Small note: Some people are not reading the charts fully and are requesting a configuration we already tested. There are side exhaust tests. Please read the chats. Thank you. It's great to be working on some positive reviews right now! We have another one in the pipe already -- the new best performer for our ATX case benchmarks. That's an exciting shakeup since it's been the Fractal Torrent for years now. Check back soon for that - should be a matter of days. In the meantime, check out our case reviews playlist here! th-cam.com/video/0r9yukG_9EQ/w-d-xo.html And check out our deep-dive into a failing tech company here: th-cam.com/video/6VjYFdHMC3A/w-d-xo.html Or support our work! www.patreon.com/gamersnexus & store.gamersnexus.net/
@@hyperturbotechnomike seconded edit: "people are not looking at the chart that shows the exhaust stats in the video" the chart you posted at 12:02 in the video does not show the stats for the side fans set to exhaust. only intake. if there is another chart that shows it in the video it is not part of the fan or airflow section of the video. if there is another chart, it is not in the video and most people are not going to see it. i dont see any chart links in the description. asking people to read the charts if they even existed when time is significantly allotted to "muh bad fan" with animations and thumbnail is disingenuous.
So if I'm understanding correctly, side panel fans don't help with cooling much, especially a PC's hottest area, the GPU, and actually might make it worse? Since the popularity of glass side panels, we've seen very few cases with side panel fans. I was going to get a side fan enabled case for my next case, but I'm definitely going for a non glass side, like a good ol Antec P10.
@@GamersNexus it's fantastic. The effort that must have gone into that is something else. Normally we just see pictures of the case with arrows, but this was just 👌 *Chefs kiss*.
I'd also love to see more case reviews with these quality animations. Really helps visualize the airflow. Know what would be *really doap*? ... Superimposing GN airflow animations over some of that sweet Schuuhleeiruuhniner? imaging.
I honestly think mATX is a solution to a problem very few people have. It has a comparable horizontal footprint to the smaller ATX cases, and the vertical space savings are not so necessary, in both on-desk and under-desk solutions. People who have desk footprint restrictions use ITX, and those who don't prefer the wider configurtion options of ATX.
@@DarioCastellarin There are mATX cases that are on par or even smaller than NR200. However, mATX motherboards are much better options to build with than ITX because they don't have to sacrifice IO, VRM size, m.2 and PCIe slots and RAM due to size.
@@DarioCastellarin Eeeeh, sorta. The height of an ATX case makes it difficult to fit in places that didn't expect a computer case, like entertainment centers and pretty much most furniture. I vastly prefer mATX because it opens the possibility of putting a PC into more weird places if necessary, plus most of the cheap good motherboards nowadays are mATX anyway, an ATX case will feel empty.
@@dessimesLian Li is trying to be a trend setter. Trying to make "A"s the new "X"s. We're moving past consonants and going into the more eXclusive vowels.
Sometimes I get annoyed at the fact all your videos are 540 hours long, but then I watch them and say god damn, what an amazing piece of content. All the details, the tests, even the animation. Thanks, Steve.
@@OldBuford He _doesn't._ His team tests. You see the big three; Steve, Michael and Patrick but I am sure there re other people on the team that does work. There was another member before; Patrick Stone that use to do PSU testing before departing, and they haven't been doing PSU testing too much since but there are other outlets for that. But the animations are almost entire by Patrick Lathan.
Honestly wish they didnt go so budget. I love this case and really want to buy it but I want a case that looks more premium. I would have totally paid $200+ for a varient of this case made of aluminium or something. That front panel looks like cheap garbage.
Of all the PC cases I've ever built in, this is by far my favorite. Small enough while having a lot of room to work in, easy to disassemble, lightweight but quality. An absolute winner.
I honestly think that mATX is the future of "small form" PCs that don't require exotic designs, and has been slept on up until very recently. The main reason being that they can fit modern superhuge GPUs more easily, without breaking the bank. My most recent build with a 58x3D and 6950xt went mATX for this exact reason. Thanks for the awesome 3D animation.
also for non OC scenarios in the case of X3D cpus or non K intel chips IMO...easier/cheaper to cool as well plus most GPU/SKU tiers...offer QUALITY/PREMIUM coolers/aib designs that really offer a lot of cooling potential/noise performance for smaller builds like this...good airflow in an M-atx chassis is still better than a glass/atx-mid with no airflow at all....plus it comes down to psu quality and heat generated by psu other factors for sure board/vrm quality as far as total system temps....just IMO id definitely lean towards X3D cpu or a 7800x3D in something like this before considering overclocking an i7 or an r9/i9cpu. For gaming its definitely good/enough and spares budget towards higher tier quality psu/board/gpu-cooler.
My secondary gaming PC has a Corsair Obsidian 250D which is a Mini ITX chassis but it has room for a 240mm liquid cooler and I have a 300mm graphics card crammed into it as well as a 200mm front intake fan. It's probably one of my favorite designs for a Mini ITX chassis.
