Lian Li PC-V355 review

The Lian Li PC-V355 is a sleek and attractive chassis that could easily be mistaken for a piece of top-end hi-fi equipment at first glance, especially because it sits on four round, silver-coloured feet. Indeed, its design makes it an obvious choice for the basis of a living room-based media PC, but the PC-V355 doesn’t limit you to building a glorified media streamer.

The Lian Li PC-V355 chassis is attractive and wouldn’t look out of place in your living room

It’s 470x350x336 (HxWxD) in size, and provides room for up to three internal 3.5in, one 2.5in drive and one external 5.25in drive. Your motherboard options are microATX and Mini-ITX, but there’s enough space for up to four full-size expansion cards and a standard ATX PSU.

Although it initially looks as if it’s hewn from a solid block of aluminium, the PC-V355 actually has two easily detached side panels that snap on and off without the use of screws. This makes it incredibly easy to get in to the PC-V355, but it also means there are many sharp edges. It also has a pull-out motherboard tray to ease the install and maintenance of your preferred board. The tray is held in place by four chunky thumbscrews, so you’ll have no problems withdrawing it. Similarly, the PSU must be attached to a mounting bracket which is then screwed onto the case.

Thanks to the removable motherboard tray, installing components is straightforward and can be done outside the case. There’s also 3-4in of space between the front panel and the motherboard tray, so you shouldn’t have a problem attaching power, SATA and front-panel cables to the motherboard. The internal drive bay might obscure some items, but you can always withdraw the motherboard tray slightly to access them.

The Lian Li PC-V355 has two quiet 120mm intake fans and a removable motherboard tray

Your single 5.25in drive can be installed on the left- or right-hand side of the PC-V355. Simply slide it into position and screw it in. Your 3.5in drives are installed in a hanging bay on the right-hand side of the case. Because of its depth, the PC-V355 can accommodate graphics cards up to 310mm in length, which means you can use some powerful GPUs.