Beyond using GaN tech to shrink their size and including ever-higher wattage to meet the demands of high-end GPUs and local AI, PC power supplies aren't exactly a space known for flashy innovation. But Lian Li is having none of that.

The company's upcoming Platinum V2 line, expected to arrive in September, keeps the extended lip with 90-degree-angled connections for ease of installation and less cable mess, while adding a few more new tricks.

An LED on the side of the unit switches from green to red when it's time to clean the supply's intake fan. And much like higher-end cases, there is a magnetically attached filter over the fan that you can pop off for convenient cleaning.

If that weren't enough, the inner edge of the PSU houses an expansive four-pin fan (6 connectors) and USB 2.0 (4 connectors) hub, which snaps on via magnets and pins, so you can remove it to connect all those fiddle wires, then pop it back on the PSU. The hub itself connects to a USB 3 header, which includes a passthrough so you don't have to sacrifice what might be the only 20-pin header on your motherboard.

My main concern is that plugging all your fan and accessory cables right next to your power cables could result in exactly the kind of cable jumble that the Edge line was designed to help with. And shoving that many cables next to each other in a tight space doesn’t sound great if something goes thermally sideways. But we'd have to try one out to say for sure how much of an issue that might be.

Lian Li hasn't divulged pricing yet, but it does plan on launching 1,000, 1,200, and 1,350-watt models of the Edge V2 in September.

PC case and accessories manufacturer Lian Li has announced a new variant for its DK07 motorized standing desk. The company has retained the original launch price of $1,399.99, and the desk is available starting today through Amazon, Newegg, Caseking, Overclockers UK, and SCAN.

Originally launched back in 2024, the updated version now comes in a dark walnut wood finish with a tempered glass panel and enough internal space to accommodate single or dual E-ATX systems.

• Check out the Lian Li DK07 Wood on Amazon
• Check out the Lian Li DK07 Wood on Newegg
• Check out the Lian Li DK07 Wood on Caseking
• Check out the Lian Li DK07 Wood on Overclockers UK
• Check out the Lian Li DK07 Wood on SCAN

Apart from the new tabletop finish, the new DK07 Wood offers features similar to the original, including an adjustable height ranging from 676 millimeters (26.61 inches) to 1,162 millimeters (45.7 inches), along with three customizable preset positions. For accessibility, the desk comes with a sliding front panel to lift the tempered glass top when accessing internal components. Additionally, the removable modular motherboard trays make the building process more convenient, allowing users to install and prepare components outside the desk before placing the system into the chassis.

The desk supports both horizontal and vertical GPU orientations, with clearance of up to 383mm in length. In terms of power supply, one can install up to two full-size 220mm PSUs with up to 10x 3.5” HDD and six 2.5” SSDs. There’s plenty of cooling options as well, including support for a 480mm radiator or up to four 360mm radiators and 17 x 120mm fans in a single system setup, or up to two 360mm radiators and 12 x 120mm fans in a dual system setup. You also get dedicated front panel I/O for each system, which includes power and reset buttons, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, two USB 3.0 Type-A, and a mic/audio jack. Other notable features include a built-in wireless charging pad, two drawers, internal cable organizers, dual cable pass-through holes for peripherals, and a rear cable tray.

Lian Li’s DK07 standing desk seems quite the practical solution as it not only saves on space but also doubles as a chassis for two PCs with all the proper organization one could ask for, and even a tempered glass panel to show off your premium hardware. In more than one way, it makes more sense than it initially sounds, especially at $1,399.99. Considering the amount of functionality packed into the desk, the pricing feels somewhat reasonable when compared to buying a premium standing desk and a pair of enthusiast-grade PC cases separately. That said, it remains a niche product aimed at enthusiasts.

Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd., founded in 1983, is a Taiwanese company renowned for its premium computer cases, power supplies, and PC accessories. As one of the oldest players in the PC hardware market, Lian Li is recognized for its commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, innovative aluminum-based designs, and solutions tailored to both industrial and consumer markets. Their product lineup includes mid-tower and full-tower cases, compact enclosures for smaller builds, and cutting-edge PSUs, all acknowledged for their modularity, durability, and forward-thinking features. Among PC enthusiasts, Lian Li's reputation for blending functionality with aesthetics has established them as an industry leader.

This review examines the SP1000P, representing Lian Li's entry into the high-wattage SFX market segment to see if it belongs among the best power supplies in the market. The SP1000P delivers 1000 watts from the standard 100mm SFX form factor, representing exceptional power density achieved through advanced circuit topology and premium components. The unit employs a flat copper strip transformer rather than conventional wire-wound designs, improving electrical performance and reducing its footprint. ATX 3.1 certification confirms transient handling capability, critical for modern graphics cards. The implementation targets small form factor enthusiasts requiring maximum power output without compromising system dimensions.

Specifications and Design

In the Box

The Lian Li SP1000P arrives in compact cardboard packaging befitting its SFX dimensions. A predominantly black theme with blue accents establishes brand identity. The unit image dominates the front panel, communicating form factor clearly. Protection proves adequate, with the PSU enclosed in a protective pouch and foam inserts providing shock absorption during transport.

The bundle exceeds typical expectations. Beyond the standard AC power cable and mounting screws, Lian Li includes an SFX-to-ATX mounting plate adapter enabling installation in standard ATX chassis. An AC power cable extension features an integrated power switch, addressing cases where PSU mounting renders the unit’s rear switch inaccessible. Cable combs arrive in quantity, permitting organizational customization. Finally, there is a small number of traditional cable ties included.

All cables employ an all-black aesthetic with black connectors and wires. Individual sleeving creates visual cohesion while maintaining flexibility. The cable configuration proves conservative for a 1000W unit, providing one 12V-2x6 connector and three 6+2 pin PCI Express connectors. Five SATA connectors represent minimal provision for storage-intensive builds. The 12V-2x6 connector features thin sense wires with stiff insulation that behave like stranded hair, requiring extra care if aesthetics are important. Partial coloring on 12V-2x6 connectors provides visual feedback confirming correct insertion. The connector count suggests a platform optimized for compact, focused builds rather than maximum peripheral expansion.

External Appearance

The Lian Li SP1000P measures precisely 100mm in length, conforming exactly to standard SFX specifications. Achieving 1000W output from this form factor represents extraordinary power density. The matte black chassis paint job demonstrates excellent finishing quality, with smooth surfaces free from manufacturing imperfections.

The design conforms to conventional SFX architecture. The bottom features horizontal ribbed ventilation forming a parallel bar finger guard for the 92mm fan. Decorative stickers with series and company logos occupy the left and right sides. A comprehensive electrical specifications sticker covers the entire top surface.

The front hosts the normal AC power cable receptacle alongside a compact power switch. The rear presents the modular cable connectors which are complemented by a subtle legend, even though the connectors are keyed and it is not possible to insert them wrong.

Internal Design

The Lian Li SP1000P employs a Hong Hua 92mm fan utilizing a fluid dynamic bearing engine. FDB designs represent optimal acoustic-to-reliability balance, maintaining low operational noise at elevated speeds while delivering strong mean time between failure figures. The fan specification indicates an extremely high 2900 RPM maximum speed. The unit implements zero-RPM mode, permitting fanless operation during light loads.

We could not indisputably verify the OEM behind this PSU. The design resembles Helly Technology platforms but there are distinct characteristics that lead us to believe they are not behind this platform. The origin is likely to be one of numerous OEMs that emerged over the past decade around Guangdong, sharing R&D and often human resources as well. Regardless of uncertain lineage, build quality proves very good with no manufacturing imperfections evident despite the extremely compact design.

The input filtering stage provides adequate protection with two Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors. Portions of the filtering stage occupy a daughterboard attached to the AC receptacle rear. Two rectifying bridges mount on the unit's sizable primary heatsink.

The APFC circuitry employs two Oriental Semiconductor 60R017HT4Z MOSFETs and a diode, positioned on the primary heatsink. One encased inductor and two Rubycon 420 μmicroF capacitors comprise the passive components.

The primary stage employs two Oriental Semiconductor MOSFETs, forming a half-bridge inversion topology. These mount on the primary heatsink alongside the APFC and input bridges. The heatsink proves fairly large with ample dissipation area, though it must handle multiple component groups with only modest airflow from the 92mm fan. The main transformer represents the platform's engineering highlight. Rather than conventional wire windings, its flat copper strips reduce losses, improve power quality, and permit higher operating frequencies that minimize transformer footprint.

The secondary stage utilizes six Oriental Semiconductor SFS04R007UGNF MOSFETs on the PCB underside, generating the primary 12V rail through synchronous rectification. These are industrial-grade MOSFETs that typically target commercial applications rather than consumer electronics. Their cooling depends on the chassis itself and small heatsink around the main transformer. DC-to-DC converter circuits generate the 3.3V and 5V rails.

Secondary side capacitors originate from Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon, both premier Japanese manufacturers. This represents premium component selection supporting the ten-year warranty period.

Cold Test Results

Cold Test Results (25°C Ambient)

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts.

The Lian Li SP1000P achieves average nominal load efficiency of 90.9% with 115 VAC input and 92.3% with 230 VAC input, measured across the standard load range. These results satisfy 80 Plus Platinum certification requirements with 115 VAC input. With 230 VAC input, the unit approaches but cannot quite achieve the 94% efficiency at 50% load required for Platinum certification, missing by approximately 0.4%. Efficiency proves quite high across the nominal load range. The unit lacks Cybenetics or PPLP certifications at review time.

Efficiency peaks at approximately 50% load and maintains stability across most operational ranges. Low load efficiency proves very good. The fan remains inactive until load exceeds approximately 370 watts, then increases speed linearly with load. The unit becomes audibly loud at loads beyond 60 to 70% capacity though the fan never reaches maximum speed even at 100% load during ambient temperature testing.

Hot Test Results

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

During elevated ambient temperature testing, the Lian Li SP1000P exhibits fairly significant efficiency degradation. Average nominal load efficiency drops to 88.2% with 115 VAC input and 89.5% with 230 VAC input. Clear signs of thermal stress appear at maximum load. We cannot say this was unexpected for a very compact unit rated for operation at 40°C, regardless of its component quality. Maintaining maximum power output even briefly under these conditions demonstrates capable thermal design despite evident stress.

Fan behavior shifts considerably under thermal stress. Activation occurs earlier, engaging at just 200 watts load. Fan speed increases to meet escalating cooling demands. The fan reaches maximum speed at 90 to 95% load and becomes very loud even before that threshold. Internal temperatures prove very high under these conditions. Given the extremely compact form factor and 40°C rating, maintaining full power output even temporarily under >45°C ambient temperature represents remarkable capability despite the audible strain.

PSU Quality and Bottom Line

Power Supply Quality

The Lian Li SP1000P demonstrates outstanding power quality performance. Maximum ripple measured 24 mV on the 12V rail, 16 mV on the 5V rail, and 16 mV on the 3.3V rail. These figures prove outstanding despite the very compact design and adverse operating conditions. Exceptional filtering and, possibly, the transformer keep voltage ripples extremely low. Voltage regulation proves excellent, maintaining 0.8% on the 12V rail, 1.3% on the 5V rail, and 1.5% on the 3.3V rail. Regulation on the primary 12V line proves particularly good. These figures confirm exceptional power quality across all outputs.

During our thorough assessment, we evaluate the essential protection features of every power supply unit we review, including Over Current Protection (OCP), Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Over Power Protection (OPP), and Short Circuit Protection (SCP).

OCP activates at 132% on the 3.3V and 5V rails, and 116% on the 12V rail. OPP triggers at 118% during hot testing. Protection circuit responses prove very sharp, especially for an ATX 3.1 certified unit designed to handle transient loads.

Bottom Line

The Lian Li SP1000P represents exceptional engineering achievement in power supply miniaturization. Delivering 1000 watts from a standard 100mm SFX form factor requires advanced topology and premium components. The flat copper strip transformer, industrial-grade MOSFETs, and Japanese capacitors demonstrate serious engineering rather than corner-cutting. Build quality proves very good with no manufacturing imperfections evident despite the extremely compact and densely populated internal design. The ten-year warranty period reflects confidence in component selection and thermal management capabilities.

Cable configuration is conservative for a 1000W unit, but is not unwarranted considering its SFX size. The individually sleeved cables create attractive aesthetics, though the stiff sense wires on the 12V-2x6 connector present a minor cosmetic concern. The AC power extension cable with integrated switch demonstrates thoughtful attention to special case and custom build installation challenges where PSU mounting renders the rear switch inaccessible. The included SFX-to-ATX mounting bracket expands compatibility to standard ATX chassis, but keep in mind that the cables of the SFX unit are quite short and will not work with the unit placed any further than right next to the motherboard.

Electrical performance proves exceptional across all metrics. Voltage regulation maintains 0.8% deviation on the primary 12V rail with slightly higher but still good figures on minor rails, demonstrating precise control under varying loads. Ripple suppression achieves outstanding results, exceptional considering the very compact form factor and adverse testing conditions. Protection circuits respond with sharp precision. Efficiency results merit recognition. Cold testing efficiency of 90.9% with 115 VAC and 92.3% with 230 VAC achieves 80 Plus Platinum certification with 115 VAC input. The unit approaches but narrowly misses Platinum certification with 230 VAC input. Hot testing reveals fairly significant efficiency degradation to 88.2% and 89.5% respectively, with clear thermal stress signs at maximum load, though figures remain within acceptable parameters for a unit rated at 40 degrees Celsius.

Thermal management proves adequate for specification compliance though acoustic performance suffers under sustained high loads. The 100mm form factor paired with a 92mm fan operating at extremely high maximum speed creates inherent cooling challenges. The fan remains inactive until approximately 370 watts load, contributing to excellent low-load acoustics. Loads exceeding 60 to 70% capacity produce significant noise levels. Under elevated ambient temperatures, the fan reaches maximum speed at 90 to 95% load and becomes very loud. Internal temperatures prove very high under maximum load hot testing conditions. The thermal control circuitry responds appropriately to cooling demands but this clearly is not a unit designed to be seriously stressed in a very adverse environment.

Component selection demonstrates premium positioning. Rubycon APFC capacitors and Oriental Semiconductor industrial-grade MOSFETs represent solid choices. Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon secondary capacitors confirm commitment to reliability. The flat copper strip transformer represents advanced engineering reducing losses and permitting higher operating frequencies that allowed for the unit’s very compact size. Component selection supports the ten-year warranty period convincingly.

The Lian Li SP1000P succeeds in delivering remarkable power density without compromising electrical performance quality. Pricing positions the SP1000P at approximately $185, representing reasonably high positioning for an SFX unit with 80 Plus Platinum efficiency. The market segment for users requiring such massive power output from such compact dimensions remains very niche. Competition exists from other high-wattage SFX units, though few match the SP1000P's power density. Value assessment depends heavily on small form factor requirements and willingness to accept high-load acoustic compromises. Those prioritizing silence should consider lower-wattage alternatives or builds that rarely approach maximum capacity.

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Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd., founded in 1983, is a Taiwanese company renowned for its premium computer cases, power supplies, and PC accessories. As one of the oldest players in the PC hardware market, Lian Li is recognized for its commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, innovative aluminum-based designs, and solutions tailored to both industrial and consumer markets. Their product lineup includes mid-tower and full-tower cases, compact enclosures for smaller builds, and cutting-edge PSUs, all acknowledged for their modularity, durability, and forward-thinking features. Among PC enthusiasts, Lian Li's reputation for blending functionality with aesthetics has established them as an industry leader.

This review examines the RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU, representing Lian Li's most sophisticated approach to power supply design. Would this cutting-edge design earn it a spot in our list of best power supplies? The RS1200G introduces a rotatable AC power receptacle, a world-first innovation that fundamentally rethinks PSU orientation and cable management. This mechanism allows the modular cable connectors to exit from either the rear or left side of the chassis, adapting to different case architectures. The implementation appears more versatile than competing solutions, though it introduces its own compatibility requirements. Complementing this mechanical innovation is an optional magnetic USB hub that can mount directly to the PSU, expanding connectivity options for modern systems.

Specifications and Design

In the Box

The Lian Li RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU arrives in a sizable cardboard box with a predominantly black theme and blue accents. The unit itself dominates the front side, establishing immediate visual recognition. Protection is substantial, with the PSU enclosed in a protective pouch and surrounded by dense foam packaging inserts designed to withstand shipping stresses.

The bundle is comprehensive, exceeding typical PSU inclusions. Beyond the standard AC power cable and mounting hardware, Lian Li provides a magnetic USB hub capable of mounting anywhere within the chassis or directly on the PSU. Two USB cables accompany the hub, offering users a choice between internal motherboard header connection or rear panel USB routing. A specialized backplate with a cable routing notch enables clean exits when necessary. Magnetic cable organizers are included to replace traditional zip ties, offering repositionable cable management. Cable combs arrive pre-attached to select cables, with additional units included for user customization. Finally, Lian Li includes some basic cable ties as well.

All cables utilize an all-black aesthetic with black connectors and wires. The cables employ a flat, ribbon-line construction that simplifies routing in tight spaces. The ATX 24-pin and PCIe 12V-2x6 cables receive premium treatment with per-wire sleeving and factory-installed combs. The cable configuration proves conservative for a 1200W unit, providing one 12V-2x6 connector and five 6+2 pin PCI Express connectors distributed across four cables. The unit's maximum output rating at 40 degrees Celsius and the number of connectors hint that it is not a platform meant to be severely stressed.

External Appearance

The Lian Li RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU measures 150mm in length, barely exceeding standard ATX dimensions. This compact form factor is remarkable for a 1200W unit. The matte black chassis paint job demonstrates excellent finishing quality, with smooth surfaces free from manufacturing defects.

The design philosophy diverges dramatically from conventional PSU architecture. Modular cable connectors populate virtually every side of the chassis, enabled by the rotatable AC power receptacle. This receptacle represents the unit's defining feature, allowing users to shift modular cable connectors between rear and left-side positions. The implementation permits direct cable routing to the motherboard panel's backside in compatible cases. This appears more sophisticated than competing solutions, as users maintain orientation control based on case requirements. Cases supporting side cable routing can utilize that configuration, while traditional cases can employ rear routing.

A significant limitation exists. The 24-pin connector location inverses relative to other connectors depending on AC receptacle orientation. When standard connectors exit rearward, the 24-pin exits left. When standard connectors exit left, the 24-pin exits rearward. This necessitates cases always accommodate at least the 24-pin connector routing behind the motherboard, effectively eliminating universal compatibility.

The right side is perforated, as rotational capability means this surface can become the front depending on AC receptacle positioning. The fan finger guard integrates directly into the chassis, displaying a unique geometric cutout pattern mixing squares and rectangles. The rear side, which alternates with the left depending on inlet orientation, incorporates a specialized slot for the USB hub. When positioned here, the USB hub draws power directly from the PSU without requiring a SATA connector.

Internal Design

The Lian Li RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU employs a Hong Hua 135mm fan utilizing a fluid dynamic bearing engine. FDB designs represent optimal acoustic-to-reliability balance, maintaining low operational noise at elevated speeds while delivering strong mean time between failure figures. The fan specification includes a high 2300 RPM maximum speed, though the unit's zero-RPM mode means extended periods of fanless operation while the system is idling.

The PSU originates from Sirfa, a Chinese OEM whose designs have graced numerous mid-to-top tier power supplies over the past two decades. Sirfa's experience shows in the platform's assembly quality and component selection, though some choices reflect cost optimization rather than absolute premium positioning.

The input filtering stage provides adequate protection with four Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors. Most filtering components mount on a vertical daughterboard, optimizing spatial efficiency and freeing the AC receptacle for movement. Two rectifying bridges are installed on a substantial heatsink immediately following the filtration stage.

The APFC circuitry employs two SRC60R608BS MOSFETs and a diode, positioned on a large heatsink spanning the PCB edge. One encased inductor and two EPCOS (TDK) capacitors totaling 1210 μF comprise the passive components. The total capacitance is massive and EPCOS component quality is top-tier. These German-manufactured capacitors offer superior thermal and mechanical stress resistance compared to most alternatives but are very costly and we rarely see their products even in top-tier units.

In the primary stage, two SRC60R095BS MOSFETs form a half-bridge primary inversion topology. These components are on a separate heatsink positioned after the APFC bulk capacitors. Heatsink dimensions are generous, providing substantial surface area for heat dissipation even under sustained high-power operation.

The secondary stage utilizes eight Infineon 10N04NM6 MOSFETs distributed across two vertical daughterboards, generating the primary 12V rail through synchronous rectification. The absence of dedicated heatsinks for these components hints their exceptional efficiency characteristics. DC-to-DC converter circuits on another vertical daughterboard generate the 3.3V and 5V rails from the primary 12V output.

Secondary side capacitors originate entirely from Teapo, a reputable Taiwanese manufacturer. While Teapo lacks the prestige of premium Japanese manufacturers like Nippon Chemi-Con or Rubycon, they maintain solid reliability records and appropriate specifications for this application. This represents a pragmatic compromise between cost and quality for a unit with a 10-year warranty.

Cold Test Results

Cold Test Results (25°C Ambient)

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts.

The Lian Li RS1200G PSU achieves average nominal load efficiency of 90.0% with 115 VAC input and 92.0% with 230 VAC input, measured across the 10% to 100% load range. These results comfortably satisfy 80 Plus Gold and CLEAResult Gold certification requirements. The unit received Cybenetics Platinum certification based on average efficiency calculations, though efficiency dips at maximum load prevented higher certifications from the other two certifying bodies. Lian Li markets this as Gold-certified, likely avoiding internal competition with their premium product lines.

Efficiency peaks near 40% load and maintains fairly good stability across most operational ranges. Very low load efficiency remains good, an important characteristic for modern systems spending significant time in idle states. The fan initiates rotation when load exceeds approximately 300 Watts but maintains very low speeds up to 800 Watts. Beyond 900 Watts, fan speed increases substantially though it still remains below half maximum capability.

Hot Test Results

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

During elevated ambient temperature testing, the Lian Li RS1200G PSU exhibits notable efficiency degradation. Average nominal load efficiency drops to 88.4% with 115 VAC input and 90.3% with 230 VAC input. Signs of thermal stress emerge at maximum load, though they remain within acceptable operational parameters. This is a product rated for maximum output at 40°C and, although it can reach its maximum output at a higher temperature, the signs of stress are apparent.

Fan behavior shifts considerably under thermal stress. Activation occurs earlier, engaging at approximately 250 Watts load. The fan maintains slow rotation up to 600 Watts, after which speed increases progressively until reaching maximum at 90% load. Maximum load operation produces significant noise levels, though this represents expected behavior for a compact, Gold-certified 1200W unit under thermal stress. Internal temperatures remain within acceptable operational levels throughout testing.

PSU Quality and Bottom Line

Power Supply Quality

The Lian Li RS1200G demonstrates outstanding power quality performance. Maximum ripple measured 26 mV on the 12V rail, 14 mV on the 5V rail, and 14 mV on the 3.3V rail, all substantially below industry safety limits and representing excellent performance considering test conditions and massive power output capability. Voltage regulation proves equally impressive, maintaining 0.9% on the 12V rail, 0.7% on the 5V rail, and 0.6% on the 3.3V rail. These figures indicate exceptional power quality across all voltage outputs under varying load conditions.

During our thorough assessment, we evaluate the essential protection features of every power supply unit we review, including Over Current Protection (OCP), Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Over Power Protection (OPP), and Short Circuit Protection (SCP). OCP activates at 126% on the 3.3V rail, 128% on the 5V rail, and 112% on the 12V rail. OPP triggers at 110% during hot testing. These protection thresholds are exceptionally sharp, particularly for an ATX 3.1 certified unit.

Bottom Line

The Lian Li RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU represents genuine innovation in power supply design, addressing cable management challenges through mechanical ingenuity rather than incremental improvements. The rotatable AC inlet provides unprecedented installation flexibility, adapting to diverse case architectures while maintaining compact ATX dimensions. This feature alone distinguishes the RS1200G from conventional offerings, though it introduces specific compatibility requirements that potential buyers must carefully evaluate. The 24-pin connector placement creates an inherent limitation. Cases must accommodate behind-motherboard routing for at least the primary ATX cable, eliminating compatibility with chassis lacking appropriate cable management provisions. This restriction is not insurmountable but requires careful case selection, potentially limiting the RS1200G's appeal to builders with existing incompatible cases.

The magnetic USB hub adds practical value for builders requiring additional connectivity and cable management. Direct PSU mounting eliminates SATA power requirements when positioned in the dedicated slot, simplifying cable management. Alternative mounting locations throughout the chassis provide flexibility for specific layout requirements. This feature addresses modern system connectivity demands elegantly, though its utility varies significantly based on individual build requirements. Cable configuration proves conservative for a 1200W unit. One 12V-2x6 connector and five 6+2 pin PCIe connectors accommodate most GPU requirements but may prove limiting for some top-tier builds. Flat ribbon cables with magnetic cable organizers simplify routing in constrained spaces, representing thoughtful attention to practical installation concerns.

Electrical performance proves exceptional across all metrics. Voltage regulation maintains sub-1% deviation across all rails, demonstrating precise control under varying loads. Ripple suppression achieves outstanding results, particularly given the unit's 1200W output capability and compact form factor. Protection circuits respond with sharp precision, balancing safety with practical operational requirements. The OCP threshold is rather conservative but this unit is certified to handle ATX 3.1 transients. Efficiency results merit recognition. Cold testing efficiency of 90.0% with 115 VAC and 92.0% with 230 VAC comfortably exceeds Gold certification requirements, with Cybenetics awarding Platinum certification based on average efficiency calculations. Hot testing reveals significant but predictable efficiency degradation to 88.4% and 90.3% respectively, with thermal stress signs at maximum load, even though the figures remain within acceptable parameters.

Thermal management proves adequate though not exceptional. The compact 150mm chassis and overall topology, although paired with a 135mm fan and good heatsinks on the primary side, create inherent cooling challenges at maximum power output. The fan remains inactive or operates at minimal speeds under moderate loads, contributing to excellent low-load acoustics. High load operation produces significant noise levels, particularly under elevated ambient temperatures when the fan reaches maximum speed. Overall, the thermal control circuitry is very reasonably programmed and responsive.

Component selection demonstrates pragmatic engineering. EPCOS APFC capacitors and Infineon MOSFETs represent premium choices in critical high-stress positions. Teapo secondary capacitors occupy a middle ground between economy and premium Japanese alternatives, appropriate for the 10-year warranty period but not representing absolute top-tier specification. This mixed approach balances cost optimization with reliability requirements.

Pricing positions the RS1200G at approximately $180, representing premium positioning justified by innovative features and solid electrical performance. Competition exists from conventional high-wattage units offering lower pricing but lacking the RS1200G's distinctive capabilities. Value assessment depends heavily on individual compatibility requirements and appreciation for the rotational design innovation.

The Lian Li RS1200G ATX 3.1 PSU succeeds in delivering meaningful innovation beyond incremental specification improvements. Exceptional electrical performance, comprehensive protection features, and thoughtful accessory inclusion demonstrate engineering competence. The unit’s performance at maximum load suggests the platform may be a little stressed at 1200 Watts, although it can deliver its maximum power output under adverse circumstances if necessary. Case compatibility limitations represent the primary concern, requiring careful evaluation before purchase. For builders with compatible cases seeking innovative solutions and exceptional power quality, the RS1200G merits serious consideration despite its premium pricing.

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Lian Li’s Lancool 217 is one of my favorite cases of 2025, thanks to its classy wood trim, complete lack of RGB, and excellent airflow due to large 170 mm intake fans. Now the company is back with a version of the 217 that’s the polar opposite. With an RGB-lit front infinity mirror, three RGB fans, and top-mounted buttons to control the lightshow, this case feels like it fell off the set of the recent Tron reboot and onto my workbench.

But at its core, the Lancool 217 INF is still the same dual-chamber case as the 217, with nearly all the same great features, plus one change that fixes my main gripe about the original. The front panel IO can be moved from its default location on the bottom side to the top, where the three USB ports and audio jack are a lot easier to reach if your case lives on the floor.

Lian Li Lancool 217 INF Specifications

The Lancool 217 and the 217 INF are so close to each other in specs that the table above is nearly identical to the previous model. The major downside is that the 217 INF lacks the GPU-focused bottom-mounted 120mm fans (which you could add yourself, since the mounting holes are still there). And the price has gone up $5 over the non-RGB model. But with the infinity mirror, RGB fans, configurable front IO, and support for the company’s wireless fan and RGB control via a built-in receiver, the minor price jump hardly feels prohibitive given the added features.

Storage aplenty

Like its non-RGB sibling, the Lancool 217 INF offers lots of storage options for those who need more than just M.2 storage. Two removable drive bays in the bottom hold up to four total 3.5-inch drives. Two removable panels behind the motherboard can house 2.5-inch drives, and there are screw holes for mounting a third 2.5-inch SATA drive behind the GPU cooling fans, at the back of the PSU shroud.

Just note you'll need to remove one of the 3.5-inch drive sleds if you're using a long power supply. Even with the small Enermax Revolution D.F. power supply I used in the 217 build, it was helpful to remove the first drive cage to make room for cable clutter.

Pick your port placement

Port selection on the 217 is pretty standard. But for a case that's just shy of 19 inches tall and 20 inches deep, the default location on the bottom side isn’t great unless you’re plopping this mid-tower on your desk. But unlike with the original 217, Lian Li lets you move the ports on the 217 INF up to the top. This isn’t exactly simple, as you have to remove basically all the panels, take out some screws, and remove all the front-panel wires through a hole in the front, then snake them through a hole in the top, re-attach the panel, and put everything back together.

All that took me about 10 minutes, even without looking at the manual, so it’s not exactly a chore. I don’t love the way the ports are recessed below the panel in their top spot, but I certainly welcome the ability to move the ports to a better position.

Big fans, embedded in glass

The Lancool 217's fans are the same 170 mm as the original model. But here they sport RGB and are embedded in the infinity mirror front. The fan covers, which look and feel a lot like speaker grilles, can be turned counter-clockwise and removed for cleaning.

Surrounding the fans in glass rather than the open mesh of the original model's front undoubtedly changes the internal airflow to some extent. But with such large fans covering nearly the entire front of the case, cooling should still be more than adequate for air coolers and gaming-focused builds. But I still wish Lian Li had included bottom fans for the GPU, like on the original 217.

Power supply mounting: traditional or sideways

Just as with the original 217, the power supply installs in the bottom rear of the 217 INF. You can mount it the traditional way, with the cable and switch poking out the back if you remove a pre-installed panel. And you'll want to do this if you have a long PSU. But the Lancool 217 is really designed for you to mount the power supply sideways. There is a cable extension with an L connector to plug the PSU in from the motherboard side, and this gives you easier access to the PSU connectors, which then face the rear motherboard area.

This works well for normal-sized PSUs, but if you're installing a PSU that is longer than about 140 mm, you're likely to run into cable clearance issues with this orientation. That goes doubly if you're building a system with a rear-connector motherboard (which the 217 INF supports), where cable clearance and cable slack space are tough to come by.

Cable routing

The Lancool 217 INF has three large grommetted holes for cable pass-throughs, as well as slits along the rear of the PSU shroud. Combined with the several pre-installed velcro straps and cable clips, plugging things in and keeping cable mess to a minimum was simple.

Bottom line

Personally, I much prefer the wood accents and refreshingly RGB-free fans of the original Lancool 217. That and its five-fan cooling help make it one of the best PC cases you can buy. But if you like the large fans in that case, but are after something with a design that will stand out loud and proud in your gaming setup, the Lancool 217 INF is well worth considering. That’s especially true if you’re going to put your PC on the floor. Because the 217 INF’s configurable front IO lets you move those ports up to the top where you’re far more likely to use them.

