Closer Look

Unlike the Asetek VapoChill XE, the product from Extreme Cooling Technologies is designed in a completely different way, being placed under a PC case:

Thanks to the stylish aluminum case, the assembled system makes a tremendous impression. The standard version of the Mach II and Mach II GT includes a black middle-tower system case from Enlight of rather out-dated design, component layout and functionality (Prometeia series systems have been shipping with such cases since the very start of their production in 2001) and the cooler’s casing matches the color of the Enlight case. However, since 2003 there has been available an alternative, premium version of the exterior design: the Mach II is accompanied with a superb aluminum Lian-Li PC-60 system case and the cooler itself has an aluminum casing which is also manufactured by Lian-Li. It is this premium version of the Prometeia that we got in our hands.

The Lian-Li PC-60 that comes with the Freon cooler differs from the standard version in one, yet very important detail – there is a cut in the bottom panel for the cooler’s flexible “trunk”. Apart from that, it is the well-known high-quality middle-tower system case, a classic model from the very inventors of the aluminum PC case concept.

The short list of the features of the Lian-Li PC-60 would mention the removable mounting plates for the mainboard and the power supply, thumbscrews everywhere, an additional rack for 4 hard disk drives, 4 preinstalled 80mm fans (including the top one), and a sufficient number of open bays (four 5.25” and three 3.5” bays, to be exact). The interior is designed properly and permits to assemble a very complex system, even though it doesn’t give you as much room as full tower cases do. Giving a more detailed description would mean going beyond the scope of this review, especially as the model does not differ much from the standard version of the same system case. On the whole, the choice of the Lian-Li PC-60 is right and gives no cause for complaints.

The aluminum casing of the Prometeia Mach II GT is manufactured by Lian-Li too, so it suits their system cases perfectly. Since the Lian-Li PC-60 is longer and wider than the original system case from Enlight, the aluminum panels are fastened to the chassis through additional intricately shaped bars.

There is only one imperfection in the whole “Lian-Li for Prometeia” concept from the PC enthusiast’s point of view. Many users of high-end PC hardware prefer to assemble their computers in full-tower system cases just because they offer more useful room. Lian Li’s product range includes the splendid PC-70 model which is designed in the same style and fully meets the requirements to a “really big PC case”. However, full towers are longer than ordinary cases, so putting a Prometeia in the aluminum casing under a PC-70 wouldn’t be a very aesthetic solution. But this problem could be easily solved by producing a version of the cooler with longer side panels! I think this would increase the appeal of the Lian-Li + Prometeia kit for many users. Well, you cannot call this a defect – I’m just putting forward an improvement suggestion.