I have the Asus AP201 and recently transplanted my PC into it. It seems nearly identical to this case, minus the wood front panel. I genuinely love the build quality of it and honestly have been loving this form factor of case lately. I've done a handful of builds for friends of mine with these style cases and I think they are fantastic. I may pick up this one for a future living room gaming console build!
@@RolandsSh The A3 give or take is about 20mm shorter in height and 30mm shorter in length combined that with the rounded edges and wooden front I was sold.
AP201 is the best case ever invented and i will fight you in the street if you disagree. all joking aside, it's my case of choice and want to recycle my current one for all future builds i do.
Same, I believe the AP201 has better cable management and more mounting points for SSDs which is also a plus. Prefer the cable mounts up top too, but I can see where bottom would be better.
I'm in the process of trying to downsize the case without hurting performance and getting myself a headache of trying to cram everything into the mini-ITX world. More small/medium sized case review like this is much appreciated!
I have the original black version of the A3 and I absolutely love it! It was a summer budget build for my son and we both love how it has excellent airflow, no ugly RGB. We can run the 4 Be Quiet! fans we have installed (2 120mm bottom, 2 140mm top) in it low enough to make the entire build very quiet with great temps.
@@cc0767 i do believe, but i usually don't watch case reviews, only if the case looks interesting... In the last few months I'm interested in small cases, which somehow tend to be more expensive.... As well as motherboards...
I really enjoyed this format where you give a bit of a summary of the key points first, and then move on to the details. It honestly made me more interested. Also I love a good budget case, thanks GN Team!
Considering this is framed as a budget case, i would've liked to see a configuration with an air cooler and no intake fans. Still a great review regardless.
Great review! The animation section was really cool and a great helpful visual to go along with your explanation. Thank you for the thorough reviews! It's great to see good matx cases being made.
Oh man hearing Lian Li again after some time made me remember about my first "serious" gaming PC I built. It was in their A75 case a while back. It even had those grommets at the back to route water cooling tube out the back of the case lol. Watching your video now and loving the small form factor. Not sure if I am ready to take the plunge yet though, my daily is a massive full tower case with space for a second mobo... 😅
Just built my first pc in this case tonight, 7600x, sapphire nitro 7800xt, with Asrock A620i PG Lightning Wifi mini itx, full size evga psu. Thank you for this valuable information 🙏.
These animations are really damn cool. I seriously hope to see more of them in future case reviews unless they're a hassle. It really helps us consumers who don't understand (or in my case hate) physics.
My solution to the funky airflow pattern is building an itx machine in it and filling all that extra matx space with 360mm watercooling radiators. Some guy on reddit fit 3 in there!
What about setting up the side fans as an exhaust? That should relieve pressure above the gpu, helping exhaust gpu heat, and increasing flow from all the rest of ther perforations. (I know that positive pressure is the norm , but i remember experiments (at SPCR I think) that showed that for the same noise, negative pressure had the lowest temps.)
not entirely sure, but that might have a negative effect on cpu thermals if the aio is top mounted exhaust. it would be interesting to see side exhaust, as you suggest, with the top mount aio being switched to intake. as long as the side exhaust fans are moving more air than the aio intake fans, the results might be interesting.
I don´t think this makes sense, because most people have their pc on the right side of the desk. With side exhaust you´re shoving the hot GPU air straight in front of the monitors.
@@jojobetzler3732 pc on right side of desk makes more sense with tempered glass side panel - but since this example has perforated side panels, left side of desk should be perfectly suitable. you're right, though, about blowing hot air all over the user/monitor area if it is on the right side of the desk. that would be uncomfortable, especially so during the warm months. i'd still be interested to see results with side exhaust, assuming the user was fine with the pc being on the left side of the desk.
Got the white version. It's amazing. Have a 360 AIO in the side, three 120 MM fans in the bottom and top and a 120MM in the rear. Got it for 60 euros. It was a breeze to build in and temps are amazing. Keep up the great work you guys and stay safe.
