A Closer Look - Outside

We specifically requested the red version for this review, as this is a welcome deviation from the norm which usually only gives you a choice between black or silver at most. The construction quality and design of the Lian Li V351 is on par with the company's line of higher midrange enclosures, so do not expect fancy locking mechanisms or elaborate hard drive trays.


To allow for the compact dimensions there are no drive bays on the front of the chassis. It is completely solid and only features a small air vent on the bottom. If you look closely, there is no LED anywhere to be seen. Lian Li has taken the time to color most of the rear red as well. This is by no means a requirement but certainly a nice touch.


Both sides of the V351 have a small air vent on the bottom towards the rear of the chassis. As you can clearly see, there are two external drive bays on either side as well.


Taking a closer look at the front, we find a Lian Li logo in the upper left hand corner and a power and reset combination on the bottom right. The power button actually acts as an LED as well and lights up when the system is turned on.


As mentioned before, both sides of the chassis have two 5.25 inch drive bays. But due to the dimensions, once you have filled one bay with a drive, you will not have the space to place anything in the drive bay on the other side. You may however place an optical drive on top on one side and another device on the bottom bay on the other side. You also get a 3.5 to 5.25 inch drive bay adapter in red on one side. While I am happy to see such an addition, the lack of red drives in combination with the widespread availability of black ones would make the inclusion of such an adapter in black much more interesting. Lian Li has also placed a set of I/O on the right side of the chassis. You will get a single Firewire, two USB 2.0 and a set of audio in- and outputs. It would have been nice to see an eSATA port here as well.


The rear of the V351 may be divided into three areas. The full size PSU bay is located on the top left, being one. Right next to that, you will find a fan covering the three hard drive bays, while the entire bottom area of the rear is taken by the mainboard tray. This piece may be pulled out to allow for easy installation of the board, CPU, cooler and memory along with a graphics card.