Lian-Li PC-X510 WX Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction

Lian Li, the chassis’ industries own masters of aluminium chassis design, are back once again. Lian Li have a rock solid reputation for exceptional build quality and design, just look at some of the other Lian Li chassis’ reviews we’ve done here at eTeknix for example; DK-01 Desk, PC-T80 Test Bench, PC-V359 Cube, PC-A79 Full Tower, PC-Q30 Mini-ITX, PC-CK101 Train, PC-TU100 Mini-ITX, PC-90, PC-B12 and PC-7HX! Time and time again Lian Li have won awards from us here at eTeknix, as well as from many other sources all around the world. So with that in mind, I’ve got pretty high expectations of the new Lian Li chassis, the PC-X510 WX and with a retail price close to £350, it looks set to be something pretty special.

Lian Li released the following product tour video, although it’s certainly not the best in terms of presentation, so don’t feel bad if you start to skip through some of it. However, it does give us a nice look at the overall size of this chassis, and it’s certainly quite tall for a “mid-tower”.

https://youtu.be/4l67tZGgfQ8

It’s very well equipped, with a decent amount of storage bays for 2.5″ or 3.5″ drives, with the obvious omission of 5.25″ drive bays, although that’s hardly uncommon these days.

The reason for the super tall design? The X510 uses multiple chambers to better control heat and airflow. There’s a smaller section at the base for the PSU, which is semi-connected to the main chamber for the motherboard while there is also a separate chamber at the top just for storage drives.

Built from vast amounts of black brushed aluminium and finished with tempered glass on the left side panel, the X510 certainly looks impressive. As well as clocking in at a massive 620mm high, a consequence of that chambered design, but on the plus side, it’s not very long, so shouldn’t take up too much floor space.

The glass panel is held in place by thumb screws, should you need to remove it for any reason, although the only one I can think of is so that you can give it a good clean.

There’s a few cut-outs on the aluminium panel, behind which you’ll find a dust filter, giving ample airflow to the front fans without spoiling the clean looks of the front panel.

The right side panel is another massive slab of black brushed aluminium and it’s far prettier than my pictures could ever capture. There’s also more ventilation here, giving even more airflow to the front mounted cooling; you can also see the fans through the mesh if you look carefully.

The front panel looks stunning, with a curved top edge that gives it a more flowing and sleeker design, with only a small Lian Li logo towards the bottom for branding.

A closer look at the top right corner, you’ll also find two small LED lights set into the aluminium; these are for power and HDD activity.

Around the back, we get a good indication of just how tall this chassis really is, looking about 50% taller than your average mid-tower design.

At the top, there’s a single 120mm fan exhaust for the storage bay compartment, as well as the master control dial for the built-in fan speed controller.

Further down, we have yet another 120mm fan exhaust, which features a cut-out and grommet system below it that’ll be great for some water cooling configurations.

Eight expansion slots, each fitted with a reusable and ventilated cover.

Finally, we have the PSU mounting plate, which comes fitted with thumbscrews, allowing for quick and easy installation and removal of the power supply.

The top panel is nice and sleek too, and comes with dual 120mm fan mounts, although they’re fitted with aluminium covers which will help reduce noise from the system if you’re not using the mounts.

Towards the front, a slide back cover that hides the main I/O, as well as a gorgeous mechanical button for the master power control.

Slide it back and you’ll find four USB 3.0 ports, although an adaptor is included to convert them to USB 2.0 if your motherboard can’t support all four as USB 3.0.

On the base, you’ll find four large feet that give great ground clearance to the PSU air intake, which comes fitted with a washable dust filter that can be slid out to the side of the chassis for easy maintenance.

Even the feet are aluminium, with a lovely finish to them and firm rubber grips on the base to prevent is sliding around on harder floor surfaces.