@@Dapplication how did it go? I'm going with the wood one and phantom spirit 120 so I'm thinking 2 bottom intake with video card passthrough, power supply as front intake and 2 top exhaust. Not sure about rear exhaust or if that would mess with the top exhaust
@@Mudbubble So, first of all, you'll have to bring back your black belt level 9 cable management person from 2011, as there is no back channels to divert the cables. And you absolutely need a modular/semi-modular PSU for this. I didn't get one, so that was a challenge. I don't think Steve emphasised enough on that point. CPU EPS and Front I/O could be routed/hidden with some of the case's features, but that is pretty much all In my orientation, I had the PSU at the top-right corner of the case, with the fan taking hot air from inside the case and blowing it out through the top. I couldn't find the wooden version, so taking the air from outside was out of the question. There is also one more problem, the PSU cable extension inside the case got squished hard. Can't remember why, but it was kinda difficult to position it. Having PSU taking air from inside the case worked in terms of thermals and noise levels. As for cable management, the unused SATA/Molex cables got bunched together, then tied to themselves and to some hole on the bottom. I don't think I can post the finished build here without getting flagged, but the general "look" of the finished build was kinda nice As for the fans, I bought none. This was a build for my cousin, and his budget was kind of tight. It was barely enough to get acceptable quality stuff without many sacrifices. We got a 7500f+7800xt for him. The graphics card is positioned low enough to get air directly from outside. Its thermals were good enough, can't remember the exact number. 7500f temps were also on the down low. I think it was like 50-52c under load, though we are in the winter. And I believe that you don't exactly need fans for this. Having one CPU fan very near exhaust grills will act near-like an exhaust fan. I'd like to believe that Lian Li intended for this case to be ran like this, because it works
@@Dapplication Awesome, thanks for the details! I just ordered almost everything yesterday. Just need to snag a processor now (looking for a 9800x3d so it might take me a few to catch one from MicroCenter). I definitely went modular and actually my PSU is coming with flat cables so hopefully that will help with organizing things too. I think once I started at everything laid out I'll decide which fans I actually want to use and I can return any extras. I ordered 2 notcua nf-a12x25 and 3 of the nf-a12x15 along with the phantom spirit 120 for the cooler.
@@Mudbubble Orienting the case to be top+front+back exhaust seems to be the way to go, as it will easily take air from sides and the bottom. I'd wager that you can also make the front side intake, which may work better depending on the GPU length. The best thing about the case is the vast ability to modify it. I also remember why the PSU cable got squished. The orientation of fan being towards the inner case+cables coming from the bottom made it so that the PSU 3 pin extension cable would have its cable squished against the chassis of the case right at the socket, which is awkward and potentially risky, as the cable inside can break overtime due to the stress made to the cable. The extension's socket has an L shape. You'll see what I'm talking about when installing the PSU. I believe that it can be avoided by either having the fan intake air from outside, or by having the PSU cables going out from the top side instead of the bottom. Other orientations flip the PSU 180 degrees, and flips the socket's orientation relative to the cable.
What a nice Case. If i hadn't built a custom full front mesh on my Dark Base 900 Pro rev.2 this year, i would be looking at this mid smol boi. Missed Case modding. Had a good laugh at this rough Review. Please more throwing around pieces. Pure Energy. Thanks Steve. And more slamming the Parts. Refreshing.
Vertical GPU mount: To show off your video card. Glass panel: Shows off your video card but suffocates it. One exists for the other yet can not be used at the same time /s.
I love this case. Ditched my Corsair 1000D with 1680mm of thick rad and 30 fans for this case and an AIO and 4 total fans. Still quiet and 13900k runs within 5c of water loop and 4090 is about the same. So nice to have something easy to move around.
I just built in this case. Used my GPU fan as "intakes" and have a rear exhaust by the CPU and my AIO exhausting oiut of the top. Zero airflow issues. I bought a wooden front panel months ago from Etsy and it's ventilated.
So happy to see a review on a case that I'd Ben eyeing for a while now. I've been holding off because I need an matx case which can accommodate a 280 aio and a full ATX PSU. Although my GPU is only 250 or so, I've been hesitant towards this form factor because of the compatibility concerns, so I'd been veering towards the Asus SP01 or the SAMA 01,
The airflow animation was a great way to show how this case would work for me, thank you. I built my first system in a lancool 2 with an matx board, practically going into pc building blind (in 2020 as well) I definitely made some choice errors in picking out my system. Granted I did buy the case secondhand from a friend, so I did only pay $50 for it, but it limited my choices and was in white. The lancool 2 is great and roomy to build in, especially if you're only rocking a 3060 and an air cooled cpu, but its super empty on the inside and it takes up more space than I'd like, so a case like this is probably gonna be my choice. Plus my roommate is finally planning on building a pc so I'll just pass the generational lancool 2 down to them lol
best thing i give this case is just fact it fits everything pretty much with very little downsides in a pretty small configuration and premium look for cheaper
I got the lian LI D11 for my last build. I was literally smiling ear to ear putting that build together, because i kept running into things that were so well thoughtful. My wife was laughing at me "neeeerd!"
Would have loved for you to test the side fans in exhaust mode to see how it would impact both gpu and cpu. The animation was great, please keep doing it!
This case just arrived yesterday and I'm still experimenting with the fan configuration. This video is really helpful, especially the animation, thank you!
Got this case for a couple builds at my job. So far it's been pretty nice. Just easy to build in and spacious. Only gripes are the front panel like Steve mentions right out of the gate, and the fact that hiding / managing cables isn't super easy in there. For a workhorse machine that's not a huge deal though.
This case looks great! I just wish they offered the white version with a wood front panel option. The black is really nice with the wood, but it would be great to have another option. They already have the white case and the wood front panel design, which shouldn't make it too hard to do the wooden front panel in white. Hopefully Lian Li has already considered this, for that is the case that I would like to buy.
