Outside
There were a couple things I noticed right away when I pulled the PC-10N out. First, this is the first Lian Li case that I have had in to review with angled corners on both front corners. Along with that, the second I pulled the plastic off the PC-10N I had already put oily fingerprints on the case. You will see the here and there in my photos, the spots stand out even more under lighting but it is the downside to the PC-10N’s all aluminum design. Having said that the benefits were obvious as soon as I picked the case up to move it around, it is very lite weight.
The overall look of the case is very Lian Li and very clean. Every detail including the front panel and bay covers are all aluminum, this gives it their signature Lian Li styling. The fit and finish is tight as expected as well. Starting at the front of the case you will find three drive bays as well as a tall vented area from just under the power button to the bottom of the case. At the bottom of the vented area you have the Lian Li logo as well. Speaking of the power button, this is the one part of the case that isn’t aluminum and I feel that the button feels a little out of place for some reason. I think it’s the large round plastic that doesn’t go with the boxy aluminum design.
Each side has an angled corner, giving it a unique look as well as a great location for the front I/O panel. You get two USB 3.0 ports as well as your HD audio connections. Up higher up there are also two tiny dots that when powered up are your power and HDD activity’s LEDs.
The front panel can be pulled off quickly if needed as well. This gives you access to the drive bay covers as well as the removable filters on both of the cases two 120mm front intake fans.
Over on the left side of the PC-10N things are fairly basic. There isn’t a side panel window but you do have a nice vented area up in the top left area near the CPU of your motherboard. This is a little different; normally I see something like this over the GPUs for cooling air for tight multi GPU setups.
On the flip side of the PC-10N, the side panel is completely basic. This isn’t anything unexpected, there isn’t much to see behind a motherboard.
The top of the PC-10N is fairly basic as well but there is a filler plate that you can remove to additional ventilation if you need it. I love that this filler plate fits perfectly flush and at a quick glance you most likely wouldn’t even see it.
The back of the PC-10N does look a little aged with the silver color where a lot of companies are now making sure to continue to black theme all the way around the case. The same goes for the steel wire fan grill, a perforation cut into the case here would look a lot more current. Just under the fan grill you have two water cooling tube holes for external water cooling. The 8 expansion slots mean you will be able to run up to four video cards as long as your motherboard and pocketbook supports it. Your power supply is mounted down at the bottom and Lian Li even slipped in a small vent next to the power supply for a little more airflow, similar to the vented expansion slots as well.
I love the spun aluminum feet that Lian Li uses on their cases and the PC-10N is no different. They are high quality and fit perfectly with the all-aluminum design. Along with those feet, on the bottom of the PC-10N you also have a removable fan filter for the Power Supply intake fan. I like that they included a filter here, but you have to turn your pc on its side in order to be able to remove and clean this filter, they should look at a design that avoids that in the future if possible.
