Upside-Down And Backwards, Lian Li’s PC-O12 Design Allows For Dual Vertically Mounted GPUs

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Lian Li announced its new PC-O12 compact mid-tower chassis, not to be confused with the PC-O11 WGX we looked at here or the PC-O11 WGX RoG announced here. This dual-chambered case features a steel frame with tempered glass and aluminum panels and a unique GPU mounting system.

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Steven Lynch
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Steven Lynch is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering case reviews and news.

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • drwho1
    Useless.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Talk about a solution in need of a problem...
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    Lian Li really needs to step back to the basics. Have there designers stare at some Phanteks cases for a few hours for inspiration.
    Reply
  • Pompompaihn
    Makes more sense than the enclosed open air test bench....
    Reply
  • David_the_Bruce
    I think it looks nice and would love to build a system with it, to each their own. ¯\_(?)_/¯
    Reply
  • whaletail
    I think it looks great, but at $400, it needs to offer more than tempered glass and PCI-E riser cables.

    Is the mobo tray even removable?
    Reply
  • Virtual_Singularity
    19707305 said:
    Lian Li really needs to step back to the basics.

    Couldn't agree more. The PC-012 will earn LL some sales. ditto for their latest tempered glass & other uniquely designed cases/desks. Good for them if so. I just hope Lian Li doesn't abandon making quality aluminum cases altogether. The last all aluminum case (iirc) LL released was PC-J60B, a mid-sized ATX affair, with a PSU shroud, no bays, adequate storage, airflow & water cooling potential. If LL released a bigger EATX version, with, say, 3x 5.25" external bays, & with the same elegant all aluminum build & quality construction that Lian Li was known for not long ago, even if it was the last enclosure of that sort they released, it'd still be much appreciated by some of us.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    19707792 said:
    19707305 said:
    Lian Li really needs to step back to the basics.

    Couldn't agree more. The PC-012 will earn LL some sales. ditto for their latest tempered glass & other uniquely designed cases/desks. Good for them if so. I just hope Lian Li doesn't abandon making quality aluminum cases altogether. The last all aluminum case (iirc) LL released was PC-J60B, a mid-sized ATX affair, with a PSU shroud, no bays, adequate storage, airflow & water cooling potential. If LL released a bigger EATX version, with, say, 3x 5.25" external bays, & with the same elegant all aluminum build & quality construction that Lian Li was known for not long ago, even if it was the last enclosure of that sort they released, it'd still be much appreciated by some of us.

    I own a Lian Li PC-B25SB from 6-7 years ago. At the time it was one of the nicer cases for a quite pc. I just wish they would stop with the whole vanity craze and focus back on innovation. They really should come out with there own version of a Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV. What I mean is a nice clean case with 140mm fans all around for better cooling and noise, front and top baffles for noise, and a clean layout inside with options to mount hidden SSD's etc. They can do it in there style but this is the bar now and they are not even reaching for it .
    Reply
  • synphul
    Seems a bit steep for so few options. $400 case, restricted to cpu coolers 75mm tall or shorter so basically water cooling or nothing for upper end or oc'd cpu's. No included fans (even sub $200 cases generally offer 2-3 high quality fans such as phanteks, bequiet etc).

    The one main feature that sets it apart from others is the layout for the gpu's and the support for dual gpu's then making it in such a way that it only works with amd gpu's. Fail.

    This amounts to a car company building a sport coupe but making the wheel wells so small that only 14" wheels and economy tires will fit it, not enough room for 16-17" wheels and low pro or wider touring tires will be compatible with it like every other sport coupe out there.

    I'd expect more from lian li to step up their game, realize what's out there and design around it rather than come up with designs that basically fit one type of build in such an expensive case. People expect compromises on a $40 case, not a $400 case. Innovative designs that literally shut out 50% of the gpu market (for multi gpu use) come off as blunders. Not sure 'the worlds most expensive SLI-less case' is a great marketing angle.
    Reply
  • Zanarini Nicola
    I would like to point out that this is not an original idea by Lian Li, but that t's copied off the crowdfunded case by the Italian company Hydra, which has already manufactured a number of cases with this design and the revised version of their case (the Defcon One) is awaiting manufacturing after having been unveiled in renders a few month back.
    Reply