The original version of the Lancool 207 impressed us around this time last year, with its airflow and included fans, at an affordable $80-$85 in the U.S. Today we’re taking a look at a refreshed variant, the Lancool 207 Digital, which effectively delivers all that was great about last year’s model, plus a bright front-mounted screen, for about $20 more.

We’ll be taking a close look at the primary upgrade in this digital model, the 6-inch, 1600x720 screen that’s rated to 500 nit of brightness. It can show performance metrics or even be configured as a secondary monitor.

We’ll also run the case through some difficult thermal benchmarks, using Intel’s i9-14900K and an Nvidia RTX 4000 series GPU to test its cooling effectiveness, both at noise-normalized settings and with the fans at maximum speeds.

Will Lian Li Lancool 207 Digital make our list of the best PC cases? You’d better believe it! The thermal performance of this case is among the best on the market, as you’ll see in the benchmarks section. Let’s take a look at the specifications and features of the case, then we’ll wrap up our review with thermal results.

Product Specifications

Features of Lian Li’s Lancool 207 Digital PC case

▶️ GPU length and anti-sag support

While it is a fairly compact mid-sized case, Lian Li’s Lancool 207 supports the biggest RTX 5090 GPUs, with room for graphics cards up to 375mm (14.76 inches )in length. An essential GPU anti-sag bracket is included with the case, outlined below in red.

▶️ PSU up front makes room for cooling at the back

Most PC cases have the power supply installed in the rear of the case, but Lian Li’s Lancool 207 features a front placement for the PSU. This is a trend we’ve seen elsewhere, like in Montech’s HS01 Pro. But here it’s at the bottom, and turned 90 degrees. A bottom mesh cover assures the PSU won’t have an issue dumping its heat outside the chassis.

▶️ Dual fans up front and the bottom of the case, with strong airflow in the back

The case comes with two 140mm fans installed in the front (non-RGB on this model), and two 120mm fans installed on the bottom. Despite lacking – at least in the default configuration – a traditional exhaust fan, airflow through the back of the case (which is also mesh with large holes) is very strong! For those wanting the best cooling possible, an exhaust fan can be installed here. Up to three additional fans, or a 360mm AIO, can be installed at the top of the case.

▶️ Air cooler support

In addition to supporting the largest GPUs on the market, the Lancool 207 Digital also has room for larger air coolers, with towers up to 180mm tall (7.1 inches) supported.

▶️ Bottom view: rubber feet and dust filter

There are four rubber feet on the bottom to ensure airflow to the PSU (there’s also a dust filter here) and prevent it from moving.

▶️ Back side, cable management, and storage support

From the backside of the case, we see a simple but efficient setup. Cables can be managed and tucked in a tidy fashion secured by the three velcro straps on the left side of the case and through the top. Those who have extra cables from their PSUs can stash them above the SSD plates, highlighted in blue. Both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives are supported by the drive plates, shown below.

▶️ ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ATX support

While the Lancool 207 won’t support the largest EATX motherboards, it does support standard-sized ATX boards up to 244mm in width, as well as smaller boards. We’ve installed the Asus Z790-P Prime Wifi, paired with Intel’s i9-14900K CPU for this review’s testing.

▶️ IO panel

The IO panel is located at the front and top of the case. It offers a power button, audio jack, and three USB ports – two USB-A and one USB-C.

▶️ Accessories packaging

Lian Li goes the extra mile in the packaging of case accessories. Many manufacturers include the spare parts in simple plastic bags or a cardboard box. The Lancool 207 comes with a premium box that includes dividers that can be used to customize it as desired.

▶️ Toolless side panels

The side panels of this case can be removed and installed without tools, which some may appreciate for simplicity.

▶️ Six-inch, 500-nit 1720x600 display

The distinguishing feature of this case revision is the inclusion of a 500-nit, 1720x600 display. This can be customized through Lian Li’s L-Connect 3 software, which we’ve covered in-depth in previous reviews. It allows easy customization of the screen to show performance metrics, images, or videos of your choosing. There is a large variety of pre-packaged themes to choose from, I’ve shown a few in the pictures here.

But if you don’t want to use Lian Li’s software or just want to display something else, the screen can also function as a secondary display.

This allows the display to be used as you see fit – I’ve run Furmark at a whopping 450 FPS in the demo above. One thing I like using this feature for is to set up a slideshow of pictures in an album, changing every few minutes to display a different memory.

Most users will need to connect the display to a USB header on their motherboard. However, if you don’t have a spare USB header on your motherboard, Lian Li aslo includes an adapter so that the display can be connected through a traditional USB-A port!

▶️ Rear view

There’s not much to say about the rear of the case. Like most, it supports seven PCI-e expansion slots. The main difference you’ll notice from typical cases is the power plug on the bottom of the case, which connects to the power supply in the front of the unit.

Thermal tests, test setup, and testing methodology

The measurements I’ve benchmarked this case against focus on the efficiency of the case’s thermal transfer.

Our thermal tests are presented to give you more information about the product’s performance, but aren’t intended as the sole judgment of the chassis. The style, price, features, and noise levels of a case should also be considered, and we all have different preferences. What I might like in a case, you might not, and that’s OK. My goal with these reviews is to give everyone, no matter their preferences, enough information to decide whether or not a product is right for them.

Maximum thermal performance – pre-installed fans noise-normalized to 38.9 dBA

This set of tests is designed to appeal to those who love quiet PCs, with both system fans and the CPU fan noise-normalized to 38.9 dBA. Consider this a measure of the case’s thermal efficiency when the fans are set to run quietly.

The first noise-normalized test stresses only the CPU, running Cinebench R23 multi-core with power limits removed. I did a double-take when I saw the results here. The performance shown was better than any other result I’ve had since adopting this method of testing PC cases. This is a testament to the efficiency of the fans and airflow of this PC case.

The second noise-normalized test I perform is much like the above, but also fully stresses the RTX 4070 TI Super GPU I have paired with the system, adding another 295W of heat to the case. The GPU temperatures in this test were the third-best I’ve seen among the cases I’ve tested this way. The result of 64.2 degrees Celsius is only 0.7 degrees C warmer than our best result here!

As a result, the GPU’s fan speeds were also the third-quietest in this scenario, with an average measurement of 1,454 RPM.

Maximum Noise Levels

In terms of maximum volume, Lian Li’s Lancool 207 Digital spins up to 46 dBA with my sound meter from 1 meter away, which is more or less average for PC cases. One thing my charts don’t show, however, is the pitch noise, which isn’t particularly annoying here (at least to me). So I would say that the noise doesn’t “feel” as loud as the dBA measurements would indicate. But your ears may give you a different opinion.

Maximum thermal performance – pre-installed fans at full speed

Our noise-normalized results are designed for folks who prefer silence, but what if you don’t mind additional noise and just care about maximum performance?

Starting with a CPU-only stress test, we measured 296.3W. While not quite as impressive as our noise-normalized results, the Lancool 207 Digital performed well enough here.

Adding the heat of a GPU returns the Lian Li to the front of the pack in terms of performance, showing our best result recorded thus far with, 294.3W cooled (on average) during this test.

Now let’s look at the temperature of the GPU. With the system fans at full speed, the thermal result is our second-best, with an average of 62.5 degrees C.

The thermal efficiency of Lian Li’s fan configuration means that the GPU has to work less to maintain low temperatures, resulting in fan speeds running at an average of 1,307 RPM. Only Montech’s case did better here, and not by much.

Conclusion

Lian Li’s Lancool 207 Digital is an impressive case. Thermal performance is simply excellent, among the best avialable. And its chart-topping noise and thermal results and nice-looking screen, paired with a very reasonable price, makes it my new favorite compact midtower case.

If you’re on a tight budget, the basic version of this case is currently available for only $90 in the U.S. But the Digital version tested here includes a fancy six inch, 1,600x720-resolution display for $105, just $15 more!

Lian Li made a splash at this year’s Computex trade show in Taiwan, unveiling a range of new cases, AIO liquid coolers, and even a lineup of power supplies. But what may have flown under the radar is the company’s next step toward truly wireless PC case fans. Their latest Uni Fan SL-Infinity Wireless fans, in true sense, do not require any cables and can be controlled wirelessly. However, there’s a major catch - the fans run on power supplied by a small power bank, limiting their runtime to just 20–30 minutes.

While powering the fans and onboard LEDs via a power bank is one option (limited to certain early units), the Uni Fan SL-INF Wireless fans also come with a module that attaches to a single fan or a group of interlocked, daisy-chained fans. This module includes an internal wireless transmitter and a cable with a PWM power connector, which must be plugged into the motherboard. As such, the fans reduce cable clutter somewhat, but their true wireless capacities are extremely limited.

There’s also a USB dongle which acts as a wireless receiver and is required to be plugged into a USB port at the back of your motherboard, or a USB internal header on the motherboard. The receiver can be used to control other wireless products from Lian Li, including its range of Strimmer Wireless ARGB extension cables, which were first showcased at last year’s Computex. Using the company’s L-connect 3 software, users can then control the lighting effects, fan speeds, fan curves, monitor system stats, and more.

While the intention to eliminate controller hubs and ARGB cables from your fan setup is appreciated, without the paltry battery pack, these fans don’t technically qualify as ‘wireless.’ Having said that, they do look premium and include 58 LEDs to offer tasteful RGB lighting across dedicated zones, including the blade hub, diffused side strip, and inner edges. Both the hub and sides offer infinity mirror effects while each side comes in a different RGB lighting pattern, allowing you to change the look by simply flipping them to the other side.

Popular PC case and components manufacturer Lian Li has just announced a new 360mm AIO liquid cooler. The Hydroshift II LCD-C was showcased at Computex 2025 and is a follow-up to the company’s original Hydroshift LCD 360 series that we reviewed last year. Lian has redesigned the cooler to include a thinner radiator for a more compact look and improved compatibility with more compact cases. Just note that a slimmer radiator generally means less cooling performance.

The side-mounted tube design has also been updated with flexible server-grade corrugated tubing, which is designed for smooth bends around the radiator without reducing flow or internal diameter. There’s also a new sliding tube clamp for improved tube alignment directly over the CPU block.

The tubes can be secured using various mounting points on the side of the radiator, or using the screw mounting holes at the top, allowing it to be secured directly to 140mm fan brackets. The pump block itself is now cable-free (sort of), as all the connections have moved to the radiator. There’s also a new latch-in-place mounting mechanism that helps make installation a bit easier by holding the block securely while you're screwing it down. That certainly sounds like a welcome design feature.

The pump block also features a round, 2.1-inch IPS display (480x480 resolution, 60 Hz refresh, and up to 500 nits of brightness) with an outer RGB ring. The LCD can be controlled using three methods, including an offline mode that doesn’t require any additional USB or software. Turning the RGB pump cap lets you switch between thirteen preset screen designs. Turning it the other way to change the lighting effects.

Lian Li has a range of new products coming this year, including cases, power supply units, and AIO liquid cooling solutions with LCD displays. Currently being showcased at Computex 2025, the company has officially launched the new Lancool 4, Lancool 217 INF, O11D Mini V2, DAN Case B4, Vector V100, and Vector V200 cases, along with the HydroShift III AIO, which features a 2K panoramic LCD screen. Additionally, Lian Li is introducing four new PSU series, namely the DWS, RS, RB, and SP.

The Lancool series of mid-tower cases is known for efficient airflow, largely due to its front mesh panels. This year, however, Lian Li is shaking things up by replacing mesh with tempered glass and integrating fans directly into the panels.

Starting with the Lancool 4 (currently listed as a prototype), the chassis resembles the Lancool III but now features a curved glass front panel with three integrated 140mm fans. All three fans are daisy-chained and include individual dust filters. The case also adopts a vertical PSU layout, which frees up more space in the bottom compartment, allowing the installation of three 120mm fans. Additional mounting points are available for three 120mm or 140mm fans at the top, and a single 120mm or 140mm fan at the rear. The case is expected to launch in October in black and white color options, priced around $130.

The new Lancool 217 INF follows a similar concept. While it retains the overall design of the original Lancool 217, it now includes an infinity mirror glass front panel with two integrated 170mm fans. Lian Li notes that the case will include built-in lighting controls and an integrated L-Wireless receiver, allowing control without extra cables. It also retains key features from the original, such as two PSU mounting orientations enabling easier side cable access, support for reverse-connect motherboards, and various fan mounting options. The case will be available in October for $120 in black and $125 in white.

Lian Li is also introducing new fish-tank-style cases, including the O11D Mini V2, a follow-up to the original O11D Mini. Despite the name, the case is anything but “mini,” as it supports full-sized components, including ATX motherboards, ATX power supplies, and up to 360mm AIO liquid coolers. It features front and side tempered glass panels, with mounting options for three fans at the bottom or top, one at the rear, and two on the side.

One standout detail is the bottom intake fan mount, which is tilted upward by 25 degrees on one side to improve airflow. The back panel also includes a mesh section that protrudes by 3mm, providing extra clearance and ventilation for large vertically mounted PSUs. Additionally, the O11 Mini V2 offers flexible I/O port mounting, allowing users to position it either on the front or top of the case.

The case is expected to launch in July, starting at $90 for both the black and white variants. For an additional $10, buyers can opt for a version that includes five non-RGB case fans.

Next we have the Vector series of cases which are going to be targeting budget PC builders. The V100 and V100 Mini are pretty standard looking cases with front and side tempered glass panels, a diagonally cut PSU shroud, and low price points of $60 and $45 respectively.

The V200 is a bit more interesting as it includes an 8.8-inch LCD screen integrated into the bottom shroud, along with a touch panel at the front to power on/off the PC and for lighting control. The LCD can be customized through Lian Li’s L-Connect 3 software and can be used for system monitoring or adding visual effects. It also offers a slanted lower edge at the bottom of the side-mounted fans to improve airflow for GPU cooling. The V200 will be available in September and is priced at $110, which is quite good for a case with an LCD screen.

Lian Li also has a new case in collaboration with Dan Cases this year. The new Dan Case B4 is a fairly small chassis that offers support for mATX motherboards, 140mm ATX PSUs, 280mm AIOs, and 4-slot GPUs up to 360mm in horizontal orientation. It also offers a modular approach wherein the case can be flipped upright and mounted on the included modular stand for a vertical setup. In this mode, the case accommodates up to 360mm AIOs by removing the rear 120mm fan bracket and better GPU cooling with a dedicated air chamber that offers mounting for three 120mm or two 140mm fans.

The reversible stand will also let you choose between a mesh exterior or an exposed air chamber, while the case comes with two pre-installed 120mm slim fans. The case is expected to launch in October with a price of $100, available in black or silver color options.

Moving away from cases, the new Hydroshift III AIO liquid cooler features a curved 2K resolution screen with a motorized mechanism that can move the display horizontally, allowing users to get that perfect viewing angle. Sitting right above the pump is an integrated VRM fan that can potentially help in cooling both RAM and VRM modules. The company also notes that the AIO comes with industrial-grade metal tubing and fixed-position hinges, offering better durability and precise tube alignment.

Lian Li's O11 range of PC cases has been in the wilderness for quite some time and is still a very popular choice for new PC builds, thanks to its initial design and more recent iterations that expand on that success. The Lian Li PC-O11 Air Mini is our pick for the best compact ATX PC case, and this Spring Sale 2025 deal on the Lian Li O11 Vision is good news if you're looking to get your hands on one of the prettiest cases for your latest build and show off your components through the tempered glass windows.

It's not the best price I've ever seen for this case, but it is a good price. Also, this case is pretty much out of stock everywhere right now. If this is the case you've been waiting for, you might want to jump on it sooner rather than later. Available at Newegg, the Lian Li O11 Vision is $149 while stocks last. The version offered at this price is the white variant with clear glass panels. You can get the black version with tinted glass panels for $10 less, but as we covered in our review of the Lian Li O11 Vision, it can be a little too dark and mask the view of your components and RGB.

The Lian Li O11 Vision uses a dual-chamber design that allows you to display all your precious parts and fans in the tempered glass "Fish Tank" side of the case, while your power supply, cables, RGB controllers, and extra 2.5-inch SSDs are stashed in the closed area. This makes the PC build look neat and tidy, but the negatives of the dual chamber design are that the cases are usually pretty wide and can take up more of your valuable desk space.

Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd., founded in 1983, is a Taiwanese company renowned for its premium computer cases, power supplies, and PC accessories. As one of the oldest players in the PC hardware market, Lian Li is known for its commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, innovative aluminum-based designs, and solutions tailored to both industrial and consumer markets. Their product lineup includes mid-tower and full-tower cases, compact enclosures for smaller builds, and cutting-edge PSUs, all recognized for their modularity, durability, and forward-thinking features. Among PC enthusiasts, Lian Li's reputation for blending functionality with aesthetics has set them apart, but it has yet to rank among our best power supplies list.

We examine the latest entry in Lian Li's power supply lineup, the Edge Gold EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU. Positioned as the Gold-certified successor to the Platinum-certified EG1000 model, this unit incorporates a unique approach to PSU design. Once again, the highlight of the EG1000G is the shape of the chassis itself, which forgoes the ATX cuboid shape and standard length. While retaining the distinct L-shaped chassis introduced in the EG1000, the EG1000G refines and expands upon its predecessor's innovative features by introducing a magnetic fan dust filter and a detachable USB/fan hub.

Specifications and Design

In the Box

The Lian Li EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU is packaged in a standard rectangular box, moving away from the L-shaped box used for the EG1000 model. The packaging is sturdy, providing ample protection for shipping. The unit itself is further safeguarded by a protective pouch and dense foam inserts.

The bundle includes all the essentials: mounting screws, an AC power cable, and a basic manual. Additionally, the company provides a few cable ties, a couple of cable combs, and a PCI slot cover designed for routing cables to the rear of the case. Also included are the necessary cables to utilize the PSU's USB/fan hub functionality.

This PSU features a fully modular design, allowing all DC cables, including the 24-pin ATX connector, to be detached. The cables are all-black with individually sleeved wires, ensuring easier cable management. The PCIe 5.1 connectors are an exception, featuring blue tips to indicate proper installation (if properly installed, the blue part should not be visible at all). The ATX and PCIe 5.1 cables come with preinstalled wire combs, which can be repositioned or removed entirely based on user preference.

External Appearance

The Lian Li EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU features the same distinctive L-shaped chassis as the EG1000, measuring 182 mm in length – significantly longer than a typical ATX PSU. This design results from the horizontal placement of the modular cable connectors, increasing the unit's depth. This design has certain advantages but requires careful cable routing in standard PC cases, particularly for those not designed with dual-chamber layouts in mind.

The unit has a minimalist aesthetic, with a smooth matte black finish. Large stickers cover the left and right sides; the left sticker is purely decorative, while the right provides detailed electrical specifications and certifications. The bottom side of the unit features a full-surface mesh fan finger guard, with a badge bearing the Lian Li logo in the lower-left corner. This mesh doubles as a dust filter and is magnetically attached, with a cloth-like tag to facilitate removal and cleaning.

The front of the PSU houses the standard on/off switch and AC power receptacle. The rear is designed to accommodate a detachable, magnetically mounted USB/fan hub, enabling users to connect multiple devices requiring USB headers or fan control to the PSU and route a single cable to the motherboard. The modular cable connectors are clearly organized.

Internal Design

The Lian Li EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU is cooled by a Hong Hua HA1225M12F-Z 120 mm fan, which features a Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) for improved reliability and durability. Given its high efficiency, this fan is sufficient for cooling the unit at a maximum speed of 2000 RPM, though its size is relatively modest for such a dense 1000W power supply.

The PSU is manufactured by Helly Technology, a Chinese OEM established in 2008. Helly Technology is relatively young compared to other PSU manufacturers but has built a fair reputation for designing platforms used in mid- and high-tier power supplies. Helly also manufactured the platform for the Platinum-certified Lian Li EG1000 PSU but the platform of the EG1000G is significantly different.

The input filtering stage includes two Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors, an adequate but conservative configuration. Two rectifying bridges, mounted on a dedicated heatsink, handle the AC input voltage. The Active Power Factor Correction (APFC) circuit consists of two MOSFETs, a diode, a large inductor, and an EPCOS 820 μF capacitor. The EPCOS capacitor is one of the unit’s marketing highlights due to its exceptional quality.

In the primary stage, the EG1000G employs a typical half-bridge LLC topology, with two Fuxin FXN45N50T MOSFETs on the shared heatsink alongside the APFC components. The secondary stage features six Huayi HYG009N04LS1C2 MOSFETs around the main transformer, generating the primary 12V rail. The 3.3V and 5V rails are derived from DC-to-DC converters. Capacitors on the secondary side come from Ltec and Beryl, which are mid-tier suppliers rather than premium Japanese manufacturers.

Cold Test Results

Cold Test Results (25°C Ambient)

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts.

The Lian Li Edge Gold EG1000G PSU achieves an average nominal load efficiency of 90.0% with a 115 VAC input and 92.1% with a 230 VAC input, measured across the range from 10% to 100% load, a very good result for such a platform. These results comfortably meet the 80Plus Gold and PPLP.info Gold certification requirements but fall short of higher efficiency certifications due to its half-load efficiency. Cybenetics granted the unit a Platinum efficiency certification, as the certification is based on average efficiency.

At very low loads, efficiency remains satisfactory, and the fan remains inactive. The fan begins operating when the load exceeds approximately 450 Watts, following a linear speed curve that scales with the load. While the fan speed increases to manage thermal output, it does not reach its maximum RPM even at high loads. Due to the unit's compact design and the use of a 120 mm fan, internal temperatures during cold testing are slightly elevated compared to larger units in this wattage class. It is worthwhile to mention that the fan cooling profile is less aggressive than that of the Platinum-certified EG1000, allowing the EG1000G to operate without its fan over a wider load range.

Hot Test Results

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

During hot testing, the Lian Li Edge Gold EG1000G PSU exhibits significant efficiency degradation due to elevated ambient temperatures. The unit achieves an average nominal load efficiency of 88.5% with a 115 VAC input and 90.6% with a 230 VAC input. There are slight but inconsequential signs of thermal stress at maximum load.

The fan behavior changes notably under higher ambient temperatures. It activates earlier, at loads just below 300 Watts, and follows a similar linear speed curve as in cold testing. However, the fan accelerates more rapidly under hot conditions, reaching its maximum speed when the load approaches 900 Watts. At lower loads (below 300-400 Watts), noise levels remain moderate, but the fan becomes progressively louder with increasing load, reaching high noise levels at loads exceeding 800 Watts.

The unit's compact dimensions and use of a 120 mm fan contribute to elevated internal temperatures during hot testing. While internal temperatures remain within safe operating limits, they are on the higher side compared to other units in the same efficiency class. A slight temperature spike occurs at maximum load when the fan cannot increase its speed further, but this does not approach levels that would trigger an over-temperature protection (OTP) event, even if only barely.

PSU Quality and Bottom Line

Power Supply Quality

The Lian Li Edge Gold EG1000G demonstrates solid voltage filtering performance. The maximum ripple measured was 46 mV on the 12V rail, 18 mV on the 5V rail, and 16 mV on the 3.3V rail, all well within industry safety limits. Voltage regulation is extremely precise, with the 12V rail exhibiting 0.3% regulation, the 5V rail at 0.6%, and the 3.3V rail at 0.5%. These figures indicate excellent power quality across all rails.

During our thorough assessment, we evaluate the essential protection features of every power supply unit we review, including Over Current Protection (OCP), Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Over Power Protection (OPP), and Short Circuit Protection (SCP). OCP performance was sharp, with activation points of 126% for the 3.3V rail, 128% for the 5V rail, and 122% for the 12V rail. Over Power Protection (OPP) was also evaluated, triggering at 124% during hot testing. The 12V line OCP is sharp, but not overly so, for an ATX 3.1 certified power supply.

Bottom Line

The Lian Li Edge Gold EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU positions itself as a distinctive and forward-thinking power supply unit aimed at enthusiasts and system builders looking for innovation and high-quality craftsmanship. Its standout feature remains the unique L-shaped design, optimized for dual-chamber chassis and offering creative options for cable management. However, the unconventional chassis shape, extending the unit's length to 182 mm, introduces compatibility limitations with standard ATX cases. This design, while visually striking, appeals primarily to users who prioritize aesthetics and innovation over universal compatibility.

Despite its lower efficiency, EG1000G actually improves upon its Platinum-certified predecessor, the EG1000, with features such as a magnetic fan dust filter and detachable USB/fan hub. These additions add convenience and usability but are niche in their application, appealing to builders who specifically value these functionalities. Despite these refinements, the PSU faces stiff competition from the EG1000 itself, which offers a higher Platinum efficiency certification at a slightly higher price point.

In terms of electrical performance, the EG1000G easily meets 80Plus Gold and PPLP.info Gold efficiency requirements, with average nominal load efficiencies of 90.0% (115 VAC) and 92.1% (230 VAC) in cold testing. Its average efficiency, however, is very high, which is why Cybenetics graced this unit with its Platinum certification. Voltage regulation is extremely tight, and ripple suppression is very good, delivering great overall power quality. Thermal performance is adequate but constrained by the PSU’s compact internal volume and 120 mm fan. While the fan ramps up linearly with load, its small size limits cooling efficiency, leading to elevated internal temperatures during operation, particularly under heavy loads. The unit operates quietly at low to moderate loads, but noise levels increase substantially as the load approaches maximum capacity and/or if the ambient temperature gets high. This could be a concern for users prioritizing silent operation in their builds.

Overall, the Lian Li Edge Gold EG1000G ATX 3.1 PSU is an innovative, well-designed power supply that balances aesthetics and functionality with performance. Its unique features and unique design cater to a niche audience with specific needs, particularly builders using dual-chamber cases. We particularly liked the idea of having a magnetically attached fan dust filter that can be easily cleaned by the user. However, its high price point places it in a difficult position in the market, with a lot of internal competition from the EG1000 itself, which is currently only $20 more expensive. At approximately $155, it offers an innovative solution but may not provide the best value for users without special wants or needs.

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In recent years, manufacturers have placed a larger emphasis on cable management resulting in a variety of unique approaches. A simple example is that many AIO liquid coolers now include clips to keep AIO tubing nice and tidy. A more extreme example is MSI’s Project Zero motherboards, which move all cable connections to the back. 

We’re looking at a new Hydroshift LCD 360S AIO from Lian Li that features a simple but effective method of obscuring AIO tubing. Looking at the picture below, you might think that most of the tubing has been removed – but looks here are deceptive. We’ll take a look at how Lian Li accomplishes this innovative styling in the review below.

Does Lian Li’s Hydroshift 360S have what it takes to earn a spot on our best AIO coolers list? We’ll have to put it through testing, pairing it with Intel’s i7-13700K CPU to find out. But first, here are the specifications from Lian Li.

Cooler specifications

Packing and included contents

The packaging of this AIO is typical, with molded cardboard protecting the AIO and other contents.

Included with the cooler are the following:

• 360mm radiator and CPU block
• Three 120mm preinstalled fans
• Mounting for modern AMD and Intel Platforms
• Thermal Paste
• Cable management clips
• Alternate parts for cases with reverse installation options

Features of Lian Li’s Hydroshift LCD 360S

▶ Tubeless Aesthetic

The standout feature of the Hydroshift 360S is what Lian Li calls a “tubeless aesthetic”. This name isn’t quite accurate, as the unit still has tubes just like any other AIO. But Lian Li designed the unit so it carefully wraps coolant tubing behind the back of the AIO, which hides most of it from view using an attached bar.

▶ Reversible design

Lian Li includes an alternate cover that can be installed on the opposite side in order to facilitate reverse case setups like those featured in Lian Li’s 011 Cases.

▶ Full RAM compatibility

As an AIO does not interfere or overhang DIMM slots in any manner, all sizes of RAM, no matter how tall, are compatible with Lian Li’s Hydroshift AIOs.

▶ 27mm or 31mm thick radiator

The radiator included with Hydroshift 360S we’re testing here is a standard 27mm size. The pricier 360RGB and 360TL models feature thicker 31mm radiators, which should give them an edge in thermal performance.

▶ 2.88-inch IPS Display, L-Connect Software

The Hydroshift AIOs each feature a 2.88-inch IPS display with a 1:1 aspect ratio and 480x480 resolution, and capable of sustaining 500 nits of brightness.

The display is controlled by Lian Li’s L-Connect software, which you can also use to change the speed of the fans and pump of the unit. There are a few pre-included designs that you can use and customize, or you can upload an image or video file of your choice.

▶ AIO Tubing Clips

Curiously, Lian Li also includes two cable management clips that can be used with the AIO’s tubing, but you shouldn’t need to use these if you install the unit properly.

▶ 3x 120mm fans

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a major impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case. The fans included in the Hydroshift 360S are basic, without any frills or RGB lighting. If you’d like fancier fans with ARGB lighting or infinity mirrors, they are available with the pricier Hydroshift LCD 360RGB and 360TL models.

▶ Thermal paste with application tools

Lian Li includes a small 1g tube of thermal paste, and application tools. 

LGA1700 Socket Bending

There are many factors other than the CPU cooler that can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU. 

To prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.

Testing Methodology, and how my testing differs vs the competition

My cooler testing is designed to emulate the conditions a user would actually experience when using a computer. Some reviewers test coolers using an open bench. I do not like this method, it reduces cooling difficulty. When you use a case, the internal temperature of that case will become higher than that of the room’s ambient temperature, increasing the saturation of the cooler and overall cooling difficulty. Testing outside of a case will give an advantage to weaker coolers, especially those with fans that aren’t very strong. 

Others test using a thermal heatplate. This method suffers from all the drawbacks of an open bench, but also doesn’t accurately represent cooling a CPU. A thermal plate evenly distributes a thermal load across the copper heat conduction square. The problem with this type of testing is that modern AMD Ryzen and Intel Core CPUs have most of their heat concentrated in a few hotspots – and cooling a concentrated source of heat is more difficult than cooling a source that’s spread evenly.

The last thing I do differently from some cooler testers is that I insist on using relatively new CPUs for cooler testing because people building new PCs are likely using recent CPUs. Also, thermal density is just different with newer CPUs. Products like Ryzen 3000 “Zen 2” and older 14nm Intel CPUs have lower heat density compared to modern counterparts, due to a combination of using older manufacturing processes and running at lower clock speeds. Using a weaker cooler with an older CPU can make the cooler look better performing than it actually is with current-gen silicon. 

Today's highest-end CPUs, whether Intel or AMD, are difficult to cool in intensive workloads. In the past. reaching 95 degrees Celsius or more on a desktop CPU might have been a cause for concern. But with today’s top-end CPUs, this is considered normal operation. Similar behavior has been present in laptops for years due to cooling limitations in tight spaces.

All testing is performed with a 23C ambient room temperature. Multiple thermal tests are run on each CPU to test the cooler in a variety of conditions, and acoustic measurements are taken with each result. These tests include:

1. Noise-normalized testing at low noise levels

2. “Out-of-the-box”/Default configuration thermal and acoustic testing

     a. No power limits enforced

     b. Because CPUs hit TJ Max in this scenario, the best way to compare cooling strength is by recording the total CPU package power consumption.

3. Thermal and acoustic testing in power-limited scenarios

     a. Power limited to 175W to emulate a medium-intensity workload

     b. Power limited to 125W to emulate a low-intensity workload

The thermal results included are for 10-minute testing runs. To be sure that was sufficiently long to tax the cooler, we tested both Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE and DeepCool’s LT720 with a 30-minute Cinebench test with Intel’s i9-13900K for both 10 minutes and 30 minutes. The results didn’t change much at all with the longer test: The average clock speeds maintained dropped by 29 MHz on DeepCool’s LT720 and 31 MHz on Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE. That’s an incredibly small 0.6% difference in clock speeds maintained, a margin of error difference that tells us that the 10-minute tests are indeed long enough to properly test the coolers.