You guys are going ham on the 3D animations lately! If I didn't have a Jonsbo D31 mesh already, this would be a strong contender for my personal build.
Hydronaut really is awesome I bought a big tube of it years ago after you recommended it lasts a long time works really well and I have used it on all kinds of stuff since then super useful
I have this case and really like it. It's cheap, simple but still well made. What I wanted, nothing more. Plus, front ports are at desk level so cables not hanging from higher on the case which always seems untidy to me. I made a small alteration to the motherboards heat sinks to allow it to fit against a Lian Li Galahad 360 AIO and everything is sweet.
Small note: Some people are not reading the charts fully and are requesting a configuration we already tested. There are side exhaust tests. Please read the chats. Thank you.
It's great to be working on some positive reviews right now! We have another one in the pipe already -- the new best performer for our ATX case benchmarks. That's an exciting shakeup since it's been the Fractal Torrent for years now. Check back soon for that - should be a matter of days. In the meantime, check out our case reviews playlist here! th-cam.com/video/0r9yukG_9EQ/w-d-xo.html
And check out our deep-dive into a failing tech company here: th-cam.com/video/6VjYFdHMC3A/w-d-xo.html
Or support our work! www.patreon.com/gamersnexus & store.gamersnexus.net/
You should have tried top intake bottom intake side exhaust
nice
What if the side panel fans are configured as exhaust, rather than intake?
@@hyperturbotechnomike seconded
edit:
"people are not looking at the chart that shows the exhaust stats in the video"
the chart you posted at 12:02 in the video does not show the stats for the side fans set to exhaust. only intake. if there is another chart that shows it in the video it is not part of the fan or airflow section of the video.
if there is another chart, it is not in the video and most people are not going to see it. i dont see any chart links in the description.
asking people to read the charts if they even existed when time is significantly allotted to "muh bad fan" with animations and thumbnail is disingenuous.
I liked you going through all the different alternatives available for around the same price.
That airflow 3D animation is just *chef's kiss
Thank you! Will let Andrew know you liked it!
Absolutely
As an engineer, i'm a big fan of functional 3D animations.
So if I'm understanding correctly, side panel fans don't help with cooling much, especially a PC's hottest area, the GPU, and actually might make it worse?
Since the popularity of glass side panels, we've seen very few cases with side panel fans. I was going to get a side fan enabled case for my next case, but I'm definitely going for a non glass side, like a good ol Antec P10.
can't say that about ur wifu
That airflow graphic is an absolute thing of beauty. I've watched it about 5 times. Please do this for all cases.
Working on it for more of them! We're making another one for an ITX case coming up and for a pre-built!
@@GamersNexus it's fantastic. The effort that must have gone into that is something else. Normally we just see pictures of the case with arrows, but this was just 👌 *Chefs kiss*.
@@GamersNexusNice.. now make one for dell to show how crappy their pc case..
I'd also love to see more case reviews with these quality animations. Really helps visualize the airflow.
Know what would be *really doap*? ...
Superimposing GN airflow animations over some of that sweet Schuuhleeiruuhniner? imaging.
mATX is so underrated. Hope to see more.
Back to you, Steve!
Has always been underrated and underserved. As multi-GPU has died and builds with a lot of hard drives have fallen off, maybe it'll have its moment!
I honestly think mATX is a solution to a problem very few people have. It has a comparable horizontal footprint to the smaller ATX cases, and the vertical space savings are not so necessary, in both on-desk and under-desk solutions. People who have desk footprint restrictions use ITX, and those who don't prefer the wider configurtion options of ATX.
@@GamersNexus I'm still mourning multi gpu :c
They can they can take my titans from my cold-.. ok maybe not dead hands..
@@DarioCastellarin There are mATX cases that are on par or even smaller than NR200. However, mATX motherboards are much better options to build with than ITX because they don't have to sacrifice IO, VRM size, m.2 and PCIe slots and RAM due to size.
@@DarioCastellarin Eeeeh, sorta. The height of an ATX case makes it difficult to fit in places that didn't expect a computer case, like entertainment centers and pretty much most furniture.
I vastly prefer mATX because it opens the possibility of putting a PC into more weird places if necessary, plus most of the cheap good motherboards nowadays are mATX anyway, an ATX case will feel empty.
The A3 being bigger than the A4 makes perfect sense when you go and look at metric paper sizes.
What doesn't make sense though is the lack of additional X's in the name to show its better.
@@dessimesLian Li is trying to be a trend setter. Trying to make "A"s the new "X"s. We're moving past consonants and going into the more eXclusive vowels.
It being 45 x 32cm is also in the ballpark for A3 page size (42x30). It's around A3+ size actually.
can't wait for A5 and A0
yeah, that's how they name them
Steve still doing case reviews makes my day.
Mine too!
@@GamersNexus is the Corsair 3500x next?
Really appreciated the animation for the airflow, really cool to see.
Thank you!
