Of course the PC-K56 also lacks the interior paint job of the PC-K62 leaving an undesirable finish. So rather than tell you all the same stuff again I will point out the changes and the impact they have on the case.
The 3.5" drive bays no longer feature the caddies. Instead, the rubber mounts are screwed directly to the hard drives allowing them to slide into place. This has little impact on the hard drives once they are installed as the rubber mounts still act as anti-vibration barriers. The main disadvantage to this setup when compared to the PC-K62 is that it takes longer to install the rubber mounts to the drives - mind you, we are only taking 40 seconds or less per drive.
Despite the different setup the PC-K56 still only supports four 3.5" drives which is a shame as similar cases tend to support up to six. Personally, I would prefer to have more 3.5" bays at my disposal, even if that translated in sacrificing a 5.25" drive bay or two as I never use up more than two of these myself.
As mentioned before, the tool-less system for the expansion slots has been removed from the PC-K56, meaning users must secure their expansion cards the old fashioned way with screws. Although we really liked the tool-less design of the PC-K62, we can just as easily manage without it.
The most disappointing aspect comes from an aesthetics point of view without the black paint job. The cooling setup is also more basic as the PC-K56 features just two 120mm fans. For most setups a single rear 120mm fan along with a single front mounted 120mm fan will be sufficient. LanCool states that the front fan operates at 1200RPM while the rear fan spins at 1500RPM.
The cable management system remains untouched, meaning that the PC-K56 will allow for a quick installation that could be turned into a tidy one. Rear access to the CPU socket is still available as the motherboard tray features that huge square hole.