Testing configuration – Intel LGA1700 platform

Thermal results without power limits

Without power limits enforced on Intel’s i7-13700K, the CPU will hit its peak temperature (TJ Max) and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers. When the CPU reaches its peak temperature, I’ve measured the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled to best compare their performance.

The general exception to this comes with the strongest AIOs on the market, which can keep Intel’s i7-13700K under TJ Max. This is no small task, as many 360mm AIOs fail this test. Lian Li’s Hydroshift 360S passes this test, keeping the CPU’s temperature at 67C over ambient - performing on par with some of the best coolers we’ve tested including DeepCool’s LT720 and Iceberg Thermal’s IceFLOE Oasis 360.

To achieve this level of performance, the unrestricted fans run up to 48.5 dBA. This is slightly louder than I am personally comfortable with, but it is in the middle of the road for liquid cooling results. 

Thermal results with noise normalized to 38.2 dBA

Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited and many users prefer a quieter system. With this noise-normalized test, I’ve set noise levels to 38.2 dba. This level of noise is a low volume level, but slightly audible to most people. 

With the noise of the fans limited to 38.2 dBA, Lian Li’s Hydroshift 360S cooled 230W. This is one of the better results we have for this scenario, with stronger units only gaining a few watts of cooling performance.

175W Cinebench results

Most coolers on the market can keep Intel’s i7-13700K under its peak temperature if the power consumption is limited, so for this test, we’ll be looking at the CPU’s actual temperature.

The result of 51C over ambient is fairly good, in the strongest third of our results. But noise levels reached 45.3 dBA, which is louder than most results we have seen for this test.

125W Cinebench results

The lowest power limit I test with Raptor Lake CPUs is 125W. This is a high enough limit to allow the CPU to maintain its base clock speeds even in the most intensive tests, and most coolers should be capable of keeping the CPU below TJ Max (the max temperature before throttling) – even low-end coolers.

Really, thermals do not matter in this scenario. Even Intel’s stock cooler can handle a load like this with ease. Noise levels, rather than CPU temperature, are the most important factor here. The cooler reaches 38 degrees C over ambient in this scenario, which is one of the better results.

Noise levels reached 41.4 dBA in this scenario. While this isn’t loud exactly, this is one of the loudest results we’ve seen from any AIO.

Conclusion

Lian Li’s Hydroshift AIOs feature a unique approach to managing and reducing clutter from AIO tubes, and those who are particular about cable management may find this very appealing. In particular, those building systems with rear-connector motherboards that hide many of the other cables inside a PC, could severely limit the amount of tubing that’s visible in a build with this cooler.

But the Hydroshift 360S retails for $179.99 USD, and it’s not the strongest or quietest of coolers in its price range. If you’re looking for more cooling performance, models with thicker radiators and stronger fans, like the Hydroshift LCD 360RGB and Hydroshift LC 360TL, are also available, though I haven’t had a chance to test that model yet.

Lian Li, one of the leading PC case manufacturers, just launched a new set of affordable PC cases. These cases will give enthusiasts with limited budgets more options when choosing a great-looking PC case. The company has also released the Strimer Plus V3 WRLS PC cables, allowing you to wirelessly connect the power cable to its RGB controller and reduce cable clutter inside your desktop computer.

Great cases made more affordable

The Lancool 207 is the most affordable Lian Li case to launch at Computex 2024. This mid-tower case can fit Standard ATX motherboards up to 244 mm wide with seven expansion slots. It can also accommodate two 3.5- or 2.5-inch drives, a 360 mm radiator, and up to eight fans. Its front is dominated by black mesh with two 140 mm fans, and it also has a 4 mm tempered glass side to showcase your build. Lian Li also includes two 120 mm fans above the PSU shroud, saving you money on case fans.

This new case can accommodate even the largest graphics cards with its 410 mm GPU clearance. You can also install CPU air coolers up to 167 mm tall in the case, letting you install 140 mm fans. But, best of all, the 207 only costs $79.99, making it the most affordable mid-tower mesh case in Lian Li’s line-up.

Lian Li also introduced two premium cases with a $119.99 MSRP: the Lancool 217 and the 011 Vision Compact. Both cases support E-ATX motherboards under 280 mm, are compatible with the new back-connect motherboards for a clean build, and are available in black or white.

The 217 is about the same size as the great Lian Li Lancool 216 but is $20 more expensive. However, the wooden touches around the edges of the case add personality to your desktop PC. It also makes it suitable for enthusiasts who prefer a nature-themed work or gaming station with touches of wood. The 217 also supports four 2.5-inch drives behind the motherboard tray and two 3.5-inch drives in the hard drive cage so that you won’t run out of space for storage.

However, it has a smaller GPU length clearance of only 380 mm, meaning you cannot go for the largest of the large GPUs, like the Zotac RTX 4090 PGF OC, which measures 381 mm. The case also includes two 170 mm front fans and one 140 mm rear fan, and it can take on three 120 mm or two 140 mm fans at the top and three 120 mm fans above the PSU shroud.

The O11 Vision Compact is a slightly smaller version of the O11 Vision, but it still retains its optional top glass panel (which is already included in the box). This case is $20 cheaper than the original O11, meaning you can spend that extra savings on additional fans (which are still not included in the case) or on a good meal after finishing your build.

This dual-chamber case has a 408 mm GPU length clearance, though, letting you install the biggest GPUs available on the market, and even the larger ones we expect are coming soon. This fish-bowl case can also take up to three 360 mm radiators — one for each side.

A wireless power cable?

Aside from these great new cases, Lian Li also makes ARGB power cables with its Strimer Plus line. It introduced the third version of its Strimer series with the Strimer Plus V3 WRLS, which is now wireless — but not that kind of wireless. The Strimer V3 loses the cable that connects the power cable’s ARGB lights to the controller and replaces it with an RF transceiver.

That means you can connect and control the lighting effect on the PSU cable without the extra wiring, helping you achieve a much cleaner build, even on the other back side of your case. You can get the V3 WRLS for your 24-pin motherboard, dual 8-pin GPU, triple 8-pin GPU, and the 12VHPWR GPU connector, letting you unify the design on your PC without the required extra cable management.

It also launched the Uni Fan SLV3 120 and the SLV3 LCD 120, which use the same wireless technology to connect to the controller. While you still need to run power cables to these fans, wireless control will reduce the clutter inside your PC case, making it easier to build, troubleshoot, and upgrade your PC in the future.

Lian Li wants you to clean up your PC builds

Lian Li also showcased its L-shaped EDGE PSU for dual-chamber cases and its HydroShift AiO line, which hides most of the tubing along the side of the radiator to reduce clutter inside your desktop. The company's products introduced at Computex 2024 seemingly want you to hide all wires and cables on your PC, but this must be the trend currently sweeping through the PC building community.

Lian Li has everything you need to build a clean desktop computer: dual-chambered cases, compatibility with back-connect motherboards, hidden AiO hoses, wireless ARGB controllers — what more can you ask for? And with the more affordable prices of some of its best cases, you can hide your power cables, even with a limited budget.

Lian Li has officially released its new SUP01 chassis. After seeing it for the first time at Computex 2023, buyers can finally get their hands on the new case, which promises a unique building experience.

The SUP01 is an airflow-first small-footprint case, a welcome addition to a Lian Li lineup that includes big and wide fishtanks like the O11 Vision. The SUP01 contains three separate airflow loops, providing the front-mounted GPU and a radiator in the rear chamber with their own cool air supplies.

The small footprint of this case is no joke. The 404 mm x 212 mm length and width clocks in at just shy of one square foot of desk real estate. The 45L case sits 524 mm tall, tall enough to mount a GPU of up to 400 mm long and four slots thick behind its front panel. Your graphics card will connect to the motherboard with the help of an included PCIe 4.0 riser cable, complete with its own ARGB strip to match the marquee ARGB strip running across the bottom of the viewing window on the front and main side panel. The GPU will also receive its own air exhaust with three pre-installed fans expelling hot air through the rear side panel.

You won't be able to mount your graphics card normally in the short main chamber. Still, you can join the bleeding edge of case design with Asus's "BTF" back-connect motherboards — moving every case connector from front-panel I/O to 24-pin ATX to the rear of the motherboard for invisible cable runs. The SUP01 also ships with a plethora of Velcro cable ties to make dealing with those back-connected cables easier.

Perhaps the most significant change made to the SUP01 since its unveiling at Computex 2023 is the addition of mesh; three mesh panels cover the front, top, and back side panels to maximize airflow (don't worry, there's still a tempered glass side panel). CPU cooling is best handled with a 360mm radiator, keeping the main chamber free of CPU heat. The radiator and the GPU exhaust fans mount in the back side panel channel, hinging on independent brackets that pivot to a 45° angle for ease of installation. For storage, two 2.5-inch drives can be installed in the main chamber, and two 3.5 or 2.5-inch drives can rest in a drive cage behind the power supply.

The 45-liter SUP01 retails for $149. Thankfully, the price tag of a SUP01 build won't be inflated by nine extra fans like other Lian Li case builds demand. For the future of Lian Li, look no further than Computex 2024, which will be covered live and in-person by Tom's Hardware from June 2-4. Lian Li always comes to the industry showcase with beautiful new hardware to show off, and we expect this year will be no different.

Lian Li has unveiled a new PSU lineup designed primarily for dual-chamber cases featuring vertical PSU mounts, like its O11 series. The new PSU lineup, dubbed the Edge series, features an L-shaped form factor with all the main power connectors mounted on the bottom rather than the side. Lian Li's goal with these new PSUs is to give builders easier access to the power connectors behind the PSU when mounted vertically.

Lian Li's design philosophy dramatically differs from most ordinary PSUs today. All of the main power connectors, including the ATX 24-pin, EPS 8-pin, PCIe supplementary power connectors, and miscellaneous power connectors (powering things like SATA or Molex adapters), have been moved to a bottom interface that juts out from the bottom of the PSU.

This new design reportedly improves cable accessibility — in chassis with vertical PSU mounts after builders build their PCs, making it easier to re-arrange cables that have already been plugged in. This is especially true of the power cables traditionally installed on the bottom row of connectors on a regular power supply. Lian Li's Edge series PSUs flip the orientation of these connectors, making it easy to access both rows of cables.

Lian Li has also implemented an internal USB hub into its new PSUs installed where the power connectors would typically be. These internal USB connectors are designed to expand the system's overall internal USB header count and power additional peripherals like RGB controllers, all-in-one liquid coolers, and fan controllers. These additional headers will be handy with motherboards that lack many USB 2.0 headers, which is usually the case with older low-end and mid-range motherboards.

The new Edge series will comprise four SKUs, featuring a 1300W flagship model, a 1000W version, and two 850W variants, one with sleeved cables and one without sleeved wires. (The 1300W and 1000W versions only come with sleeved cables.) Lian Li's new PSU lineup also has a native 12VHPWR power connector and cable for powering Nvidia's latest RTX 40 series GPUs.

Despite their elongated look, the PSU shroud has been shortened to accommodate the L-shaped design, so these units are still compatible with standard ATX PSU mounts. Release date and pricing have not been announced.

Lian Li has filed a patent suit in California requesting action against Phanteks (h/t OC3D). The Taiwanese aluminum case stalwart alleges that its Dutch rival has willfully infringed upon its patented fan design innovations. Specifically, Lian Li indicates that Phanteks D30 series fans infringe upon US patent 10,690,336 B1, which was awarded to Lian Li in June 2020. The patent describes a method of daisy chaining RGB fans using a simple, compact connector.

The UNI range of fans from Lian Li has been quite successful. Part of this product line’s appeal may be due to its “revolutionary” interlocking modular connectors, making them “cableless” and great for daisy chaining in systems while minimizing cable clutter.

Perhaps Phanteks was ‘inspired’ by the Lian Li fans, or at least the idea behind them. However, it is hard to believe the idea of minimizing cabling while maximizing RGB and airflow in a system is unique to Lian Li. Also, perhaps the Phanteks D30 series is too similar to Lian Li’s designs to have been truly independently originated. These and similar questions will probably be central to the upcoming deliberations in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The court case was filed on September 8, 2023, and reportedly comes about three months after Lian Li sent a letter to Phanteks about what it thought were patent-infringing products. Phanteks has continued to market and sell its D30 fans since May, and it seems like a lack of acknowledgment of Lian Li’s claims has precipitated this lawsuit.

What Lian Li hopes to achieve with its legal action is a judgment confirming that Phanteks has infringed its US patent. If successful, Lian Li will seek damages to date, plus a sales injunction on infringing products sold without a license.

We aren’t patent experts, so it is hard to know whether Lian Li’s court action has a great chance of success. The overall idea shared by the rival fan daisy chain designs seems to be similar, but the execution might be different enough to save Phanteks. If Lian Li is successful here, it might also trigger further litigation involving products like the Thermaltake SWAFAN EX and Corsair iCUE Link systems.

Lian Li made an apology to Chinese netizens this weekend. The iconic glass-and-aluminum PC case maker, based in Keelung, Taiwan, found itself in hot water for using the Taiwanese flag in its website language selection menu, reports SETN News.

After many complaints on Chinese tech forums - due to a perceived 'One China' principle transgression - Lian Li apologized for "a staff error." However, China's army of keyboard warriors appears to remain unsatisfied, as Lian Li only issued its apology on China-based social media properties such as BiliBili and Weibo.

In some world regions / some platforms, the Lian Li website will give visitors a language choice option. Next to the site language options, there is a little flag providing a visual cue to the language selection. Normally, this would be viewed as a refined and helpful aspect of a language selection UI, but not in this case. Lian Li's "staff error," was to use the Taiwanese flag, also known as the flag of the Republic of China or ROC, to indicate the on-screen language choice of Traditional Chinese. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, with Chinese mainlanders (People's Republic of China, PRC) tending to prefer Simplified Chinese.

After some commotion in China about the use of the Taiwan ROC flag by Lian Li, the case and cooling firm decided to publish the apology above. You can follow the link in the intro for the Weibo post. But for our readership, a Google-translated version of the post has been screen-grabbed and embedded.

It is clearly in Lian Li's commercial interests to appease indignant Chinese readers complaining about the Taiwan flag on its site. Apparently, setting out to soothe this sizable market, the case maker wrote that "The wrong flag setting was caused by a staff error," adding that "After receiving the feedback, we have rectified it as soon as possible." Lian Li then offered its verbal support of the 'One China Principle', asserting that it "firmly supports the 1992 Consensus" on the issue. Lian Li added a further apology at the end of its apology, for good measure.

Lian Li's attempt to gloss over its Taiwan flag slip has seemingly left few people satisfied. Chinese netizens seem to see the apology, limited to Chinese social media, as insincere and two-faced. On the flip side, Taiwanese citizens have reportedly been mocking Lian Li as it kowtows to Chinese internet users. Apparently, Lian Li has been pruning Facebook comments by annoyed Taiwanese readers, explaining that the social media page is "for product discussion only."

Lian Li, which makes some of the best PC cases, is rolling out a set of four new chassis this week at Computex 2023, with each having glass on two or even three sides. The company is also showing off a brand new case fan that has an LCD screen in the middle, something we haven't seen before.

The O11 Vision, shown in the lead image, has glass on its front, left side and even on the top. There isn't even a support beam in the front left side to block your view. The top panel is a one-way mirror that makes reflections on the inside of the case but is see-through from the outside. You can attach a 240mm radiator and have it vent out of the back. There's also a removable motherboard tray.

We had a chance to look at the O11 Vision at Lian Li's Computex booth and were impressed by just how much of the internals you can see clearly. If you want to use this case, you better practice good cable management and plan to put it on top of your desk where everyone can see it.

The O11D Evo RGB has a seamless glass view from the front and left side. However, the top can be used to mount radiator fans and case fans can vent out of the bottom or the back. It also has diffused RGB strips on the top and bottom. 

We noticed that the mesh on the right side also gives you a nice view into the case. We were able to see the custom cooling loop and RGB lights from the right side without seeing the ugly cables that were stashed in the right back.

The O11D Evo XL, shown below, is an e-ATX case with class on both the front and left sides, along with a removable support column. The motherboard tray is height adjustable so you can change its position. 

The SUP 01 Concept case, shown below, is meant to be tall and thin. In order to achieve its svelte dimensions, you have to mount the GPU upright. It also has three tempered glass glass panels and room for fans to exhaust out the right side. 

The O11 Vision, O11D EVO RGB, and O11D EVO XL are all due out in Q3 for prices ranging from $139 to $244. The SUP 01 will come in Q4 for $144.

UNI FAN TL LCD Has Its Own Screen

Lian Li is also releasing some new coolers and case fans. The highlight is the UNI Fan 2nd Gen TL LCD. Like other UNI fans, this 120mm spinner can connect to its siblings magnetically. However, what makes it stand out is that it has a a screen that can show animated GIFs, MP4 videos, still image or system information. 

At Lian Li's booth, the company had two different displays with the fan. The first was showing the temperature while the second was showing a Pac-Man animation. The colors were bright when we viewed them straight on, but they faded a bit at wider viewing angles. The company says that the fans will be available with the blades facing either way so you can configure them for exhaust or intake.

The Uni Fan TL LCD will launch in Q3 for $139 for a three pack. According to Lian Li the screen size is still pending and could be either 2.1 or 1.6 inches. It will run at up to 2,100 RPM. 

Lian Li has a new RGB power cable, this time developed for the 12VHPWR connector found on many of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs. The new cable, the Strimer Plus V2 12VHPWR, is available for pre-order today, starting at $49.99. The company also announced new fans, too.

There will be different variants depending on the power supply you're using. For newer ATX 3.0 PSUs, you can get a 12+4 pin connector on both ends. Those using older PSUs can get 12+4 pin on the GPU end and three 8-pin connectors to attach to the power supply. You can also choose between a slim version with eight light guides or a thicker variant with 12 light guides, which bumps the price up to $59.99.

Lian Li says that the Strimer's 12VHPWR connector, which has a bit of a troubled history, has a custom design on the GPU end, with "improvements to its original design to provide a stronger connection to the GPU, and uses materials to ensure the connector’s durability."

The company states that the Strimer uses gauge wires that deliver up to 600W of power to the GPU. Perhaps most importantly, Lian Li claims its cables can "sustain higher temperatures and sharper bends even when it is close to the connector." In fact, a portion of the connector housing can be detached from the Strimer for tighter bends.

This might sound like a lot of precautions, but it wasn't long ago that people thought these 12VHPWR connectors were melting in their GPUs. (Nvidia ultimately said these 16-pin plugs were not being properly inserted into GPUs.) The Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) told companies to better test their products to ensure there were no further incidents. (If this were to melt, it would probably make for a fascinating light show, that's for sure.)

We've used previous Strimers in some of our PC builds, like the RGBeast.

Lian Li also has a series of RGB fans coming out today. The Uni Fan AL V2 comes in 120 mm and 140 mm sizes and has addressable RGB on each corner of the fan. It allows for daisy-chaining up to six fans on a single port, and the company says the 28 mm frame offers up to 20% improved performance over prior fans. With black and white designs, it can fit lots of build themes. A single 120 mm fan is $27.99, while a triple pack with a controller is $89.99. A single 140 mm fan is $30.99. Like the Strimer, it is available for pre-order today.

It's always good to take care in choosing a cracking case for your PC builds as they often end up lasting for years or multiple generations of your PC tinkering. Have a look through our Best PC Cases for some of our favorite examples. 

A solid sequel to the Lancool II, Lian Li's Lancool III is also a pleasure to build in and this case comes with four 140mm fans, which will help to keep your PC components cool. The Lian Li Lancool III is available in White for $139 from Newegg. We reviewed the Lancool III awarding it an Editor's Choice award. The Lancool III was roomy with excellent cable management, although with all the large fans and airflow - it could also be a little noisy at times.  

An alternative choice for your build is the Phanteks Eclipse P300A for just $69. An excellent choice for budget builds - this proven case has good cable management and airflow. We reviewed the Phanteks Eclipse P300A and gave this great little case the Editor's Choice award for its value, simplicity, looks, and performance. You will however have to shell out for some extra fans as this case only comes supplied with one rear-exhaust fan.

Another gaming laptop deal today - the Acer Nitro 5 (model-AN515-58-527S) is on sale for $849.  With an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, and an Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, the hardware is more than capable of playing the latest games, and the FHD IPS screen has a fast 144Hz refresh rate for buttery smooth performance in high-motion games.

Look below for more great Real Deals - including $150 off of yesterday's price for an RX 6950XT GPU, and a budget G15 gaming laptop from Dell.  

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Lian Li Lancool III Mid-Tower ATX Case (White): now $139 at Newegg (was $159)
• Phanteks Eclipse P300A: now $69 at Amazon (was $89)
• Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop (RTX 3060): now $849 at Newegg (was $1,299)
• Dell G15 Gaming Laptop: now $599 at Dell (was $949)
• ASRock OC Formula Radeon RX 6950 XT: now $749 at Newegg (was $1,099)

Today’s best deals in detail

Looking for more deals?

Today's deals focus on the container for your favorite PC parts. If you're looking for some of the best PC cases with airflow, RGB, a good view of the insides of your PC, and a good deal - we've got you covered. 

Look at the Lian Li Lancool 215 for $89 from B&H; we reviewed the Lancool 215 and noted its great thermals due to ample airflow and how quiet the fans were. However, there were a few niggles and this was due to a lack of a USB-C port and also no filter on the front mesh panel. 

For a case that shows off the components of your beloved PC in a panoramic style, the Hyte Y60 is currently available for $159 from Amazon. See our review of the Hyte Y60 in which we awarded the case 3 1/2 stars out of 5 for its great cable management space and quiet operation, with some of the negatives being the riser cable sometimes getting in the way during setup, and slightly higher thermals if you keep the stock fan configuration setup.   

If you're already into streaming or perhaps a content producer using an application like Adobe Premier, you have probably already come across many recommendations from people using the Elgato Stream Deck. It's a form of controller that offers fully customizable buttons with an LCD display. You can set up your Stream Deck to have instant access to your favorite shortcuts or use it to seamlessly transition between scenes while streaming on sites like YouTube or Twitch. The Elgato Stream Deck is currently available for $ 99 on Amazon. 

See more of Friday's Real Deals below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Lian Li Lancool 215 Mid-Tower Case: now $89 at B&H (was $150)
• Hyte Y60 Mid-Tower ATX Computer Case: now $159 at Amazon (was $199 )
• Elgato Stream Deck: now $99 at Amazon (was $149)
• ASUS ROG Thor 1000W PSU: now $194 at Amazon (was $359)
• Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX: now $189 at Newegg with rebate (was $199)

Today’s best deals in detail

Looking for more deals?

Lian Li has been in the spotlight for the last few years, primarily due to the O11, which masterfully balances tempered glass and airflow. However, the company has other impressive chassis, like the compact Q58, the transforming O11D Evo and the Lancool line, most recently represented by the Lancool III. 

But the company's latest case, the Lian Li Lancool 216, still manages to stand out in a field of successful sibling cases, with two 160mm fans, a rotatable PCIe bracket and a GPU fan mount. Since this case has so many unique features, I expected the price to be higher than most. But the base model Lancool 216 is only $100, with RGB variants just $15 extra. Even though it’s affordable, there are innumerable other cases in this price range. Let's dig in, check out the test results and see if the Lancool 216 earns Lian Li yet another spot on our Best PC Cases list. First though, here's the full specs list from Lian Li. 

Specifications of the Lian Li Lancool 216

Features of the Lian Li Lancool 216

The Lian Li Lancool 216 is a mid-tower chassis that takes some inspiration from the Lancool III we looked at earlier this year. In fact, at first glance, it looks nearly identical to that case. But there are significant differences, like the front fans. The Lancool 216 comes with two big 160mm fans – the only other case on the market that sports these spinners is the Fractal Torrent, which was arguably one of the best-received cases of 2021. The Lancool 216's unconventional cooling approach doesn’t stop with the front fans, as this case comes with a PCIe fan bracket for directing airflow at your GPU. More on that soon. 

Like all airflow-focused cases on the market, the Lancool 2016's front is almost entirely mesh. One of the issues I had with the Lancool III was its underwhelming thermal performance. However, as we’ll see in testing, the 216 is nothing like the Lancool III when it comes to cooling, despite being part of the same case family.

The new Lian Li case features a decent IO: You get power, a reset button, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports and , One USB Type-C, plus an audio combo jack. And, in a design nod to the O11D Evo, the IO can be moved to the lower left corner of the case, which makes room for the RGB controller. Yeah, the only way you can adjust the RGB on the 160mm fans is via the RGB controller, which costs $15 extra. I get that Lian Li wanted to hit the appealing $100 price point. But asking $15 extra for an RGB controller box feels like the company is dangling a key feature of the case in front of you like a carrot on a stick. At least you also get two extra USB-A ports if you opt for the controller. But of course then your motherboard will need two spare headers.

While there's plenty to praise, one gripe I have with the Lancool 216 is the motherboard installation process. The standoffs come pre-installed like most other cases, but they need to be unscrewed and moved up in order for the motherboard to sit high enough so you can connect the PCIe / GPU fan without issues with wire clearance. To take advantage of the GPU cooling feature, you’ll have to move the standoffs and flip a piece that goes around the IO shield. While it’s annoying to do this, it’s worth it– trust me.

I’ve seen case companies dabble with a rotatable motherboard tray, but never a rotatable PCIe bracket. The PCIe bracket on the Lancool 216 can be rotated to accommodate a vertical GPU layout, without smushing it up against the glass. Don’t worry; even if the GPU is vertical, you’ll still be able to utilize the PCIe fan feature. 

Courtesy of Lian Li

GPU Cooling

Now, on to the main event: the GPU bracket fan mount. The Lancool 216 comes with a 120mm fan mount that screws on to the back of the PCIe bracket. The idea of the bracket is simple: slap a fan to the PCIe bracket below the graphics card to pull hot air from the GPU. While it’s uncommon to see them on the market in 2022, this feature greatly impacts folks running with blower-style GPUs.

The idea of the GPU fan mount is interesting, but it also blocks access to any PCI cards below the GPU, as you can see in the image below. While that's bad if you have a dedicated sound card or USB expansion card, the vast majority of people – especially people shopping for a $100 case – probably just have a GPU installed.

Since I had a couple of them on hand, I installed one of the new be quiet! Silent Wings 4 fans in the PCIe slot, and with its maximum RPM of 2,500, it seemed right at home. Since graphics cards are becoming more powerful (and power-hungry), I love having a large fan that can help move the GPU-warmed air out of the case.

Internal Layout

The Lancool 216 stands at 19.4 x 9.25 x 19 inches (HWD), which is pretty large for a mid-tower, but a tad shorter than the Lancool III.

The top panel on the Lancool 216 is easily removable thanks to a couple of screws, which made connecting the EPS-12V cable much easier for me.

Behind the motherboard tray you’ll find metal tabs to keep your cables in line and an RGB/fan hub. The hub is nothing special, but I noticed one of the male RGB connectors was bending outward, which is concerning. The metal tabs for holding cables are an interesting choice, but they work well enough.

Hard drives are housed where they should be: underneath the PSU shroud in a cage. The cage can store two 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives. If you don’t use hard drives, then this case can hold six total 2.5-inch drives, with two sleds behind the motherboard tray.

If you’re planning on using a big air cooler, the Lancool 216 can support up to 180mm (7.1 inches), which is more than enough for the tallest of towers. The same applies to GPUs, as this chassis can fit cards up to 392mm (15.4 inches).

While the main feature of this case is its big front 160mm fans and the PCIe fan bracket, Lian Li included mounts for a more traditional orientation. The front fans can be removed in place of 3x 120 or 2x 140mm spinners to accommodate radiators. The top of the case can house the same configuration. Like the Lancool III, the 216 has room for two 120 or 140mm fans on the PSU shroud. Lastly, the rear exhaust can fit a 120 or 140mm fan.

Testing Hardware

Our testing hardware uses Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake platform. We’re using a Core i7-12700KF, cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and our motherboard is the MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI.

Acoustic Results for the Lian Li Lancool 216

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming, the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30% and the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin.

It should be noted that when running our acoustic tests, we did not have the PCIe fan running, since it doesn't come with this fan and acoustics would differ based on what fan you install there. We did, however, install and run the Silent Wings 4 fan in this spot for our Thermal tests, since this is a key feature of the case. Like its older sibling, the Lancool III, the 216 is a loud case. However, I’m not bothered because the fans are bigger than usual. Don’t get me wrong, this case isn't quiet, but the thermals make up for the noise,as we're about to see.

Thermal Results for the Lian Li Lancool 216

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores, to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so the temperature is the only variable.

Because they’re the only two major-brand cases on the market that feature 160mm fans, I directly compared the Fractal Design Torrent Compact and the Lian Li Lancool 216. The difference in CPU thermals is within margin of error, but the 10-degree difference in GPU teps clearly indicates that the PCIe fan is legit.

After comparing the Lancool 216 to the best-performing cases from this year, it’s safe to say that this case is worth strong consideration, especially if you want impressive GPU thermals.

Bottom Line

Over the past year or so, the most popular cases on the market have been airflow-focused instead, rather than focusing on glass and RGB. With that said, many of those cases are starting to look the same, and so feeling a bit boring. That doesn’t apply to the Lian Li Lancool 216, because the company brought some of the defining features of the Lancool III and O11D Evo, and added a helpful PCIe fan with its latest case. 

Let’s not forget the Lancool 216 is also only $100 (plus $15 if you want to add the nice RGB controller), which makes it extremely competitive in at a price point where the market is overflowing with options. With so many high-priced cases debuting this year (we're looking at you, Cooler Master) It's nice to see you don’t need to spend a lot on a case to get fantastic performance and quality. With that in mind, I’m willing to forgive the subtle issues I had with the 216 because it’s without a doubt, one of the best cases I’ve seen in a long time.

MORE: Best PC Cases 2022

MORE: Best Mini-ITX Cases 2022

Cases and cooling specialist Lian Li has released the Lancool 216 mid-tower chassis, which it initially teased back in the summer. This is a modestly modernized take on the Lancool 215, which we reviewed and praised back in January 2021, and addresses several of its predecessor's shortcomings. It is now bigger, but in these days of gargantuan GPUs roaming the earth, the enlarged capacity might actually be good.

Lian Li claims that the Lancool 216 can be optimized by a PC DIYer for either air cooling or AiO cooling. It certainly is flexible, and as well as making that cooling choice apparent, it supports up to E-ATX motherboards, has a removable top 360 radiator bracket, offers a 90-degree pivoting PCIe expansion slot panel, with a relocatable front I/O panel, has options for an external rear mount PCIe fan, plus provides plenty of expansion options for storage and today’s biggest GPUs. Buyers can also purchase this case in black RGB, white RGB, and plain black options.

One of the most significant visual differences between the new Lancool 216 and its predecessor is the refreshed “continuous front to top mesh” design. This update makes the design somewhat less boxy. In addition, the new front I/O panel is another welcome change, with two new features. First, the panel is relocatable from the top front edge to the front left side edge, and second, the I/O panel now includes a USB-C port.

The previous gen model didn’t have a front dust filter, and the same is true of the Lancool 216. However, Lian Li is making a full-coverage dust filter available as an optional accessory for this section. Pricing for the accessory is unknown at this time.

We’ve discussed some of the characteristics of the Lancool 216 and highlighted new and improved features, so now it is time to look at the tech specs. For those who bought the Lancool 215 or were interested in it at the time, please check the comparative specs table below.

