# Thermaltake LANBOX Lite



## Darksaber (Mar 30, 2007)

The Lanbox Lite is geared toward the budget minded user, while still giving you all the benefits of its more expensive Lanbox brethren. With a large price difference of around 30-40 USD and no major differences, besides the front of the case, this is an easy choice for anyone wanting an affordable small form factor case. We try it out and let you know if it is just as good as the bigger, more expensive variant.

*Show full review*


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## technicks (Apr 10, 2007)

Man that is one of the coolest cases i have seen. Espacialy the one with the window.
Very nice for HTPC.

Nice review btw.


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## mcloughj (Apr 11, 2007)

Hi, Would anyone know if the new thermaltake maxorb will fit into this bad boy? by the dimensions that i've read it would be a close fit! the maxorb is 95.5 mm tall but judging by the height it would just squeeze in!


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## Zalmann (Apr 11, 2007)

It's a great looking box, and it doesn't look out of place in a HTPC setup also.


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## dosmond (Apr 20, 2007)

I do like the case, but wouldn't it make more sense to have mounted the psu fan pointing downward?  in that way also sucking warm air off the cpu, instead of sucking in cold air from outside the case, and just blowing it straight out the psu?  As for the long video card issue, I doubt it's a big thing, like the review said use the floppy bay for the hd, who uses floppies nowdays anyway? and since optical drives are all in one units you can use a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 converter there as well for another hd.


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## Darksaber (Apr 21, 2007)

dosmond said:


> I do like the case, but wouldn't it make more sense to have mounted the psu fan pointing downward?  in that way also sucking warm air off the cpu, instead of sucking in cold air from outside the case, and just blowing it straight out the psu?  As for the long video card issue, I doubt it's a big thing, like the review said use the floppy bay for the hd, who uses floppies nowdays anyway? and since optical drives are all in one units you can use a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 converter there as well for another hd.



Well the two rear fans do a great job at blowing the hot air out. I have been using the Lanbox and the Lanbox Lite in such a config, one with a 3200+ the other with a X2 4600+. Both work great and temps are normal. My main editorial rig uses the X2 and I can now turn down the fans of the PSU all the way even at full load with a GF8800GTS.

Yes very true about the optical drive bay, it can be used for a second hard drive, but one should only need to make so many sacrifices to have the benefits of something else. Especially in a case like this. It is nice though that Thermaltake is letting us know that there is a way to mount a 8800GTX. What I wonder about is them R600 

cheers
DS


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## flashdim (Apr 23, 2007)

This seems to be the only place where someone has reviewed the LANBox Lite so far, so I have a question (since I really like the layout of the case and am looking to buy one)...

How do the front drive bay doors work?  Do they flip down when an optical drive ejects, and are they spring loaded or anything like that?  If I were to put an instrument panel or a bunch of extra USB/eSATA inputs in one of the 5" bays, would it be accessible?

Thanks!


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## Darksaber (Apr 23, 2007)

They are flip down, which means they have a spring loaded door. This flips down when the tray front of a drive forces it open. As soon as the drive returns to its closed position the door flips back up. 

I am afraid there is no way to fit any type of front panel inside the case, without having to remove the entire drive cover, which is larger than the drive itself. You would need to mod it to fit a front panel.

If you have any more questions, drop me a PM 

cheers
DS


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## flashdim (Apr 23, 2007)

Doh!  Maybe I could find a way to remove the doors, place mini-handles on them, and then put them back in place.

Man, I can't just leave well enough alone.  Gotta mod everything.


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## rhythmeister (May 3, 2007)

Who's selling them in the UK tho? I think I need to replace this rather refined Lian Li case in my sig' with something a bit more showy now like that in black with windows, mmm!


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## mcloughj (May 3, 2007)

I haven't found anyone selling them yet either. a few on ebay from the states, but that's not really helpful!


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## Darksaber (May 4, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> Who's selling them in the UK tho? I think I need to replace this rather refined Lian Li case in my sig' with something a bit more showy now like that in black with windows, mmm!



Well the case is fairly new. Let me try to find out where it will be sold in the Uk. I will get back to you ASAP.

cheers
DS


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## rhythmeister (May 4, 2007)

Cheers DS, I'm VERY interested...as long as I can find a worthy buyer for the Lian Li case


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## mcloughj (May 5, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> Cheers DS, I'm VERY interested...as long as I can find a worthy buyer for the Lian Li case



I like the look of your case! So if you are selling i might be interested. I'm in ireland though!


