Overall we think the chassis looks good when complete. The main aspect that helps is the consistent black finish to the interior and exterior. It feels hard wearing and also serves to defuse the light slightly, making it look a little more toned down compared to a shiny beige box!
Not too bad for Lian-Li’s first steel budget chassis. The window only shows the best bits, and all the different external shapes, though not our usual style, look good and are not an eyesore as some budget chassis can be.
Conclusion
When we build budget chassis we always think they are aimed at a particular requirement and the Lian-Li PC-K5WX is no different. The good bits are good, especially for a budget chassis, and the bad bits are nothing to write home about. The fit and finish is good, no rough edges and no areas that we thought were a little unfinished. The chassis doesn’t weigh that much at all, something we repeatedly noticed during the photo shoot and the build, making handling the Lian-Li PC-K5WX a lot easier. It comes with top panel IO and has some superb removable HDD drive caddies. You will squeeze a watercooling setup in there, but don’t expect any fat boy radiators, and you’ll get most graphics card setups too, HDD caddies permitting.
Downside are a little obvious, you’re not going to have some of the high end features of some chassis at twice the price. For us, and this is our opinion, it has support for optical drives, something we strictly do not use for our main systems. Some won’t see this as a downside though. The rear PCI blanks are not the type that are held in by thumb screws, you’ll need to break them off when installing an add-in card, a little old school.
Back to our point, this chassis is suited to first time builds, or even if you are a parent building a first time system for your children. It’s also a good LAN party chassis, and carries the Lian-Li name, that’ll carry some weight on its own. If you want to have decent chassis for your first build or the other situations we have mentioned, the Lian-Li PC-K5WX is definitely worth a consideration.
Lian-Li PC-K5WX Ebonsteel Mid Tower Chassis
Lian-Li PC-K5WX Ebonsteel Mid Tower Chassis Review
Packaging - 7
Features - 7.6
Build - 7.6
Component Compatibility - 7
Price - 8
Consumer Experience - 8
7.5
This chassis is suited to first time builds, or even if you are a parent building a first time system for your children. It’s also a good LAN party chassis, and carries the Lian-Li name, that’ll carry some weight on its own. If you want to have decent chassis for your first build or the other situations we have mentioned, the Lian-Li PC-K5WX is definitely worth a consideration.