The above specs help highlight some of the benefits the extra size of this already chunky chassis delivers. Users have traditional and vertical modes to choose from for fitting GPUs. The newer chassis has some extra length to play with – an extra 22mm. It is also notable that the 20mm wider chassis should help with any GPU power cable bending you might have to indulge in to fit the tempered glass side panel back on.

Other benefits of the extra capacity include; the increased max compatibility for CPU coolers and PSUs, the size and amount of fans, and additional storage device fitting capacity.

Lian Li says that the Lancool 216 is available now priced from $99.99, and you can check the product matrix below for models and prices. Be aware that the three models are all bundled with three fans (2x 160mm front, 1x 140mm rear), but with the RGB models, the two front fans feature RGB lighting and a USB controller. The USB controller is available separately at $13.99.

If you are looking for a new PC case and the new Lian Li Lancool 216 appeals, please also check out the Tom’s Hardware Best PC Cases 2022: Our Tested Picks for Your New Build feature.

Over the last year or so, the PC case market has offered up some interesting and impressive cases that combine airflow sufficient airflow (usually via a mesh front panel) with attractive looks to back the performance. Examples that come to mind include Fractal’s Torrent and the surprisingly affordable Phanteks Eclipse G360A. But Lian Li arguably carried this trend to the forefront with cases like the Lancool II Mesh Performance and the morphing O11D EVO, as well as other variants of the hugely successful O11 line, going all the way back to 2018. If you need any evidence of just how popular its cases are, you only need to take a cursory glance at PC builds on Instagram, most of which seem to be housed in one Lian Li case or another.

Now the company is back with the latest installment of its Lancool line, the Lancool III. As with previous iterations, this is a pretty large chassis (nearly 21-inches tall and deep). But the case comes with four 140mm PWM fans and support for the largest hardware due to its modularity. At $159.99 for the black RGB model we tested and $169.99 for the white RGB version (with non-RGB versions available for $10 less), does the Lancool III live up to its legacy and earn a spot on our Best PC Cases list? Let’s dig in and find out.

Specifications of the Lian Li Lancool III

Features of the Lian LI Lancool III

The Lian Li Lancool III is a beefy mid-tower ATX case that’s more down-to-earth than the O11, but packs a similar punch with the level of modularity, creativity and attention to detail.

When the Lancool III first arrived, I tried to open the tempered glass side panels and simply couldn’t. However, the brushed aluminum pillars on the front panel open like the handle of a car door, thus allowing the glass to swing open elegantly. While I love this unique panel release process, the brushed aluminum is a fingerprint magnet, so you’ll want to be careful to grab the handles from the inside rather than the front. Aside from the pillars, the front of the case is covered in mesh with small 1.5mm holes. Now, I don’t go around measuring the diameter of the holes on other mesh-fronted chassis, but Lian Li points out the size here, claiming it strikes a good balance between airflow and stopping dust from getting in the case. (there’s no filter up front but there is on the bottom.)

Rather than having glass that runs all the way down the sides of the case, the Lancool III borrows a page from the also excellent Lian Li Q58 ITX case. The PSU shroud area is flanked by mesh doors that swing out and down. The left door is barren, yet when opened will give you access to the two included hard drive cages. There are two cages here, which means four 3.5 or 2.5-inch drives can hide alongside the PSU. The other mesh flap comes with two pre-installed 2.5-inch SSD sleds, and two more can be found behind the motherboard tray. On top of that, this case can fit three more SSDs on top of the PSU shroud (assuming you aren’t planning on placing fans there). That’s a lot of storage options, though I did have to remove one of the drive cages to make the installation of our PSU and its cables easier. But even with one cage removed, you still have room for two old-school 3.5-inch hard drives.

On most cases these days, the IO is housed up top and you don’t think much about it, even if it’s inconvenient for those who want to put their system on their desk. However, the Lancool III’s IO can be moved from its default top spot to the bottom– right underneath the Lian Li logo. Another nice touch: Connecting the front IO to your motherboard has never been easier, as Lian Li has combined the frustrating header cables into one. That cuts at least a third of the annoying fiddling and frustration of the average PC build by at least a third.

Internal Layout

The Lancool III stands at 20.7 x 9.3 x 20.6 inches (HWD), which is almost as tall as the Corsair iCUE 500T. While this is a large case, the internal cavity doesn’t seem at all wasted. Lian Li wanted to make sure that you get the most out of every inch in this case by making it compatible with gargantuan radiators (up to 420mm up top) and other cooling components.

Three radiators can be installed in total, and two can be mounted in dual positions to make room for other components. There are six possible pump mounting points on the bottom shroud and in front of the motherboard, removable brackets for mounting radiators outside of the case, and even a fill/drain hole in the bracket up top for custom cooling loops. Oh, and you can install up to ten 120mm fans or nine 140mm fans–four of the latter are included. For those who like to experiment with and/or overload a case with cooling, the Lancool III is a wonderland of options.

I never understood why case companies add glass to the rear side panel, as Lian Li does here, because who wants to see their bird's nest-like cable mess? However, the Lancool III features small metal doors that cover your cables, similar to the bigger CoolerMaster HAF 700 Evo. If you are a cable managing guru, the doors can be removed and show off the profusion of Lancool’s Velcro cable ties. There are three big straps and five small ones, making it fairly easy to keep your cables in line.

Lian Li Lancool III Cooling

The glass-flanked O11 Dynamic arguably brought Lian Li to its current prominence (after several years focusing on very expensive all-aluminum cases. But the company is no stranger to the importance of airflow. While the O11 is great for custom water loops, this chassis has the potential to be the same. At the top of the Lancool III, there’s a fill port on the radiator bracket that supports up to 420mm. But again, it’s not just up top where the Lancool III’s cooling capability lies, it’s everywhere else. I mentioned that three 2.5-inch SSDs can be installed above the PSU shroud, but that can be substituted for more cooling, should you choose. If you remove the SSD tray, you can install a radiator up to 360mm here as well. And while it sounds odd to have a radiator at the bottom, the mesh sides of the shroud do let more fresh air in than you might expect.

The front of the Lancool III has a lot of room (360mm of radiator support), but Lian Li included 3x 140 PWM aRGB fans. While I can’t complain, I found it funny that the company included a non-RGB 140mm spinner in the rear. It is, at least PWM. The included fans aren’t cheap, as the aRGB spinners in the front get up to 1650 RPM, while the one in the rear can hit 1800. As we will see shortly in testing, though, the fans lean more toward aggressive than silent.

If you choose the more traditional air cooling, the Lancool III can support tower coolers up to 185mm (7.3 inches). Supported GPU length is up to 420mm (16.5 inches), so even the most oversized graphics cards should fit without issues.

Oh, and if you find the traditional standard GPU installation a bit boring, the company will also offer a vertical GPU mounting kit, similar to the O11D Evo, with your choice of PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 riser cables. The kit will even let you mount the card in two places above the PSU shroud so you can leave clearance for fans or let it sit lower down if you don’t have spinners there. The company hasn’t yet told us how much the riser kit would cost.

Testing Hardware

We’ve updated our testing hardware to use Intel’s 12 Gen “Alder Lake” platform, which has shaken up the desktop landscape (and taken prominent spots on our best CPUs for gaming list). We’re now using a Core i7-12700KF, which is being cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC.

On top of that, going forward, we’ve switched our motherboard out for the MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI. The Aorus Z690 Elite we were using for previous reviews died during the initial build of this review, so we had to swap it out.

Acoustic Results for the Lian Li Lancool III

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30 % and run the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed that they will spin.

The results we got from the Lancool III were, well, strange. There was barely any difference in noise between our two tests. Nonetheless, the results weren’t too bad if you keep in mind that this case comes with four 140mm fans that sport relatively high RPMs. It’s also worth mentioning that this chassis has more porous panels than most mesh-covered cases, as the flaps on the PSU shroud are also mesh. The acoustic results were a bit louder than I would’ve liked, but that’s typically the tradeoff with airflow-first cases–unless you’re getting the NZXT H7 Flow.

Thermal Results for the Lian Li Lancool III

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable.

I’d be lying if I said that I was slightly disappointed by the thermal results from the Lancool III during our CPU stress test. During the CPU test, I never felt concerned for our little Intel Core i7-12700K, but I was surprised to see a case with four 140mm fans not keeping the CPU temps lower. The Lancool III came back to earth during our GPU test and tied the H7 Flow in thermals there. Perhaps the improvement in temps on the GPU front are correlated to the mesh flaps on the PSU shroud.

Bottom Line

There’s a reason why Lian Li has a reputation for being one of the best in the business. And the Lancool III is another exemplary representation of what the company can do. The case isn’t perfect; the brushed aluminum front flaps pick up fingerprints too easily for a door release. I’m also well aware that we run stress tests that are more demanding than most users will regularly experience. But even with fans as loud as these, the case wasn’t able to cool our CPU as well as I expected.

With those issues out of the way, for $160, I can somewhat forgive Lian Li, because the level of detail and creativity in this case is far beyond anything that I’ve seen in recent months. The Lian Li Lancool III RGB packs in a lot for its price. If you want RGB and airflow for a reasonable price tag, this is certainly something worth looking at. And if you prefer to be RGB-free, the base models cost $10 less and come with the same number of fans.

The big Amazon Prime Day is over... kind of... there are still some retailers extending their own sales events, and of course, some new deals have dropped on Amazon that aren't under the Prime Day banner. Today we have a little round-up of some of the best "post-Prime Day" deals we can find. 

Grab a fantastic case and power supply bundle with the Lian Li O11D mini case and 750W PSU for $169, plus you also get a $15 promotional gift card chucked in as well. 

Our favorite CPU the Intel Core i5-12400F is still on offer at the super-low price of $149. It's such a good CPU and at this price is begging to be bought. See our best gaming CPU list for more details. 

Even though it was on sale yesterday, the HP Victus 15L Desktop gaming PC has dropped a further $100 today, making it now only $999. With a 12th Gen Intel CPU and RTX 3060 - this deal just keeps getting better.

Keep on scrolling for more deals. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Lian Li O11D Mini and SP750W PSU Bundle: was $189, now $169 + $15 promotional gift card w/ purchase
• Intel Core i5-12400F CPU: was $179, now $149 at Newegg
• HP Victus 15L Desktop PC: was $1,399, now $999 at HP
• Gigabyte M32UC 4K Curved Gaming Monitor: was $729, now $609 at Newegg
• Razer Power Up Gaming Bundle: was $79, now $49 at Walmart

Today’s best deals in detail

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Even the best PC builds need some panache. If you really love RGB, Lian Li’s Strimer series of illuminated power extension cables is made for you. Available in both 24-pin ATX and 8-pin GPU varieties, the Stimers feature a layer of addressable RGB lights that sits on top of the cable itself. Since these are extension cables, you can pair them with everything from one of the best PSUs to the cheapest one you find on sale.

The Strimer Plus V2 line adds some new wrinkles to this flair-filled formula, improving the flexibility and brightness of the cables while introducing a new controller hub and custom software. Available for $70 for the 24-pin cable (and L-Connect 3 control hub), $50 for a dual-headed GPU cable or $60 for a triple-headed GPU cable, the new Strimers don’t come cheap, particularly when you consider that a full suite of regular extension cables costs $20. However, if you can afford the price, you’ll get a splash of colorful illumination that makes your PC stand out.

Installing and Using the Lian Li Strimer Plus V2

When I took the Strimer Plus V2 cables out of their packaging, I was really impressed by how Lian Li creates the illusion that each cable itself is lit. Instead, on top of the cables themselves is a thick, silicone cover that tricks you into thinking these are the actual power cables and doubles as a diffuser.

When we reviewed the Stimer Plus, the cable felt a bit too stiff. However, Lian Li addressed this issue on the Plus V2 by changing the material of the RGB covers from PVC to TPE, a particular type of silicone that’s said to increase flexibility. The increased flexibility can also be attributed to a slimmer cable stack. The height of the RGB layer, plus the cable layer is only 8mm, whereas the previous Strimers were 11mm. The last visual change Lian Li made to its new Strimer extensions is the addition of a side light diffuser, which allows color to shine out of the sides of the cables instead of just the front, making the whole display brighter.

While all of that sounds fine and dandy, the measurements of the extensions have to be long enough to reach your components without showing your existing PSU cables. The length of the PCIe cables are 11.8 inches (300mm), which is more than enough for most cases. The 24-pin measures 7.8 inches (200mm), which is also generous.

To install the new Strimers, you just plug them into your PSU’s power cables and connect the little RGB cable to the RGB hub. The extensions feature tiny cables that connect to an RGB hub powered via SATA like on the previous version. You’ll also want to make sure that your motherboard has a 5V ARGB header on board, as you’ll need it to connect the hub. Unlike the original Strimers, you will not use the hub to control the lighting. Instead, all RGB goodness is controlled via Lian Li’s new software, L-Connect 3.

I installed the Strimers into the Hyte Y60, an ATX case with three tempered glass panels that allowed me to get a good view of the bright, vibrant light show. Because these are extension cables, I connected them directly to the motherboard and then looped them through the rubber grommets to my power supply’s cables. Even though the Strimers were cut down in size since we last visited them, I accidentally knocked a rubber grommet out during installation. However, this was only the case with the chonky 24-pin Strimer as the PCIe cables weren’t an issue to install.

I haven’t worked with PSU extension cables in a long time and even when I did, the only cable I extended was my PCIe cables because I love the individually-sleeved cable look. The 24-pin cable had enough flex to create the perfect semi-circular route to the back of my motherboard tray. While the PCIe cables still looked gorgeous, I had my graphics card mounted vertically, so I couldn’t develop a route as pretty as with the 24-pin. Overall, these things really glowed and were full of color.

Since I moved about a year ago, I’ve had my personal rig nestled underneath my desk, so I haven’t felt the love for RGB in my chassis. While the Lian Li Strimmer Plus V2 wires don’t make me want to go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of RGB kits, these cables raised an eyebrow because they provide something different than the usual light-up fans that people use to adorn their builds.

Whenever it comes to adding RGB to your rig, what also joins the party are a bunch of wires that make you question whether or not you should return the kit. However, with the Lian Li Strimer Plus V2, all it takes is a couple of clips and cable routing and you’re done.

Software for the Lian Li Strimer Plus V2

L-Connect 3 is Lian Li’s new software that piggybacks off of its Uni Fan software, but this time it adds the ability to control the Strimers (controlled initially via your motherboard’s software). The level of customization on the Strimer Plus V2 is similar to what you get with a mechanical keyboard that has per-key RGB lighting.

Single mode allows users to control each light channel's color and even features effects from rainbow to ping pong. Honestly, I had a blast experimenting with all of the lighting combos you can create. After I tinkered with the 24-pin cable’s RGB, it reminded me of the Empire State Building when it’s lit up at night. If you already own the previous generation of Strimers, L-Connect 3 is compatible, but you will need to purchase the controller on its own for $20. It comes in the package with the Strimer Plus V2 24-pin cable, but not with the GPU cables.

Bottom Line

The Strimer Plus V2 provides a clear indication that Lian Li is listening to feedback as it added flexibility to the cables, side illumination and a high level of customization that the prior generation products didn’t have. If you don’t already have a Strimer and don’t mind spending $70 or more, the Plus V2 cables are the most compelling yet. These extensions provide a unique RGB addition to your system that makes your build stand out from the crowd.

Lian Li’s O-11 Dynamic has been one of the most popular PC cases on the market for years now. It, or one of its many variants, has remained popular because it bridges the gap between performance-focused airflow and aesthetics-focused tempered glass. Because of that case’s success, numerous companies have tried to mimic Lian Li’s case design–at times blatantly so. 

Hyte, an offshoot of iBuypower (that saw initial success last year with its compact Revolt 3 case), definitely draws inspiration from Lian Li’s chassis with its newest enclosure, the Y60. An ATX mid-tower case, the Y60 stands out mostly for its three tempered glass panels, which provide a panoramic view of your PC hardware. The Y60 also features a dedicated basement for cooling.

Priced at $200, the Y60 costs more than the standard O-11, but it’s also a more complicated, feature-focused case. In the box with the Y60 is a PCIe 4.0 riser cable, which feels generous for the price, and three 120mm 3-pin case fans. Does Hyte’s new hotness strike the right balance between performance, looks and price to land a spot on our best PC cases list? Let’s get behind the glass and find out. 

 Specifications of the Hyte Y60

Features of the Hyte Y60

The Hyte Y60 is a unique case– instead of two glass panels like you get on the Lian Li O-11, there are three here, giving the chassis a wrap-around look. The layout of the glass panels allows for a panoramic view, which reminds me of a fancy home perched on a hilltop in Malibu, California.

We’ll talk more about the glass later on, but let’s shift to the Y60’s other features, like the general design. Hyte’s latest takes in air from the bottom, moving it out either through the rear exhaust or through the top. This should make for a good airflow path, even if you opt to use the included vertical GPU mount and PCIe 4.0 riser cable (which you should given it adds substantial cost to the case). The Y60 comes with three Flow FE12 120mm 3-pin fans, two of which are mounted at the bottom of the case, with the latter on the rear exhaust, like most cases. But as we’ll see later in testing with our tower cooler, you should probably go the AIO route for CPU cooling if you want cooler component temps.

Since the bottom fans are in the basement of the case (more on that later), there isn’t any radiator support at the bottom (which is generally a bad place for a radiator anyway). On the side, you can mount up to 240 mm on the top, and 360mm at the top. 

Getting back to the glass, removing the first glass panel is easy enough, as it’s screwed in like most panels on any case. However, removing the other glass bits is complicated, as they’re screwed in from the inside of the case. That said, most people shouldn’t bother removing them anyway– you won’t benefit from getting them out unless you plan on doing a custom water loop.

Just above the PSU at the back is the drive cage, with the drive sleds helpfully labeled  “storage.” While there are only two drive sleds, this case can fit four 2.5-inch SSDs or two 3.5-inch hard drives.

Hyte made a bold move by including a PCIe 4.0 riser cable and encouraging vertical GPU mounting. Because often vertically mounting your GPU can have a negative effect on thermals. We’ll figure out how that plays out shortly in the thermal testing section. 

The included riser cable is different than most others on that market that are basically just ribbon cables. This cable features a plastic piece at the top of it that mimics the top of the Y60 and is perfectly measured so there’s no excess cable length. The riser cable comes pre-installed, which made installing our motherboard frustrating, as the cable kept hitting the motherboard. This issue can be curbed by unscrewing the riser cable before system installation. But if you’re lazy like me, you’ll have to deal with it. 

The riser cable itself works like a charm; I had no issues installing our triple-fan Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC, because this chassis supports GPUs up to 14.76 inches (375mm). Of course, your GPU can still be installed horizontally, but then you’re left with an awkward gap in the floor of the case. And since you’re paying for the riser cable, it would be odd not to use it, especially in a case that’s all about showing off your components.

The case’s bottom-mounted IO is decent, but not really anything special. You get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (5Gbps) ports, one USB Type-C (10Gbps) port and an audio/mic combo jack, with the power button in the middle. It would be nice to have a couple more ports, but what’s here is sufficient, and nicely fits the space below the narrowest piece of glass.

Internal Layout

The Hyte Y60 isn’t huge, at 17.9 x 11.2 x 18.2 inches (456 x 285 x 462mm). But while Hyte claims this case can fit SSR-CEB/EEB (E-ATX) motherboards, our standard-ATX Gigabyte Aorus Z690 Ultra was already a fairly tight fit.

CPU cooler support is limited to 6.3 inches (160mm), which means owners of Noctua’s NH-D15s or Deepcool’s Assassin III will not be able to those chonky coolers. But, with a case like this, wouldn’t you rather show off your RGB-adorned AIO? As we’ll soon see in testing, going with an AIO might be a better choice for temperatures too.

Hyte was more generous on the GPU side in terms of clearance. This case fits cards up to 14.76 inches (375mm), which means your Asus ROG Strix RTX 3090 or PowerColor Red Devil RX 6900XT should fit here without issue.

The Y60 features a dual-chamber design– similar to what we see in other chassis with this footprint, with the PSU and storage mounted behind the motherboard area. I really like dual-chamber layouts because they make cable management much easier. After screwing in the power supply and routing the cables, I tied them down with minimal effort, and wound up with the cleanest cable management job I’ve ever accomplished.

Hyte Y60 Cooling

This case features a somewhat non-traditional setup, and I don’t just mean the fact that looks a lot like the Lian Li O-11. Specifically, I’m talking about what Hyte calls its “Cold floor cooling.” The company wanted to keep the design of the rear side panel aesthetically similar to the bottom dust filter, but the grille is a bit too thick for the best air intake. This is a bit of an odd choice since neither the bottom nor the right side panel will be visible to most users after the case is initially set up. This is one area where the case would be better if it focused less on looks and more on performance, which brings us to the next section.

Testing Hardware

We’ve updated our testing hardware to use Intel’s 12 Gen “Alder Lake” platform, which has shaken up the desktop landscape (and taken prominent spots on our best CPUs for gaming list). We’re now using a Core i7-12700KF, which is being cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC.

Acoustic Results for the Hyte Y60

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30 percent and run the CPU and included case fans at their lowest spinning speed.

The Hyte Y60 is a very quiet case. That can be attributed to the location of the bottom fans, since they’re shoved in the case’s basement, and likely also the glass panels dampening internal noise. I measured the rear exhaust fan using our laser tachometer and it read 1,444 RPM, which is fairly close to the rated 1,500 RPM.

Thermal Results for the Hyte Y60

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable. 

As stated earlier, two of the fans come pre-installed on the bottom of the Y60, and I don’t recommend you keep both there if you want the best thermals possible. It’s worth mentioning that in all of our case reviews, we are using some of the hottest components on the market and the tests we run are designed to generate as much heat as possible in a reasonable setup. However, this doesn’t give Hyte the pass because if you don’t utilize the basement for cooling, you’re missing out on a key feature. This would also mean that if you plan on mounting your GPU vertically with intake from the side, cool air has a difficult path for it to get to your graphics card.

As you can see, the results aren’t great with the case’s stock fan orientation. However, I don’t think the cool floor cooling is pointless– if anything it can be useful for “emergency cooling.” In my Phanteks Enthoo 719, I have three Corsair ML120 fans at the bottom of my case that turn on when my CPU hits a specific temperature. In the Y60, I can see someone doing something similar while keeping the fans hidden in the basement.

On a more practical note, I would take advantage of the radiator space up top and install something like an Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 360, along with some bright RGB spinners like the Corsair QL120 for some added bling.

Bottom Line

Whenever I look through PC builds on Instagram, I always see the Lian Li O11, since it’s so popular. But I can see the Hyte Y60 becoming the new king of Instagram builds, because it allows you to show off your flashy hardware from a panoramic perspective. While it runs hot, the Y60 didn’t cause any thermal throttling with our high-end hardware, so the warmer temps aren’t a deal-breaker. Just know that you may want to add some more cooling yourself, and you’ll probably want to opt for an AIO for your CPU.

It’s clear that Hyte wanted to create a case that would help your PC be a piece of art first and a PC case second. Because you end up sacrificing thermal performance for aesthetics. To some builders, that will be a serious red flag. But to some degree, that’s true of nearly every case with glass panels that aren’t heavily airflow focused. For those looking to show off their parts during livestreams or who just want something nice to look at during times when they aren’t gaming, the Y60 is a unique option. Just be sure to keep an eye on your temperatures and be ready to add additional cooling if you aren’t happy with your component temperatures.

If you're the type of PC builder who's never quite happy with the features of any case, or you want a chassis for your rig that can grow and change along with your evolving rig, Lian Li's O11D EVO might be perfect for you–so long as you have lots of space.

The Lian Li O11D EVO is, as you might guess, an evolution of the company's 2018-era O11 Dynamic while incorporating lessons the company learned from subsequent chassis like the O11 Air Mini and the O11D XL. It definitely leans toward the latter in terms of sheer size, at 18.07 x 11.22 x 18.31 inches (459 x 285 x 465 mm). So you'll either need a big desk or a fair bit of floor space to accommodate this case. But otherwise, the O11D EVO is all about morphing to fit your needs. It will also ship in both black and white options.

Out of the box, the case can be configured to accommodate up to E-ATX motherboards (with a width of under 280 mm) in a fairly standard orientation or reversed so that the glass side panel and motherboard live on the opposite side of the case. And the front-panel IO can be moved as well, giving you easy access to two USB-A, one USB-C, and an audio combo jack either up front or on either side of the bottom of the case.

However, that's just the tip of the transforming iceberg. Lian Li will also offer up five kits for the O11D EVO, letting you move the front IO to the top (where it honestly should be by default on a case this big); replace the front glass panel with mesh for much-improved airflow; or double up on those front-/side-facing USB A/C ports (although you'll need a motherboard two front headers for that). There are also two separate kits for showing off your graphics card. The Vertical GPU Kit (somewhat confusingly) lets you mount your best graphics card standing up but running horizontally, from the back of the case to the front. The Upright GPU Kit houses your graphics card in a true vertical orientation at the front of the case.

In short, the O11D EVO is more of a case platform than a traditional chassis. So it may be the best PC case for those who like to continually tweak and reconfigure their PC. And at $169 US ($159 in most other countries), it seems reasonably priced, given you also get a tasteful RGB strip that runs down the front. Note that the white model will sell for an additional $10.

Most of the upgrade kits are also fairly affordable, with all but the GPU mounting kits (which include a PCIe 4.0 riser cable) selling for under $20. But you'll have to factor in all your cooling considerations into the price because the O11D EVO doesn't ship with any fans. And though it supports up to 10 spinners, none are meant to be mounted up front unless you buy the front mesh kit.

Specifications

Lian Li O11D EVO Design 

With its mixture of glass, aluminum and steel (although mostly steel), the O11D EVO feels like most other O11 chassis, which is to say good, but not super premium. The company moved to a new pin-mounting mechanism for the pop-off panels, similar to what I've seen on both the Ssupd Meshlicious and Hyte Revolt 3 earlier this year. That means the side and front panels pop off with ease without tools or removing the top panel first. And they mostly stay in place when you want them to. The two glass panels have mounts for a screw to hold them more securely if you're traveling with or shipping the case. I'd suggest removing all the panels when starting your build, as the side panels, in particular, can come loose as you're flipping the case around. The top panel also comes off fairly easily once you loosen two captive screws at the back.

Inside, the case is nearly infinitely reconfigurable. There are over a dozen panels, pieces, and ports that can be moved or removed to fit your needs, and some don't even require a screwdriver. Most require removing a couple of screws, but you won't likely want to swap out these parts unless you're installing one of the five optional kits.

That's not to say the case isn't capable of transforming without the aid of extra parts. Out of the box, you can invert the layout of the case so that the motherboard installs on either side of the case. However, this seems to be the most burdensome reconfiguration of the O11D EVO, with over a dozen steps involving removing and reinstalling several of the case's interior bits. Due to time constraints, we didn't install a system this way, but you can see how to set up the case for this kind of install in Lian Li's video here. Also, note that some of the kits we'll cover in detail below won't work in this orientation.

The other thing you can rearrange in the O11D EVO out of the box is the front IO, which is housed in the bottom front by default. If you don't like that placement for your two USB-A, one USB-C and headline/mic combo ports, the good news is you can pop the port housing out of the tabs that hold it on the bottom of the case and move it either to the left side near the back, or the right side near the front. This can all be done without reaching for a screwdriver, as the port housing just slots in and out of holes on the bottom of the chassis.

In a nice design touch that acknowledges just how large the O11D EVO is, Lian Li also designed the power button so that it wraps around the right edge of the case, which means you can press it either from the front or the side.

My primary complaint here, though, is that at over 18 inches tall and 11 inches wide, unless you have a huge desk, chances are you're going to plop this big boy on the floor. However, the floor positioning makes the bottom-mounted ports pretty inconvenient no matter where you put them.

Lian Li O11D EVO Accessory Kits

Enter the first of five kits designed for this case, the Top I/O Kit. As you might guess by the name, this lets you mount the "front" IO to the top of the case. This is also the cheapest O11D kit, priced at $12.99. It's cheap because it consists solely of an aluminum strip with holes cut out for ports and a couple of screws.

To install it, you need to pop out and remove a couple of screws from the port housing at the bottom, route the ports and cables up to the top and remove the standard top aluminum strip by loosening a thumb screw at the back. Next, screw the internal port housing into the port area from underneath the strip, then put the new top strip, with ports in place, on top of the case and screw it down with the captive thumb screw at the back.

If you want more external ports than this, there's also an Additional I/O kit, which can install in any of the three previously mentioned places at the bottom of the case. It delivers two more USB-A ports and one more USB-C port. Just note that you'll need ample front-panel connectors/headers to use both the standard and additional IO kit, as both use one USB 3.0 header and one USB 3.1 front-panel connector.

As noted up top, the O11D EVO is designed by default to pull air in from the bottom and exhaust it out the top or back–although there are no included fans. If, however, you do want to install fans up front, there's a kit for that as well. The $19.99 Front Mesh Kit replaces the front glass panel with a rigidly framed piece of metal mesh. It also includes a couple of metal rails that mount behind the mesh, letting you install three 120 mm fans or two 140 mm air movers, just like in the brackets that ship on the bottom and top of the case. If you include a 120 mm spinner at the back, that's 10 total fans that the case supports–and quite an added expense if you don't carry any over from a previous build.

With the trio of Corsair ML 120 fans installed in the front, alongside the Top I/O and Front Mesh Kit, the O11D EVO looks quite good. And it should have excellent airflow, given every panel is vented save for the glass side. But this setup is also a far cry from the base configuration of the case.

The other two kits for the O11D EVO involve alternate graphics card orientations. They're also much more expensive than the others because both come with a PCIe 4.0 riser cable.

First up is the Vertical GPU Kit, which is $69.99. Aside from the cable, you get a couple of brackets to mount your graphics card standing up, running from the back of the case toward the front. To install this kit, you'll first need to remove most of the case's eight expansion slot covers. The instructions have you removing the second through the fifth slot covers, and then the part of the bracket on the left in the image above slots into the same holes that typically hold the expansion slot covers.

Note, though, that the combination of a large air cooler (a be quiet! Pure Rock 2 here) and bulky graphics card (Zotac's RTX 2080 Amp Extreme) made for clearance issues in the standard setup for this kit. But, the kit was flexible enough in its design that I could drop the GPU bracket down another slot, leaving some breathing room (about 2/3 of an inch) between the bottom of the air cooler and the top of the GPU. Of course, this won't really be an issue if you're using an AIO mounted at the top. 

It's also worth pointing out that the bracket is built to accommodate triple-width graphics cards, and there's about 16 inches of clearance for a GPU here, even with fans installed in the front. So you shouldn't have any GPU clearance issues with this kit unless maybe you have one of the biggest graphics cards ever built.

Last up is the Upright GPU Kit ($89), which is the most expensive and a bit more complicated to install. This lets you mount your graphics card at the front of the case, running top to bottom, in between the right edge of the motherboard and the front of the case. It comes with a longer PCIe 4.0 cable, a bracket to hang the GPU's PCIe slot anchors (which screws into the top of the case), and an adjustable bracket to stabilize the bottom of the card. 

Installing the card here also has you remove the standard fan-mounting bracket that ships pre-installed in front of the motherboard area. In its place is a more solid-metal bracket that comes in the case's accessory box. This last bit is dead simple, as it's held in place by a spring-assisted lever accessed from behind the motherboard area. As with most of these kits, you'll want to remove the front, top, and both side panels before installation. This will allow the best access to every mounting hole, wiring-routing grommet, and any open spaces that you might need to move bulky components and wires through. 