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## rhythmeister (May 8, 2007)

Well, the plot thickens! I managed to get a reply from Sharon @ Thermaltake who tells me that no UK retailers are buying this from them but she DID advise that I contact VIP computers who turn out to be a wholesalers. They don't talk when they pick up their phone tho, just silence, so they must be a very meek lot


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## Zboiing (May 10, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> Hi, Would anyone know if the new thermaltake maxorb will fit into this bad boy? by the dimensions that i've read it would be a close fit! the maxorb is 95.5 mm tall but judging by the height it would just squeeze in!



No the MaxOrb can't fit in it. I first would like this one but I need to change for the Blue Ordb II


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## Zboiing (May 10, 2007)

*Got One ! Yeah !*

 I just have mine yesterday, and it's so beautiful ! Black and shiny !


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## rhythmeister (May 10, 2007)

Zboiing said:


> I just have mine yesterday, and it's so beautiful ! Black and shiny !



Stop teasing me!


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## mcloughj (May 11, 2007)

Zboiing said:


> No the MaxOrb can't fit in it. I first would like this one but I need to change for the Blue Ordb II




Cool. thanks for letting me know. Solid.


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## Zboiing (May 12, 2007)

*Yeah*

 

Here it is !!!!!!!!!!

But the board had some problems last night  

Don't know wtah's going on.


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## Quinncint (May 12, 2007)

Is this beast able to fit a standard ATX Power Supply in it?  I've not been able to find any info on if it can or not, only that I will have to swap my ATX Motherboard for a mATX board.

Also, I know that at 280mm in length, the 8800GTX has some issues fitting, with the extra HDD cradle in place, but my XFX8800GTS 320mb is only 230mm in length.  Will I have the same issues as it's big brother?

*EDIT*

Would you people recommend EVGA NFORCE4 SLI S939 mATX as a decent motherboard?  I have considered upgrading from s939 to AM2, but I'm not prepared to ditch my current cpu and memory at the moment.  The cost would be to much for me at this point in time.


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## Zboiing (May 16, 2007)

Ok now everything is on control. But I'm a little concerned about CPU temperature. I have a Pentium D 2.8 and a Thermaltake blue Orb II : CPU reaches 65 C (149 F) and the board is 42 C (108 F) in idle mode.
But it's truly QUIET ! (I have an Vantec ION 2 350W).


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## rhythmeister (May 17, 2007)

Why is that on yr desk and not mine?! Would any other Europeans here like to join me in requesting that Thermaltwonk sell the damn thing here???


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## mcloughj (May 21, 2007)

A dude in germany is selling them on ebay:
100euro including delivery in europe

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Thermaltake-LANBox-Lite-VF6000BWS-BNS_W0QQitemZ280111002929QQihZ018QQcategoryZ77173QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem


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## Grings (May 22, 2007)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Thermalta...ryZ51064QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

here too, usa, but they do ship worldwide


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## tkpenalty (May 22, 2007)

Quinncint said:


> Is this beast able to fit a standard ATX Power Supply in it?  I've not been able to find any info on if it can or not, only that I will have to swap my ATX Motherboard for a mATX board.
> 
> Also, I know that at 280mm in length, the 8800GTX has some issues fitting, with the extra HDD cradle in place, but my XFX8800GTS 320mb is only 230mm in length.  Will I have the same issues as it's big brother?
> 
> ...



SLI MATX?! This i must get!

Yes Full size ATX PSUs will fit.


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## rhythmeister (May 22, 2007)

Grings said:


> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Thermalta...ryZ51064QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
> 
> here too, usa, but they do ship worldwide


Yeah, they want $100 to send internationally, I figure that must include a hand-job voucher for yr local house of ill repute too  

I'll be getting mine from Germany


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## DaMulta (May 22, 2007)

I wish they made a case like this for full size boards.


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## rhythmeister (May 22, 2007)

DaMulta said:


> I wish they made a case like this for full size boards.



You full size boys can get nice Silverstone and Thermaltake ATX cases sure!


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## dfy (May 27, 2007)

Good job on the review!
I'm in need of a small, attractive case that could hold 4 hard drives.
I'm planning on buying this case to let it serve as a NAS (I'm going for ULTRA cheap and small)
Can anybody guess if there would be enough airflow to cool down such a config in this case?

These items would go in:

```
MB: Gigabyte [URL="http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2373"]GA-M61PM-S2[/URL]
CPU: AMD Sempron 3200+ Boxed
RAM: Kingston ValueRam Dual Channel 1024 MB, PC5300 (kit of 2 x 512MB)
DVD: NEC DVD-RW AD-5170
PSU: Zalman [URL="http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=195&code=015"]ZM360B-APS[/URL] 360 Watt
HD: Samsung SpinPoint T166 500 GB (4x)
mounting 1 HD in 5.25" bay: [URL="http://www.nexustek.nl/disktwin_hdd_vibration_killer_aluminium_or_black.htm"]Nexus[/URL]
```


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## mcloughj (May 28, 2007)

dfy said:


> Good job on the review!
> I'm in need of a small, attractive case that could hold 4 hard drives.
> I'm planning on buying this case to let it serve as a NAS (I'm going for ULTRA cheap and small)
> Can anybody guess if there would be enough airflow to cool down such a config in this case?
> ...



