Lian Li LANCOOL 216 PC Case Review

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Meet the Lian Li LANCOOL 216

With their new 216 mid-tower chassis, Lian Li had a simple design goal, to create a PC case that is relatively affordable while delivering tonnes of versatility and excellent out of the box performance. With pricing starting at £109.99, this chassis sits on the more affordable side of the premium PC case spectrum, and the chassis offers users everything that they need out of the box to create a well cooled system.

The highlight of the Lian Li 216 is its two front-mounted 160mm fans, a new fan size that we believe Lian Li plans to popularise moving forward. Yes, 200mm fans have been available for a while now, but in many cases these fans are too large, and there is a space between 140mm and 200mm fans that is begging to be exploited by PC component manufacturers. The LANCOOL 216 is the first Lian Li case to make use of these new 160mm fans, and in time we will see if Lian li’s bet on the 160mm fan form factor pays off.

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.

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.

Pricing

In the UK, Lian Li’s LANCOOL 216 chassis is available in black and white though Overclockers UK, with each model being available for £109.99 and £114.95 respectively.

Out of this box, these cases ship with two front-mounted 160mm ARGB fans and a single 140mm non-RGB exhaust fan. Both models of this case can be upgraded with a Lian Li USB hub and ARGB fan controller, which is available in Black or White. This ARGB controller allows 216 users to control the ARGB lighting of their case without using their motherboard based ARGB headers of on-PC software. This is a great add-on for PC builders who like RGB lighting and dislike ARGB software (and its performance overhead).

Specifications

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.

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.

GPU-wise, the LANCOOL 216 has room for GPUs that are up to 392mm long, though GPUs this long will be hard to fit.