Who wouldn't enjoy reviewing a new Lian-Li case? When Hampton Technologies contacted us and asked if we were interested in reviewing a newly released case from Lian-Li, of course we accepted. There was very little information available detailing the features of the PC-767 so I just had to wait until I got my hands on it before I could see what was unique about it. What I found was that although the PC-767 is chock full of Lian-Li quality, sometimes it isn't a good idea to roll out a product just for the sake of having something new. I'll explain further below...

Package

The huge Lian-Li box was delivered quickly and in great shape. I would have thought that a box this big would have been a target for disgruntled deliverymen, but apparently everyone was in a good mood while it was in shipment. I was struck with the size, the box was pushing 3 feet high and I thought to myself, "That case must be one tall mother." What I realized as I opened it up was that the case isn't tall, it is deep. The PC-767 was packed into the box face down; yeah, it's that long. I thought it amusing that nobody but Lian-Li could use the term "perfect design" as part of their advertising without coming off as ostentatious.

Specs

Here are the case specs blatantly ripped from the Lian-Li product page:

- (7x) 5.25", (1x) HDD rack for (4x) hidden HDD, (1x) 5.25" to 3.5" converter with a FDD bezel
- 12 cm ball bearing fan x 2
- EXT ATX M/B (max size: 12"x13"); option back plate of M/B tray for BTX M/B
- USB2.0 x 2, IEEE1394 x 1, MIC x 1, EAR x 1
- 220mm x 490mm x 615mm(W,H,D)
- PCI Slot x 7
- * Fan speed controller

Case Exterior

The exterior of the case has the usual styling that I love, brushed aluminum and understated. There was a substance on the top of the front door that I tried to remove with water and a washcloth but couldn't get it all off. It almost looks like the remnants of some adhesive. I didn't try anything with chemicals in it because I didn't want to accidentally discolor the aluminum until I was finished with this review. The dimensions of the case are great; 8.66 inches wide, 19.29 inches tall, and a full 24.21 inches deep. You'll see how long that actually is when I slap a motherboard in it later. The door is held shut with a small magnet at the base and doesn't completely cover the entire front of the case. The power, reset button, power LED, and HDD activity LED are all left exposed on the right side; it also leaves a gap of a little less than 1/2 inch on the right for airflow, but again more on that later in the review. The left side of the case is done in brushed aluminum and the right side is anodized Black brushed aluminum.

There is plenty of room in this case for whatever your heart desires. There are 7 external 5.25 inch bays to mount your hardware in if you remove the floppy adapter at the top of the case. Notice that all of the bay covers (except for the floppy adapter) are made from perforated aluminum. I am NOT a fan of using perforated case components in order to allow a case to "breath", I much more prefer solid fronts that allow me to direct how I want the air to flow. The perforated bay covers doesn't give you the option of running a positive or negative air pressure case that some of us swear by, everything will just remain even. Near the bottom of the front is where a 120mm intake sits and below that is a fan controller knob for the two included 120mm fans.

On the right-front-bottom of the PC-767 are the external ports. There are a pair of USB, a Firewire, a mic in, and sound out ports there. They are not covered but I like the placement more than other cases that have them near the top. Top ports means you will have have a crap-load of wires running from the mobo to the top which can interfere with air management.

The left side Silver/right side Black theme carries on to the top of the case as two different pieces of aluminum are used to give a kind of Ying-Yang effect. The aluminum pieces are held in place with some screws from underneath the top so they are removable. They are cut so precisely that when they fit together on the top you cannot see a seam. There is no way you would even be able to slip a piece of paper between the two pieces. I was kind of surprised to see Lian-Li put effort into aesthetics that don't serve a purpose, I guess the competition from other pre-mods dictated their design. It looks interesting, but again it does nothing except add to the weight of the case and decrease the ability for any heat to be expelled radiantly from the top.