Lian-Li Lancool 216 RGB Black Steel/Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case,2X 160 mm ARGB Fans Included - LANCOOL 216RX Black

Product Information

Lian Li’s 216 chassis is very versatile, supporting motherboards that are up to EATX in size and up to 280mm wide. The case also supports ATX power supplies that are up to 220mm in length, which means that this case can support large PSUs with insane maximum wattages. Located in the second chamber behind the motherboard, a SATA-powered fan hub can support up to 4x ARGB and PWM fans. PRODUCT NAME LIAN LI LANCOOL 216 LIAN LI LANCOOL 216 RGB LIAN LI LANCOOL 216 RGB with controller (LAN-1X/W) After comparing the Lancool 216 to the best-performing cases from this year, it’s safe to say that this case is worth strong consideration, especially if you want impressive GPU thermals. Bottom Line A reversible front I/O allows users to re-position the front panel from the top of the case to the bottom left-hand side. This means that users with floor-mounted or desk-mounted cases can have easy access to the front I/O.

To ensure adequate airflow is provided to the system, the LANCOOL 216 features mesh at the front, top, and on the PSU shroud’s side*. The front mesh extends to the top for a continuous mesh panel.

The Overclockers Difference

All this is excellent news for users of high-end graphics cards. However, the implementation of this feature is flawed as it is only compatible with motherboard and graphics card combinations that place the graphics card video outputs in the top PCIe slot. With the majority of motherboard and graphics card combinations, you will find that the video outputs populate the second and third PCIe slots which means that you can't install the external fan and access video outputs. Extensive cable management is provided by three large cable straps in the central channel, an additional cable management channel to the right of the motherboard tray includes three clips for CPU EPS power cable routing while multiple cable cutouts are placed in handy locations. The LANCOOL 216 offers multiple options for easy cable management. Along the cable grommet bar, 3 large velcro straps can hold 2 different sets of cables. 3 small clips are located along the rear side panel, ideal for cleanly routing the CPU 8pin cable, and 2 additional velcro straps are located near the PSU chamber to help hold down the extra PSU cable length away from the ventilation path in the bottom chamber.

Other than this minor inconvenience, the Lian Li Lancool 216 is an excellent mid-range chassis. Installing a system inside the case is easy, the adjustable motherboard mounting position makes motherboard components at the top of the case accessible when in water cooling mode with a top-mounted radiator and for those who want to air cool the system the motherboard can be lifted to create more space for bigger bottom fans and large CPU air coolers while still being able to mount a big graphics card vertically. The included 160mm ARGB fans feature two channels of LEDs (one on the outer rim of the fan, another at the shaft of the fan blades) that can be controlled separately via an optional accessory, or via the motherboard lighting software by connecting them directly to a motherboard 5V 3pin header.

Lian Li PC Cases

So my Strix B550-E is paired with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600x mildly O.C to 4.55Ghz, 2x 8Gb of 3200Gt RAM and a Corsair H100i 240 cooler and in the Corsair 600T it ran at about 55-60C at idle at 18C ambient. Now in this chassis runs at around 42-45C at idle, there's thermally lots of headroom . To simulate thermal demand we run the Cinebench R23 multi-thread benchmark and 3DMark Time Spy Extreme stress test simultaneously in a loop for 60 minutes to fully load the system. This gives the CPU and GPU enough time to reach constant steady-state temperature. With this data, we can compare how the system handles the thermal demand and measure peak noise levels.

Another factor that’s worth noting about the Lian Li 216 is that it supports a range or accessories, which include an ARGB/USB expansion module, a PCIe riser cable for vertically mounted graphics cards, an a optional dust filter that can allow PC builders to take their dust management to the next level. We see a lot of PC chassis here at KitGuru but we don’t often come across anything genuinely unique. Most of the time, new cases offer improved looks, but not necessarily any improvement on the usual features we have seen for decades which means that finding cases with useful new features is a rarity. The Lian Li Lancool 216 is the exception to that rule, but what has Lian Li got up its sleeve in this new mid-range chassis? Let’s find out. Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming, the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do. Including a power button, reset button, audio port, 2x USB3.0 ports, and a USB Type C port, the front I/O module can be relocated to the lower left side of the front panel.The 216 is a chassis from Lian Li that is designed to act as a blank canvas, offering PC builders the option to exploit this case’s unique features to create truly custom PCs. We will look deeper at this case’s custom features later in this review. All temperature measurements are presented as Deltas – meaning the ambient temperature has been deducted from the CPU temperature giving us a Delta. Data shown in the charts represent the average component temperature over the length of the test as measured by HWiNFO and then the last 15 minutes of the data are calculated to get the average. The ambient temperature during thermal tests is between 20-21⁰C. While the case is designed to support two 160mm fans at its front, the Lian Li 216 can also support wither three 120mm fans or two 140mm fans, allowing the case to support a front mounted 360mm radiator or a 280mm radiator if needed. The top of Lian Li’s 216 chassis can also support three 120mm fans or two 140mm fans. While the case’s specifications do not mention this, the LANCOOL 216 appears to have mounts for two 160mm fans.