A Closer Look - Inside

Upon pulling the sliding lock of the side panel, the Aluminum sheet can easily be removed. Just like on the inside of the front door, you will find sound dampening foam on these panels as well. In total, Lian Li has lined the front and both side panels, but not the top or bottom of the chassis. I am sure that the addition of such material does provide a benefit, I do not think the difference will be so vast that it will be noticeable to the user - especially considering the material used.


The inside of the V2120 presents itself in a well though out fashion. Thermal chambers, excellent spacing and well placed drive bays maximize what can be done with the space provided. No area is left unused, while still giving you enough room to work without feeling crowded. This is especially true for the mainboard area. The only thing I did miss a bit are more openings in the tray to allow for more flexbile cable routing, but the provided holes should be sufficient nonetheless. Turning the case around, it is apparent that the cables come pre-routed so that you can dive right into installation without much worry. A large opening above the main CPU area will allow for easy cooler exchange without having to take apart the entire system. Another such hole is not present where the second CPU on an EVGA SR2 would be. This is simply due to the fact, that the V2120 has a removable mainboard tray so that is a trade-off in favor for structural integrity.


As I mentioned before, Lian Li has tried to use all areas of the chassis effectively. This is especially true for the 3.5 inch hard drive bays as there are three separate areas for them. There is the cage in the bottom compartment which can hold up to three drives which are held in place by special screws, then there is the main hard drive cage for up to seven drives, and a 5.25 inch cage for an additional three drives. In total, the V2120 can hold 13 3.5 inch drives, 10 of which are directly cooled by fans - very impressive! I doubt anyone will need more space these days.


Then there is cooling: upon removing the large hard drive cage, you can clearly see the two 140 mm fans, which have dust filters as well and can easily be removed by pulling them to the side and then back, along with an another 140 mm in the middle of the chassis. Adding the one in the rear of the chassis and the 120 mm unit on the 5.25 inch hard drive cage, we are up to five cooling units within the V2120. This is plenty for such a chassis, but you also have the option to install three more fans in the ceiling of the case. Lian Li has covered these areas with solid panels aiming to contain any noise within the chassis. It also looks like you may be able to install a triple radiator in the ceiling and a 240 mm one in the front of the chassis if you choose to sacrifice the seven hard drive bays.


Taking a quick look at the afore mentioned hard drive bays, one utilizes special screws to hold the drives in place while the other has rubber ringed screws instead. Due to the use of these rubber rings, which are also present in the large hard drive cage, you should not have to worry about any vibrations emanating from these devices. On top of the 13 drive bays, Lian Li has also included a pair of 2.5 inch bays on the Aluminum sheet above the PSU bay. These use a similar setup to hold drive in place with rubber rings. These bring the total of installable drives to 15 - crazy and unmatched by any other chassis out there.


The GPU support beam is something we have seen in previous Lian Li cases and it has not really changed much over time. This is used to push down and secure the expansion cards, reducing the strain on the mainboard PCB.


As already mentioned, the mainboard tray can be removed completely for easy installation of all the components outside of the chassis. It rests on Aluminum rails and is held in place by a fairly large number of screws, so you should not have to worry about a fully loaded rig falling apart.


Now, having covered all of the interior, there is still the back area. In the bottom you have the PSU bay, which should be able to hold any unit you can throw at it. Even the longest ones have enough room, but you may have to remove the hard drive bay in the process. As I mentioned before, the 11 expansion slots do not feature the cool Aluminum locking mechanism we have come to love in the Lian Li cases. This is a minor disappointement, as there is obviously the possibility to have them in there. Considering the price of the chassis, I feel a bit left out, as other offerings which are considered mainstream do have these in place and buyers of this huge and expensive case are asked to spend even more money to get the same features. On the very top there is the 140 mm exhaust fan with a standard grill to protect your fingers and avoid any cables getting caught in the blades.


Last but not least, there are the cables. Lian Li has opted to keep things traditional here to guarantee the best compatibility to the boards out there. While the case ones are of the normal, colorful variant, the I/O ones are all black - even the USB 3.0 leads. As you can see there are four such connectors. two of them are intended to be connected to the mainboard and two to the rear of the chassis. I would have liked to see another USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter so that you could connect all four internally instead of just two.