Or warm, depending on the configuration
Steve leaving the A4 to flop around inside the A3 was hilarious
As the great philosopher poet Paul Wall once said,
"Big A take lil' A."
An A3 should fit exactly 2 A4
The animation made it much easier for me to understand the impact of the side fans. You've gotten a new subscriber :)
That's awesome! Glad it helped!
Finally a GN video where Steve doesn't kill someone.
Amen!
Thanks, Steve!
those red and blue arrows make it feel like i'm playing in the groove
hahahaha
Bro I literally just commented that
Sometimes I get annoyed at the fact all your videos are 540 hours long, but then I watch them and say god damn, what an amazing piece of content. All the details, the tests, even the animation.
Thanks, Steve.
lmao
Yes, certainly. I don't know where Steve finds the TIME.
@@OldBuford He _doesn't._ His team tests. You see the big three; Steve, Michael and Patrick but I am sure there re other people on the team that does work. There was another member before; Patrick Stone that use to do PSU testing before departing, and they haven't been doing PSU testing too much since but there are other outlets for that. But the animations are almost entire by Patrick Lathan.
delighted to see that some companies still care about budget :)
if only some in particular could 👀
Kind of surprising from Lian Li, they always have been the high priced high quality brand as far back as I remember. But they rarely disappoint.
Honestly wish they didnt go so budget. I love this case and really want to buy it but I want a case that looks more premium. I would have totally paid $200+ for a varient of this case made of aluminium or something. That front panel looks like cheap garbage.
Of all the PC cases I've ever built in, this is by far my favorite. Small enough while having a lot of room to work in, easy to disassemble, lightweight but quality. An absolute winner.
Did you ever build in the north?
Isn't it really pretty much another Asus AP201? Albeit a bit more flexible & configurable. Not criticizing. The layout is indeed my favourite now.
YES! Finally! Been waiting for this review for forever!
I honestly think that mATX is the future of "small form" PCs that don't require exotic designs, and has been slept on up until very recently.
The main reason being that they can fit modern superhuge GPUs more easily, without breaking the bank.
My most recent build with a 58x3D and 6950xt went mATX for this exact reason.
Thanks for the awesome 3D animation.
also for non OC scenarios in the case of X3D cpus or non K intel chips IMO...easier/cheaper to cool as well plus most GPU/SKU tiers...offer QUALITY/PREMIUM coolers/aib designs that really offer a lot of cooling potential/noise performance for smaller builds like this...good airflow in an M-atx chassis is still better than a glass/atx-mid with no airflow at all....plus it comes down to psu quality and heat generated by psu other factors for sure board/vrm quality as far as total system temps....just IMO id definitely lean towards X3D cpu or a 7800x3D in something like this before considering overclocking an i7 or an r9/i9cpu. For gaming its definitely good/enough and spares budget towards higher tier quality psu/board/gpu-cooler.
My secondary gaming PC has a Corsair Obsidian 250D which is a Mini ITX chassis but it has room for a 240mm liquid cooler and I have a 300mm graphics card crammed into it as well as a 200mm front intake fan. It's probably one of my favorite designs for a Mini ITX chassis.
Yeah I prefer mATX. I dont need the space of a full tower and ITX just adds extra cost
And more than one PCIe slot which is why I still use matx
@@TheNiteNinja19 I love the 250D! Was finally able to track one down in the relatively recent past. It also has excellent drive bay support.
I have the Asus AP201 and recently transplanted my PC into it. It seems nearly identical to this case, minus the wood front panel. I genuinely love the build quality of it and honestly have been loving this form factor of case lately. I've done a handful of builds for friends of mine with these style cases and I think they are fantastic. I may pick up this one for a future living room gaming console build!
I also have an AP201 (tempered glass), but I wish this case existed when I did my build. I'd love to have a smaller footprint.
@@RolandsSh The A3 give or take is about 20mm shorter in height and 30mm shorter in length combined that with the rounded edges and wooden front I was sold.
AP201 is the best case ever invented and i will fight you in the street if you disagree.
all joking aside, it's my case of choice and want to recycle my current one for all future builds i do.
I put an XFX 6900xt in my case even though the spec says it wouldn't fit. It fits fine, lol
Same, I believe the AP201 has better cable management and more mounting points for SSDs which is also a plus. Prefer the cable mounts up top too, but I can see where bottom would be better.
How old is Lian Li now, i remember them putting out top end cases back in the late 90's.
Wikipedia says they've been at it since 1983!
I like these faster paced videos. More info while not feeling like I'm watching "a youtuber". Great job Steve!
I'm in the process of trying to downsize the case without hurting performance and getting myself a headache of trying to cram everything into the mini-ITX world. More small/medium sized case review like this is much appreciated!
Then this is the perfect case for you, I managed to fit a double thick radiator AIO at the top, and 2x 120 slim fans at the bottom for the GPU.