In short, once you've replaced the fan bracket with the solid metal panel, you'll need to mount the big bracket (top center in the image above) to the top of the case with four screws and install the adjustable stability bracket (bottom left in the image above) to the back metal bracket. Then you’ll slide the graphics card into the top bracket, secure it with a couple screws and adjust the bottom bracket (image below), adding a second piece to hold your particular graphics card in place at the front and the back.

Next, you'll need to install the PCIe cable in the slot on your motherboard and plug the other end on your GPU. To keep the big riser cable from covering your cooler (and messing with airflow), you can use the provided cable ties to hold the PCIe cables together.

The end result looks pretty slick if you have an RGB-equipped GPU. But as you might have surmised, putting your GPU in the front of the case means you need internal access to the case to plug in your video cable(s), and then they need to be routed through the back of the case. But since the O11D EVO is so large, that's not much of an issue, and Lian Li provides a large grommeted hole at the rear, just above the default location of the drive case, specifically for this kind of setup.

This isn't the most convenient video cable option, particularly when swapping or adding monitor cables. But if you want to show off your GPU and its RGB lights, this might be the ultimate orientation to do so. Or you could save $10, go with the previous vertical kit instead of this upright option, and still have your GPU connection as part of the rear IO, just as the PC gods intended. In case you haven't noticed, the O11D EVO is all about giving you options.

The Rest of the Build Process

After plowing through those five accessory kits, most of them with the motherboard and an air cooler already installed, the rest of the build process in the O11D EVO was easy. This was largely due to the fact that the chassis is downright huge and you can remove the four side panels in about a minute. Three pop out on pins and the top slides off after loosening two thumb screws. Then you're just installing parts and routing cables around a large open frame.

Lian Li provides a vertical chamber with three pre-installed velcro straps for keeping cable slack together. And atop that sits a handy bracket that does double duty as a mount for a couple of 2.5-inch drives and a way to hide most of your cable mess once it's installed. It too goes in and out of the case with ease, with tabs slotting into holes and the bottom and a couple of captive thumb screws holding it in place.

Some other configuration options worth pointing out: You can mount the power supply at the bottom (default), or swap its place with the two-drive hot-swap drive cage that ships at the top by default. And if the two 3.5-inch bays and two 2.5-inch mounts aren't enough for your storage needs, you have loads of other options. You can add a couple of included bars to the  fan-mounting bracket on the bottom of the case to install four more 2.5-inch drives or two more 3.5-inch platter spinners. And the solid metal bracket we installed for the Upright GPU kit has mounting holes for four additional 2.5-inch drives or two more 3.5 inchers. With all that, plus whatever M.2 slots are built into your motherboard, the vast majority of users should be satisfied with the storage possibilities here.

Heck, if you ditch the main drive cage, you can install two power supplies, one atop the other–the company even includes a foam bit in the box to help keep them separated. This case really is what you make it, and with so much space inside, the options start to feel endless–especially when you factor in the five optional accessory kits. But that also means you'll need to be very good about keeping the extra parts and instructions should you want to change things up months or years down the line.

In the end, I went with the Upright GPU Kit, largely because that's what I installed last, as well as the Front Mesh kit because I wanted fans at the front and back. I also opted for the Top I/O kit, because there's no way my desk has room for both this massive case and the 55-inch LG C1 OLED TV I use as my primary monitor.

Along with the Ryzen 7 3700X, the X570 Aorus Master motherboard and two sticks of HyperX Fury RGB RAM, I installed a Corsair semi-modular power supply and four 120 mm Corsair fans (which are RGB, but I didn't want to deal with extra cables and a hub, so I just plugged in the fans themselves for airflow). I could have easily installed more drives than my still-chugging Samsung 960 Pro M.2 boot SSD, but in the interest of getting this story done in time for the case's launch, I stuck with the previously mentioned parts, tidied up the wires a bit, shoved the rest in the pre-installed velcro straps behind the cable-hiding bar that does double duty as an SSD mount, and slapped the four side panels back on.

We don't have cooling and acoustic numbers to make this a full review, but given that the case comes without any fans, and the front panel can be either glass or mesh with an optional kit, performance here really is what you make it. Still, with a large internal layout and mesh making up about 2/3 of the right side panel (or left, depending how you configure things), as well as vents on most of the top, airflow shouldn't be an issue–unless you do something dumb like stick with the front glass panel and put all your fans directly behind it, where they can't pull in any fresh air.

Bottom Line

Perhaps more than any case I've ever worked with or written about in the last decade-plus, the O11D EVO can transform itself along with your build, or be tweaked to provide just the features and layout that suits you. Just know that however you configure it, the O11D EVO is going to take up a large amount of space, either on your extremely roomy desk or on the floor.

Apart from the fact that the $169 US base price for the black model can get much more expensive once you start adding kits for better airflow and an attractively mounted GPU, my only real complaint is that the $13 Top I/O kit doesn't ship with the case by default. On smaller cases that are clearly designed for your desk, ports on the bottom can be convenient. But as this monstrous case is over 18 inches tall and deep, and approaching a foot wide, it's almost certainly destined for a spot on the floor. And no one wants to crawl around on the rug to plug in USB cables or a headset. 

Ten years ago, Lian Li was mostly known for extremely expensive aluminum cases that many dreamed of, but few could actually afford. But in the last few years, Lian Li has pivoted to become the people’s case maker. Gone is the requirement for everything to be aluminum – these days you’ll find plenty of steel, especially in the frames and mesh – but the design brilliance has remained, if not improved.

The company’s latest ITX case, the Q58, is an example of exactly this new way of thinking – it offers a brilliant design, oh-so-premium looks, and – get this – it only costs $130. If you’re familiar with the world of ITX cases, you’ll know that’s not a lot of money for a small, 14.3 liter case, especially with the likes of the NCase M1 costing around $210 and Louqe’s Raw S1 tallying in at a mighty $330.

So, without further ado, let’s dig in and find out if the Q58 is good enough for our Best PC Cases list. It certainly has stiff competition, with both the Hyte Revolt 3 and Cooler Master’s NR200P impressing us on the compact case front in recent weeks.

Specifications

External Design

Circling around the outside of the chassis, the first thing that stands out about the Q58 is its simple design. You’ll find half-height glass panels at the top, half-height mesh panels at the bottom, and an aluminum front panel that matches the rest of the case, with a finish split right in the middle.

The case’s side panels are made of painted steel with a fine mesh that’s good enough to act as a rough dust filter, but the top panel is made from prettier anodized aluminum and has its mesh milled out. It’s a rougher mesh, but that’s okay as this is the exhaust location, so it doesn’t need to filter any air.

Flip around the back of the chassis, and there’s not much to be seen other than the motherboard’s IO cutout, three vertical expansion slots, a power socket, and a trio of thumbscrews. Front IO consists of a single USB 3.0 Type-A port, a USB Type-C port, and a mic-headphone combo jack.

But don’t be fooled by the tidy, simplistic exterior. Hiding inside the Q58 has a very neat, surprisingly flexible design.

Internal Design

First, lets talk about the panels a little more. The four side panels are all on hinges, and they are exchangeable. The default layout (and the layout I’d recommend), has the glass panels at the top with the mesh at the bottom, but you can opt to swap these around, or have all glass on one side and all mesh on the other. What you can’t do is have glass at the top of one side and the bottom of the other – the panels are mirrored, so their hinges won’t support this.

The one thing we do have to note about the panels is that two of them seemed awfully tough to slip  from their hinges, though Lian Li informed us beforehand that this was an issue with our sample and that it would be fixed in retail cases.

On the right side of the case you’ll find the main motherboard area. This fits an ITX motherboard mounted upside-down, and the bracket for the SFF PSU is installed from the factory.

Flip over to the left side, and you’ll spot the GPU area.

But if you look at the top of the chassis, you’ll spot a large cavity. Believe it or not, you can actually fit up to a 280 mm radiator up here, complete with fans. That’s honestly an amazing amount of cooling power for a case this small, and certainly something you should utilize given you don’t need any other layout.

The bottom of the case supports a single 120mm fan as intake underneath the PSU, though it does not ship with any fans. The bottom does have magnetic dust filters included in the accessory pack.

At the back of the case, near the top, you’ll also spot a fan hub. This is a simple PWM & RGB hub with three ports – so it isn’t SATA powered, but it does offer a neat way to run all your fans and RGB devices through a single header. Given that most ITX motherboards only have one RGB header, and the case supports exactly three fans, this is a neat inclusion, especially at this price.

For storage, you can fit up to three 2.5-inch drives in this chassis and one 3.5-inch drive. These are placed at the bottom, along the top radiator mount, behind the power supply; the last 2.5-inch slot is sneakily placed between the frame paneling at the front. It’s too tight there to get cables to, but Lian Li built in a hot-swap bracket. Keep in mind that the bottom drive only fits if you don’t install an intake fan.

The Q58 can support ATX PSUs

However, if you don’t want to invest in a pricey SFF or SFF-L power supply, Lian Li also includes a bracket to convert the chassis to ATX mode. In this mode, the Q58 will still happily swallow 320mm graphics cards, but you will be making a few sacrifices. For one, the biggest supported radiator drops from 280mm to 120mm, and storage options drop to just two 2.5-inch drives. So, for best results, we recommend sticking to an SFF power supply.

PCIe 4.0 support & white paint costs extra

In its base variant, black with a PCIe 3.0 riser cable, the Q58 costs $130. If you want a model that has a PCIe 4.0-capable riser cable because you’re dropping in an RTX 3000 or RX 6000 graphics card, this will run you an extra $30, bringing the price tag to $160. Meanwhile, the Q58 is also available in white – a finish that costs $10 extra on both the PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 variants.

We are using the following system for today’s build:

With this build, we’re using the new ITX case test setup based on the 11th Gen Intel Core i5-11600K processor, paired with an Asus Z590 ITX motherboard and a large RTX 3080 Ti graphics card. That’s a lot of hardware to throw at an ITX case, but the Q58 shouldn’t be troubled by this. That said, the Zotac GPU might be too big, so I do have the RTX 2070 Super ready in case I need it. 

Step 1: PSU Installation

First, I installed the power supply in its designated location. By default, the case comes with the SFF bracket pre-installed, and the PSU slides right into place. If you have an SFF-L PSU, you may need to remove the bracket, install the PSU onto it, and re-install the lot.

Step 2: Motherboard Installation

Then, I installed the Asus motherboard, with the AIO’s pump head already installed. I could try and get the PCIe riser cable out of the way and install the pump head afterwards, but that seems like an inefficient way of going about things.

Step 3: AIO Installation

Then, it was time to install the AIO’s radiator at the top of the case. The Q58 supports 280mm radiators, as you can tell from the bracket I removed from the top of the chassis, but I don’t have a 280mm AIO available (yet). So, I installed the bracket and tried to put the radiator in place.

But I made a mistake: I installed the radiator on the bracket outside the case, and with the tubes not routed through the top opening, I couldn’t get it in place. So, I undid the radiator again, ran its tubes correctly, and re-installed the bracket. At this point, I decided that it would be easiest to leave the radiator uninstalled and off to the side, as this would give me extra clearance for cable management.

Step 4: Cable Management

Next, I decided it was time to tidy up all the cables. I find that in ITX cases, this is easiest to do without the GPU installed, as it just gets in the way. About 30 minutes later, I achieved the below result, which is quite tidy.

But there is a catch: The cable slack from the power supply had to go somewhere, and I shoved it right below the PSU. There is plenty of space here, but it is the spot where otherwise, you could install a 120mm intake fan. With some creativity and a lot of extra time, you could fit a fan here and use the standard cables that come with a power supply. There is some space behind the PSU, and you could jam things in a bit tidier – after all, the back of the fan has the prongs that hold up the motor, so you’re unlikely to get blade contact.

However, for best results, you may want to budget for a custom cable set that’s made to the exact lengths you require. This will lead to an easier build and much tidier looks.

Step 5: GPU Installation

With all the cables tidied, and the PCIe power cables pre-routed, installing the large Zotac RTX 3080 Ti was a breeze. I did have to nudge the PCIe riser card over a bit, but with that done, the GPU slotted right into place.

There’s just one thing I need to mention here: The GPU end of the PCIe riser cable could use some extra support. I was pushing down on the GPU, seeking that satisfying ‘click’ letting you know that it’s fastened into the slot, but I wasn’t getting it.

As you can see, I managed to bend the PCB a bit. This wasn’t a problem – I hadn’t damaged it and it did work just fine, but if you’re not careful, you might. Two simple standoffs to hold it up at each end isn’t enough to protect against uncareful installers bludgeoning the GPU in, so I’d like to see Lian Li add a support brace here.

Build Complete

With that, the build was complete. Time to throw on the panels.

In the end, building a system into the Q58 wasn’t as tough as ITX cases used to be. Admittedly, this one was a little trickier with the cable management and cramped space for cable slack, but it was still perfectly manageable with some time and patience. The Hyte Revolt 3 certainly builds easier, but it doesn’t have as nice a finish as the Q58, and while the Louqe Raw S1 both builds easier and is way more premium, it does cost much more and offers far fewer storage, cooling, and PSU options.

Although the Q58 doesn’t ship with any fans, it shouldn’t need any either. The GPU is pressed tight against the intake mesh on the side, and the AIO at the top, if you’re using one, takes care of the CPU and system exhaust. A 120mm fan can be added at the bottom for intake if so desired, but I’m not testing with one today as it isn’t essential.

We are using an updated testing methodology first introduced with the Cooler Master NR200P Max here, which involves new settings, more realistic acoustic tests, and worst-case-scenario thermal tests. For CPU cooling, we’re using the biggest AIO that I have available at the time of testing, allowing you to get a better idea of the thermals you can expect in a typical build intended for the case.

Acoustic Results

As far as acoustics go, the Q58 performs alright but not great. It’s quieter than the Hyte Revolt 3 even with an identical setup, though that’s likely due to the different GPU and AIO orientation. Naturally, the Cooler Master NR200P Max was quieter, but that’s because it was tested with its included 280mm AIO, which has quieter fans that spin at lower maximum speeds.

Thermal Results

When it comes to thermals, the Lian Li Q58 performs better than average, only being outperformed by the NR200P Max when it was using a mesh panel, and even then, it’s only by a sliver. The Q58 does witness a slightly higher CPU temperature, but its GPU temperature is impressive at 58 °C when normalized to a 20 °C room.

Of course, keep in mind with that with this thermal test, the CPU’s clock speed is locked at 4.0 GHz at 1.2V, and the GPU’s fan speeds are locked at 75% to ensure it can meet its power target – in practice, you’ll witness lower CPU temperatures and higher GPU temperatures due to the behavior of the boost algorithms.

Testing the PCIe 4.0 Riser Cable

To test the PCIe 4.0 riser cable, I simply set the PCIe mode in the BIOS to Gen 4, boot the system, run Furmark, and check whether it’s running at Gen 4 speeds in GPU-Z. If the cable makes it through this simple test, it gets our thumbs up, and the Gen4 cable that comes with the $160 Q58 made it through this test without issue.

Conclusion

To wrap this one up, all I can say is that Lian Li has yet another winner on its hands. After the Lancool II Mesh Performance last year, and the PC-O11 Air Mini last week, the company is showing that it is more than capable of building impressive, stylish cases that perform well at impressively friendly price points. The secret appears to be ditching the all-aluminum designs, though some does remain here on specific bits of paneling for that distinct, luxurious Lian Li look.

More specific to the Q58, this ITX case manages to squeeze a high-TDP build such as our system with an i5-11600K and an RTX 3080 Ti into an astonishingly tiny, 14.3 Liter enclosure, not only with a pleasant build process and great looks, but also above-average thermal performance. And there is some room for improvement: We only used a 240mm AIO, but you can bump that up to a 280mm unit and add an intake fan for even better performance.

Conversely, if you’re on a budget, you can opt for the simple version with just a PCIe 3.0 riser cable, convert it to support your old ATX PSU, throw in a cheap 120mm AIO, and the end result will look just the same as ours thanks to the dark tint on the glass.

Priced at $130 for the base variant, with a $30 premium to jump to a PCIe 4.0 riser cable, and a $10 premium for the white finish, the Lian Li Q58 ITX case gets an easy recommendation. We only wish the GPU end of the riser cable was a bit stronger or better supported. Hopefully Lian Li will make that change.

Back in 2018 Lian Li introduced its PC-O11 Dynamic chassis, designed in collaboration with Der8auer, and it quickly went on to become a classic that still sells well. Then, just under a year ago the company dropped the O11D Mini, shrinking the chassis into a more cheerful format. It still fit ATX boards, but could be modified to be a cooling-focused ITX board too, or anything in between. 

Now, Lian Li is introducing the O11 Air Mini – a variant of the chassis that has an extra front intake and includes fans – at the same $110 price point. Well, the O11D Mini was priced at $99, but the tariffs have pulled that price up, too.  

So, let's dig in and find out what the differences are, whether the O11D Air Mini is an improvement, which you should get if you’re considering the variants, and whether the Air Mini is worthy of a spot on our Best PC Cases list. 

Specifications 

Features

Looking around the outside of the O11 Air Mini , the first thing that stands out about the chassis are its tidy looks. Whereas the original O11D Mini had a glass side and front panel, the steel mesh panel at the front of the O11 Air Mini looks cleaner, almost like the case grew up and pulled on a suit – it’s a much more business-like appearance, offering a more sophisticated look as opposed to the O11D Mini’s playfulness.

The glass side panel remains, as does the aluminum strip at the front, but the top and right-side panels are no longer made of aluminum. This isn’t a real issue, but I did like the aluminum panel on the O11D Mini, as it was a big upgrade over the original O11D’s steel panels, especially considering the case’s low price point. That said, this case keeps the same price, does replace the top IO shield strip with aluminum instead of the scratchy acrylic strip on the previous case, and this case comes with three fans – so it’s understandable that a compromise had to be made somewhere. Also, the perforated steel mesh contrasts quite nicely next to the aluminum – I quite like the look.

Top IO comprises two USB 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C port and a headphone/mic combo jack. A power button is also present, with blue illumination around it. 

To remove the top and right-side panel, one simply undoes the thumbscrews at the back of the case and they slide right off. The glass side and front mesh panels then come off by simply lifting them out of place, exposing the case’s interior.

The case only has one filter, at the bottom, and it keeps the same, not-so-pretty plastic handle as the O11D Mini. This is visible on the side, and although practical, a little unsightly.

Other than that, you will rely on the mesh of the top, front and side panels for filtration, though I expect these will do a good enough job as the mesh there is quite fine.

Internal Layout

Once inside, you’ll spot room for up to an ATX motherboard in the main compartment, along with room for radiators and fans along the top, front, bottom and side. Two 140mm PWM fans come installed at the front intake, while the rear exhaust carries a single 120mm PWM spinner. 

In this main compartment, CPU coolers can be up to 6.6 inches (167mm) tall and GPUs up to 14.3 inches (362mm) long. 

There is tons of radiator space here, too: At the top, bottom, and front of the case, you can mount up to 280mm radiators, and the side intake/exhaust spot will happily accommodate a 240mm radiator.

Keep in mind, though, you likely won’t be able to install a 280mm unit  in the top spot with an ATX board from the factory. This is because the radiator mount isn’t placed all the way near the side panel, and the motherboard tray is pushed slightly inward from the original case. To fix this, you will need to purchase the RB-001 offset radiator mounting bracket (no price is set yet) that will launch alongside the case. 240mm radiators will fit at the top just fine, though, unless you have tall RAM that creates clarence issues.

Flip over to the other side, and we spot a few interesting things. Despite being a ‘Mini’ case, this one comes with room for large ATX power supplies (whereas the last case only had room for an SFF-L PSU), and the hard drive cage is moved to the top. A cover is present over the cable management area, with room for two 2.5-inch drives.

You can either leave the covers installed on the side intake, creating room for two 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives, with room for another two in the HDD cages, or you can remove them to expose the radiator mount.

Adjustable Rear IO

From the factory, the O11 Air Mini comes configured as an ATX case, with seven expansion slots. However, just like the original O11D Mini, the rear IO is adjustable to accommodate different boards.

However, the O11 Air Mini won’t adjust all the way down to just an ITX layout. In all fairness, that’s fine – the Micro-ATX layout with five expansion slots will work just the same, leaving the lower slots unused to make radiator space. 

Summing up the differences

By now, you’ve probably gathered that the O11D Mini and the new O11 Air Mini are almost entirely different cases. They’re based on the same base principles, but externally and internally they are surprisingly different. 

The biggest difference is that the Air replaces the front glass panel with mesh, and includes 3 fans. But it also cuts back on the motherboard’s rear IO modularity, and has 3mm less width in the main compartment. The new model is also wider overall at 288mm as opposed to 270mm. This is because the rear compartment now has room for ATX PSUs, which is a huge upgrade over the SFF-L only layout in the glass-based O11 Mini, and well worth the extra width. The case is also 4mm taller, though 20mm shallower. 

With these changes, I would argue that the O11 Air Mini isn’t the builder’s modular paradise the O11D Mini was, but rather a tidy, straight-forward ATX case, albeit with an unusual layout. This makes the new O11 Air Mini much more approachable for first-time builders.

We are using the following system for our case test bed:

We’ve recently implemented a new testing setup for our cases, but I’m pulling the old setup out of the closet for the O11D Air Mini to give the fairest comparison. I no longer have all of the same components around, but the motherboard, CPU, memory, GPU, and power supply are all identical. The main difference in the setups is that I won’t be using the vertical GPU riser, as this sample didn’t come with one. I’m also using a slightly different Corsair AIO, and we’re using the included case fans instead of chucking in aftermarket spinners.

Motherboard Installation

The first step in this build process is to install the motherboard. But because I’m too lazy to remove the hard drive cage at the back, I did install the AIO’s CPU block onto the motherboard first.

AIO Installation

Then, I mounted the fans onto the cooler, and installed the AIO’s radiator in the side port. I opted to use this because it’s what I did in the build of the O11D Mini, though I could have mounted it in any of the other locations.

GPU Installation

Then, I dropped the GPU into place. This case does have room for larger GPUs, and I could use our Zotac RTX 3080 Ti. But because the new ATX testing rig isn’t complete yet, and because I want to compare data to the first case, I’m using the FE RTX 2070 Super.

PSU Installation

This is something that took me by surprise when building the system – I had expected the O11 Air Mini to only support SFF-L PSUs at the largest, but no: This case will happily house large ATX PSUs up to 200mm long. Now that’s a relief.

Cable Management in Classic, O11 Fashion

For cable management, I first plugged all the cables in, including the iCue hub that came with the Corsair liquid cooler, and then tidied up all the cables.

And when I say tidy, I mean tidying them up in the classic O11 fashion: shoving them all into the case without a second thought and hiding my mess with the cover.

A Quick Note on the Side Radiator

If you haven’t spotted it yet, I’ve made a mistake in my build process. Although the 240mm radiator fits, with the fans, entirely into the side slot in the main chamber without colliding with the included intake fans, this is not the best way to mount it as it wouldn’t effectively exhaust the air out the side, instead warming up the secondary chamber. 

There is plenty of space for the radiator or fans to fit on the other side, in the secondary chamber. So, I undid the radiator and mounted it correctly, to better exhaust out the side panel.

Build Complete

With that, the build was complete. I’m really digging the tidy mesh front panel. I didn’t think I’d like it more than the pretty glass, but it’s a much more sophisticated look than glossy glass.

Test Results

Both the 120mm and 140mm fans will start spinning at around 450 RPM, topping out at 1550 RPM and 1250 RPM, respectively. These are nice figures that offer a big enough cooling range, without getting too loud at the top end. All are PWM-controlled, which is very respectable, especially at the case’s price point.

Acoustic Results

For acoustics, I ran three tests: An optimized idle with all the fan speeds as low as they would get, a CPU load noise level with the CPU loaded up with Prime95 and iCue controlling the AIO’s fans at the ‘balanced’ profile, while the case fans ran at 100%, and a full system load with the GPU added at 75%. 

Keep in mind that for the O11D Mini one year ago, I ran the aftermarket Corsair fans in the case fan positions at 50% duty, as otherwise they’ll spin at a wicked-fast 2300 RPM. This means that the results between the two tests aren’t strictly comparable – the O11 Air Mini’s fans spin faster, so noise levels are higher and cooling should be a little better.

These are higher noise levels than you’ll likely achieve. The GPU used here doesn’t run without the fans spinning at idle, and most do nowadays. Plus, the AIO fan speeds are, in all honesty, higher than necessary. iCue doesn’t let me adjust the PWM levels of the AIO’s fans, but with the same CPU, overclock, and the same ambient room temperature, the results are as close to comparable as I can make them.

Thermal Results

For thermal tests, I run the same tests as acoustics.

Unsurprisingly, because there is more airflow resulting from the higher fan speeds (and the mesh front), thermals are a little better with the Mini Air.

Again though, I have to emphasize that this testing isn’t consistent and I wouldn’t put too much weight on the results. The AIO used in the new model is different. The control mechanism for the AIO isn’t good for testing, because it doesn’t give me control over the fan speeds. The case fans and speeds are all different, and the GPU is still running on the same, old paste and is developing rattly fans – that’s why we’ve otherwise retired it. 

What I can say is that the O11 Air Mini has great airflow. The included fans offer plenty of performance and aren’t all too loud by themselves, and if picking between one case or the other, I wouldn’t consider their thermals in the equation unless you have such a high-TDP system that you need every bit of cooling you can get. And even then, it’s not as if the O11D Mini was inadequate. The O11 Air Mini just has one more intake and it comes with fans.

Conclusion

When I first received the O11 Air Mini, I didn’t think I would like it. After all, the standard O11D Air wasn’t as popular as the PC-O11 Dynamic, the company ditched the pretty glass panel, and often, included case fans just aren’t all that good.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth with the O11 Air Mini. I like the look of its front mesh panel more than glass, and it performs a smidge better. The included fans are actually reasonably good, and the case has a more practical interior with support for ATX power supplies, instead of being limited to SFX-only. 

The end result of all its changes makes the Air Mini an entirely different chassis, all for the better. The O11 Air Mini is a great case that you can just pick up, throw a standard ATX system into, and call it a day. That was less the case with the O11D Mini -- and this new model looks and cools better. Overall, it’s a much more complete package. 

Priced at $110 for the black variant, or $120 in white, the O11 Air Mini is a chassis that’s absolutely worth considering for your next build.

Lian Li has unveiled its latest version of a no-compromises PC case, the Odyssey X, which was designed in collaboration with popular overclocker Der8auer. This chassis can accommodate almost anything, with up to nine fan mounts and three configurations. But you'll have to pay the hefty price of $500 to obtain the Odyssey X.

The chassis is classified as a full-tower case, with support for up to EEB and E-ATX motherboard options, and comes in two colors: black or silver. The biggest selling point of this chassis its monstrous capacity to house large liquid-cooled components within its cavernous chamber.

Another feature is its triple configuration options, which lets you orient the case in three distinct ways depending on the build you're trying to set up.

Dynamic mode is the case's default configuration and looks identical to your standard ATX tower. The motherboard sits to the middle rear of the case, with fan housings to the top and front.

Dynamic-R mode is a complete180-degree spin from Dynamic mode, traditionally called an inverted mode. This config moves the motherboard to the top of the chassis, with the rear I/O sticking upward. Fan mounts are placed to the bottom and front of the case.

Finally, there's a Performance mode that turns the case completely on its back end, giving the case a more vertical appearance. We're not sure why this mode is called 'Performance', but the vertical layout allows the case fans to be much closer to your system components and graphics card, which should allow for better cooling potential.

You have a maximum of nine fan mounts that can be housed within the Odyssey X. All nine mounts are only accessible in Dynamic Mode, with Dynamic-R and Performance modes limiting you to 'just' seven  120mm fans. You can also house 140mm fans in any configuration, but expect fewer fan mounts if you go this route. (You'd think Performance mode would give you the most amount of fan options)

Of course, those fan mounts can also handle radiators as large as 480mm, depending on the configuration.

Besides the case's cooling potential, it also has a decent amount of storage options, with three 3.5-inch HDD trays or three 2.5-inch slots for hard drives or SSDs. The drive trays can handle either drive size.

Cable management to the rear of the case should be very easy to maintain, as there are three large rubberized grommets, allowing cables to pass thru the rear with plenty of cables tie-down points across the whole back part of the case. This is where you'll also find three hard drive slots as well.

Aesthetically the case is quite striking, with the angled double tempered glass side panel doors, plus a fully ventilated front panel. The use of high-end brushed metal and tempered glass gives the case a very premium look.

Currently, Newegg.com lists the Odyssey X's for $499.99 on pre-order, with availability in late July.

Lian Li might be enjoying the fullest success of its existing case lineup, but the company isn't sitting idly by. Today, Lian Li is unveiling four new cases in its 2021 Expo, which is set to kick off in a couple hours. Meanwhile, we've got a few pictures and details about the cases they're about to show off, so we're bringing those to you early. So without further ado, let's dig in:

All-new O11D Evo

The O11D Evo is meant to slot in as an airflow-optimized version of the original O11 Dynamic, bringing features to the table such as rear exhaust, RGB lighting, and better cooling. While sharing the same footprint and similar dimensions of the 'regular-sized' O11D. It will support up to E-ATX motherboards, GPUs up to 445mm long, PSUs up to 200mm in length, and a plethora of storage options. Of course, being a case built for cooling, fan and radiator support is ample too.

Of course, we're really looking forward to this case. One of the things we liked about the O11D Mini is that it did away with the painted steel exterior panels and replaced them for aluminum, and the same is coming to the O11D Evo -- the top and side panels are either made of glass or aluminum for a much more premium finish, and supposedly better airflow as the panels themselves are said to act as the air filters.

SFX Goodness: A4-H20

Built in collaboration with the community-born DAN-cases, the A4-H20 brings a much-needed update to the Dan A4 case. This one supports 240mm radiators along with 2.7-slot GPUs up to 315mm long -- and that's big news for a case that's only 10.4 liters in size.

But Wait, More SFX Joy: The All-New Q58

If you're not dead-set on an absolutely tiny enclosure, but still want something small, capable, and pretty, the Q58 might be for you. At 14.3 liters in volume, it's still a small case, but it's capable of housing GPUs up to 320 mm long next to the mesh intake on the side for great cooling, and you can fit up to a 280mm radiator for cooling the CPU. With a half-glass half-mesh intake on the side, RGB, machined aluminum front panel, this is a case that appears to strike a great balance between looks and cooling, and we can't wait to get it on the test bench.

Some Full-Tower Love Too: V3000+

But of course, there's always a crowd that wants full-tower cases. For them, Lian Li is updating the V3000 into the V3000+. The V3000 isn't exactly old dating back to 2017, but it's looks are tad out of date with today's trends and we can see the potential for an update. This is a massive full-tower case that will house two systems, two power supplies, GPUs up to 420mm in length, up to 16 hard drives or 19 SSDs, and of course there's a plethora of tempered glass, venting, and classy but subtle RGB accents with a remote control.

Full Details Coming Soon

At this time, this is all the information we have. The Expo is premiering in a few hours, so be sure to tune in.

When Razer announced its Tomahawk ATX chassis, the first thing that stood out to me is that it appeared to carry the same internals as the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh, a case that we awarded full marks. As such, the Tomahawk ATX is off to a good start, but there’s one big elephant in the room that we must address before we continue: this Razer chassis, despite the same foundations, costs a mighty $200 – twice the price of Lian Li’s excellence.

Therefore, when Razer offered to send a sample, I was very curious to find out where the added $100 went. So without further ado, let's find out whether the Tomahawk ATX is actually worth its price tag and deserving of a spot on our Best PC Cases list, or whether you should save yourself some money and opt for the excellent Lancool II Mesh instead.

