A Closer Look - Inside

Taking the side off is quite easy. There are no screws holding the panel in place. Simply unscrew a thumb screw, pull on it and the lock releases the entire panel. Lian Li has added sound dampening for the bottom area of the X500. This is where the CPU and GPU and three of the case fans are located, so it should help nicely in keeping everything quiet. The other side can be taken off the chassis as well. Here you will not find anything out of the ordinary. Lian Li has routed the cables down this side to the mainboard area. This should keep things nice and tidy - a must for such a compact chassis.


Taking a closer look at the interior, it is divided into two sections. This should help keep temperatures down and allow for better, cleaner airflow. The larger, bottom area is intended for your mainboard. As you can see, Lian Li has kept the general layout of the X500 identical to that of the X2000. Instead of three 140 mm fans there are two 120 mm ones to create an airflow which enters in the front and exits in the rear - straight and simple. The top space is reserved for all drives and the power supply. Both hard drive bays are removable, so you can easily fill them up.


Moving our focus to the front of the chassis, let us start with the fan controller. It can power up to four units, with the help of that installed splitter cable. This means that all fans can be hooked up to the controller. The two front fans feature traditional, metal grills, which are painted black as well. All cooling fans in the case may be powered by the fancontroller/mainboard or directly by the power supply with the use of Molex adapters. This gives you total control over the cooling components inside the X500.


The inside scoop of the rear does not bear any surprises. On the bottom, the mainboard expansion slot covers are secured by black thumb screws, while the fan is identical to those in the front. It just blows out the back to assist in creating the afore mentioned air flow. The top compartment with its PSU bay and additional fan looks spacious enough to fit a bit larger PSUs. An anti-vibration lining in place to help reduce any such noise.