I have the original black version of the A3 and I absolutely love it! It was a summer budget build for my son and we both love how it has excellent airflow, no ugly RGB. We can run the 4 Be Quiet! fans we have installed (2 120mm bottom, 2 140mm top) in it low enough to make the entire build very quiet with great temps.
Never heard "budget" and Lian Li in the same sentence till now. What a surprise 😄
Lancool 215/216 are fantastic budget cases
they made a bunch of budget cases, frequently featured here as well
@@cc0767 i do believe, but i usually don't watch case reviews, only if the case looks interesting... In the last few months I'm interested in small cases, which somehow tend to be more expensive.... As well as motherboards...
Lancool/Lanboy
Fractal North we have at home
More like,
Kid:
"Mommy, can we get DAN A3?"
Mommy brings home Fractal North:
"We have DAN A3 at home."
Been waiting for the video on this case to finally finalize my chosen case for my build.
Thanks Steve!
Made me cackle at 16:40, Steve throwing components around is always a treat, but an entire ITX case inside another case? Caseception.
Yo dawg we heard you like building PCs
So we threw an ITX case inside your ATX case
So you can thermal throttle while you thermal throttle
Lian Li is my favorite brand when it comes to PC cases.
Same, I'm not going back to a different brand anytime soon
@@iHaveTheDocuments Until now I'm very happy with my Dynamic XL
I really enjoyed this format where you give a bit of a summary of the key points first, and then move on to the details. It honestly made me more interested. Also I love a good budget case, thanks GN Team!
Considering this is framed as a budget case, i would've liked to see a configuration with an air cooler and no intake fans. Still a great review regardless.
agreed!
Same. Are there really people opting for liquid cooling and then getting a budget case? Seems a bit backwards to me...
isnt the standard thermal test done with air cooling?
Normally yes but they list "CLC" ie closed loop cooling on this one so they used an AIO liquid cooler in the testing @cc0767
That'd just be a cooler review. The case doesn't have any major restrictions to flow. You would be best looking for cooler comparisons for that.
Great review! The animation section was really cool and a great helpful visual to go along with your explanation. Thank you for the thorough reviews! It's great to see good matx cases being made.
Oh man hearing Lian Li again after some time made me remember about my first "serious" gaming PC I built. It was in their A75 case a while back. It even had those grommets at the back to route water cooling tube out the back of the case lol. Watching your video now and loving the small form factor. Not sure if I am ready to take the plunge yet though, my daily is a massive full tower case with space for a second mobo... 😅
These 3D animations are great, they really do help in the explanations, please keep doing them when possible!
awesome I was just looking at a few different wood panel cases, I love this one! Thanks steve!
That is a very cool airflow animation. This channel keeps getting better and better.
Just built my first pc in this case tonight, 7600x, sapphire nitro 7800xt, with Asrock A620i PG Lightning Wifi mini itx, full size evga psu. Thank you for this valuable information 🙏.
The 7000 series is not worth it.
"This case is big enough to fit a smaller case inside it"
This is the kind of hard hitting journalism I am here for. Thanks Steve
Love the A3, It's such a clean looking case and mATX is just great if you don't have a specific usecase for more Pcie express slots
Animation is super sick, you guys are always doing the most with case reviews
These animations are really damn cool. I seriously hope to see more of them in future case reviews unless they're a hassle. It really helps us consumers who don't understand (or in my case hate) physics.
The different between Steve with +2 mill subs and other bigger channels is, Steve earned each single one subscriber.
My solution to the funky airflow pattern is building an itx machine in it and filling all that extra matx space with 360mm watercooling radiators. Some guy on reddit fit 3 in there!
That 3D section was so cool! You guys are always looking to improve with every media release.
What about setting up the side fans as an exhaust? That should relieve pressure above the gpu, helping exhaust gpu heat, and increasing flow from all the rest of ther perforations.
(I know that positive pressure is the norm , but i remember experiments (at SPCR I think) that showed that for the same noise, negative pressure had the lowest temps.)
I wondered this too.
not entirely sure, but that might have a negative effect on cpu thermals if the aio is top mounted exhaust. it would be interesting to see side exhaust, as you suggest, with the top mount aio being switched to intake. as long as the side exhaust fans are moving more air than the aio intake fans, the results might be interesting.
I don´t think this makes sense, because most people have their pc on the right side of the desk. With side exhaust you´re shoving the hot GPU air straight in front of the monitors.
@@jojobetzler3732 pc on right side of desk makes more sense with tempered glass side panel - but since this example has perforated side panels, left side of desk should be perfectly suitable. you're right, though, about blowing hot air all over the user/monitor area if it is on the right side of the desk. that would be uncomfortable, especially so during the warm months. i'd still be interested to see results with side exhaust, assuming the user was fine with the pc being on the left side of the desk.
That's what Lian-Li recommends in the manual.
I liked how some of the dust on the vertical mount cables moved with the camera while some didn't because it's actually on my screen.
Watching you pull apart 2 in seconds really emphasizes how quickly you can get to everything on these lol
The effort to modelise the case and airflow is top notch, I'm loving it ! Thanks !
