Lian Li's Dual-Chamber PC-O11 Case, Available At Last

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

It’s not exactly a state secret that Lian Li has been working on its PC-O11, but after the long wait, we’ve finally reached the day that Lian Li is officially announcing it with pricing and availability information.

The case follows a similar design as the PC-Q37 and the PC-O11, with a dual-chamber design and a lavish use of tempered glass. The main compartment of the case holds up to an E-ATX motherboard, four dual-slot graphics cards, and up to three radiators (two 360mm and one 240mm unit). They fit at the top and bottom of the chassis, with the third one on a bracket at the front. The rear has mounts for a couple of 80mm fans, and you can also mount 2.5” drives on a handful of the fan mounts. Two large tempered glass panels cover this compartment, so the rubber cable management grommets to keep everything looking tidy are a welcome addition.

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In the secondary compartment, there's room for an ATX power supply (contrary to the PC-O10’s SFX-only options) and seven drives (two 2.5” units and four 3.5” hard drives.) Fortunately, this side is covered with brushed aluminum panels, so nobody will punish you for not managing the cables nicely.

The PC-O11 measures 506 x 277 x 457mm (HxWxD) and weighs 10.6kg. That’s quite hefty, but the tempered glass contributes significantly to it, and Lian Li opted for a steel internal chassis in order to keep the price somewhat reasonable.

Front I/O consists of two USB 3.0 ports, the usual pair of HD audio jacks, and a USB 3.1 Type-C port.

Admittedly, with the large tempered glass panels and few air intake locations, don't expect high air flow from the PC-O11; but then again, PC components don't make as much heat as they used to.

The Lian Li PC-O11 is available now from Newegg for $230.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Lian Li PC-O11
Motherboard TypeUp to E-ATX
Expansion Slots8
Dimensions506 x 277 x 457mm
Net Weight10.6kg
Drive Bays4x 3.5”, 4x 2.5"
PSUStandard PS2 PSU
Front I/OUSB 3.0 x 2, HD Audio x 1, USB 3.1 Type-C x 1
Radiator Support2x 360mm, 1x 240mm
CPU Cooler Max Height150mm
VGA Card Max Length430mm
PSU Length Limit430mm
Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gggplaya
    I really like this case, but would love to have a 5.25" bay for my blu ray burner.
    Reply
  • sillynilly
    Good looking case.
    Reply
  • burtman88
    Seems like no one uses 5.25 bays anymore lol, I need one for my luquid cooling reservoir. Worst cast i just buy another reservoir tube like one for in side the case.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    Why 80mm exhaust fan options? Why! The airflow design of this case baffles me.
    Reply
  • Rhinofart
    80mm exhaust allows for a higher internal pressure which should help keep dust down inside.
    Reply
  • Xenocrates
    Burtman, I would disagree. I currently have 3/4 5.25 inch bays populated in my desktop, regularly populate an optical drive in other computers such as HTPC's, and even make use of 3.5 external bays, both for hotswap and even sometimes for FDD's. (Yes, floppies. Robotics and industrial systems still use them because they are much more resilient to contamination than an optical disk, other than perhaps DVD-RAM, which never caught on).

    Mind you, If I were building a new computer, I would probably skip "Gaming" or "performance" cases entirely. Server chassis, or workstation, although with access to sheet metal fabrication equipment, I might be tempted to make my own. I have no illusions that I'm a typical consumer, but I'll miss the 5.25" slots. Fortunately, most manufacturers have a large backlog with them still present.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    19271634 said:
    80mm exhaust allows for a higher internal pressure which should help keep dust down inside.

    It was a bit rhetorical and I realize how their choices impacts the thermals, air pressure and possibly sound if you use the 80mm fans. They just compromised hard on this version of the case. The PC-O8 is very similar without out all the compromises. I'm not a huge fan of compromising function for "pretty", especially when you can have both in a PC.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    19272152 said:
    Burtman, I would disagree. I currently have 3/4 5.25 inch bays populated in my desktop, regularly populate an optical drive in other computers such as HTPC's, and even make use of 3.5 external bays, both for hotswap and even sometimes for FDD's. (Yes, floppies. Robotics and industrial systems still use them because they are much more resilient to contamination than an optical disk, other than perhaps DVD-RAM, which never caught on).