I'd guess that it shouldn't have much trouble handling that. the sempron runs cool enough, the 4 hdd's might whip up a bit of heat though! But if they are anything like the samsung 250gb drives, it should be ok.


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## dfy (May 28, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> I'd guess that it shouldn't have much trouble handling that. the sempron runs cool enough, the 4 hdd's might whip up a bit of heat though! But if they are anything like the samsung 250gb drives, it should be ok.



It's the hard drives I'm worried about. I'm using a Samsung SP2504C in a passively cooled HTPC (so no airflow) in a box, and it gets 56°C continuously. Although I have no problems with it whatsoever, I'm still a little bit worried 4 HD's will give me heating problems.

I guess it's anybody's guess what will happen, but I was hoping maybe somebody is using this case with more than 1 HD.

Thanks for your thoughts


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## mcloughj (May 28, 2007)

dfy said:


> It's the hard drives I'm worried about. I'm using a Samsung SP2504C in a passively cooled HTPC (so no airflow) in a box, and it gets 56°C continuously. Although I have no problems with it whatsoever, I'm still a little bit worried 4 HD's will give me heating problems.
> 
> I guess it's anybody's guess what will happen, but I was hoping maybe somebody is using this case with more than 1 HD.
> 
> Thanks for your thoughts



Well i'll be trying to shove 3 (2x320gb seagates and 1 250gb samsung) into one of these when i get mine... i'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, i paid the guy selling on ebay for these on tuesday, but still haven't heard a thing from him. i'll post here when i hear something.

UPDATE: Apparently they made a mistake with the address and the delivery ended being returned. They are dispatching again and fingers crosssed it'll be with me soon! !


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## dfy (May 28, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> Well i'll be trying to shove 3 (2x320gb seagates and 1 250gb samsung) into one of these when i get mine... i'll let you know how it goes.
> 
> Meanwhile, i paid the guy selling on ebay for these on tuesday, but still haven't heard a thing from him. i'll post here when i hear something.



Great! That will help me a lot. Especially because those Seagates will probably be a tad hotter than the Samsungs.
I don't know if you were planning to, but would you be willing to mount the 2 Seagates into the 3.5" cage on top of each other? As that would probably become the hottest spot.

Hope everything goes well with the Ebay purchase


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## mcloughj (May 28, 2007)

dfy said:


> Great! That will help me a lot. Especially because those Seagates will probably be a tad hotter than the Samsungs.
> I don't know if you were planning to, but would you be willing to mount the 2 Seagates into the 3.5" cage on top of each other? As that would probably become the hottest spot.
> 
> Hope everything goes well with the Ebay purchase



was thinking of the following:
one in the floppy cage, one in the hdd cage and the last one below the dvd drive, just to spread them out. remember that the front fan will be right beside the hdd cage so it should cool sufficiently. I might try out diff configs to find the coolest, having two in the cage with the fan could be the coolest arrangement!


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## dfy (May 28, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> was thinking of the following:
> one in the floppy cage, one in the hdd cage and the last one below the dvd drive, just to spread them out. remember that the front fan will be right beside the hdd cage so it should cool sufficiently. I might try out diff configs to find the coolest, having two in the cage with the fan could be the coolest arrangement!



Ahh I totally didn't catch that front fan! I was thinking because I plan to add 4 drives the 2 in the cage would be the hottest.
Well, that should make it even more interesting and gives me hope 4 drives will be fine 

I'm very much tempted to click on the "buy now" button, but I still want to wait for your tests.
Ah well, maybe in the mean time the prices will drop again for the Samsung drives 

Btw, do you know if the case fans can be speed controlled? (with speedfan for example).


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## rhythmeister (May 30, 2007)

Would this beast fit in there?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180124445408&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=008

I like the blackness (seeing as my Antec is grimy silver) and the modularness, mmm


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## Falru (May 31, 2007)

I think i'm definitely gonna get this case, i've never been one to need 4 1337 GB hard drives and a nVIDIA Super Omega Alpha XyzForce video card.

Just 2 HD's and a XFX GeForce 7900 GS suits me just fine, and I take my PC to my friends a lot, so this case looks like the thing for me  I've always been a fan of the "computer-in-a-box" feel, like a PC I saw at a store was in a perfect cube box that was completely see through and i thought it was so cool. 