Specifications

Features

Circling around the outside of the chassis, it’s clear that Razer opted for a very clean and blocky style. It’s quite appealing really, as paired with the extremely dark-tinted glass panels, the chassis has a heft, power, and mystery to it. This thing does look like a $200 case.

But don’t miss me when I say heft – this is a chonky 30-pound (13.5 kg) boy. I’m not kidding when I say it was a challenge to take out of the box.

Okay, so maybe I’ve been away from the gym too much in this pandemic, but all the 0.8mm thick steel and oceans of tempered glass do give the case a quality feel. It’s built like an absolute tank and that goes a long way toward justifying the price point.

Both the tempered glass panels swing outwards to open up. First, you press them once to click them out, after which you can pull the door away from the magnet – or if you don’t want to get fingerprints on them, just grab the panels from below to pull them out. After opening all the way, you can lift both panels off their hinges.

And with the hinges, Razer went the extra mile. Whereas the Lancool II has hinges on the outside that kind of look a little cheap, Razer designed a hinge that sits on the inside of the case, giving a much cleaner appearance on the outside – even if it’s at the back of the case.

Front IO comprises USB-C (something that’s an optional extra on the Lancool II Mesh), two USB 3.0 ports, and discrete headphone and mic jacks.

Internal Layout

Turning to the inside of the chassis, on the motherboard side we find space for up to 280 mm wide E-ATX motherboards, though you’ll have to remove the cable management cover to fit such boards. Standard-width ATX boards fit best. GPUs can be up to 15.1 inches (384 mm) long and CPU coolers up to 176mm tall.

The PSU shroud has a door that’s also magnetically held in place and can flip down for access. Here you’ll find a trio of 3.5-inch caddies that slide out toward you. There’s plenty of space here for large PSUs too, with supported lengths of up to 8.3 inches (210mm).

Behind the motherboard tray on the other side of the case you’ll find two 2.5-inch drive bays. These can be moved to the top of the PSU shroud if you want to show off pretty SATA SSDs. You’ll also find the cable management space here with three Velcro straps and the Chroma RGB hub. This hub connects to and is powered through an internal USB 2.0 header.

Cooling

When it comes to cooling, I suspect things are going to get interesting with the Tomahawk ATX – and I don’t mean that in a good way.

Starting with the good stuff, the case has plenty of room for fans and radiators. You can fit up to two 140mm spinners at the top, two 140mm spinners at the front (or three 120mm units in both cases), two 120mm fans on top of the PSU shroud, and one 120mm spinner at the rear exhaust location. There’s also lots of radiator space in here.

Where things go sour is in the intake design and the included fans – or rather, lack thereof. From the factory, Razer only includes a single 120mm fan, and it isn’t even PWM controlled, nor does it feature any RGB. This isn’t the kind of skimping you expect to see on a $200 case.

That being said, we’ve proved in the past that cases can get away with a single fan, right? Well, yes, but only if the intake is open mesh – which it isn’t here. As you can see in the images above, the front intake for the Tomahawk ATX is severely restricted, with an attempt at filtration behind the already tight perforation on the front edges.

To make matters worse, the case also has a shortcut that air can take around this intake – at the bottom handhold to pull the front panel off. As such, the Tomahawk ATX doesn’t have any real airflow path, nor proper intake filtration – this system will get dirty on the inside faster than other cases.

Fortunately the power supply does have a good air filter, so you won’t need to tear it apart for cleanup jobs.

We are using the following system for our case test bed:

After stripping the case down, we installed the motherboard, GPU and power supply into it. Being a big case, that all went without issue. The only complaint I have here is that the motherboard standoffs didn’t seem to line up with our board nicely, though that could be down to the integrated IO shield used on our Asus board.

Cable Management

When it comes to cable management, the Tomahawk ATX offers a pleasantly smooth experience. The cable shield in the motherboard area is roomy enough to allow big connectors through without finicking, and on the other side of the case there’s plenty of space for cable slack. The PSU shroud also has roomy cutouts to deal with otherwise tricky connector placements.

Three Velcro straps make easy work of guiding the cables along the tidy way, and when all is done, two covers are helpful for covering up all the cable mess. We would have liked to see a cover for the cables at the PSU area, but the glass is so tinted you can’t really see the slack anyway.

Build Complete

The case comes with two bits of lighting: the Razer logo, which is backlit by a white LED but shines green through the logo, and Chroma underglow. This underglow comprises two D-RGB strips, one on each side of the case, that have a diffuser to create a very smooth lighting effect underneath the chassis. On photo it looks a little blown out, but off-camera it’s pleasant light that’s easy on the eyes.

Because our Asus motherboard keeps the internal USB headers powered on, the lighting, at least on the Razer Logo, also stayed on when the system is switched off -- not exactly useful for knowing whether the system is on, but it doesn make a statement.

For thermal and acoustic testing, we are using the following software and settings:

Test Results

The one fan that comes included with the case isn’t PWM controlled, and thus has a relatively high minimum speed of 650 RPM. It will spin up to 1450 RPM, which is also relatively high. But as you’ll see, the chassis needs even more to cool properly. The fan is still somewhat quiet though, offering minimal bearing noise and no unpleasant characteristics, so it can somewhat be forgiven for only being a voltage-controlled spinner.

Acoustic Results

For our acoustic tests, we run three scenarios: CPU full load, CPU and GPU full load, and an optimized idle. The CPU Full Load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test we add the Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE at 75% fan speed, because in practice it never runs at 100 percent and is far too loud when it does.

For the optimized idle, we run the GPU fan speed at 40 percent (the 2070 Super FE GPU does not have a Zero-RPM mode), and run the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin at.

Acoustically, the Razer Tomahawk ATX is among the quieter cases we’ve tested. As far as case and CPU fan noise is concerned, it’s barely louder than the extremely quiet Silent Base 802 with the silent panel, but it’s not very good at keeping the GPU noise in – so if you want a quiet system, look for a GPU that’s quieter than our FE 2070 Super – not that that is difficult.

Thermal Results

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100 percent. The i9-9900K is pegged at a 4.6GHz clock at 1.1v on all cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios, and letting the GPU run at 75 percent fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while maintaining one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable.

Thermally, the Razer Tomahawk is the worst case we’ve tested in a long time. The temperatures noted in the chart are normalized to a 20 °C room. But with the room at 23 °C, the CPU sat at a very toasty 79 °C real temperature – which is quite uncomfortable. The GPU was a little cooler, but still hotter than anything we’ve recorded in the past.

Because these results were obviously a consequence of the restricted intake and single exhaust fan, I added two 140mm Corsair ML140 fans and set them to 50% duty to see what that would do. This didn’t make the system all that much louder, but it hardly helped thermals. The CPU ran 2 °C cooler, and the GPU 1 °C – an abysmal performance benefit, and clearly a consequence of the extremely restricted front intake – this baseframe was clearly meant to have a mesh front.

Meanwhile, this test also shows something else – the case doesn’t follow the typical airflow route that a case should – from front and bottom as intake, with the rear and top as exhaust. Rather, the case’s one fan makes it so that the case draws air from the rear, through the expansion slots, which if placed in a tight corner will lead to some heat recirculation issues. This negative pressure setup will also lead to increased dust accumulation inside the chassis, and because of the restricted front intake, I feel it will be a challenge to set up a positive-pressure airflow path in this case, especially with an AIO at the top as exhaust.

Regardless, due to the thermals my advice for buyers of this case is to jump straight to using an all-in-one liquid cooler for the CPU, at least 240mm in size. This will ensure that the CPU does operate at comfortable temperatures. With an AIO, it might even be worth skipping the front intake altogether and using the top of the case as an intake, even if this goes against all convention and would result in more frequent top filter cleanup jobs.

Conclusion

All things considered, the Razer Tomahawk ATX has some things going for it. It’s built on an excellent foundation, feels like an absolute tank in use, and makes valiant efforts to justify its high price point. Improvements over the $100 Lancool II Mesh include added click-mechanisms on the doors, hidden internal door hinges, Chroma-RGB underglow, and USB Type-C. When all is said and done, it feels like a true quality piece of kit and attention certainly has been placed on aesthetics.

However, in taking a great foundation and focusing on building a good-looking chassis, Razer’s designers have made choices that simply aren’t acceptable for a $200 case. The front intake is severely restricted, the hand hole on the front panel lets air circumvent the intended intake so there’s no proper air filtration, and the case only comes with one fan. This all adds up to terrible thermal performance. It won’t kill your system, but it won’t be good for it either.

When a case costs as much as this does, I do expect it to accomplish the basic fundamental task of keeping your components cool, and that, the Tomahawk ATX doesn’t do. Adding an AIO on the CPU with the radiator at the top is an absolute must if you’re using a high-TDP CPU – but even with one, I would be afraid of pairing a high-TDP CPU (Comet Lake or the upcoming Rocket Lake chips) with a new high-TDP GPU such as the RTX 3080 or RTX 3090 in this case.

As someone that’s not sensitive to brand display, I see no compelling reason to purchase this case. If you’re a Razer fan and you absolutely must own a Razer chassis to complete your setup, the Tomahawk ATX will still serve you somewhat alright – but I do want you to be aware of its deeply flawed focus on form over function. Also, there’s quite a big Razer tax added for the privilege of displaying a glowing interpretation of Medusa’s dearly-departed updo at the front of the case.

The smart move (at least for the sake of cool components) would be to buy another case and a Razer sticker to slap on the front of it. Just don’t repeat Razer’s mistake and cover up too much of your Intake.

In recent years, several representatives from PC case companies have told us that mini-ITX cases are a niche, without enough interest to be worth heavily investing in. Yet oddly, over that same period, more and more companies seem to be churning out these compact small form-factor (SFF) chassis. 

The latest entry into the mini-ITX case space is the Meshlcious, from Ssupd (Sunny side up design), a new spinoff brand from Lian Li. As you might guess by the name, the Meshlicious is all about mesh--or nearly, as the case ships with one tempered-glass side panel, which can be attached to either the GPU or CPU side of the case. It will also be available in either black or white. Our review unit arrived dressed in black.  

At 14.17 x 9.65 x 6.55 inches, the Meshlicious is similar in size to the Jonsbo A4 case we used for the RGBaby build last year (the A4 is 13.39 x 10.75 x 6.65 inches), and much smaller than the last ITX case I built in, Asus’ ROG Z11 (20.9 x 7.6 x 15.2 inches) pictured above. At $119 (MSRP) the Meshlicious is also much cheaper than either of those cases, while offering up lots of versatility (within the confines of its 14.67 liter volume), as well as a riser cable for showing off your graphics card. To help keep your components cool, it has mesh covering four of its six sides (or five if you spend $30 on a second mesh side panel to replace the glass side that ships in the box). As I found during testing, though, you’ll probably want to add at least one front intake fan.

Despite its small size, the Meshlicious supports graphics cards up to 12.6 inches and four-slots thick, thanks to a motherboard tray that can be slid forward or back to make room for thick cards. Just note that, as with all cases this small, there are a whole lot of limitations due to space constraints. Installing a long graphics card limits space for SATA storage, for instance. And while you can use a full-size ATX power supply, you may want to opt for a modular SFX PSU just so that there’s less excess cabling to hide. There’s really nowhere to hide excess bulky power cables.  

Specifications

Panels Galore 

Working in the Meshlicious is fairly easy for an SFF chassis, thanks to its easily removable panels. Every side save for the bottom has one, and by default, all are mesh except for one side which is tempered glass with a moderate tint. As noted earlier, you can pop that glass side on either the motherboard side or the graphics card side, depending on which you want to show off.

Metal push pins hold all the sides on, and they stay on snugly and pop off with ease. This is a mechanism I wish more case makers would use, though I’m sure it works much better with small panels than it would with large full-ATX towers. The case and side panels are all steel (save for the glass panel) and reasonably thick and rigid. Nothing feels cheap or flimsy, which is nice given the case’s relatively low price for an ITX chassis.

With the side panels off, the Meshlicious becomes a minimal shell, housing a PCIe 3.0/4.0  riser cable for vertically mounting your graphics card, and a few cables for the top-panel connections. (The $119 version we tested has a PCIe 3.0 cable, but a $159 version with a PCIe 4.0 cable will also be available.)  

Speaking of the top ports, things are fairly minimal (like the rest of the case’s design), with one USB 3 Type-A port and one Type-C. There’s no real need for an audio jack in a case this small, given that the audio ports around back are inches away from the front, and will generally deliver better audio than external ports would anyway.

The included accessories are also minimal, and include a bracket for mounting SATA drives, which you’ll need to leave in the box if using a long graphics card -- as I did for this build. Also included is an angled HDMI cable, which you’ll need if using a full-size graphics card, as the Graphics card ports are at the bottom in this layout. The cable I got was quite short at just over three feet (not quite enough to make it to my arm-mounted test monitor), but a company rep told me Ssupd would make a change to include a longer cable (and larger zip ties) on future shipments, although initial versions will likely include what you see above. The zip ties included aren’t nearly big enough to wrangle the excess mess of power cables I encountered with my ATX power supply.

The silver aluminum bar above is a shorter mount for the motherboard tray. You’ll use this if installing a four-slot graphics card, to shift the tray more toward the motherboard side. Keep in mind that doing this also minimizes the cooler clearance, which is also quite limited to begin with. You get  2.87 inches of CPU cooler clearance as standard, which shrinks to 2.09 inches if you make room for a thicker card. That means if you’re using a 4-slot card, there will even be some AIO coolers you’ll need to avoid. As I used a slim Noctua air cooler (more on this below), the limited space here wasn’t an issue.

The 2.5-slot Zotac RTX 2080 Amp Extreme I used fit without adjusting the motherboard tray, but left little room between the side panel and the case fans. So I’d recommend either opting for the mesh panel on the GPU side or moving the motherboard back. 240 or 280 mm radiators (or just 120/140mm fans) are supported in the front for cooling your CPU. But note if adding a fan and radiator, things will likely get very tight, since this is also where your excess power cable slack also needs to go. Even if you just install intake fans here, you may have issues with cables pushing up against your fan blades. So you’ll need to take extra care to keep this from happening.

The case supports either SFX or larger ATX power supplies, although the bracket of an SFX power supply comes pre-installed. And I’d recommend using one of these smaller supplies if at all possible, since it will give you extra space and you’ll likely have less cable slack. I used a modular ATX Seasonic Focus PSU and wound up with a big ugly bundle of cables zip-tied together and no place to hide them.

The Meshlcious supports basically two distinct component layouts, each with a mini-ITX motherboard. You can either use a small-form-factor graphics card mounted horizontally, up to 8.3 inches (or less with a front radiator), or a longer full-sized GPU up to 12.6 inches mounted vertically (which is what I installed). With the former, you can also install a drive rail system for 3.5 or 2.5-inch drives. With averically mounted longer GPU you’re limited to mounting two 2.5-inch drives on the bottom of the case. Rather than go over the full details of possible layouts, here are a couple of diagrams, direct from Ssupd.

The build scenario I went with was a combination of these two, using an air cooler like in the image above, left with a long GPU (below, right).

Building in the Ssupd Meshlicious 

With the four sides popped off in a matter of seconds, building in the Ssupd Meshlicious was fairly straightforward, at least at first. 

For the sake of simplicity, I carried over the core components from the Asus ROG Z11 case story, including an ROG Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard, an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, a low-profile Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.Black CPU cooler, and the aforementioned Zotac RTX 2080 graphics card. We would have loved to upgrade to a Rzyen 5 CPU and a 30-series graphics card. But in case you haven’t noticed, both have been extremely scarce since launch, and for our purposes here, the existing parts work just fine. 

I dropped the motherboard in first, complete with the cooler and RAM. Next I tried to jam the ATX power supply in before realizing the SFX bracket comes pre-installed. I removed that via four screws, then slotted in the Seasonic ATX PSU in the area to the right in the image above. That went without issue, until I realized the GPU riser cable wasn’t fully extended on the other side, and was stuck behind my power supply. So I had to remove the PSU momentarily and secure the PCIe slot near the bottom of the case for the vertical RTX 2080. For smaller cards mounted horizontally, the cable gets mounted near the top.

That done, I was ready to install the graphics card and the sole SATA SSD for this build, an attractive Team Group T-Force Delta Max RGB model that added some extra RGB to this case that ships without lighting or fans. In this configuration, another 2.5 inch drive can be mounted on the bottom, in a tight spot below the power supply. But for that you’ll need remove the PSU, or install it and connect the cables before installing the power supply. Again, for those who want to install more than two 2.5-inch drives here, you’ll need to use the drive bracket, which necessitates you also use a much shorter graphics card, mounted horizontally. But given many ITX motherboards include two M.2 slots (one often hidden on the back like with our Asus board), plus the ability to install two 2.5 inch drives on the floor of the Meshlicous, that should suffice for most setups. If you’re looking to install lots of storage drives, you probably aren’t also looking for a super compact case.

With everything installed in the Meshlicious,it was instantly clear that I had a bunch of excess cabling, mostly from the power supply, but some from the SATA drive (which also requires a USB cable for its light show). And given that the case is so small, there was no place to effectively hide the mess. Had I installed a radiator and fans in the front and used an SFX PSU with shorter cables, perhaps I could have hidden the cables along the back edge of the radiator. But of course the radiator, pump and fans would have introduced more cabling and taken up a fair amount of space itself. 

For the sake of hitting the launch day on this case, I bunched the cables together hastily with a few zip ties and velcro straps and called it a day. I clearly could have been a bit neater, but with the cables near the CPU/motherboard side of the case, they aren’t all that visible with either the tinted tempered-glass side over the GPU area, and even less so if you opt for using the mesh panel here. 

Gaming and Conclusion 

Given that most of the sides on the Meshlicious are mesh, you could get away without adding intake fans for plenty of builds, as I did here. But adding at least one in the front would be a good idea. Either that, or if you’re using a large and powerful GPU, you might want to consider buying a second mesh side panel to replace the glass one -- even if just during long gaming sessions. The panel can be popped off and replaced in just a few seconds.

After about a half hour of playing Borderlands 3 at high settings with the glass panel on, the panel got surprisingly hot, which isn’t exactly surprising given how close the fans are to the un-vented side panel. And while you could swap the side panels and put mesh in front of the graphics card, that  would mean your glass panel is going to sit right up against the intake of your power supply. I don’t have to tell you that restricted airflow like that -- at the very least -- isn’t great for the longevity of your PSU.

Moving the motherboard tray back nearly an inch, as noted earlier, could alleviate this issue somewhat, but not if you’re using a graphics card that’s 3 slots or more thick. It would have been nice if Ssupd had included at least one fan to mount in the front, but I can also see why the company didn’t. Most people will likely either want to install a front radiator (which will come with a pair of fans on its own) or use specific fans, be they RGB or, say, quiet and efficient Noctua spinners. 

And again, for many more modest builds with graphics card TDPs south of 200 watts, you could likely get by without any added fans. After all, the Meshlicious gets its name from the fact that three of its sides are all mesh by default. Opt for a fourth mesh side panel for an extra $30 and your CPU and GPU coolers shouldn’t have an issue dissipating heat themselves. 

Just don’t expect the Meshlicious to be any quieter than your components of choice, especially if you opt to put the mesh panel in front of your graphics card. Just as small cases like this involve tradeoffs in terms of component support, a mesh-covered case is going to trade some noise for better thermal dissipation. You should always choose your components wisely. But if building in this Ssupd case is your aim, you’ll want to spend extra time making sure your parts will … mesh well with the Meshlicious.  

Lian Li's O11D Mini came out at the end of last year (our review here), and thanks to its incredibly modular internals, it's honestly one of the most fun cases 2020 had to offer. Now, EKWB already has a distribution plate ready for it, and call me weird, but I find it quite exciting. 

Being a chassis with lots of glass to look into it, a distribution plate at the front of it is the perfect foundation for watercooled systems with hard acrylic tubing. The distribution plate has inlets and outlets in all the right places to line up with most hardware combinations, meaning you should be able to get away with just a single bend per stretch of tubing.

And that's key to a successful liquid build. I built a system in PCMR 'Special Edition' O11D, also with an EKWB Quantum-Reflection distribution plate, and it really made it a breeze to get my tubing runs to look good. Don't get me wrong, it was still a two-person all-day job as a first-timer to hardline tubing, but the end result looked proper without much waste, failed bends, or hair-pulling fear of leaks.

O11D Mini + EKWB Distro Plate = Magic

Having come to the conclusion that the O11D Mini and an EKWB distribution plate ought to be a magical combination, let's get into a few of the details. 

The plate itself is made primarily out of acrylic, and a D5 PWM pump is used to generate flow. This is a massive-power 23-watt pump that can push through even the toughest, most complicated of loops, and chances are you'll never actually need to address its full power. I appreciate that this distro plate doesn't have a metal cover to hide the pump from the front of the case, allowing you to see it do its work in its fullest glory.

D-RGB is included in the form of a light strip on one side, which illuminates the entire distro plate and can react nicely with pastel fluids. 

Pricing isn't cheap though at $350 for this unit. That said, a D5 pump-res combo unit will also easily cost you about $200, and in all fairness, I reckon the added $150 is worth the convenience in port placement for easier tubing runs if you're already going down the custom liquid route anyway -- and of course the looks. The catch is that it will only fit the O11D Mini, so you'll have to be sure about your decision before committing to the build.

EKWB is currently taking pre-orders with shipping slated for early March.

Earlier this year, Lian Li updated its fully RGB lit Strimer PSU cable extensions for both your motherboard and graphics card. But all you could get at the time was a 24 pin motherboard extension and dual 8-pin GPU extension kit. Fortunately, Lian Li has now updated its product lineup with a new Strimer+ Triple kit that includes a triple 8-pin GPU extension cable and an RGB hub. The kit is designed specifically for aftermarket RTX 3080s and RTX 3090s that are equipped with triple 8 pin power connectors.

If you are unaware of how these extensions work, they don't actually light up the physical PSU extension cable itself, rather the cables themselves are covered by RGB-lit strips. So in reality, you have two sets of cables running from your PSU cables to the system components. But in the end, the cables do look pretty with all that extra mass.

This new Strimer+ Triple kit also includes a little RGB hub that allows you to control the RGB lights however you want. The hub requires a SATA power connection, as well as an ARGB header on your motherboard. If you need to connect other ARGB devices and want to sync them to the hub, you can do that as well.

Keep in mind, this only includes the triple in pin extension for your graphics card. If you want the 24 pin motherboard RGB extension cable, you'll have to buy that separately. The Strimer+ Triple kit goes for $59.99 right now on Newegg.com, and the Strimer 24-pin SKU goes for $10 less at $49.99.

Lian Li is finally offering up the baby version of the classic PC-O11 Dynamic, and it’s called… (drumroll please) the PC-O11D Mini. But in making a SFF variant of this chassis, Lian Li hasn’t just squeezed things down to a Mini-ITX format and called it a day. Instead, this chassis isn’t quite a Mini-ITX chassis, as it can be modified to fit ATX motherboards. Nor is it a full ATX chassis, as you do make compromises with that layout, too. 

Indeed, the PC-O11D Mini is a bit of an oddball case, built with a highly modular interior that allows you to build anything from crazy Mini-ITX systems with tons of radiators and custom liquid cooling to modest ATX systems that don’t take up too much space. This is nothing like the cases currently on our Best PC Cases list. And in my experience, this modularity makes it one of the more fun cases I’ve had the pleasure of working with this year.

The chassis also doesn’t come with any fans, and as such, it offers the builder an immense amount of creative freedom to build a system to their liking. Because of this weird and wonderful design, we’ll be taking this review in a slightly different direction than the usual lot, as testing this as a Mini-ITX case isn’t really fair as it’s just too big, and our air-cooled ATX case test setup… well, I just can’t see many people building a system like that in this case, so why test it in a way that nobody will use it? That wouldn’t be fair.

Specifications 

Features

Starting with the outside of the chassis, the PC-O11D Mini changes a few things up from the standard PC-O11D. The IO is moved to the top of the chassis for a clean front. The chassis now has four paws instead of long strips at the front and back, and Lian Li has returned to using brushed aluminum here.  

Yes, brushed aluminum. I didn’t think this would happen, so when I unboxed the chassis, I was immediately taken by surprise. Of course, the front and side panels are made of glass, but the right side panel and the top exhaust panel are made of black brushed aluminum, and boy, are they nice. The edges are cleanly cut. The perforation is perfect with sharp corners – none of that droopy mess you get with painted steel. This is quality. You can see it, and you can feel it, which next to the glass really helps elevate the premium feel of the chassis despite its $100 price point.

Of course, we shouldn’t be too surprised by this – Lian Li was once a company that exclusively made premium aluminum cases, until it entered the mainstream space and needed to work with more affordable materials. 

But it’s not all good here on the PC-O11D Mini. The front is also good with a glass panel and a glass strip on the right, but next to the gorgeous brushed-aluminum panel at the top is a strip of acrylic around the IO.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with acrylic in itself. In fact, those building custom loops are going to be working with plenty of pretty acrylic inside the case – where it’s safe – and that’s the problem. Acrylic scratches easily – very easily, and I have trouble understanding why, when the rest of the chassis is made so beautifully, Lian Li opted for acrylic in the one place where it will constantly be exposed to the sharp edges of USB connectors.

Of course, there’s a simple explanation: It’s far easier to cut out the gaps for the IO, and fresh from the factory, it does look good. It’s also only a $100 case, and there is a brushed aluminum effect going on below it, which looks nice, and the perfect cutouts do look much better than what you get on many cases. Fortunately, it’s only glued on with weak glue, so it’s easy to rip it off and replace with an aftermarket solution – something tells me the community will come up with something on that front.

Otherwise, the IO consists of two USB 3.0 ports, a Type-C port, and a mic/headphone combo jack. It looks nicely minimalistic, but I would have preferred to see the connectivity at the front of the case, as the chassis is too tall to reach the IO without having to get up from my seat. IO at the top of cases is for PCs that you place on the ground, underneath your desk. 

Moving on, another complaint about the exterior of the chassis is the lower air filter. It slides out from the side with a handle, which is practical, but the feet have visible cutouts where it slides into, and the handle on the side isn’t exactly pretty either, with the ugly side of the plastic mold visible from above. Being a case that’s aimed at being pretty, I would have preferred the less-practical magnetic filters, like on the regular PC-O11 Dynamic and the rest of this chassis. 

Around the rear of the chassis, things are looking a little unusual, but for good reason. At the top-left is the mount for the SFX power supply. This case won’t fit normal ATX PSUs, in an attempt to keep the width under control. Underneath it there is a latch that opens to reveal two 3.5-inch HDD sleds.

On the right, you find the rear IO area. You’ll notice the weird shrouds over the end of the expansion slots, which attach with a plethora of thumbscrews. The reason for this is simple: You can remove some of the expansion slots, move down the entire motherboard assembly, and place covers over the remaining areas to swap the case for ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX layouts, or for vertical GPU mounts. More on this in a bit.

To remove the panels, you undo two thumbscrews at the back of the top panel and slide it off. Then, the glass panels can be removed simply by lifting them out of place, at which point we’re met with the skeleton of the chassis. 

On the motherboard side, you’ll spot room for ITX motherboards and space for boards up to ATX in height. Width is limited to ITX in the default configuration -- but worry not. Included with the case is a trim piece that lengthens the motherboard tray to accommodate ATX boards. This covers the cable management grommets, but since they’re angled, it’s not an issue and you can still use them. 

In the rear of the chassis you’ll find space for up to SFX-L power supplies (remember,ATX PSUs aren’t supported), along with two 3.5-inch drives in the HDD caddy, two 2.5-inch drives on the cable cover, and there is about 35mm (about 1.4 inches) of space for fans or radiators.  

The Glory of Modularity, What Will You Do?

Being a modular chassis, you can mess around with the rear IO layout to achieve just the internal structure you want.

From the factory, the chassis comes in the ATX configuration, albeit without the motherboard tray extension attached.

If you’re going for a Mini-ITX layout, you have a few options. The main section with the IO, 120mm fan mount and three expansion slots is one unit, which you can place in three locations – top, middle, or bottom. The remaining sections you can seal with the included covers. If you want to do a system with a custom loop and want a radiator at the top and at the bottom, place it at the middle. Alternatively, you can also drop it (or raise it) all the way to create space for thicker radiators at the top or bottom.  

Another option is to set the system to a Micro-ATX layout, with five expansion slots.  

And lastly, you can opt to buy a $50 vertical-mount bracket, which replaces the main rear shield for one with a vertical GPU mount built in. This is a separate accessory not included in the box. The PCIe extension cable that came with our sample is only PCIe 3.0 compatible. And while Lian Li tried, the bracket won’t be ready in time for the case’s launch. And when the bracket does hit shelves, it will still only be PCIe 3.0, as Lian Li is having manufacturing issues with the cable. It’s not clear when the PCIe 4.0 update is coming.

Cooling

For cooling, the PC-O11D Mini comes with a host of fan mounts. At the bottom of the chassis you can fit up to three 120mm spinners or two 140mm fans. The same goes for the top of the chassis. And on the side mount you can fit two 120mm or 140mm fans, along with their respective radiator sizes. The rear of the chassis supports one 120mm fan. None come included with the case, so do budget for a few case fans.

If you want to place radiators, the top and bottom both support up to 360mm rads (but also 280mm), and depending on the layout, you’ll be able to cram pretty thick radiators in here. Of course, you’ll get most space with Mini-ITX boards, but ATX systems will also work with 120mm wide rads. The side radiator can be up to 280mm. 

All fan locations, minus the rear exhaust, come with their own filters that are easy to remove and clean. The filters on the side panel attach onto magnetic strips that are glued onto the side panel, as magnets wouldn’t adhere to the aluminum the panels are made of.

Does the PC-O11D Mini fit an RTX 3080/3090?

Yes, but you’ll have to take into account the width of the card – it has to be less than 172mm wide. When vertically mounted, the width is also limited to the standard width of the expansion slot if you intend to install a fan in the 120mm rear exhaust location – so if you install a wider card vertically, you’ll have to sacrifice the rear exhaust fan.

The maximum GPU length is 395mm (15.6 inches), but naturally you’ll have to cut back on this length if you want to place a pump/reservoir combo unit in the chassis.

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We are using the following system for our case test bed: 

Because this chassis isn’t a regular ATX case, nor a proper ITX case, I didn’t find it fair to test it with our usual setup for either of those. I can’t imagine many people will install air-cooled CPU coolers in this chassis, as it would put its best skill to waste. So I changed things up and gave myself a little more freedom with the build, to build something that’s more representative of how I expect the case to be used. 

Of course, if it were entirely up to me, I’d build an ITX system in here with a high-end GPU, three radiators and a custom waterloop, but I don’t have the time (or all the parts on hand) for this. Thus, we’re going for an ATX system with an AIO, as I quite like the hilarious thought of cramming an ATX motherboard into an SFF-ish chassis.

I first rebuilt the chassis to allow it to accommodate an ATX board with a vertical GPU mount. I then dropped in the Asus Maximus XI Hero motherboard with the Core i9-9900K CPU, Corsair Vengeance memory, and Corsair MP510 SSD installed. The chassis doesn’t have a center anchoring standoff, so I had to lay it onto its side to secure the board.  

I then proceeded to install the radiator on the side. It would of course be better for thermals if I drew fresh air in from the outside, but it looks better with the fans pointing this way. To install it, I pulled the pump through the big gap in the radiator mount and then attached both fans, after which I dropped the cold plate & pump combo unit onto the CPU. 

I could have opted to install the hoses at the top, but I found that this puts quite a bit of stress on them, so I installed their ports at the bottom. 

After that, the GPU dropped into place with ease. At first, it was sagging a little, which immediately led to panic – we couldn’t have a sagging GPU in a build like this – that’s not pretty. But it turned out I hadn’t fastened the brace in the back properly, so two turns with the screwdriver had it all sitting straight.  

