Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic Chassis Review: Affordable Luxury

[Guest]

Lian Li's PC-O11 Dynamic chassis is gorgeous, with large tempered-glass panels, outstanding water cooling support, and a surprisingly reasonable price tag.

Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic Chassis Review: Affordable Luxury : Read more

 

[AgentLozen]

I really like the aesthetic to this case. Also, how many cases do you see with USB type C built into the front panel? Very neat.

 

[Scorpionking20]

I'd love this case, but I have 1 too many hard drives, and my psu is 15mm too long to fit.

 

[Co BIY]

One of the nicest looking cases I've seen. I'm not sure I understand the point of the dual chambered design. I prefer a slimmer tower so I can keep more desk.

I'd like to read an article on setting up a PC with two power supplies.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Wish newegg had it in stock.

 

[zodiacfml]

Too large for me. I hope to see a model without support for 360mm radiators

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

Too large for me. I hope to see a model without support for 360mm radiators

So, how about the Q-10 then?

 

[mischon123]

@cobiy: One chamber for MB and one for the PSU? Works cool here. Nice case and holes in panels are cheap. In some climates dust looks like wet lint. Filtration in the tropics is a must or your PC will short out. Many coolers and watercooler keep it running at acceptable speed even when hot.

 

[BaRoMeTrIc]

I dont mind lian-li not including fans, every case i have bought over the past 3 years i immediately rip the preinstalled fans out and replace them with corsair af 120's or their sp 120's, but lately i've been going with the hd120's and ll120s. I know have a box full of crappy fractal, corsair, phantek, and zalman fans.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Newegg just bumped it up $30.00 for future orders , was $99.00.

 

[Loadedaxe]

Almost Lian Li, airflow is a concern.

 

[SkyBill40]

If I had a need for a new case and one that made showing off my internals was a requirement, I'd totally be down for this. The execution is spot on, the build quality is excellent as usual, and it comes from one of the most reputable case makers in the game.

 

[serge.m]

Was hoping to see a review of this case here but disappointed with the performance side of the review as its pretty much useless. I get that you would want to show what the case is like "as is" but its not meant to be used that way at all. to the author, ask yourself this, if you were tyring to make a decision on what case to buy (in my case the bee quiet 900, h700i and this Lian Li) would this review give you any indication how it would perform in your build? Or any realistic build?

How much noise will it make with fans? How does not having front and rear intake fans affect cooling? I understand that there is a bunch of variables in a case set up but why not test cases with all optional fans installed at controlled speed (and use control fans as well). Would be a far more realistic representation of how a case would perform.

 

[thedexmonster]

Pretty lame not including benchmarks with fans installed. Maybe find a benchmark fan and use it in all cases you test?

 

[stevenlynch]

The problem with "adding fans" is exactly what you and others have stated: What size fans? What speed fans? How much CFM? What brand fan? So on and so forth. Adding fans to a chassis that does not ship with fans only increased the amount of questions and variables and it is simply impossible to test every combination and variations of fans.

There are thousands of fans and combinations from dozens of manufacturers that can be installed in this (or any other) chassis. What if the fans we choose for benchmark purposes perform better / worse than the fans in the system used for comparison purposes? Is that fair. Of course not.

That is why we test cases as they are shipped. Thanks again, we sincerely appreciate you comments and feedback.

 

[AgentLozen]

That is why we test cases as they are shipped.

I appreciate the reason why you tested this case the way you did. I agree that it would be unfair to cherry pick a superior case fan. You would be forced to replace all of the case fans in every case you review from here on. In other words, it opens a door that would be really difficult to close again.

I can see where serge.m and dexmonster are coming from though. Ultimately, we walk away from this review not knowing how this case will perform at home after we're configured it in a way that's reasonable for a system builder.

I wish there was a middle ground that would satisfy everyone. Maybe you could pick out some fans to stick in this case and then add a warning paragraph before the testing results that details what fan you used in the case and that the results are only supplied for the sake of showing this cases' potential. **Results may vary**

 

[VIVO-US]

I wish there was a middle ground that would satisfy everyone. Maybe you could pick out some fans to stick in this case and then add a warning paragraph before the testing results that details what fan you used in the case and that the results are only supplied for the sake of showing this cases' potential. **Results may vary**

I've also wondered about this before. Most case manufacturers (including us) will typically use a 7-blade 1,000RPM 120mm fan when including a standard non-LED case fan, so something with those specs could be a good base reference if this kind of testing is ever done. And if it's from an OEM manufacturer like Yate Loon or Adda, then you don't get any of the extra little airflow benefits from more advanced designed by Noctua and others.

This would create extra work for the reviewers though, and the testing they already do can take hours or even a full day. First the full tests would have to be done in the stock configuration, and then all of the tests would have to be done again with all fan openings filled with the reference test fans. This wouldn't tell you what the cooling potential is with high-performance fans, but it could give the reader a better idea of what the case can do.

I actually asked OCC about that once when we sent them a case for review. The answer was the same as Steven's though, and I understand the reason, so I won't complain.

 

[serge.m]

My suggestion would be to standardise the fans and fan speed same as the board, CPU and CPU cooler is standardised now. Currently we have essentially a worst case scenario, it would be good if it was balanced with a best case scenario as well (all fan spots populated with standardised fans at standardised speed

 

[Lucky_SLS]

You guys add in the cooler price when you are testing intel k series cpu and provide the appropriate perf/value chart in the comparison. so why not do the same? atleast 2 intake and 1 exhaust. 15$ fans and ad them to the performance/value chart. cuz this really is very bad.

 

[BaRoMeTrIc]

Was hoping to see a review of this case here but disappointed with the performance side of the review as its pretty much useless. I get that you would want to show what the case is like "as is" but its not meant to be used that way at all. to the author, ask yourself this, if you were tyring to make a decision on what case to buy (in my case the bee quiet 900, h700i and this Lian Li) would this review give you any indication how it would perform in your build? Or any realistic build?

How much noise will it make with fans? How does not having front and rear intake fans affect cooling? I understand that there is a bunch of variables in a case set up but why not test cases with all optional fans installed at controlled speed (and use control fans as well). Would be a far more realistic representation of how a case would perform.

Lian-Li is also releasing an "airflow" version of this case, This specific case was designed for AIO or custom loop cooling specifically. The airflow version will be designed more for aircooling and static pressure fans.

 

[benwetherbee]

Comparison here is moot. This review... what precisely are we achieving here? The only information I can gleam is the case clearly isnt designed to be used without case fans.

There are plenty of variables... including hardware, ambient and cooling equipment. This article should at the very least address what can be attained with a conventional(popular) setup. I'm interested in possibilities, not standing on arbitrary principles. I respect the reviewer, but I'm dissappointed by this review. Please consider how this case was designed to perform... and that sure as heck isn't without case fans.

 

[VIVO-US]

The only information I can gleam is the case clearly isnt designed to be used without case fans.

True, and I'm sure that's what Lian Li was also thinking. It was able to keep components you'd find in a mildly powerful gaming PC cool without fans though (aside from what's on the CPU and GPU heatsinks), and that's pretty respectable when you think about it. With efficient parts and the right heatsinks, you could actually use this effectively for a silent fan-less system.