Lancool Metal Boned K7

Results

When it came to installing a system inside the Metal Boned K7 – a name which, even at this late stage of the review, we still find utterly ludicrous and faintly pornographic – the case was a pleasure to work with.

The experience wasn’t exactly seamless and we’d be lying if we said it was easiest chassis we’ve ever fiddled with, but when your only major complaint is that your heatsink has to be attached after the motherboard tray is put back in place then you know that your problems are minor.

In fact, the only reason we had a problem with the motherboard tray in that regard was because the Asus Silent Square Pro isn’t exactly the smallest heatsink in the universe and kept catching on the support bar for the PSU shelf.

Once this little problem was sorted though then we didn’t have any troubles at all with the Metal Boned K7. The cable routing worked well and there were plenty of extra clips and cable ties to go around.

When it came to thermal testing however, the results of which can be seen in the table below, I have to say that I was just a little bit disappointed at first. The results aren’t bad per se – in fact, on reflection they are quite good – but I was expecting something just a few degrees more impressive considering the three 120mmers in a thin aluminium case.


Still that said, the Metal Boned K7 is still clearly doing more than its fair share when it comes to cooling the system components. The K7 out-performs other cases like the Gigabyte iSolo 210 and the Cooler Master Cosmos S too, making it an attractive option to anyone looking for an alternative to these two.

The noise performance wasn’t all we hoped it could be either and the case was clearly audible over the hum of other nearby machines. That isn’t really all that surprising though – this is a case designed for LAN parties and packing three 120mm fans; noise isn’t the primary concern here.

It’s hard to go into more detail as to give a truly objective measurement of how noisy the case is would require an audibly controlled room and some very sensitive measuring equipment, but suffice it to say that the Metal Boned K7 is around the norm – you can hear it, but it won’t impact heavily on your movie watching or game playing.

Conclusions

For us, there’s a lot to like about the Metal Boned K7 – even including the rather unique name, which has somehow managed to grow on us like some sort of all-conquering fungus.

In designing the Lancool Metal Boned K7, Lancool has managed to turn to the simple, back to basics roots that many bit-tech regulars love and, where many people would see nothing at all exciting in the stylings of this case, we’re sure that many bit-techers see quite a lot of potential. This is a perfect blank canvas for modding work to be set on and the modest, but not dramatic cooling performance provides adequate excuse for any dremel work.

There is another way to look at it; that the Lancool doesn’t really do anything fantastically and is rather plain and basic to look at, but we’d counter that viewpoint by saying that the case doesn’t do anything wrong either.

Too many times we come across cases which have also tried to go back to basics but which fall down because they don’t really understand what the basics are. Thankfully, Lancool do understand the basics and they’ve demonstrated it here. This is a no nonsense, solidly built case which is perfectly tailored to the needs of its audience.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Ease of Use
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

What do these scores mean?