Then, it was time to install the power supply. I used Corsair’s SF750 PSU, as I had this one around for the ITX test bench. It’s a hilariously small power supply, but it offers plenty of juice for the 9900K and RTX 2070 Super. It also comes with individually-sleeved cables, which are a very nice cherry on top for the build.  

Then, I installed four more case fans. Three at the bottom and one at the rear exhaust. This should offer plenty of airflow to keep the system cool.

After doing up some of the cables, I noticed something else about the system. Everything was looking nice and snug. With the motherboard occupying the majority of the interior, fans at the bottom, the GPU had a nice bed of tech it was residing in, and while I’m normally not a big fan of vertical GPU mounts, there’s something about Lian Li’s approach that I quite admire. That, and the Founder’s Edition 2000-series GPUs from Nvidia are some of the best-looking cards out there.

The bracket fortunately leaves room underneath for fans, and it pulls the GPU inwards far enough to offer enough room for ventilation – which is often the biggest drawback of vertical GPU mounts. The GPU bracket in this configuration was so high up too that if I wanted to replace the lower rear shield with two expansion slots, I would be able to fit a sound card or other expansion card underneath the GPU, were I so inclined.

Cable Management

Cable management is one of those things that cases can either nail or fail. The PC-O11D Mini isn’t a case that makes any attempt to give you routing guides or anything, instead simply offering you tons of space to cram the clutter into, and this brute-force strategy works quite well. So that’s what I did – I pushed the cables in, shoved the cover onto it, and called it a day. 

The hardware side looked tidy, so why bother putting any more energy into it? This might become a little more challenging if you populate the system with more fans, RGB controllers, hard drives and SSDs, but the internal trim piece with the Lian Li/Derbauer plaque is a helpful aid in keeping all the cables tucked away so that you can easily slide the side panel back on when you’re finished.

Build Complete

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For thermal and acoustic testing, we are using the following software and settings:

Test Results

After setting up the system and calibrating the fan profiles, I ran the CPU fans in the ‘balanced’ iCue profile, the pump at maximum speed (because it’s broken and is rattlier and noisier at low speeds; the replacement did not arrive in time), case fans at 50% duty, and GPU fans at 75%.

This simulated the system under significant load, and I recorded acoustics at 46.1 dBA. Without the GPU blasting away at this high speed 45.4 dBA, and in the optimized idle scenario (with everything running at minimum speed) I recorded 35.9 dBA of idle noise.

None of these figures are quiet, but we wouldn’t read into them too much. This GPU is too loud both under load and idling, the AIO has a broken pump, and the fans on it, in all fairness, are louder than they need to be. So are the case fans, but it’s all I had at my quick disposal to build a system – this is possibly the least optimal configuration if you’re concerned about acoustics.

Of course, thermal performance was excellent, with the CPU peaking at no more than 67 degrees Celcius and the GPU running at 63 °C – which are excellent figures considering the room was at 25 °C during testing.

Buy Quiet Components for This Case

If you don’t care about noise levels, just buy what’s affordable. But because this is a relatively open chassis that doesn’t have any kind of noise damping, it’s worth the time to find quiet components. Find a GPU with big fans and a zero-RPM mode for desktop use. If you’re going the AIO route, it can be worth your money to opt for a side-mounted 280mm radiator instead of our 240mm unit, or you can opt to top-mount a 360mm radiator. Hard drives will also contribute to noise levels, so they’re best avoided if at all possible.

Of course, if you want to go all-out, you can opt to drop an extra $700-$1000 on a dual or triple-radiator custom loop, which will lead to blissful acoustics and great thermals. This chassis lends itself extremely well to custom loops, packing three different kinds of pump mounts in the accessory box So if you want, you could plan it as an upgrade down the line.

Conclusion

Normally, when companies make small cases, the smaller footprint means you only end up with one way to build a system into it, but that’s not the case for the PC-O11D Mini. Of course, this case is only SFF-ish, but built in collaboration with Der8auer, Lian Li’s new ‘Mini’ chassis instead becomes highly modular, giving you a plethora of options in how to build your system into it. 

This creative freedom makes it a fun chassis to build in. Honestly, building a system in this chassis was the most fun I’ve had building a system in quite a while, and I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing what kind of builds people will stuff into it. 

But be warned: This isn’t a case for the lazy builder who just wants to whack some parts in and call it a day. It takes some planning, and requires consideration. Put the time in to do that, and you’ll be rewarded with a highly personalized system.

Priced at just $100, plus $50 for the PCIe riser unit if you want it, it’s also not an expensive case, so it’s not like getting in on this fun is going to cost you a ton of money. But there are a few things to consider. The acrylic shroud around the top IO is going to require a delicate touch to ensure it doesn’t scratch over the case’s useful life, and at the time of writing, Lian Li hasn’t been able to make its vertical GPU bracket PCIe 4.0 compatible. Whether that’s a dealbreaker is going to depend on what kind of build you intend on installing in this case, but with the rising popularity of AMD systems, it might be worth waiting for Lian Li to sort that out.

For now, this means that I can only award the case 4 stars, but I will give it an Editor’s Choice award along with a spot on our Best PC Cases list. If the company offers a followup revision with a PCIe 4.0-compatible bracket and a fix to the acrylic up top and the ugly bottom filter implementation, this could be the perfect case for those who want something somewhat compact, but extremely versatile. 

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Lian Li used to be that company that exclusively built expensive, premium, all-aluminum cases, and there was nothing you could do to get them to budge into a more mainstream market. But then something happened, and Lian Li suddenly decided that maybe, just maybe it would be a good idea to switch to using cheaper steel. And as it turned out, the company is great at it.

It built the Lancool II, and hit an absolute home-run with the Lancool II Mesh – a case which we awarded the full 5 stars, which is extremely rare. The PC-O11D is also very popular among water cooling enthusiasts, and now, Lian Li is coming out with the Lancool 215, which at just $69 makes it arguably the most mainstream product Lian Li has ever built – so let’s find out if it’s good enough to make it onto the best PC cases lists.

Specifications

Features

Lian Li’s Lancool 215 might only be $69, but that doesn’t mean it comes ill-equipped. It’s packed with addressable-RGB, a mesh front, a tempered-glass side panel, and all the room for components that beginner’s systems need. Beyond the oh-so-shiny tempered glass, it’s clear that this case is built to a budget from a materials standpoint, but who cares? It’s only $69!

Circle around the case, and you can tell all the design was placed into the front mesh panel and the two RGB fans. 

Normally in a case this tall, you’d see three fans as intake like on the Corsair 4000X RGB. But Lian Li opted instead to go for two 200mm spinners, which spin slowly and provide a more aggressive appearance. 

At the top of the chassis you’ll find a pair of USB ports, a mic-headphone combo jack, power and reset switches and a button that switches lighting modes – though the button didn’t work for us. You’ll also spot a fine mesh cover for the top radiator mount, which has sunk holes for screws so that the mesh doesn’t protrude upwards when a radiator or fans are mounted there. 

The tempered glass panel has a tint on it, but it’s not very dark, nor very light. I’d say it’s just enough to blend together the visual mismatching of components that’s bound to happen in budget builds, but light enough to still reveal the internals in some of their glory. It’s not nearly as dark as that on the Corsair 4000-series cases – that tint requires RGB to see anything, and even then, you’ll only see the RGB.  

Internal Layout

The interior of the Lancool 215 doesn’t offer anything particularly remarkable, but it isn’t bad either. The motherboard tray is made from one big sheet of metal with a big cutout, though it’s  surprising to see the inclusion of rubber grommets in the motherboard tray at this price point. These keep things tidy, and it’s a detail that’s especially appreciated with the tint of the side panel.

Behind the motherboard tray you’ll find two 2.5-inch caddies, which you can also move to the top of the PSU shroud in the main compartment if you want to show your SSDs off. You’ll also find the RGB controller here. And while it appears to be a fan controller, it’s just a hub that delivers constant power to your fans – so if you can, plug the three fans into your motherboard for fine control. 

Underneath the PSU shroud is room for large power supplies, along with space for one 3.5 inch drive and another 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive above the 3.5-inch slot. 

Cooling

Next to the two 200 mm D-RGB spinners, Lian Li also includes a 120 mm fan that functions as rear exhaust. 

At the top of the case you can mount up to a 280 mm radiator, though you’ll have to be very careful with your motherboard and memory choice to ensure clearance. If you want to play it safe, a 240 mm all-in-one liquid cooler will fit best here. The front of the chassis can also house radiators, and the PSU shroud cutout is big enough to accommodate both a radiator with its fans here, meaning you can keep the two huge intake fans installed. You’ll fit at most a 360 mm radiator here. 

No dust filter is included at the front of the case, and while the mesh will keep some dust out, do plan on frequent cleaning with this case, especially if you keep it running for many hours of the day. Thankfully the PSU does get its own dust filter, so that’s one worry less for maintenance. 

We are using the following system for our case test bed: 

Our Asus Maximus XI Hero WiFi motherboard slotted into place with ease, as did the RTX 2070 Super Founder’s Edition graphics card. Only the thumbscrews were done up very tight from the factory, and while my trusty screwdriver helped loosen them up, needing a screwdriver defeats the point of having thumbscrews. 

The big Corsair HX750i power supply also fit into place with ease, having just enough clearance at the rear for the cables. We would recommend you install the power cables before you install the power supply if it’s one this big, as connecting up the modular connectors afterwards will be difficult with the HDD caddy installed. 

Cable Management

As far as cable management goes, I would once again like to applaud Lian Li. It’s not every day that we find Velcro straps included in a budget case, and while Lian Li also provided zipties, we simply didn’t need them. With just a few minutes of messing about, we managed to tidy up the rear and main compartments of the case. Not bad right? 

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For thermal and acoustic testing, we are using the following software and settings:

Fan Characteristics

The 200 mm fans in the Lian Li Lancool 215 spin at speeds of up to about 750 RPM, but will drop down as low as 250 RPM for when matters don’t need a lot of cooling. The 120 mm exhaust fan also tops out at only 900 RPM, dropping down to a hair over 500 RPM at its minimum speed. These are good figures, considering there is no PWM control at play.

Acoustic Results 

For our acoustic tests, we run three scenarios: CPU full load, CPU and GPU full load, and an optimized idle. The CPU Full Load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test we add the Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE at 75% fan speed, because in practice it never runs at 100 percent and is far too loud when it does.

For the optimized idle, we run the GPU fan speed at 40 percent (the 2070 Super FE GPU does not have a Zero-RPM mode), and run the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin at.

You’ll notice that the Lancool 215 is among the louder running cases in our test suite, but that doesn’t mean it’s a loud case – most mesh cases come with fans that don’t spin very fast, and thus don’t generate much noise to begin with. The key, however, is ensuring the hardware you install is quiet, so do look for a quiet GPU to pair with the Lancool 215 if noise levels are important to you.

Thermal Results

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100 percent. The i9-9900K is pegged at a 4.6GHz clock at 1.1v on all cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75 percent fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while maintaining one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable. 

Thermally, the Lancool 215 is somewhere in the middle of the charts. Its fans don’t spin fast, but it manages to keep thermals well under control, no matter what you throw at it. 

Standardized Results 

To correct for differences in case fans, for the standardized test we remove the standard case fans and replace them with Corsair ML120 or ML140 units. Up to three fans may be installed, preferably one at the default exhaust location and two at the front intake, in the biggest sizes the case supports. The above tests are then repeated, but because the Corsair ML fans have absurdly high maximum speeds, we run those at 50% duty for the tests as no case fan should ever need to run above those speeds. 

In the standardized testing, the Lancool 215, unsurprisingly, doesn’t stand out – the results here are all quite close to each other, as most cases tested with this test bench have been mesh cases. 

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a budget case to build a simple system in, or you simply want an affordable case so that you have more money left over for other components, the Lancool 215 is a great choice. It won’t break any records in acoustic performance, and its lack of hard drive space, front USB-C, or an intake air filter might be a dealbreaker to some. But if you can live with the case’s shortcomings, it will keep your hardware cool for very little money.  

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There are a couple approaches you can take to building a PC. By far the most common is a rather pragmatic one, where you build a machine that’s solely meant as a means to a specific end (say, for gaming, or some other specific task, or within a set budget), keeping looks in the back of your head, but mostly as a side concern. But with this build we decided to take a whole different approach.

Today we’re not building a PC that’s not meant to squeeze as much power out of each dollar spent, but rather one that tries to offer the most refined experience -- not just beautiful looks or record-breaking performance. Naturally, when tackling a build like this, custom liquid cooling is a must, as this will help keep the components cool and quiet.

But the whole idea for this build started when Lian Li announced the PC-O11 Dynamic in the special Space Gray Edition. We knew this chassis could be the start of something great, and thus was born what we're calling the Mirror Maze build, a system with tons of reflective, shiny components designed to pump out frames and churn though productivity tasks, but be quiet enough so that you'd barely notice its presence, even when running at peak performance.

Component Selection

To start off with, we’ll guide you through the component selection of this system, detailing the reasoning that went into the choices made for this build, starting with the initial inspiration.

Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic, Space Gray Special Edition

The choice for the PC-O11 Dynamic was an easy one. This chassis is among the most popular water-cooling cases out there, and it brings with it a robust platform of third-party hardware that you can pack into it. But the standard model is common and a little plain, so we’re spicing it up with the special Space Gray edition, a chassis built in collaboration with the PCMR community. It comes with mirrored tempered glass panels that, while making it a major pain to photograph, also make it perfect for the mirror maze theme we’re going for. 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

You would think that for a system of this caliber, we would opt for the most expensive CPU, packing it with either the latest Intel Core i9-10900K or AMD’s stunning 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X. But, we don’t need that kind of CPU power for gaming or most productivity tasks. AMD’s 8-core Ryzen 7 3700X, on the other hand, offers all the performance you really need for high-end mainstream computing. It comes in at about $300, making it a very approachable starting point for this system. Besides, AMD promises support for Zen 3 CPUs on the X570 platform, so there will be plenty of upgrade options in the future.

Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VIII Formula

The roughly $600 price will make this an unpopular option for some, but the VIII Formula is among the top X570 motherboards money can buy, and it comes with an integrated EKWB waterblock for the VRM circuitry. This block isn’t something you expressly need. And yes, I’m aware that this is going to make my cooling runs much more complicated and difficult, but I’m ready to take on that challenge -- or at least I thought I was at the beginning. Note: If you’re considering a build like this, do yourself a favor and skip including the VRMs in the loop. Other than aesthetics, it doesn’t add much value.

What really makes this board great for a build like this is that it’s absolutely smothered in fan headers, RGB headers, sensor headers, and just about every case accessory you could need. It even has a dedicated header for the water pump – though we’ll only be using that header for the PWM signal and RPM readout.

Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Royal, 4x 8GB, 3600 MHz, CL18

Given the theme of this build, logically we went with some very, very shiny memory modules to match. Arguably, it would have made more sense to go for two 16 GB modules for a 32 GB memory configuration, both from a cost and performance perspective, but four modules simply looks better and more complete. At 3600 MHz and CL18 timings, these DIMMs are speedy, too.

Graphics Card: EVGA Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Gaming Black

We decided not to mount the GPU vertically in this build, which meant that we needed a reference-design GPU, since the PC-O11 Dynamic doesn’t support wide cards horizontally. But, Nvidia’s Founders Edition cards are pricey with their fancy coolers, so we’re turning to EVGA for its RTX 2080 Super Gaming Black.

This card still has a great cooler on it already, but it isn’t as costly, and with no fancy PCB design with elaborate VRM circuitry or RGB flashiness, you’re not paying for any goodies on this card that you don’t need. Features like a fancy cooler or RGB can’t be appreciated here since we’re replacing the cooler anyway, so no point in paying for them.

Although the RTX 2080 Super doesn’t make total sense from a value perspective over the RTX 2070 Super when looking at the GPUs alone, the added 10 percent performance it offers (give or take) is in-line with the added 10% of budget spent on the system cost as a whole, so all in all we figured this was the sweet spot: The most GPU without any bells or whistles. Sure, Nvidia’s Ampere GPUs are around the corner, but for now this is what we have to work with.

Fans: 9x Noctua NF-A12x25

You may not be a fan of the classic Noctua brown-and-beige color scheme, but from a pure performance perspective, the NF-A12x25 is one of best fans currently on the market. It’s coming out in black next year, but for now brown is what you get, and we're fine with that.

Before you worry that the fans are going to overpower the system's looks, let me entertain you with my theory: Three of the fans are in a spot where you won’t see them, and the remaining six will have Phanteks Halos Lux light rings installed on them for some wicked RGB. For the other fans, the case has panels with mirrored glass, so what isn’t lit up you won’t see it anyway. Read on to see how this theory pans out.

Fan Accessory: Phanteks Halos Lux

We’re using Phanteks’ Halos Lux to turn the Noctua fans into killer RGB spinners.

Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB

Although you could argue it’s a shame not to use the PCI-Express 4.0 that the Ryzen 7 3700X and X570 motherboard supports, the speed gains for PCIe 4.0 in games are negligible, making price and reliability the winning factor here. I needed a drive that I can trust for many years and builds to come, and the 970 EVO Plus is plenty fast at 3500 MB/s read and 3300 MB/s write.

Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W Platinum

It’s German, it’s quiet, it’s modular, and it’s efficient. The Straight Power 11 850W Platinum is a PSU that simply does the job without drawing too much attention to itself, and its modular connectivity is perfect for pairing with our custom cables.

Cables: CableMod ModMesh Pro

We’re using CableMod’s ModMesh custom cables with Carbon-colored sleeving and black, anodized aluminum combs. This combo yields a cable that looks strong and industrial, which fits the theme perfectly. The combs keep everything tidy, and the sleeving is quite strong, making these cables very good at staying in the exact position you want them in – but you’ll want to measure the exact lengths carefully, as excess length can get difficult to manage.

Water-cooling Components: All-EKWB

To match the clean, simplistic, and reflective aesthetic we’re going for, EKWB makes some of the most fitting (no pun intended) waterblocks and fittings. These parts match the styling of the Asus motherboard and the case very well.

Best of all, EKWB just released a distribution plate, the EK-Quantum Reflection PC-011D D5 PWM D-RGB, and we’re using it for this build. This is a distribution plate that is custom-made for the Lian Li PC-011D, and it acts as the reservoir and pump, and has fitting ports at all the right spots to make tubing runs a breeze (unless you’re stubborn like me and decide to deviate from the intended layout).

To go with this, we chose the Velocity CPU block with a nickel-plated top finish, an acrylic GPU block with a matching backplate that is nickel-plated, and a huge number of -- you guessed it -- nickel-plated fittings.

In this loop we’ll be using clear fluid by simply mixing EK-CryoFuel with distilled water. Boring? Perhaps, but it’s part of the reflective theme as far as I’m concerned, and doesn’t define a set color theme, allowing you to take the RGB goodness in any direction you fancy.

1. Side Radiator Install

Normally in a build, you’d start with chucking the motherboard in, but we’re starting in a different place. Because the top radiator can only go in once the distribution panel is installed, and the side radiator (which isn’t strictly supposed to be used with this distro panel) only fits if the distro panel isn’t installed yet, we’re starting there. A 360mm radiator doesn’t neatly fit in the bottom of the chassis without modification, and much like leaving empty RAM slots,  I don’t like the 'incomplete' look that would result from a 240mm rad in this case.

We measured it out carefully and though we'd prefer the ports at the bottom, that wasn’t going to work. But with a bit of a squeeze, the EKWB 360mm SE radiator fit in just fine with the ports at the top.

We then installed the Noctua fans with their included radiator gaskets, which ensure no air leaks between the fan housing and the radiator. Believe it or not, the side panel still goes on smoothly, even with the filter, but there’s hardly any room to spare.

2. Distribution Panel Installation

First, we had to drill some holes in the chassis where screws need to go through to secure the distro panel. A 4mm metal bit did the job nicely. I did immediately reach for the vacuum, as I didn’t want any of the metal filings getting to places where they don’t belong.

After this, the distribution panel slid in smoothly, fitting perfectly into place – as if it was made for it (because it was).

At this point, I could sense incoming issues, so I decided it might be best to install two 90-degree angled fittings on the side radiator early. The top radiator would make this extremely difficult once in place.

3. Top Radiator Installation

First, we prepared the top radiator by installing the fans onto it, along with the Phanteks Halo light rings. The long screws that came with the radiator were… too short. But, Phanteks knew this was going to happen, which is why the Halos come with slightly longer screws that were a perfect for reaching a radiator.

The top radiator then went in smoothly, and all the cables were tucked away to the rear to deal with later.

4. Motherboard Preparation

To make the installation easier, we installed the 3700X, Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 SSD, G.Skill Trident Z Royal memory, CPU, and EKWB EK-Velocity CPU block all before installing the motherboard. The memory drops right in, and so does the M.2 SSD, below the cover.

Installing the EKWB Quantum Velocity waterblock was also a breeze. First, we removed the stock AMD mounting bracket, including its backplate. The EKWB backplate together with its rubber gasket was then installed at the rear. Then, four thumbscrews are placed at the front end, a dab of Thermal Grizzly paste was applied to the CPU, the block dropped on, and secured with more thumbscrews. EKWB’s Precision Mount system really makes the CPU block installation a breeze – I’d go as far as saying this step is easier than installing many big air-coolers.

However, during this installation process, my cat decided to pick the moment I was lowering the CPU block into place to jump up from my lap, causing me to drop it, denting the heatspreader. Next to the dent is also a small outward bump. It’s not major, but I doubt it will do us any favors for thermals later on in the build. Fingers crossed.

5. Placing the Motherboard

As much as it’s easier to install things onto the motherboard before installing it in the system, it does lead to one issue: the board becomes quite heavy. So be sure your cat is nowhere to be found before hefting the whole setup into place. After checking in all the usual hiding spots, I carefully placed the board and its components into place, secured it, and finally the system was starting to look like something.

However, at this point I noticed another issue: The CPU block's water ports sat about 1 cm lower than the ports on the distribution panel -- I would have to get creative to solve this.

Fortunately, I had some extra 45-degree fittings, so I grabbed four of these, along with one 14mm extender. This allowed me to get the ports at the correct height for lining up with the CPU block, making sure that the tubes would only need a single 90-degree bend later along in the build.

6. Waterblocking the Graphics Card

Installing the waterblock on the graphics card was less precarious than you would think. It’s certainly a task to sit down and take your time with, but as long as you’re patient with your tweezers while placing the thermal pads and you're carefully with each step of the disassembly, cleaning, and re-assembly with the waterblock on, it’s really not all that scary. For more on this process, see our How to Install a Waterblock on a GPU feature.

About an hour and a half after starting, the EVGA RTX 2080 Super Gaming Black was converted into a shiny, thin, water-cooled GPU. We routed the D-RGB cable that leads to the lit-up ‘GeForce RTX’ on the side terminal under the acrylic part of the block that doesn’t actually cool. If you look carefully, you can spot its connector, but we doubt anyone will spot it once it’s installed, face-down in the system.

7. Figuring out the loop runs

At this stage, we’re almost ready to begin our tubing runs, but because some of the parts didn’t fit quite as we had planned, we needed to spend some time thinking about future steps. This build has taught me that no matter how much you plan ahead when configuring your system, you’re still going to run into issues along the way and you’ll have to adapt.

At EKWB’s advice, we got more fittings than we thought we needed, and thank goodness for that. The adjustment for the CPU’s ports already ate up four 45-degree angled fittings, and incorporating our VRM block used up another two 90-degree angled fittings and a 45-degree fitting on the radiator at the top. Not counting the 14 mm extenders to line the ports up nicely. The GPU also didn’t line up nicely with the distro plate, despite being a reference card, so we used two more 45-degree angled fittings, along with two 90-degree fittings to line these up well.

To reach the side radiator’s ports at the top, we had to use the lower ports on the distribution panel. There is one port that's the outlet from the pump, which you naturally have to use. We chucked two 28-mm extenders on this one, along with a 90-degree angled fitting, which lined it up precisely with the angled fitting we had placed on the side radiator earlier, albeit with a long tubing run with one 90-degree bend in it. We placed the return line on the distribution panel at the top of a channel that would lead to the inlet of the GPU block, relying on another long tubing run with a 90-degree bend.

All in all, while it was certainly complicated, we’d call this stage a big success: With enough fittings, everything lined up such that each tubing run would require only one 90 degree or 45-degree bend, which is key to a successful hard-tube build if you’re a beginner.

8. Tubing

It might come as a surprise, but bending the tubing and fitting it into place was much easier than we expected. The GPU’s tubes were the easiest, requiring no bends at all, and the remaining tubes all required a maximum of one bend. These bends were also exactly 45 degrees or 90 degrees, meaning we could use the EK-Modulus tool to get them exactly right.

So we wet the silicon noodle insert, inserted it into the tubes, and warmed them up using a heat gun. Once they started giving way, we gave them a little extra time to soften up, careful to keep rotating them as we went along. For the side radiator, we bent the tubes too soon, which lead to light kinking, but those corners aren’t visible anyway – so they were good to learn on.

Once bent, we simply cut the ends off the tubes where needed, de-burred and sanded them down so they wouldn’t damage the o-rings, wet them with some soapy water, and test-fit them. In the end, it took a full day to get all the bits of tubing right, but we didn’t ruin a single piece –- it was easy enough, but required lots of patience.

9. Pressure testing, Installing Remaining Bits and Filling

The genius/crazy person in me thought it would be a good idea to pressure test while I installed the last fans and took care of cable management on the other side, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It turns out, the pressure tester works, but it’s an extremely finicky device. The needle will move at the slightest bump on the desk, which led me to believe my loop was leaky -- It wasn’t, though. 

The trick to the pressure tester is to pump up the loop, close the valve, remove the pump, tap the pressure tester a few times to make the needle drop as much as it was going to by external force, and note down where it is on the dial. Then, close the door to the room, and leave. Do not touch the system. Don’t even breathe near it. 

We checked on it periodically, and once it hadn’t dropped after two hours under pressure I was confident my loop was good. So, I unplugged all the cables on the PSU but the pump, jumped the ATX connector, and in the fluid went.

10. All done!

Now that the system is up and running, I have a confession to make: This is the first time I’ve successfully built a custom loop with hard tubing. I attempted this before in 2015 when I did my first ever custom loop, but due to a lack of experience planning my bends, I ended up having to resort to soft-tubing to complete that build.

The Mirror Maze build, on the other hand, actually went quite well. The PC-O11 Dynamic is obviously an excellent foundation for a liquid build, and EKWB’s Quantum-Reflection distribution plate, paired with enough fittings, ensured I wouldn’t need more than one bend per tube. Sure, I ran into a few unforeseen hiccups during the build process, but these were easily sorted out. Even incorporating the Asus Crosshair VIII Formula’s VRM block into the loop went without a hitch.

Fan Curves, Overclocking and Thermals

Not everything went smoothly, though. Remember that I dropped the CPU block onto the Ryzen 3700X’s heatspreader during installation. And, as predicted, the tiny bump didn’t do thermals any favors. We didn’t need to run the chip at stock settings, but enabling AMD’s PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) was the most I was comfortable with. With this, a Prime95 Smallest FFT’s load translated to a CPU temperature of 84.5 degrees, and the CPU boosted to 4002 MHz on all cores. That’s warmer than the CPU should run at under water, but it’s within norms and no cause for concern. So long as you get a CPU that's amenably to high clocks and you don't drop any of the key components, you should see better results here.

Next, I overclocked the EVGA RTX 2080 Super Gaming Black. Using MSI Afterburner we maxed out the card’s power limits (116%), and offset the core clock by +150 MHz and the memory by +1000 MHz. The GPU boosted to a stunning 2100 MHz under load, and under extended tests, the temperatures did not exceed 49 degrees in a 25 Celsius room. I was able to push the chip a little further to boost to 2115 MHz, and though it ran stable and temperatures were still in check, I saw some minor artifacting, so I backed off and kept it at the 150 MHz offset.

For cooling, I quickly found out a mistake in my loop: It lacked a sensor for coolant temperature. The pump speed we were able to fix at 35 percent, as this made it barely audible, and higher flow doesn’t help temperatures anyway. However, the fan speeds were driven by the CPU’s temperature, which isn’t helpful when the GPU is able to dump 250 watts (or more) of heat into the loop, but the loop isn’t instructed to dissipate this heat. This led the fans to ramp up far too quickly when the CPU briefly spiked in temperature. With some testing, I found that running the Noctua NF-A12x25 fans at 40 to 50 percent duty was more than enough to keep the system cooled well, with a solid safety margin, while remaining incredibly quiet. For reference, the coil whine produced by the graphics card isn’t loud, but it was audibly louder than the system’s cooling loop.

A future upgrade would therefore be to add a coolant temperature sensor to the loop, so that you'd be able to set a fan curve based off this reading and push the system to run even quieter. This would remove the noise spikes and only cool the fluid when it actually gets warm due to extended loads.

Nevertheless, we slapped on all the panels and dust filters and ran our usual 15 runs of Metro Exodus to simulate half an hour of gaming. This resulted in an average CPU temperature of 63.2 degrees Celsius, with an average GPU temperature of 46  degrees C. Those are good figures if you consider that both are overclocked. I also pulled out the dB meter and recorded a figure no louder than 38.8 dBA. If you’re familiar with my case reviews, you’ll know that that’s extremely quiet.

Gaming Performance

Performance in gaming is also good. That’s no surprise of course given that this system packs a more powerful GPU than our comparison builds, the Disco Pixel and RGBaby, not to mention the Mirror Maze build is liquid cooled and overclocked. 

Performance in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Metro Exodus appears to scale the way it should, though in Red Dead Redemption 2 and especially GTA 5 we saw performance increases that cannot be explained. Trust me, I set all the graphic setting sliders to the highest level possible in order to get performance to go down, closer to my colleagues systems, but the Mirror Maze has an inexplicable, very significant lead in these titles. I honestly don’t know why – liquid cooling and overclocking helps, as do game updates, but not normally that much.

Conclusion

If you were to ask me what tips I could give you when doing your first hard tubing build, I would tell you to ensure you need no more than one bend per tube, get plenty of angled fittings, use a pressure tester  -- and no, a distribution plate isn’t cheating (but it does make your life so much easier). Other than that, there’s no more to it than customizing the parts to your liking and taking lots and lots of time to do the build right. Because doing it wrong can be an expensive mistake.

The Mirror Maze build ended up roughly as I had expected it would. In terms of looks, the system means business by day with all the RGB lighting off. But at night, when it’s time to play, it’ll put on quite a show – either customized to your liking or going full-on rainbow. 

Performance is impressive as well, with a lofty GPU overclock, and even so, the RTX 2080 Super’s core remained at a maximum temperature of 49 degrees C. Chuck a synthetic load on the CPU and GPU at the same time to maximize heat output, and the Noctua NF-A12x25’s easily manage to quietly keep thermals under control without even approaching what experienced gamers and enthusiasts would consider 'loud.'

The primary hurdle with a system like this -- and it's a big one, particularly in times like these -- is cost. The primary components (sans cooling) in our build will set you back  ~$2,905, but with all liquid cooling and related bits, you'll looking at a price tag of about $4,350. 

No one ever said custom, near-silent cooling on a high-end PC was going to be cheap. If you want to save yourself some time and money (OK, a lot of money) and don't mind taking a step down in the aesthetics department, you could opt instead for a good AIO cooler and and a premium headset to drown out the extra fan noise. But if you have the cash and time to spend on a custom loop, a build like our Mirror Maze will serve you well for several years to come, while standing out as a show piece wherever you decide to put it.

