Lian Li PC-X2000FN Review

👤by David Mitchelson Comments 📅05-12-12
Conclusion

Whenever we get anything in for review from Lian Li we always feel excited due to their sensational products and unique approach to case design. But regardless of reputation we always analyse a product without any pre-conceived opinion; Lian Li have impressed before, have they done it again with X2000FN?

X2000FN is quite easily one of the biggest computer cases we have had the pleasure of working with at Vortez. It stands tall in stature both with its physical dimensions and its excellent build quality. As with many Lian Li cases, X2000FN does not compromise on styling but rather settles with the minimalist approach and does a great job at looking sleek and professional.

As you can well imagine the chassis is very roomy and even has space to hide a small child. M-ATX, ATX, XL-ATX and E-ATX are provided for and with these form factors come a very generous amount of clearance for high-end kit such as long graphics cards and big CPU coolers. Some will be puzzled by the lack of water-cooling support with X2000FN but it was never Lian Li’s intention to enable such a feature; this case is primarily designed for air cooling - if this wasn’t obvious the five pre-installed cooling fans is quite a give-away!



One particular aspect in which X2000FN shines is the oodles of storage options, there are HDD cages found in each of the three zones and furthermore the 3.5” cages are furnished with hot-swappable ports to allow quick and easy access to your drives.

X2000FN’s feature-set is rich with options to help assist with building a clean, tidy system in next to no time. Cable management has been well thought out and there are even graphics card retention pegs to take the stress of the PCI slots of your motherboard. One particular favourite of ours is the PCI retention lever system; this does away with thumbscrews and replaces an archaic method with a much more robust system.

Pricing for X2000FN is quite a conundrum and something which Lian Li devotees will only be too familiar with. X2000FN is available for a princely sum of £390; far beyond what many will pay per individual components going into the chassis. Weighing up the justifications for the price we can understand why the case would be expensive based on the engineering of a fully aluminium chassis with just about every feature you could wave a stick at, it just won’t sit well with many.

Lian Li’s PC-X2000FN is an absolute monolith; in stature, feature-set and build quality. To avid Lian Li fans this case will be the case to own because it oozes flair and finesse, but to those outside the circle the high-cost might be just too much to stomach. Based on our experience with X2000FN we are pleased to give this case our much revered Elite award.

Pros
+ Beautiful to the eye
+ Unmatched build quality
+ Very roomy
+ Numerous useful features
+ Good clearance options
+ Great cable management
+ Lots of storage options w/ docking
+ Five fans included w/ fan controller

Cons
- Front fan cables do not reach fan controller
- No WC support
- Cost



Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.


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