16:39 legit lmao. The realistic comedy is just amazing. 😂
Got the white version. It's amazing. Have a 360 AIO in the side, three 120 MM fans in the bottom and top and a 120MM in the rear. Got it for 60 euros. It was a breeze to build in and temps are amazing. Keep up the great work you guys and stay safe.
I am curious how an air cooler would affect the thermals. Great case!
Will build a 7500f+assassin spirit 120 setup with plastic front case in two-three days, will give my findings when they arrive
@@Dapplication how did it go? I'm going with the wood one and phantom spirit 120 so I'm thinking 2 bottom intake with video card passthrough, power supply as front intake and 2 top exhaust. Not sure about rear exhaust or if that would mess with the top exhaust
@@Mudbubble So, first of all, you'll have to bring back your black belt level 9 cable management person from 2011, as there is no back channels to divert the cables. And you absolutely need a modular/semi-modular PSU for this. I didn't get one, so that was a challenge. I don't think Steve emphasised enough on that point. CPU EPS and Front I/O could be routed/hidden with some of the case's features, but that is pretty much all
In my orientation, I had the PSU at the top-right corner of the case, with the fan taking hot air from inside the case and blowing it out through the top. I couldn't find the wooden version, so taking the air from outside was out of the question. There is also one more problem, the PSU cable extension inside the case got squished hard. Can't remember why, but it was kinda difficult to position it.
Having PSU taking air from inside the case worked in terms of thermals and noise levels. As for cable management, the unused SATA/Molex cables got bunched together, then tied to themselves and to some hole on the bottom. I don't think I can post the finished build here without getting flagged, but the general "look" of the finished build was kinda nice
As for the fans, I bought none. This was a build for my cousin, and his budget was kind of tight. It was barely enough to get acceptable quality stuff without many sacrifices. We got a 7500f+7800xt for him.
The graphics card is positioned low enough to get air directly from outside. Its thermals were good enough, can't remember the exact number.
7500f temps were also on the down low. I think it was like 50-52c under load, though we are in the winter.
And I believe that you don't exactly need fans for this. Having one CPU fan very near exhaust grills will act near-like an exhaust fan. I'd like to believe that Lian Li intended for this case to be ran like this, because it works
@@Dapplication Awesome, thanks for the details!
I just ordered almost everything yesterday. Just need to snag a processor now (looking for a 9800x3d so it might take me a few to catch one from MicroCenter).
I definitely went modular and actually my PSU is coming with flat cables so hopefully that will help with organizing things too.
I think once I started at everything laid out I'll decide which fans I actually want to use and I can return any extras. I ordered 2 notcua nf-a12x25 and 3 of the nf-a12x15 along with the phantom spirit 120 for the cooler.
@@Mudbubble Orienting the case to be top+front+back exhaust seems to be the way to go, as it will easily take air from sides and the bottom.
I'd wager that you can also make the front side intake, which may work better depending on the GPU length. The best thing about the case is the vast ability to modify it.
I also remember why the PSU cable got squished. The orientation of fan being towards the inner case+cables coming from the bottom made it so that the PSU 3 pin extension cable would have its cable squished against the chassis of the case right at the socket, which is awkward and potentially risky, as the cable inside can break overtime due to the stress made to the cable. The extension's socket has an L shape. You'll see what I'm talking about when installing the PSU.
I believe that it can be avoided by either having the fan intake air from outside, or by having the PSU cables going out from the top side instead of the bottom. Other orientations flip the PSU 180 degrees, and flips the socket's orientation relative to the cable.
What a nice Case. If i hadn't built a custom full front mesh on my Dark Base 900 Pro rev.2 this year, i would be looking at this mid smol boi. Missed Case modding.
Had a good laugh at this rough Review. Please more throwing around pieces. Pure Energy. Thanks Steve. And more slamming the Parts. Refreshing.
Vertical GPU mount: To show off your video card. Glass panel: Shows off your video card but suffocates it. One exists for the other yet can not be used at the same time /s.
I love this case. Ditched my Corsair 1000D with 1680mm of thick rad and 30 fans for this case and an AIO and 4 total fans. Still quiet and 13900k runs within 5c of water loop and 4090 is about the same. So nice to have something easy to move around.
any recommendations for air cooling in the case, or is the recommendation "don't use air cooling in this case" lol
Deepcool AG620 can fit
I love the fact that it can also fit large high end air coolers as well
Have you abandoned air coolers completely for tests like these?
That 3D animation is awesome!! Thank you for that visualization!!
Steve the used car salesman 0:21
This bad boy fits 2 GPU's
Lmfaooo
no air cooler test I'm disappointed
If it helps: a Thermalright PA 120 SE fits really well and keeps my 5800X3D at good temperatures.
@@hydraulixx what is your setup with it included? Where are your fans and in which direction are you blowing your air cooler? Thanks!
this is thee only non biased tech channel. GN is the only real one left
Budget lian li? What is it $200?