    Mind you, If I were building a new computer, I would probably skip "Gaming" or "performance" cases entirely. Server chassis, or workstation, although with access to sheet metal fabrication equipment, I might be tempted to make my own. I have no illusions that I'm a typical consumer, but I'll miss the 5.25" slots. Fortunately, most manufacturers have a large backlog with them still present.

    So I have been thinking about doing a new computer build for a bit over a year. This lack of 5.25 slots is something I was wondering how much I would miss it. I have been keeping track of my dvd usage to see if I need a dvd/blue ray built in. At this point I use a dvd drive only a 1 to 2 times a year. I expected it to be a bit more often but nope. So an external drive will come with the next PC I build.

    Reply
  • Rhinofart
    19273952 said:
    19272152 said:
    Burtman, I would disagree. I currently have 3/4 5.25 inch bays populated in my desktop, regularly populate an optical drive in other computers such as HTPC's, and even make use of 3.5 external bays, both for hotswap and even sometimes for FDD's. (Yes, floppies. Robotics and industrial systems still use them because they are much more resilient to contamination than an optical disk, other than perhaps DVD-RAM, which never caught on).

    Mind you, If I were building a new computer, I would probably skip "Gaming" or "performance" cases entirely. Server chassis, or workstation, although with access to sheet metal fabrication equipment, I might be tempted to make my own. I have no illusions that I'm a typical consumer, but I'll miss the 5.25" slots. Fortunately, most manufacturers have a large backlog with them still present.

    So I have been thinking about doing a new computer build for a bit over a year. This lack of 5.25 slots is something I was wondering how much I would miss it. I have been keeping track of my dvd usage to see if I need a dvd/blue ray built in. At this point I use a dvd drive only a 1 to 2 times a year. I expected it to be a bit more often but nope. So an external drive will come with the next PC I build.

    I hear ya there. The only reason I still have my 5.25" external drive is because it's a Bluray burner. If I could find a good external one, I'd happily switch.
    At work, our "important" workstations still have floppies, because some of the software we use are on 5.25" floppy disks. I installed some software with it just the other day. Man, I kind of miss the sounds of floppies reading and seeking. ;)
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    19307930 said:
    19273952 said:
    19272152 said:
    Burtman, I would disagree. I currently have 3/4 5.25 inch bays populated in my desktop, regularly populate an optical drive in other computers such as HTPC's, and even make use of 3.5 external bays, both for hotswap and even sometimes for FDD's. (Yes, floppies. Robotics and industrial systems still use them because they are much more resilient to contamination than an optical disk, other than perhaps DVD-RAM, which never caught on).

    Mind you, If I were building a new computer, I would probably skip "Gaming" or "performance" cases entirely. Server chassis, or workstation, although with access to sheet metal fabrication equipment, I might be tempted to make my own. I have no illusions that I'm a typical consumer, but I'll miss the 5.25" slots. Fortunately, most manufacturers have a large backlog with them still present.

    So I have been thinking about doing a new computer build for a bit over a year. This lack of 5.25 slots is something I was wondering how much I would miss it. I have been keeping track of my dvd usage to see if I need a dvd/blue ray built in. At this point I use a dvd drive only a 1 to 2 times a year. I expected it to be a bit more often but nope. So an external drive will come with the next PC I build.

    I hear ya there. The only reason I still have my 5.25" external drive is because it's a Bluray burner. If I could find a good external one, I'd happily switch.
    At work, our "important" workstations still have floppies, because some of the software we use are on 5.25" floppy disks. I installed some software with it just the other day. Man, I kind of miss the sounds of floppies reading and seeking. ;)

    Yeah I love that Im doing something very important sound it made.
    You may like this floppy disk music:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_vWkv50uk
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-X-p0C0Uas
    Reply