Lian Li Announces 'The Hammer' PC-90 Chassis

[btarunr]

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd, maker of high-end, all-aluminum computer chassis for over 12 years, today introduced a full-tower chassis, the PC-90. Available in striking black or silver hairline-brushed, anodized metal casing, the PC-90, also known as 'The Hammer', represents the best of Made-in-Taiwan ingenuity and quality, with the ease of tool-less design.

The Lian Li PC-90's unique internal layout allows large HPTX motherboards to be held in a standard, full-tower case with a weight of only 6.6kg. 'The Hammer' PC-90 is light and compact, and can easily fit under a desk like a standard PC chassis. This makes the chassis an excellent solution for systems/servers/workstations without needing a large, heavy steel case.



Instead of standard HDD cages that obstruct internal air-flow, the PC-90's HDD drives are mounted vertically on two trays inside the left side panel. This way, the entire back of the case can be used to hold the motherboard, even enabling a larger HPTX or server motherboard to fit into the standard, full-tower chassis.

The Lian Li PC-90 offers the advantage of two 140mm front fans blowing cool air directly and unrestricted over the motherboard and VGA card to the rear 120mm fan. Its sturdy HDD trays on the side of the case lock firmly into place in order to avoid vibration. Nonetheless, the trays can be easily removed via thumbscrew, allowing for easy installation of three 3.5" HDDs in the front and three more 2.5" drives on the back of the two trays, for a total of 12 HDD drives for the entire system. Thanks to the chassis design without HDD cages, 'The Hammer' supports video cards up to 400mm length and also offers a tool-less graphics card holder. To support modern motherboards and avoid having to use external connectors, the case is equipped with USB 3.0 for 20-pin connector.

Rounding out the Lian Li PC-90's superior features are its cable organization system and liquid cooling holes. Washable air filters offer easy-to-remove, and recyclable, computer protection. For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Frick]

Yeah well, why not?

Seems like a hassle that you have to remove the trays when accessing the motherboard though. Especially if it's filled up with HDD's, and I'm also thinking how the cabling is done then. And airflow over the drives facing the side of the case.

Should be interesting to see a review.

 

[El_Mayo]

I don't see a price on the website for it

 

[Drone]

Washable air filters haha. I can imagine a scene:

Darling, I finished my dinner, you can wash the dishes now. And yeah don't forget air filters too.

 

[erixx]

at my house THAT happens, yeah, hahahahaha

And bay systems for optic and hdd are due for a rethinking long time ago!!!!! most people don't have 4-6 ODD but yet most cases are like that...

 

[Disparia]

Nice.

I bet that one of their windowed side-panels fit this case, for those less interested in storage and more into having a clean and simple HPTX/eATX build with a couple dual-GPU cards and a PCIe SSD.

Though for an epic build, they could have put the drives on the other side. Everything would always be accessible and the wiring clean.

 

[AsRock]

i like the idea my self fronts free to flow air directly in to the case. i hope there is enough room to put 6 120mm fans over the hdd area's . Is a shame about the front as they could of took even more advantage over it too low 3 x120mm fans in the front.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Reminds me of that Windy chassis from way back

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Wait so in order to clean the case and or add/ upgrade parts you have to disconnect all the hard drives then remove the tray they sit on . .. . SERIOUS FAIL!

 

[pentastar111]

Wait so in order to clean the case and or add/ upgrade parts you have to disconnect all the hard drives then remove the tray they sit on . .. . SERIOUS FAIL!

Im sure that it just folds down, or is at least easy to take apart. i seriously doubt they would make something a complete pain in the ass, especially when the competition is so shark like these days.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Im sure that it just folds down, or is at least easy to take apart. i seriously doubt they would make something a complete pain in the ass, especially when the competition is so shark like these days.

No you can see it doesn't fold and even if it did, you would still need to disconnect the cables of the hard drives, it's held in with screws, the point is it's far too much work to get into the guts of your computer in this case (see what I did there).

 

[pentastar111]

No you can see it doesn't fold and even if it did, you would still need to disconnect the cables of the hard drives, it's held in with screws, the point is it's far too much work to get into the guts of your computer in this case (see what I did there).

