the PC-P50 with very good features and also
plenty of space around the different components. Quite a faulty design tough is
the installation of the hard drives. Therefore Lian Li uses the right components
but the arrangement is just suboptimal. If you want to exchange or add a hard
drive whilst the power supply is already installed you wont be able to remove
the carriage from the cage. You're forced to remove the power supply in order to
add or exchange a hard drive.
Futhermore very practical is the fastening mechanism for expansion cards which
couldn't be any better. It is simple and the cards are bolted to the case.
Overall it is quite difficult to recommend this product although it's a good case. The problem therefore are other cases in Lian Li's portfolio. For a bit more money you'll get a PC-9 which is one of the best Midi-Tower on the market and for a bit less you get a Lancool K62 whose design is nearly analogous but the chassis is made of steel. If you're looking for an aluminium Midi Tower but you do not want to spend CHF 200.- (est. EUR 132.-) you're can consider buying a PC-P50.
The Lian Li PC-P50 can be bought at Digitec to a price of CHF 179.- (est. EUR 119.-).
| Page 1 - Intorduction | Page 6 - Left side 2 |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 7 - Right side |
| Page 3 - Front | Page 8 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 4 - Back | Page 9 - Conclusion |
| Page 5 - Left side 1 |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: t.rothenburg@ocaholic.ch Redacted by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch