Lian Li PC-J60 B ATX Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Lian Li's PC-J60 B ATX mid-tower is not what we have come to expect from the Taiwanese case maker in the past. Read on and find out why.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Lian Li
14 minutes & 25 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 72%

The Bottom Line

Lian LI's PC-J60, if you get a good one, looks nice and is ready to do quite a bit when it comes to chassis build options. Even without cosmetic issues, the layout is not that great, and we have seen better for half the cost.

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

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The chassis in which we are offering an in-depth look at here today is an all-aluminum creation which we expect when it comes to Lian Li. The exterior panels are brushed in texture and anodized black, while the inside is textured in appearance, but it is also anodized to match the exterior. Clean, smooth, simplistic, aesthetically pleasing, these are all things we associate to a Lian Li chassis, and the build of this chassis does not let us down there.

Lian Li seems to have advanced this design from a few others we have seen in the past, yet have made strides to allow this chassis to be able to stand out in a crowd. Firstly, we must address that there are four versions of this chassis. There is an all-black version without a left side panel window and another black version which does offer a clear window. Lian Li is also offering this chassis with a splash of red, which runs along the top and down the front, making the ventilation system of this case stand out. Again, this version can be had with or without a side panel window. A lot more goes into the design such as removable HDD caddies, tons of internal room for anything you may want to fit inside the chassis, even the option for sufficient water cooling support to keep the CPU and a GPU cooled without interfering with the components.

While this chassis is not exactly new at this point, we are still bringing forth the PC-J60 B ATX mid-tower chassis from Lian Li. What you are about to see is that there is a lot in this chassis which we expect to see, as well as quite a bit that we feel falls a bit short of the quality level we expect to see in a Lian Li case. While this chassis did arrive in a downpour, and we did need to dry it out before grabbing images, we find that water is not the only issue we faced. As you will see by the end of this review, that while we hope it isn't true to every product, Lian Li should have thought twice before sending this case to our door.

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The black version of the case is named the PC-J60 B, and the version with red accents is named the PC-J60 WRX, and all versions are mid-tower offerings. The PC-J60 stands 507mm tall, 210mm wide, 489mm in depth, it's made entirely from aluminum, and weighs in at just 6.48KG. There are no 5.25" bays in this design, nor are there any exposed 3.5" bays either. Inside of the chassis, there is room for five hard drives, but only a single location for an SSD. There are seven expansion slots at the back of the PC-J60, and the chassis is capable of housing an ATX or Micro-ATX motherboard. It can also house smaller motherboards like Mini-ITX, but the wire management holes do not lend to a clean looking build.

As to the cooling of the PC-J60, we find some good and some strange in its offerings. While it is possible to install a pair of 120mm fans in the front of the chassis, and two are supplied there, we see that the back of the chassis allows for only an 80mm fan. Seriously? An 80mm fan in this day and age? The top of the chassis has room for a trio of 120mm fans and plenty of room for water cooling there as well; even the PSU cover offers a 140mm fan installed from Lian Li.

The last bits in the chart explain to us what is contained within the front I/O panel, and moves into maximum sizes for components. There we see that video cards are unobstructed with 410mm of room for them, PSU length is limited to 210mm, which is decent, and CPU coolers are limited to 160mm in height. While not the best of room for CPU coolers, it is sufficient for many tower coolers on the market. We also see they specify that there is 60mm of thickness allowed, 430mm of length, and 160mm of width left above the motherboard tray for whatever water cooling setup desired to be installed in the top of the PC-J60. The last bit, while the PSU is not included, it is designed for ATX form factor power supplies.

Searching around for the right case is tricky on this side of the pond, but we were able to locate two versions for a price point to go from. Looking at Amazon, we find the search engine there comes up with nothing about the PC-J60, so we then moved on to Newegg. It is there in which we find the non-windowed version of the PC-J60 B listed at $179.99 and seems to be a legit base price for that model. However, as we are looking now, the PC-J60 WRX is cheaper at the time of writing this. While the MSRP is shown to be $209.99 for this variant, Newegg listed it for just $159.99 right now. We would hazard to guess that if you desire the version with a side panel window like we have been sent, it would cost a bit more than the $179.99 we saw the solid panel version listed for. With what we saw in the PC-J60 B, while it has a lot of Lian Li traits that we love, you are about to see a chassis which we feel is not worth its asking price.

Chad's Chassis Test System Specifications

Packaging

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Lian Li decides to go the route of plain for the external packaging. A yellowish cardboard is used to contain the chassis, and on the front panel, all we find is the Lian Li name and logo, along with "Aluminum PC Case" PC-J60.

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On this die of the box, we find the bulk of the panel with nothing to offer. Near the bottom we see two possible boxes to check, and ours is marked next to the PC-J60 B listing.

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The back of the box is a match to its opposing panel. There is nothing to see here past the company and chassis names.

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Even with the skinny side panels, they are identical. The only change here is that there is a sticker that denoted HAMPTON USA, which can only assume is the port this chassis went through to get here.

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Inside of the box, with a windowed version of the four options, you will find the outside of the window to have plastic taped in place to protect the outside of it. Around the entire chassis, a clear bag is placed over it to keep moisture out and keeps the aluminum finished protected. To keep the chassis from taking damage when the box gets dropped, thin Styrofoam caps are used and allowed the PC-J60 B with window to arrive as you will soon see it.

Lian Li PC-J60 B Mid-Tower Chassis

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The front of the PC-J60 B is everything we expect when it comes to a Lian Li chassis. The panel is made of brushed aluminum, and the I/O panel is limited in size and cleanly presented. The Lian Li name is found near the bottom of the solid bezel, and we see hints of natural aluminum feet at the bottom.

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To expose the front I/O, a long rectangular hole with rounded corners is cut from the front bezel. Inside of it, there is the power button at the top, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, and 3.5mm HD Audio jacks at the bottom.

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The entire top surface of the PC-J60 is aluminum, flat, brushed, and nothing cut from it to break up that hair lined look of the aluminum. The sides of the top panel are how air is designed to pass through the top of the chassis should you opt to place fans there.

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The left side of the chassis shows us quite a bit. The front of the chassis is designed like the top edge, and in the optional version, these sections are red. We see a thick top section above the brushed door panel, and we can also see that the plastic window has been screwed onto the panel and was scratched in transit. At the bottom of the chassis, we assumed it was cutting oil, but could not seem to remove it with typical cleaners on hand.

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The back of the PC-J60 alludes to all of the room above the motherboard in this chassis too. Below that area, we then find the rear I/O and next to it is a vast expanse of venting, which can hold only an 80mm fan. There are seven expansion slots which are also ventilated, and the PSU is to be installed at the bottom. Also, you may notice all of the scratches at the top of this panel, which we understand happens at times, but these were poorly touched up and sent out as good anyways.

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The right side of the PC-J60 B also is offered with a brushed aluminum texture to the panel. Just like the left side panel does, the right side panel aligns well with the top and front of the frame, and both offer a place to grab the panels and are held onto the case via thumbscrews.

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Under the chassis, we find plastic feet, surrounded by natural brushed aluminum trim, and having rubber under each of them for grip. There is a removable dust filter for the PSU, and near the front, we find tabs along the top edge, which are part of the removable hard drive caddies.

Inside the PC-J60 B

Inside the Carbide 600C

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The front bezel is held in place with six balls on studs which press into sockets on the front of the case. Behind the solid bezel, we find a magnetic dust filter covering the fans and a section of mesh near the bottom. The rest of the case front is solid with no intrusions made unnecessarily.

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Sliding the left side panel off of the case allows us to peek inside, as well as seeing that the HD Audio cable is what scratched the inside of our window. The rest of the wiring is tied much shorter but is not tied down, and we see a bit of moisture absorbing paper inside.

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The PC-J60, whichever version, all come with a pair of Lian Li 120mm fans installed. Each fan uses a 3-pin connection to power it, but they also come with a 4-pin Molex adapter on them, so that they do not require motherboard fan headers to run.

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The top panel of the chassis does need the front to be removed before it can be taken off the case. Under it, we find a magnetic dust filter lying there, and it is covering three optional fan locations, which are all 120mm in size. Also, note that the fan mounting holes are square and larger than most screws from AIOs or water cooling components.

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The motherboard tray offers an 8-pin wire routing hole and a large CPU cooler access hole between all of the standoffs marked with an "A." To the right are four oval holes for wire management, each with a grommet installed, and no signs of wire tie points at all on this motherboard tray.

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Covering the floor of the PC-J60, there is a PSU cover running the entire length of the case. There is a fan installed at the front, it is 140mm in size, and is installed here to draw air up from the bottom. Near the back, against the motherboard tray, there is one hole to connect the front I/O wires, but nothing for GPU leads.

Inside the PC-J60 B Continued

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Inside of the rear of the PC-J60, we see a lot of ventilation next to the rear I/O, and while rigging a 120mm fan here is possible, Lian Li has drilled holes for only 80mm ones. The expansion slots are also ventilated, and we found them to use thumbscrews to secure the slot covers and potential graphics or other add-on cards.

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Behind the motherboard tray, we found a minimum of 25mm of space to run wires, but not a single spot to tie any of them to the motherboard tray. We do find holes drilled on the left side, which allows for a 2.5" and 3.5" drive to be installed there. We can also see the lower section is separated and is where Lian Li puts the hardware.

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At the front of the PC-J60, under the PSU cover, we found a pair of removable HDD caddies, both able to hold two drives via rubber grommets and thumbscrews. Above the caddies is a 140mm fan, which is pulling air from the hard drives and pushing it into the chassis. This is 3-pin powered, but again, has a 4-pin Molex adapter too.

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To install a PSU, it needs to be slid in from this side, and it then can rest upon the rails on either side. There are rubber pads on the rails to isolate the PSU, but nothing is found around the opening at the back of the case, where the screws pass to lock the PSU into the case.

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From the front I/O panel, we stretched the cables out the left side of the PC-J60. We can see the button and LED wiring is short but is just long enough to reach the motherboard. The HD Audio and Native USB 3.0 leads have enough length to get where they are going, and we also wanted to show the Molex adapters found on all of the pre-installed fans.

Hardware & Documentation

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In this image, we have three types of screws that came with the PC-J60. The small, countersunk, M3 screws are used to mount 2.5" drives to the motherboard tray or inside of the caddy trays. The pan head screws are 6-32 by the thread and are utilized for the motherboard or HDD installations. The last set of hex head screws is used to mount the PSU or 3.5" drives.

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In another bag, two sets of screws are found. The two smaller screws are used to mount a Kensington lock loop at the back of the PC-J60. The larger screws are used to install hard drives into the 3.5" drive bays, as they slide into the grommets and keeps them isolated.

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Also found in the hardware box were the Kensington lock loop, a motherboard post speaker, a pair of zip-ties, and an adapter which converts native USB 3.0 to USB 2.0, in case your motherboard does not natively support USB 3.0.

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The manuals are made of a few sheets of paper folded into a book, which delivers everything one would need to know. It begins showing off features and ends the cover page with a list of components and hardware to be located before you build. The inside offers images and short text descriptions of the steps, but again, should guide anyone through the build process easily.

Case Build & Finished Product

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Once the build is completed, not a single thing with the front of the PC-J60 B has changed. With no options for drive bays, all we are left looking at is a vast expanse of brushed aluminum cleanliness, and the Lian Li name made of natural aluminum to contrast against it.

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We found there to be plenty of room for our standard list of components to go inside of the PC-J60. We had to opt for the top for the AIO since the back does not support 120mm fans. This also shows the room left at the top, not conflicting with the motherboard. The board and card installed as expected, but there is a slight bit of sag in the video card.

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The dust shield for the rear I/O snapped into place effortlessly, but we don't even own an 80mm fan to put in as exhaust. The card slides in across the expansion slots, it is level with the chassis, and we ran into no issues mounting the power supply either.

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While we did not like the fact that there are no concessions made to tie the wiring to the motherboard tray, with as much room as is offered behind it, we had no issues placing the panel back onto the case. We did have to get creative by crossing wires to help hold them into place, but as you can see, we managed quite well.

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Once we have the chassis ready to be powered up, from this angle, the scratches in the side panel window virtually disappeared. The view is of everything fitted inside of the chassis, and the finished product is still as straight and aligned as it was out of the box.

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Powering our system inside of the PC-J60 B, we heard very little from the 120mm and 140mm fans, only 32 dB if we were within a foot of the side or back. The fact that the side panel window is clear and not tinted also means you do not need to spend extra money on case lighting, as we can see everything in plain sight, even the LEDs on the card, AIO, and the motherboard.

Final Thoughts

Upon first glance, excitement builds with the knowledge that the PC-J60 B is clad in brushed aluminum sexiness, and while not Lian Li's prettiest chassis ever built, the lines are clean, the look is subdued, and it ends up being an attractive option in mid-tower cases. We like that the front I/O wiring does not come with the bezel, we liked the dust filtering on every fan location but the back, and being assembled of aluminum, the lightweight of the PC-J60 comes in handy if the need arises to have to move it. The PSU cover is a nice option; the removable HDD caddies are also appreciated, as well is the sound and solid construction of this chassis.

That is about where the niceties stop, however. We found quite a bit of this PC-J60 B is not up to Lian Li standards. The residue on the left side panel that we could not get off is a bit of a downer, but it was the scratches in the window that took the prize there. With no plastic on the inside of the window, and cable left flopping around, it was an accident waiting to happen. There was paint missing around the frame behind the motherboard tray, there were scratches on the exterior of the back panel, and someone tried to touch them up, but did a horrible job at it.

If you visit the Lian Li product page, we noted that the fan in the PSU cover of our chassis was installed wrong, as the PC-J60 is designed to blow air down onto the HDD bays, and be pulled out from the PSU airflow. Instead, we were sucking air through the front of the case, pulling potentially heated air into the main chamber. Honestly, while Lian Li looks like they gave it a good effort in design, it appears that those assembling the cases just do not seem to care in the slightest as to what the customer will find inside of the box. This isn't even all of the issues we found in the PC-J60, these are just the main ones worthy of our rant.

Pricing of the PC-J60 in any form does not help the battle for Lian Li to get a good result in our charts or our recommendation. At near double to cost of some of our favorite mid-tower solutions, we find it difficult to try to explain how looking at brushed aluminum is worth twice the fee. Depending on where and when you attempt to grab the PC-J60, considering is can be listed anywhere from $159.99 if it is on sale, to $209.99 when it isn't. We are not only confused as to how to justify it, but the pricing we are seeing makes us want the red version over the black. We are saving a bunch of money, but not enough to make all of the issues go away.

Lian Li usually stands for sleek, sexy, solid, top-notch products, but today this is not the case. No matter how we attempt to spin this in our mind, we would advise that you pass on the PC-J60, as you can get cases with more accommodating layouts, and at half the cost.

Chad's Chassis Test System Specifications

Performance 85%
Quality including Design and Build 60%
General Features 75%
Bundle and Packaging 80%
Value for Money 60%
Overall 72%

The Bottom Line: Lian LI's PC-J60, if you get a good one, looks nice and is ready to do quite a bit when it comes to chassis build options. Even without cosmetic issues, the layout is not that great, and we have seen better for half the cost.

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Chad joined the TweakTown team in 2009 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. After a year of gaming, Chad caught the OC bug. With overclocking comes the need for better cooling, and Chad has had many air and water setups. With a few years of abusing computer parts, he decided to take his chances and try to get a review job. As an avid overclocker, Chad is always looking for the next leg up in RAM and coolers.

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