I was just trying to be optimistic...lol after looking at it it closer it is vewry apparent it would be a pain. not much use for the guys who constantly upgrade cards and what-not. lol...good eye.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

I was just trying to be optimistic...lol after looking at it it closer it is vewry apparent it would be a pain. not much use for the guys who constantly upgrade cards and what-not. lol...good eye.

IF and only IF it did fold down with 1 thumb screw and came with the sata cables of the needed length so I didn't have to unplug them, I would be all over this, but sadly it looks as though this is a design that wasn't executed in a good way.

 

[Widjaja]

IF and only IF it did fold down with 1 thumb screw and came with the sata cables of the needed length so I didn't have to unplug them, I would be all over this, but sadly it looks as though this is a design that wasn't executed in a good way.

I agree they could have made it so it had latches or a couple of screws with a hinge on one side so the whole HDD panel swings open like some cases do with the pack panel for motherboards.

 

[Thrackan]

Very nice case to put a rad in the front I definitely like the HDD tray idea, that saves a good amount of space. Should be done in more cases.

 

[erixx]

Guys that see problems with this hdd system: very true but nobody (at least Lian Li, ha) said this is a case for a product reviewer who installs new parts all day long...

 

[IceCreamBarr]

Great technology... why did they make it look fugly though? Unlike Lian Li to do that.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Guys that see problems with this hdd system: very true but nobody (at least Lian Li, ha) said this is a case for a product reviewer who installs new parts all day long...

I am not a reviewer, I simply leave my computers on 24/7 and as such they get dusty fast so I blow them out once a month, but that system would make it a pain to blow out my video card and really anything else, hence the fail.

 

[Thrackan]

I am not a reviewer, I simply leave my computers on 24/7 and as such they get dusty fast so I blow them out once a month, but that system would make it a pain to blow out my video card and really anything else, hence the fail.

At first I was like "wut?", but then I realized this wasn't done the clean and neat way (hide the HDD's behind the motherboard tray!) but the annoying way

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

At first I was like "wut?", but then I realized this wasn't done the clean and neat way (hide the HDD's behind the motherboard tray!) but the annoying way

Exactly if it was behind the mobo tray no one would care I mean aside from installing a new heatsink that uses a back plate (which is a pain to do no matter what), I would be all over this but Lian LI went for fail bear status.

 

[El_Mayo]

Is this way of mounting HDD any good cooling wise?

 

[erixx]

Exactly if it was behind the mobo tray no one would care I mean aside from installing a new heatsink that uses a back plate (which is a pain to do no matter what), I would be all over this but Lian LI went for fail bear status.

I agree ABSOLUTELY.

This concept is totaly for businesses who do not open their case in years.

 

[pantherx12]

Wait wait, what are lian li thinking?

Vertical hard drives like this are fine, but behind the opposite side panel would of been the better option for 90% of people.

( I see everyone else thinks the same)

 

[CyberDruid]

Finally a case that is built according to the reality that HDDs do not need a damn fan blowing on them like they were precious delicate babies. The fact is the whole layout of modern cases wiith HDDs meeting the initial airstream is backwards. If anything HDDs should be cooled last...or use the metal of the case as a heatsink with little or no active cooling. Heat hardly effects HDDs. It's heat cycles that effect HDDs. Wide temp swings are bad...but running along in a constantly hot environment does not hut them at all.

That said I think the idea for mounting the HDDs like that is good...I've done it and it works fine...but should be hidden on the blind side panel.

 

[coolit]

They mount the hard drives with the boards facing inwards. That's where most of the heat is dissipated. Why would they so that?
Hard drives should be in slots, mounted vertically, with an inch or so between them, with a large fan(s) below them blowing from the perforated bottom of the case. Is this so hard? No sata cables needed. Those connections are built into the hard drive slots and connected to the motherboard elsewhere. The Mac Pro used hard drive slots and that worked well in terms of connection. Of course the Apple morons decided to pack them tight with the circuit board mounted facing down so there were huge differences in hard drive temperatures between the 4 available positions. One could mount 6, 8 or 10 sata drives in a small area by stacking them vertically with about 7"-8" of height.. SSD's don't require cooling as they don't produce anything in the way of heat so throw those anywhere you want.