If there's one issue that RGB made, it's the sheer number of cables that it adds to your system. Next to all the power and data cables you already have, each individual RGB device needs cables too, and when you pack a system full of six RGB fans that can add up painfully. Lian Li now has a solution for that: interlocking fans, so that each group only needs one RGB lead.

The fans are called Uni Fan SL120, and for now they only come in the 120mm size either in black or white. These are high-static pressure fans capable of spinning at speeds between 800 and 1,900 RPM, producing between 17 and 31 dBA of noise.

The sides and tops of the fan are made of sandblasted aluminum, and the lighting consists of 32 LEDs in each fan. The end result is quite a neat looking fan.

To connect the fans, you simply slide them into each other, interlocking them to create one long fan array, which you then secure into place in your case or on your radiator. Add a controller, hook that up, and you're all set.

To control the addressable RGB fans, Lian Li made its own L-Connect software.

Pricing for a set of three is set at $80, which includes the required controller. Each additional fan will run you another $25. The kits are available on Newegg, shipping out on September 15.

Lian Li, the oft-revered premier PC chassis brand, has introduced a new line of AIO Galahad liquid coolers in 240mm and 360mm radiator flavors. The Galahad AIO 240 ($120) and Galahad AIO 360 ($150) each feature bubbly aRGB lighting, a handsome aluminum pump bezel and a sleek aluminum radiator trim panel featuring the Lian Li logo. 

Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 Specifications

Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 Features

The Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 arrives ready to support the majority of current CPU sockets, from both AMD and Intel, making use of universal mounting brackets and backplates, as well as plated fastening hardware. An aRGB controller is provided for basic lighting controls. Otherwise, an included cable adapter can make use of 3-pin, 5v aRGB motherboard lighting options. A syringe of thermal compound and a magnetic, center face cover accompany PWM and aRGB cabling to round out the Galahad accessory package. 

The face of the Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 features an aluminum bezel with a mirrored logo, which allows it to rotate 360° to align with the chosen mounting orientation. The Galahad pump makes use of a 4-pin PWM header, which can be managed with a pump curve from your motherboard or operate full-time at 100% via the included SATA power cable.

The large, square copper base is polished to a satin finish and ships without any pre-applied thermal compound. Nylon sleeved rubber tubing enters and exits the pump through a pair of 90-degree swivel fittings adjacent to the aRGB and PWM cabling. This allows for tidy presentation, as only a single ‘side’ of the Galahad pump unit is cluttered with tubing or wiring. The cooler’s 400 mm of tubing provides enough length for most radiator mounting and fitting orientation options. 

The base of the Galahad AIO 240 is close to being milled perfectly flat, with the slightest hint of being convex at each edge of the copper cooling block.  Both Intel and AMD mounting brackets snap snugly around the base of the Galahad pump, making for fast, simple changes of cooler compatibility between the two CPU brands.  

The slight convexity of the copper base plate appears to spread the majority of the thermal compound away from the center of the CPU HIS and towards the edges. This helps create an ideal coverage patch, provided the tension screws are properly seated by torquing down in an alternating X-pattern, although too much excess paste can be ejected around the edge of the CPU. So apply sparingly. 

The Galahad AIO 240 makes use of a 240mm aluminum radiator, adorned by a pair of 3-pin, 5v aRGB Lian Li fans rated up to 1900 RPM. Each of the 120mm fans features an opaque 9-blade hub, which is backlit by aRGB modules. Fans are managed via 4-pin PWM headers and can be simultaneously controlled from the included 2-way splitter. 

The Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 easily adapts to most Intel and AMD desktop CPU models and occupies a standard 240mm radiator mounting location. The 400mm length of tubing is a welcome feature, giving more mounting options over AIOs with shorter lengths, limiting them to top or rear mounts only. Not every AIO has the ability to swivel its face or hide behind a magnetic cover to suit the system builder like the Galahad, but each of these are options provided in a single package on the Lian Li AIO 240. This is thoughtful design, particularly from a company not (yet) well known for its cooling products. 

We will utilize data collected during testing of the Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 to compare with others in the 240mm AIO segment. Our test system consists of an i7-5930K clocked to 4.2Ghz at 1.20v on our MSI X99S XPower AC motherboard, paired with 16GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4-2400 memory. Power comes the way of a be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200w power supply inside a Corsair Graphite 760T chassis.

Note that we are in the process of updating our cooling rig to a much more modern setup. But for now, the overclocked 140W processor still does a good job of taxing modern coolers.

We’ll take a closer look at the Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 compared with the Corsair H100i RGB Pro XT, Cougar Aqua 240 and Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R RGB.

While all coolers turn in very competitive thermal load results, the Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 nudges past the Corsair H100i RGB Pro XT and Cougar Aqua 240 at 100% fan speed. Differences of only a few degrees Celsius show just how closely our peer group performs.

Of all the coolers in the test group, the fans on the Galahad AIO 240 are the slowest turning. The Galahad’s 120mm fans are rated up to 1900 RPM by Lian Li, meaning they nearly reach their rated threshold.  

Typical of AIO coolers, fan noise is more noticeable as fans reach 100% utilization. This makes fan curves very important to system builders who value AIO cooling performance but also appreciate a system that remains quiet until more cooling is needed.

Our acoustic efficiency chart provides a look at how well a cooler performs as a product of how noisy it is in the process of doing that work. The lower noise levels of the Cooler Master ML240R RGB creates a low overall baseline for the testing group, making it difficult for the coolers to pull away with better thermal performance values, but noisier fan measurements. 

The Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 releases right at $120, making it just slightly higher in price than the group average. With most of the coolers in the group performing very similar to one another, the slightest differences in values can begin to isolate the graph data in a very pronounced way. But as this is launch pricing from Lian Li, a sale price that drops it down a few dollars in the coming months would make the cooler look much better here. 

Thermal imaging from our FLIR ONE Pro shows some distinct thermal soak of the Lian Li Galahad AIO 240 at 50% fan speed. Notable temperature differences along the length of the Galahad’s radiator and coolant tubing can be easily seen between the 50%/100% images. 

Bottom Line

With the release of its new Galahad AIO coolers, Lian Li has positioned itse in a strong position with its new AIO offerings, even in the very competitive liquid cooling market we have today. With great thermal performance at 100% fan speed, the Galahad AIO 240 is a top-tier performer while still remaining fairly affordable. The lack of a software UI control suite is a debatable downside, but system builders can easily make use of a simple fan BIOS fan curve while avoiding the bloat of multiple startup applications.

Lian Li used to be known as that one manufacturer that only built all-aluminum cases, which felt wonderfully premium but also landed heavy on our wallets. Then, a while back, the company started using painted steel to cut costs and appeal to a mainstream audience, a philosophy from which the original Lancool II was birthed. 

Now Lian Li is launching the Lancool II Mesh, of which we have the Performance variant at hand. This chassis is a new variant of the original Lancool II, which we awarded 4.5 stars but was a little lacking in the performance department. With a new mesh front, performance is a problem of the past.

Packing three PWM fans, a thoughtful interior, and great looks despite the lack of RGB, you would expect a price fitting the Lian Li of old, but this chassis is remarkably affordable at just $90. Of course, the real question is, will it climb the ranks to a spot on our best PC cases list? You should definitely read on for the full details, but spoiler alert: Oh yes, it does. 

Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Specifications

Features of Lian Li Lancool II Mesh 

Lian Li’s Lancool II Mesh Performance comes with, you guessed it, a mesh front panel that is easy to remove by tugging it at the bottom. The front doesn’t feature any fancy design elements aside from the Lian Li logo at the bottom, but if you were to install RGB fans in the front, or opt for the RGB variant, you would get a cool effect seeing the RGB-lit fans through the mesh. This RGB variant costs the same $90 and comes with three RGB fans, but they’ll be 120 mm in size and you’ll miss out on the fan controller and PWM control. A white RGB variant can also be had for $95. 

Both sides of the chassis have tempered glass panels, which is typically a controversial decision. We’re not often fans of tempered glass on the cable-side of a chassis as it reveals your handywork (or lack thereof), but Lian Li has placed covers over the cables to hide all the mess. 

The glass panels both swivel out backwards like suicide doors, but to move them you’ll first have to unlatch the PSU cover hatches. All four swiveling panels hold themselves closed firmly with magnets, so opening your system is dead simple. Once open, you can simply lift the glass panels out of their hinges to ease assembly or maintenance. 

IO at the top of the chassis consists of two USB 3.0 ports, a mic / headphone combo jack, power and reset switches, and a three-speed fan controller with an Auto-mode. There is a spot for an optional USB Type-C port, but to add the port, you’ll have to pay $15 for the accessory, so you’ll have to ask yourself whether you really need it. For the majority of us that don’t, it’s a nice way of reducing the price of the Lancool II Mesh, and you’ll always be able to add it later anyway. 

Internal Layout

Internally, the Lancool II Mesh surprised us with a highly thoughtful layout, making it easy to accommodate all sorts of hardware combinations. The main motherboard compartment doesn’t bring any surprises, and there is room to install two 2.5-inch drives behind the motherboard tray along with three 3.5-inch drives in the HDD caddy under the PSU shroud. An accessory is available to make the HDD caddies hot-swappable, sparing you from having to open the other side to plug in cables. We wouldn’t buy it unless you’re swapping drives on an almost-daily basis though as it’s super easy to open the other side to plug  or unplug drives. 

You can mount two more 2.5-inch drives on the inside of the right-side PSU latch.

Cooling

To cool your system, Lian Li ships the Performance variant of this case with one rear 120 mm fan and two 140 mm spinners at the front intake. At this price, those are wildly lavish inclusions, especially if you consider that these are PWM fans and a 3-speed fan controller comes included, too. 

There is no filter at the front of the case, which will help airflow. This will generate more dust in the system, but that’s a compromise you’ll have to be willing to make for the performance benefits – besides, the panels open extremely easily for cleaning.

The PSU intake does get a fine mesh air filter that slides out the back, which is nice as the bottom would be much more difficult to access for regular cleaning. 

At the top of the chassis you can mount up to two 140 mm fans or a 240 mm radiator, with the front supporting up to 280 mm and 360 mm radiators. You’ll run into the PSU shroud, but it has a segment that’s easily removable to make room. Thoughtful!

CPU coolers can be up to 176 mm (6.9 inches) tall and GPUs up to 384 mm (15.1 inches) long.

System Configuration

We are using the following system for our case test bed: 

With the space offered by the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh, installation of the motherboard was as easy as can be. The central standoff anchors the board, allowing you to place it in and secure it without needing to lay the case on its side. (Yes, that’s a silly detail, but as a case reviewer I like every tiny thing that saves me time and makes my life easier). 

The PSU also fit nicely, but there was a catch: The hard drive tray initially got in the way, which in most cases would mean I’d have to sacrificially remove it. That wasn’t the case in the Lancool II Mesh, where the HDD tray sits on a rail, allowing me to slide it either closer to the PSU to make room for thicker radiators at the front of the chassis, or towards the front to make room for oversized PSUs. Guess which direction I pushed it. 

The HDD installation was also simple -- not entirely toolless, but toolless installation of hard drives is always kind of a mixed bag. Yes, it saves you time, but it often leads to rattly drives, so we’re pleased to see that Lian Li’s system works with good old fashioned vibration-damping grommets and screws.

Cable Management

In so many cases, cable management is an afterthought in the design process, but Lian Li has its priorities straight. Normally, we’re not a big fan of seeing tempered glass on both sides of the chassis, but Lian Li has done such a phenomenal job of cable management that the Lancool II Mesh left me wondering why more cases don’t do it like this. 

In the main motherboard compartment, there is a metal cover above the holes where the cables come from the rear of the chassis, which helps things look tidy. At the cable clutter side, Lian Li has opted to place two more covers over the clutter, completely alleviating the messy cables behind glass issue. Seriously, look at that! Isn’t that the tidiest cable management you’ve ever seen? (Don’t peek behind the covers, though.)

The PSU compartment also has plenty of space to store the excess cables, and HDD connectors are very easy to get to. The magnets in the downwards-opening latch over the PSU cover are strong enough to stay closed, even with excess cables pressing against it from inside. 

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For thermal and acoustic testing, we are using the following software and settings: 

Test Results

The Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance comes with three PWM fans included as standard, which is impressive at this price. They’re not the most high-quality units, but that isn’t to be expected at this price. We tested the rear 120 mm exhaust fan to have a minimum speed of about 450 RPM, with a maximum of 1450 RPM, and the 140 mm front intake fans have a minimum operable speed of 400 RPM, with a maximum of 1100 RPM. These are good figures, and no fans need to spin faster than this in an airflow-optimized case. 

Acoustic Results

For our acoustic tests, we run three scenarios: CPU full load, CPU and GPU full load, and an optimized idle. The CPU Full Load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test we add the Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE at 75% fan speed, because in practice it never runs at 100 percent and is far too loud when it does.

For the optimized idle, we run the GPU fan speed at 40 percent (the 2070 Super FE GPU does not have a Zero-RPM mode), and run the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin at.

Lian Li’s Lancool II Mesh Performance puts down figures that aren’t surprising. Thanks to the use of PWM fans and their low minimum speeds, the case is pleasantly quiet in the optimized idle scenario. And with the case fans at 100% it doesn’t get too obtrusive either, though slightly louder than the be quiet! Pure Base 500DX. Naturally, the Lian Li case isn’t very good at keeping the noise of the overly-loud RTX 2070 Super FE contained, but solving that’s just a matter of picking a quieter graphics card were you to buy this case. 

Thermal Results

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100 percent. The i9-9900K is pegged at a 4.6GHz clock at 1.1v on all cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios, and letting the GPU run at 75 percent fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while maintaining one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable. 

As far as thermals go, the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance puts down some of the best numbers we have recorded on this setup yet. This isn’t that surprising given the mesh front lets tons of air through, and the included fans are quite good too. Only the Phanteks P500A puts down numbers anywhere close to those of the Lancool II Mesh, but the Lian Li case has the edge in noise levels due to its third fan. 

Standardized Results

To correct for differences in case fans, for the standardized test we remove the standard case fans and replace them with Corsair ML120 or ML140 units. Up to three fans may be installed, preferably one at the default exhaust location and two at the front intake, in the biggest sizes the case supports. The above tests are then repeated, but because the Corsair ML fans have absurdly high maximum speeds, we run those at 50% duty for the tests as no case fan should ever need to run above those speeds. 

In the standardized testing, the Lancool II Mesh sits in the middle ground in terms of noise levels, but the results are all so close that it’s all within a margin of error, which isn’t surprising given that most cases tested with this new setup are mesh cases. Thermally, the Lancool II Mesh performs better than its competition, but with only a 0.5 degree on its side, the difference again falls within a standard margin of error. 

Conclusion

There’s a lot to like about Lian Li’s Lancool II Mesh. The performance variant we tested indeed performs impressively well, and the new mesh front and side panels fixes our biggest issue with the Lancool II from earlier this year. 

Next to being a great performing case, the Lancool II Mesh is also a dream to work in and offers unparalleled flexibility. The case is heavy, but feels extremely solid and is clearly meant to last.

If we had to complain, we would nag about the lack of RGB or included USB Type-C, or the fact that you would prefer to spend some time optimizing your fan curves to ensure noise levels stay in check. But with the three fans being PWM-controllable, it won’t be hard to silence the system a little, and it’s difficult to fault the Lancool II Mesh for these shortcomings, especially at its $90 price point. 

If you’re in the market for a no-fuss, built-like-a-tank, high-performance, competitively priced PC case and don’t mind this model’s somewhat boring appearance, we can do nothing other than recommend the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh.

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Not every component in a new build is there to be the best CPU or the best GPU. Sometimes, they’re there just to look good. That’s the case with Lian Li’s Strimer Plus 24-pin power extension cable, which thanks to a new $10 sale on Newegg, brings RGB inside your case for $49.99.

The Strimer Plus is a 9.45-inch 24-pin extension cable that adds a little extra reach to your power supply, but mostly just provides a light show. It plugs into a standard 24-pin power supply cable and goes into your motherboard, though it also needs either a SATA or 5V ARGB motherboard header connection for power. It’s got 19 lighting modes (including off, which was missing from the original Strimer), 7 colors, 5 speeds and 5 brightness settings. You can control all these lighting configurations either through an included controller box or, if you’re drawing power from a 5V ARGB connection, your motherboard maker’s RGB software. 

Our review for the Strimer Plus called it “a solid improvement over the original Strimer, both visually and in terms of build quality and design.” We used the original Strimer in our RGBeast build, but we found the build quality and the lack of an on/off button to be its two biggest shortcomings. The Strimer Plus fixes both of those issues, making it an attractive choice for anyone looking to add some flair to their battlestation.

Competition is a good thing, especially in areas like RGB accessories where there’s plenty of room for improvement. That’s why we were excited to see Adata was offering up its own set of ARGB extension cables to compete with Lian Li’s Strimer, which is now on its second iteration, the Strimer Plus.

The XPG Prime ARGB Extension Cables look good and feel more solid than the Lian Li alternative. But rather than adding the lights on top of the underlying sleeved extension cables like Lian Li does, Adata’s design wraps the light tubes around the top set of cables. In some ways, this looks better, but it also leads to major installation issues. The cables don’t bend well beyond the straight arcs you see below. This can be an issue if, like with the InWin 309 case we tested them in, there isn’t a motherboard hole to route them through that’s directly below or to the side of your graphics card and/or motherboard ATX cable connector. 

There are a few other issues with the design, which we’ll delve into below. But while the XPG Prime ARGB Prime cables are a decent first effort in an area without much competition, Lian Li’s second-gen Strimer Plus cables are a better option for most builders who want to add some color to their case interior. 

Details and Installation 

Much like the Strimer Plus, Adata’s XPG Prime ARGB Extension Cables come in both VGA/8-pin for connecting to your graphics card’s power connector(s) and MB/24-pin for connecting to your motherboard’s main power connector. And they install simply, just like Lian Li’s cables. 

One end plugs into the ATX and/or PCIe power cables from your PSU and the other plugs into your motherboard and/or graphics card. You’ll need to also plug into a SATA port for power to the lights, and you can either plug a three-pin RGB header into your motherboard to control the lighting or use the included tiny controller box to cycle through the lighting effects.

As of this writing, the VGA version of the XPG Prime ARGB is listed on Amazon for $33 (with stock promised to arrive on June 12). That’s a few dollars cheaper than Lian Li’s Strimer Plus (selling for $36.66 when I wrote this). The ATX version has an MSRP of $49.99, though it wasn’t showing up for sale anywhere yet when I wrote this. An Adata rep told us it, too, should arrive at various online sellers by mid-June. While prices vary between sites, in general, Adata’s cable set sells for roughly similar pricing as Lian Li’s latest alternative. Either way, to add both VGA and ATX RGB cables to your system, you’ll be spending between $80 and $90.

Adata’s VGA cables are listed as being 220 mm long (8.6 inches) with the VGA variant at 222 mm (8.7 inches). For more compact builds, this is probably fine. But in the InWin 309 case we installed the cables in, they were actually too short to reach the cable routing holes, forcing me to pull some of the non-lit primary power cables (that these extensions plug into) through the hole in the motherboard, leading to a less-seamless look. 

Lian Li’s Strimer Plus VGA cables are longer, at 300 mm (11.8 inches), while the ATX cable is technically shorter at 200 mm (7.9 inches). But it’s not as simple as length. The XPG Prime cables are more or less set in a rough arc, because the lights and the clamps that hold the circuitry on the cables are permanently attached. 

Lian Li’s Strimer cables (both the original and the newer Plus models) on the other hand, have lighting sections that clamp on top of the extension cables, connected to combs that can be slid up and down to better bend the cables to their desired position. Also, with the Strimer cables, you can disassemble the combs and flip the lighting around to the other side of the cable to maximize the portion of the light tubing that’s directly visible through the side/window of your case. 

Not so with the XPG Prime ARGB cables. Its lights are permanently affixed to one side of the cables. This meant that in our test setup, a large portion of the VGA cable’s lighting, particularly when viewed from slighting above eye level, was partially obscured by the while sleeved cables on the “underside” of the kit.

That last bit might be a small detail, but it’s just one of a few ways that Adata’s RGB cables just aren’t as versatile as Lian Li’s Strimer Plus. The only solid win for Adata’s device on this front is the fact that its VGA cables actually come in two separate sections, unlike with the Strimer Plus. So if your graphics card only has one six- or eight-pin power connector (as was the case with the RTX 2060 Super we used in testing), you can just plug one set of cables in. 

With the Strimer Plus’ VGA cables, the plugs and lights for two sets of cables are permanently attached together, so you’ll have to plug both in, and have one end plugged into nothing if your GPU doesn’t have two sets of supplemental power plugs.

A couple other downsides to the XPG cables: If your case doesn’t have a space below the graphics card to route VGA cables, forcing you to twist the cables sideways, you may notice what looks like small cracks in the light tubing if you look close.

Also, on the ATX cable, the rigid black plastic housing on both ends of the light tubes is three inches long. That made it too big to fit through any of the cable-routing holes on our InWin case. The result: Both of these rather unsightly black plastic boxes were visible inside the case. Ideally, you’d be able to shove one end through behind the motherboard. But at least with this case, the cable’s plastic housing was too big for that.

These are minor aesthetic issues to be sure, but when you’re dealing with a set of accessories that do nothing but add lighting to your case, aesthetics are the primary concern.

One other thing that Adata’s RGB cables get right: The RGB controller box the company provides is tiny and easy to to stow inside a case at just 1.5 inches long and 0.75 inches wide (compared to the much larger 2.2 x 3.3 inch box of the Strimer Plus), while its two buttons (mode and speed) give you all you need to cycle through light settings. And yes, one of the modes is “off” for those times when you don’t want your lights blinking at you through the side of your case.

Conclusion

While I’ve spent much of this review pointing out how the XPG Prime ARGB Extension Cables don’t quite stand up to the Lian Li-made competition, there’s still a fair amount of positives overall with Adata’s RGB cables. They look good with the lights on or off, and they feel more solid and less fiddly than the Strimer Plus cables (though that comes at the cost of less flexibility and versatility). 

Adata’s XPG Prime ARGB Extension Cables bring some competition to Lian Li, and effectively double the size of the market for RGB power supply extension cables. But they aren’t as versatile or flexible as what you get with the Strimer Plus cables, and the only “new” feature Adata brings to the table is the fact that its VGA extension cables come in two separate pieces, so you don’t have to install both sections in your case if your graphics card only has one supplemental PCIe power connector. 

We’re glad to see another company taking on Lian Li and giving builders more options for adding attractive lighting to our PCs. But most people would be better off with the Strimer Plus.

We've been waiting months to see what Lian Li could do after tapping PC Master Race (PCMR) to create a drool-worthy chassis. The collaboration has resulted in today's announcement of the O11 Dynamic Space Gray Special Edition. This is it, the official PCMR computer case. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

“It's amazing to work with Lian Li and see this project come true," Pedro, PCMR founder, said in a statement. "At PCMR, we're all about freedom, beauty and quality. I believe that this limited edition case offers all three: The freedom to create a build that suits you and your style; the understated beauty that makes it a centerpiece of any build and the unmistakable quality that Lian Li and the O11 Dynamic are deservedly known for.”

The original O11 Dynamic was a huge hit, regarded as one of the best PC cases for high-end builds and custom water cooling one can buy. This PCMR edition lathers the chassis in chrome and replaces the tempered glass panels with one-way tinted and mirrored glass, all for maximum shine.

Beyond that, the case doesn't change, and that's very good. It retains the modern, vertically-split dual-chamber design and keeps the extremely extensive support for water cooling with space for up to three huge radiators. 

Lian Li is only building 2,000 units of the O11 Dynamic Space Gray Special Edition. Surprisingly, despite being a collector's item, pricing is set at just $160, so  if you want to grab one, do it quickly. 

Lian Li silently listed its new DK-05F and DK-04F PC cases that double as desks. They're updates of the classic DK-04 and DK-05 desk cases, bringing the unique hardware up to today's standards. Changes include the addition of addressable-RGB, USB Type-C and a fan controller.

We first saw Lian Li's new desk cases at CES 2019. One of the things that caught our eyes the most was the 8mm thick tempered glass panel that sits on top of the desk. At the press of a button, it switched from being fully transparent to opaque, either exposing your PC hardware in all its glory or giving your computer's internals some much-needed privacy.

As someone who appreciates an uncluttered desk when I'm working, if I were in the market for a case like this, (which I'm not, but that's solely because of the price point), the addition of the switching glass would make it a much more tempting option.

Meanwhile, the DK-04F and DK-05F still come with electronic height adjustments and can handle up to 80kg (176.4 pounds) of added weight. The smaller of the two cases comes with room for a single ATX system, while the larger of the two can hold up to two full ATX systems. Both have room for ample (liquid) cooling, hard drives and other accessories, and installation is should be made easy with removable motherboard trays.

Lian Li hasn't announced pricing for the updated DK-04F and DK-05F cases yet, though they certainly won't come cheap. The previous versions started at around $1,000, with prices skyrocketing from there once you looked at bigger versions or additional features.

3/3/2020 Update: After a delay of just less than a week (Lian Li originally told us the device would be available on 2/26), the Strimer Plus is officially available as of today. If you’re interested, you can find the buy link for the 24-pin model above, and our full review below.

Lian Li’s original Strimer mostly impressed us last year by bringing eye-catching customizable RGB lighting to internal PC cabling, landing first in the form of a 24-pin ATX power extension cable, then a few months later in the form of a dual 8-pin PCIe model for plugging in to your graphics card. But we had issues with the build quality and the lack of an off button on the included expansion slot RGB controller.

Now the company is back with a sequel, the Strimer Plus, which mostly improves on these issues, while also refining its looks. The controller box now includes an “off” setting and the overall build quality is better, though still not perfect. The Strimer Plus looks much better than its predecessor overall (there are no more exposed screws), includes more and better lighting effects, and arrives out of the gate in both 24-pin ($59.99) and PCIe ($39.99) forms, for those who want to maximize their RGB cable bliss. 

But you’ll still need lots of room to stash extra cable length behind your motherboard (or somewhere else out of sight), so the Strimer Plus isn’t a great fit--literally--for compact PCs or cases without ample cable room. And the PCIe cable kit still makes little sense unless you have a graphics card that requires two supplementary power connectors. Also, the pricing has increased to the point where installing both cables in your PC will set you back $100--though Lian Li says if you order the 24-pin model from Newegg, Caseking, or Overclockers UK during the first month of availability (2/26- 3/31), it will be available for $10 off ($49.99). 

Details and Installation

The Strimer Plus is slated to arrive at retail on February 26 as both a 240mm (9.45-inch) 24-pin extension cable and a 14-inch dual-8-pin PCIe kit for graphics cards. The cables themselves are sleeved in white and fairly standard. But atop the cables sits a series of light tubes (12 on the 24-pin model and 8 on the PCIe model).  

This time around, rather than the lights floating above the cables (as seen in the original Strimer on the left in the image above) , they’re embedded in white rubber strips (seen on the Strimer Plus, right). This both helps the Stimer Plus look better when the lights are on and off and helps improve build quality. Unlike with the original Strimer, none of the tubes disconnected from the ends of their holding brackets during out testing of the Strimer Plus.

Speaking of the brackets that hold the light tubes onto the underlying extension cables, these have been improved as well. The clear comb-like clips have been moved to the underside, and on top there’s now just a black clip at the front and one at the back. There are no more exposed screws to mar the aesthetics, either. But there’s still room for improvement here, as those black brackets that hold the lights onto the cables have a tendency to come apart when you bend them, and it can be tough to clamp back together once the device is installed. 

Installation is fairly simple, although you’ll probably do a fair bit of fiddling to get things just the way you want them. For the 24-pin model, you plug one end into the standard 24-pin cable from your power supply and the other end into your motherboard. Lian Li says you’ll need 1.5cm (0.6 inch) of clearance behind your motherboard to use the Strimer, which frankly doesn’t sound like enough. We suggest using the Strimer with a case that has copious space to hide cables, as you’ll have to shove the rest of the bulky 24-pin power supply cable (and your PCIe cables as well if you’re also installing that model) behind the motherboard tray, inside a PSU shroud, or somewhere they aren’t visible.

For the sake of aesthetics (which is kind of the only point here). you’ll only want the Strimer cable poking through your case’s routing hole. The Corsair Crystal 280X RGB case that we used for our test build made stashing the extra cabling easy, but it’s also significantly wider than most cases. Just be aware that you’ll need plenty of space for cable stashing if you opt for the Strimer Plus.

That’s not all there is to the installation process, though. For power, the Strimer Plus plugs into a SATA power connector from your PSU, and if your motherboard has a 5V ARGB header, you can plug your RGB cables directly into the motherboard for control via all major motherboard makers’ RGB software. But for those without the requisite header, the 24-pin model also comes with an RGB controller box that’s a big improvement over the three-button expansion bracket that shipped with the original model.

The roughly 2.2 x 3.3 x 0.4 inch black plastic controller box lets you cycle through effects and colors, as well as adjust the brightness and the speed at which the lights flash or slide along the cables. In total, there are 19 different effects, including the most important one missing from the original Strimer: Off. No matter how much you like RGB lights, there will always be a time (when watching a movie or doing some work at night) when you’ll want your PC to be on but the light show to be off. 

We tested the Strimer Plus solely with the controller box, as the ASRock B450M Pro4 motherboard we used only has a 12V RGB header. Given that there’s at least a way to turn the Strimer off via the control box (though you do have to cycle through all the modes until you get to the off setting), I was happy enough to use the controller box for testing purposes. 

That said, with 3-4 cables going into and out of the box (depending on whether or not you have both the 24-pin and PCIe/8-pin model installed), there’s no easy way to elegantly mount it outside of the case for frequent color and mode adjustments. So the Strimer Plus is likely far more appealing/practical if your motherboard actually has a 5V ARGB header to plug into. That setup will obviously also give you much better lighting coordination with any other compatible RGB components inside your system.

There’s one other potential issue for the PCIe version of the PCIe version of the Strimer Plus for graphics cards: It’s pretty much only designed for cards that need two PCIe power connectors. The lighting portion has 8 LED tubes that span the width of two 6/8-pin PCIe connectors, and the light portion can’t be separated. So if your GPU just has one 6- or 8-pin connector, the second connector is basically going to be stuck there next to your graphics card, not connected to anything. For a product that’s all about making things look good, that’s not ideal.

Conclusion

The Strimer Plus is a solid improvement over the original Strimer, both visually and in terms of build quality and design. There’s still room for improvement, as the black plastic clips/cable combs that hold the power wires to the lighting tubes have a tendency to become disconnected or misaligned during the installation process, and can be difficult to fix once the cables and lights are installed.

Also, at $60 for the 24-pin model and $40 for the PCIe/GPU cable kit, the Strimer Plus is pricier than the original Strimer, which debuted at $40 for the 24-pin model and $30 for the PCIe version. The improved aesthetics and build quality are arguably worth the extra money, although if you opt for both Strimer sets for maximum RGB cable effect, the total outlay is now $100 (outside of the initial one-month launch winder when Lian Li says the 24-pin model will sell for $10 less than the normal price). That’s likely to put more people off purchasing, especially considering that older models can often be found for around $30 each. 

Perhaps the street pricing on the Strimer Plus will wind up lower than MSRP as well. But if you just buy the 24-pin model, the $60 price is easier to swallow, and it’s hard to think of another RGB device you could install in your PC that’s more visually striking--especially in that price range. If you’re considering this new model over the old one (which is still readily available), we’d consider the price difference of the new model worth it for the ability to turn it off via the controller box alone--especially if, like us, your board lacks a 5V ARGB header for control via motherboard RGB software.