Lian Li's PC-A05FN: Alternative Thinking at a $99 Price Point
by Dustin Sklavos on December 7, 2011 10:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- Lian Li
Conclusion: The Dubious Value Proposition
Once again I'm left with an enclosure whose needs are fairly clearly beyond the scope of our standardized testbed, and to me that's too bad. Under the circumstances I don't think the testbed is really that brutal, at least at stock settings, and this is a case that should be able to handle the most challenging part of the overclock with aplomb: the processor.
First, the good stuff: if you're overclocking the CPU, you have a few options with how you want to configure the Lian Li PC-A05FN. The processor cooling seems to be the reason for the case design, and everything else is secondary; if you're operating on a budget of less than $100 for the case and just want the CPU to scream, Lian Li has you covered. The PC-A05FN is also one of the more attractive cases I've tested, and it's also among the lightest due to the all-aluminum design. You sacrifice a little bit in the way of durability, but for most of us it's probably worth the tradeoff, especially at this price point. (The silver version is going for just $89 on NewEgg as of this writing.)
My biggest issue with the PC-A05FN is that once again with a Lian Li case there's a gulf between what the case is ostensibly capable of and what it's actually capable of. Can it handle our testbed? Well, nothing overheated, so that's a "yes", but the GTX 580 is probably more than you should plan on for this case—a GTX 560 or HD 6950 would be a better fit. A better question is whether it can handle our testbed better than other enclosures in its price range. That's a lot foggier, and where things get even more complicated is when you realize that the other cases are almost uniformly easier to assemble your system. The other enclosures may be a bit bigger, but they're also far less "special needs" than the PC-A05FN; you can do a quick-and-dirty build in a BitFenix Shinobi without too much trouble, but the PC-A05FN more or less demands you carefully select your components to maximize the value of the enclosure. It's going to be a bit more work to assemble to boot.
So what's the verdict? By the end of this review, you should have a pretty clear idea of whether or not the Lian Li PC-A05FN is right for you. This just isn't one of those "this is the best enclosure for under $100" situations where I can sign off on it and tell you "godspeed". I wouldn't fault anyone for buying it provided they did the research first and carefully chose the parts used to assemble the build because the case does have potential. For more generic, less specialized builds, though, I'd advise most users to look elsewhere.
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know of fence - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
Every case I ever opened had this empty room in the lower front, where only tumble weeds of dusts are blowing, maybe you'll find a dropped drive screw there, or a stray cable. Sometimes you'll even spot a speaker (beeper) from the old days...It's the most logical and consequential thing to stick a power supply there, even if you have to reroute the power cable.
Beenthere - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
PSUs are intentionally mounted in the upper back of a case as that's where the heat is that the PSU fan evacuates. Basic engineering 101.Luumpy - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
Ya thats the worst possible place for a psu(Top of case) . It sucks in hot air from the rest of pc. Just dumb.Your clearly NOT an engineer.
Most high end cases put psu at bottom of case, where its cool.
Death666Angel - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
Really splitting hairs here. The old ATX design says for the PSU to be in the top/back, because the air flow is from the lower/front, once over all components and then out the back . It was designed in old times when PCs used below 100W. Then came 100W CPUs and 300W graphics cards and things changed a bit.You cannot say that a PSU _must_ be at the top/back. However, you are just as wrong to say that it is a dumb place for it to be because of sucking in hot air. You can put it in the bottom. You can also put it in the top and turn it upside down (TJ08-E).
Mostly, it doesn't matter nowadays as PSUs get ever more efficient, more and more becoming quieter and even semi-passive to the point where their exhaust ability is negligible and their need to be cooled also diminishes. And people with beefy hardware have one or two 120/140mm exhaust fans anyway.
To the original poster: This design didn't really win any space by the positioning of the PSU. Also, a lot of modern designs use that space for HDDs, drives bays, larger fans and other interesting things. Depending on the usage scenario, dead space can be used quite effectively (water cooling, where you need space for a pump and a reservoir for example).
crackedwiseman - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
I made a build for a client of mine back in early 2009 using an earlier model of this case - the significant difference was the motherboard tray was "upside down", with the CPU being on the bottom and the GPU being on top. It performed spectacularly; the build was an overclocked i7-920 and a GTX 260, with a pair of 3.5" HDDs.Yes, it's cramped - thats the price of a small case. But (the older models at least) could handle pretty much any high-end single GPU system; this isn't made for gaming rigs, it's made to cram a powerful work machine into as little space as possible, which can be appealing depending on the availability of office space.
johnsmith9875 - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
It has a hot spot at the top of the case. I use a slot cooler to take the heat that the video card generates and get it out of the box, otherwise it would cook anything near the top of the case.Because the cover on the front obstructs airflow I keep it off in the summer. In winter it seems to be adequately ventilated.
What it needs is a blowhole in the top.
Chuck_NC - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
Interesting to read the reviews. As an engineer, there are some obvious points to make. I doubt that the HDD temps going higher are intentional, but a byproduct of goofing the airflow around the front. With the PSU blowing out, the HDD fan just pulls the hot exhaust right back in again. The PSU and HDD fans end up recirculating the air. They should reverse the direction of the HDD fan to blow out, and provide positive pressure from other fans going *into* the case (side fan, back, etc.). Would drop all temps, especially those in the front of the case. Anyway you do this, the HDDs are going to be warmer though.By moving the PSU from the typical top over the CPU area over to the front bottom, there is much less air being drawn out of the top back of the case, causing a hot spot area. Again, a side intake fan would help that but at the expense of noise and an added fan, which also adds less reliability (fans fail faster than any other PC part).
I would guess that whoever designed this was looking more at aesthetics and less at airflow, but some minor changes fixes the airflow problems. And the blowhole idea is great - but add some air going into the case somewhere else.
Kepe - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
You didn't read the article. Air is sucked in by the rear fan, and exhausted by the front fan. Also, the typical place for the PSU has changed from the top back position to the bottom back position over the last, say, five years. I haven't seen cases with the PSU in the top back position for years.Iketh - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
Warmer HDD temps are good up to about 45-50C. The problem is HDs running too cool with intakes blowing right on them (below 30C).TwistedKestrel - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - link
I pulled the trigger on this case when there weren't too many reviews out there. I laughed at the picture of the mess of cables - it made me feel better about not being able to figure out a good way to route pretty much everything.I still like it though. The cooling idea may not have paid off, but it hasn't seriously impacted my ability to overclock. The finish is nice, it's reasonably quiet ... better than a fork in the eye. Would I have bought if I'd seen this review first? Probably not!