I also like that the motherboard is flat so the cards/cooler stick straight up, instead of horizontally out into space (i dunno why but i've never liked that about PC's)


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## mcloughj (Jun 1, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> Would this beast fit in there?
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180124445408&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=008
> 
> I like the blackness (seeing as my Antec is grimy silver) and the modularness, mmm


 Looks like a standard sized psu to me, so it should be fine. It's not like you are trying to squeeze a 1000w enermax galaxy in there. I don't think i've ever heard of jeantech before... have you looked at reviews?


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## mcloughj (Jun 1, 2007)

Falru said:


> I also like that the motherboard is flat so the cards/cooler stick straight up, instead of horizontally out into space (i dunno why but i've never liked that about PC's)



Yeah i like the idea too... would have liked it better if the case had room for my zalman 9500 cooler, the flat mobo would have made much better use of the heatpipes! Oh well... lets hope the thermaltake blue orb is up to the challenge!


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## rhythmeister (Jun 1, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> Looks like a standard sized psu to me, so it should be fine. It's not like you are trying to squeeze a 1000w enermax galaxy in there. I don't think i've ever heard of jeantech before... have you looked at reviews?



I googled her and found it was quite a decent psu. It was some German review site I saw it reviwed on and it was done quite extensively. Not to worry now anyway as I've just won a month old, quad 12V railed, 650W Silverstone ZEUS ST65ZF (new version) for £50 on fleabay WOOT WOOT!


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## Falru (Jun 3, 2007)

rhythmeister said:


> I googled her and found it was quite a decent psu. It was some German review site I saw it reviwed on and it was done quite extensively. Not to worry now anyway as I've just won a month old, quad 12V railed, 650W Silverstone ZEUS ST65ZF (new version) for £50 on fleabay WOOT WOOT!




 love it when i get deals like that, i bought my $200 video card for $55


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## rhythmeister (Jun 9, 2007)

Got the case (after >2 weeks wait when the damn thing came from within Europe) and the Silverstone fits...BUT it has no 4 pin motherboard connector which this board needs! Anybody know where I can buy some sort of molex or pci-e to 4 pins adaptor?!


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## dfy (Jun 15, 2007)

mcloughj, did you test with 3 hard drives yet?
I'm still tempted to buy this case for my DIY NAS but I'm still unsure if it will work out with the heat


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## mcloughj (Jun 15, 2007)

dfy said:


> mcloughj, did you test with 3 hard drives yet?
> I'm still tempted to buy this case for my DIY NAS but I'm still unsure if it will work out with the heat



I'm sorry to say that the whole thing went belly up. Basically the dude selling them left off the most important part of my address and as a result the cases are winging their way back to Germany. I'm very disappointed. sorry i wasn't able to do the tests for you.


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## dfy (Jun 15, 2007)

mcloughj said:


> I'm sorry to say that the whole thing went belly up. Basically the dude selling them left off the most important part of my address and as a result the cases are winging their way back to Germany. I'm very disappointed. sorry i wasn't able to do the tests for you.



No problem, I'm pretty sure I will go for this config anyway, I just wanted to be sure if it will work. I'll let you guys know how it works out


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## Pieterke (Jun 17, 2007)

I'm planning on buying this very hot case too, but I have a question.
Would a Blue Orb FX (the one with the turning leds on it that show temperature and Db) fit in this case?


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## mcloughj (Jun 18, 2007)

Pieterke said:


> I'm planning on buying this very hot case too, but I have a question.
> Would a Blue Orb FX (the one with the turning leds on it that show temperature and Db) fit in this case?



Just going on the review the basic blue orb II is a tight fit at 66mm, but the blue orb fx comes in at 85mm which might be a little too big.


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## Falru (Jun 29, 2007)

Yay the case arrived! Now I just need to wait for all my other hardware 

Any info on what CPU coolers fit this case (mainly height issues due to PSU) would be greatly appreciated


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## mcloughj (Jun 29, 2007)

Falru said:


> Yay the case arrived! Now I just need to wait for all my other hardware
> 
> Any info on what CPU coolers fit this case (mainly height issues due to PSU) would be greatly appreciated



They used the thermaltake blue orb in the review, so that should be fine for you. I got one myself, it's pretty good, no heatpipes though. Zalman do a low profile cooler, but i think it would be a little louder.


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## Snoopy13 (Dec 22, 2007)

So what is the max CPU height? I guess many people bought this case till this day


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## rhythmeister (Jan 5, 2008)

Snoopy13 said:


> So what is the max CPU height? I guess many people bought this case till this day



About 10cm MAX as the psu will be RIGHT above the cooler


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