Benchmark Results & Conclusion
For the purposes of comparison, we are using the NZXT H700i, the Bitfenix Enso, and the be quiet! Dark Base 700. The cases used for comparison are of similar sizes and feature sets, and all have tempered-glass side panels.
Comparison Cases
be quiet! Dark Base 700
Bitfenix Enso
NZXT H700i
The lack of airflow in this chassis is due to the fact that the PC-O11 Dynamic ships with no fans. Although we are fully aware that this is done as a cost-cutting measure--and enthusiasts prefer to add their own fans--we still think Lian Li should have included one intake and one exhaust fan to provide some airflow into the chassis.
To be honest, we expected higher temperatures from a case that has no fans and is equipped with tempered-glass panels. Temperatures were higher than the cases we used for comparison purposes but, this is quite literally a worst-case scenario and temps can only get better with the addition of a couple fans. Our budget quad-core i5-7500 processor running at 3.8 GHz peaked at 52°C over the ambient temperature of 25°C. Those of you running highly overclocked systems will no-doubt want to take advantage of the water-cooling-friendly design by adding a custom water cooling loop or an all-in-one cooler. GPU temperatures also elevated at 63°C over the ambient room temperature.
Most enthusiasts are aware of the benefits of panels made of tempered glass and its ability to reflect sound back into the chassis. That, combined with a complete lack of cooling fans, means that this chassis is almost inaudible at idle. Under load, the PC-O11 Dynamic generated very little noise and is easily the quietest case in the bunch. Unfortunately, glass panels also lead to higher system temperatures. This can be remedied by the addition of one or more intake fans, but that would almost certainly negatively impact the acoustic results below.
We openly admit that our Performance Value results can be a bit misleading, even now. Anyone buying this chassis will no doubt add cooling fans and/or fans attached to radiators and all-in-one cooling solutions. Installing fans would add to the overall cost of the case, and that in turn would affect the Performance Value rating. Also, even though fanswould improve overall thermal performance, it would certainly introduce more system noise and negatively impact our acoustic-efficiency rating.
Those of you that already have an all-in-one cooler picked out for use in this chassis won't need to buy as many extra case fans, so that is something to take into consideration as well. Also, anyone buying this chassis must factor the cost of cooling fans into the total price of this chassis--unless you're carrying spinners over from a previous build. That said, even with the added cost of cooling fans, the sub-$100 asking price low enough that the PC-O11 Dynamic is still a great value.
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