60-70$ xD
hahaha. Not this time!
Dude didn’t even watch the video lmao
Lian li has been doing under $100 cases for years. What are you talking about?
You have to try pretty hard to find Lian Li cases that retail anywhere near $200 lmao
perfect thanks Steve!, ive been waiting for a review on this case
I love how he just ragdolls the cases xD! Great video! I'll probably buy this case now that I know the exact specs and thermals thanks to you guys!
Just as I was looking for a new matx case, you guys drop this. Amazing timing!
I just built in this case. Used my GPU fan as "intakes" and have a rear exhaust by the CPU and my AIO exhausting oiut of the top. Zero airflow issues. I bought a wooden front panel months ago from Etsy and it's ventilated.
Loving the airflow visualization. Hope this becomes a staple for future and upcoming case reviews ❤
I was actually looking at this case for a new m-ATX build I've been pondering. excellent timing!
So happy to see a review on a case that I'd Ben eyeing for a while now. I've been holding off because I need an matx case which can accommodate a 280 aio and a full ATX PSU. Although my GPU is only 250 or so, I've been hesitant towards this form factor because of the compatibility concerns, so I'd been veering towards the Asus SP01 or the SAMA 01,
Love seeing you review SFF cases, thanks Steve. It looks like a large NR200P.
Animation really upped the production value. Fantastic
Thanks for going above and beyond GN appreciated the animation a lot :D
The airflow animation was a great way to show how this case would work for me, thank you. I built my first system in a lancool 2 with an matx board, practically going into pc building blind (in 2020 as well) I definitely made some choice errors in picking out my system. Granted I did buy the case secondhand from a friend, so I did only pay $50 for it, but it limited my choices and was in white. The lancool 2 is great and roomy to build in, especially if you're only rocking a 3060 and an air cooled cpu, but its super empty on the inside and it takes up more space than I'd like, so a case like this is probably gonna be my choice. Plus my roommate is finally planning on building a pc so I'll just pass the generational lancool 2 down to them lol
Excellent animations from the desinger, great explaination - even if theory, really helps visualize the interal torrents. Well done guys
best thing i give this case is just fact it fits everything pretty much with very little downsides in a pretty small configuration and premium look for cheaper
oh shit, I spent all day watching videos on this thing since I am foolishly planning on building a home server in it. perfect timing!
I love the animation so much, I'll try to help with the purchased. good work steve!
I just bought this case. It is so good. Very easy to work with.
That thing looks so cool
Danke!
Animation was slick nice job
Great custom animation. Thanks Steve!
I got the lian LI D11 for my last build. I was literally smiling ear to ear putting that build together, because i kept running into things that were so well thoughtful. My wife was laughing at me "neeeerd!"
Just ordered the wood case for my new build. Further excited seeing this video just post along with your positive feedback.
In the animation I like how the arrows are textured with an opacity mask on cylindrical geometry. Clever!
YAYYY The case i wanted to buy i think i commented twice to ask for it but wasn't expecting it. Thank you so much.
I'm here for that tactical cable management!
Would have loved for you to test the side fans in exhaust mode to see how it would impact both gpu and cpu.
The animation was great, please keep doing it!
This case just arrived yesterday and I'm still experimenting with the fan configuration.
This video is really helpful, especially the animation, thank you!
Got this case for a couple builds at my job. So far it's been pretty nice. Just easy to build in and spacious. Only gripes are the front panel like Steve mentions right out of the gate, and the fact that hiding / managing cables isn't super easy in there. For a workhorse machine that's not a huge deal though.
huh fractal really made an impression on the industry
Great review, and love the animations. One thing that would have been cool to see is temperatures with both side and bottom intake fans
insane timing, i just ordered this case. looking forward to building in it!
Was so close to getting one, then an M2 showed up in stock. If I were building my first system now, this is the case I’d pick for sure.
I have this case, One of the best cases i've ever used
GN puts out a case review, it's a good day.
Been waiting for y'all to review this
This case looks great! I just wish they offered the white version with a wood front panel option. The black is really nice with the wood, but it would be great to have another option. They already have the white case and the wood front panel design, which shouldn't make it too hard to do the wooden front panel in white. Hopefully Lian Li has already considered this, for that is the case that I would like to buy.
The 3D animation is amazing, now i wish there was this kind of animation for every case.
About to try a new build with this case!
You guys are going ham on the 3D animations lately! If I didn't have a Jonsbo D31 mesh already, this would be a strong contender for my personal build.
Hydronaut really is awesome I bought a big tube of it years ago after you recommended it lasts a long time works really well and I have used it on all kinds of stuff since then super useful
I have this case and really like it. It's cheap, simple but still well made. What I wanted, nothing more. Plus, front ports are at desk level so cables not hanging from higher on the case which always seems untidy to me. I made a small alteration to the motherboards heat sinks to allow it to fit against a Lian Li Galahad 360 AIO and everything is sweet.