Lian Li PC-TU200: On the Road With Lian Li
by Dustin Sklavos on October 31, 2011 12:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- Lian Li
Conclusion: Needs to Go Back to the Drawing Board
Lian Li's goals with the PC-TU200 and its intended purpose are both admirable and, in my opinion, realistic...at least in concept. I'm not 100% certain Lian Li could be successful with what they're trying to do without adding an inch or two here and there to the TU200's dimensions, but I don't think it's out of the question either. The all-aluminum design Lian Li is famous for is a great fit for something that's supposed to be a portable LAN machine, and the handle is both sturdy and useful. The TU200 is small enough that the handle is actually practical as opposed to just being a cute idea.
Their central idea in terms of airflow and cooling is a proven if underused one as well: a single large fan, lined up directly with the internal components, can maximize cooling efficiency in ways that many larger cases still haven't figured out how to benefit from (for example, it pays off in spades in the SilverStone FT02 where my i7-990X's core temperatures idle at an average of about 24C.) This is something that we know works well; even SilverStone was surprised at how effective this type of design was in the TJ08-E that basically obsoleted their high end FT03 at about half the cost.
The problem is that parts of the TU200 just feel grossly over-engineered, and as a whole the enclosure needs to go back to the drawing board. If we take the question of whether or not they should stick with an ATX power supply out of the equation, we're still left with the case's biggest flaw: the drive cage. Its bulk makes several ATX PSUs difficult if not impossible to include, and it's not exactly a tool-less design. I suspect Lian Li was trying to make it easy to swap hard drives in and out of the TU200, but honestly I think a lot of enclosure designers tend to overvalue that ability. This case is tiny and meant to be portable, and I just don't think the sacrifices made to allow the end user to swap drives a little more easily are worth it. By just slimming down the cage and using flat-headed screws and silicon grommets the way Antec often does to lock the drives into place, Lian Li can score a little bit more interior real estate.
I also appreciate that you can install basically a grand total of five storage drives in the TU200, but in a case this small that seems excessive. At most I'd want to see enough space for an SSD system drive and maybe two 3.5" drives. Making that change could also potentially increase the interior real estate again and allow for improved air flow from the intake fan. If you were to populate all of the drive bays with the current design using traditional mechanical hard drives, even with the large 140mm intake fan the internal drive temperatures are liable to get dangerously high under load—and that's without adding a GPU to the mix.
Since we're compiling a wish list anyhow, I'd also strongly suggest moving the ports somewhere else, either removing the increasingly less relevant optical drive bay entirely and putting them there or placing them in a row at the top of the case. Placing them at the bottom has two adverse effects: it keeps them a bit out of the way (though I get the feeling the TU200 is meant to be placed on a desk or tabletop), and it covers up space that could be used to ventilate the video card. By moving them, you can potentially increase the size of the intake fan and allow it to grow into the area where the video card is meant to reside, providing it with cool outside air instead of relying on a single vent that threatens to be blocked off by carpet or even just the table the case rests on.
There are enough lessons that can be gleaned from this design that I'm confident Lian Li could turn around and produce a revision of this case that would be able to serve the same purposes while performing worlds better both thermally and acoustically, all at the same cost (if not less). I'll admit I don't think our testbed represents a particularly good combination of components for a unique specimen like the TU200, and that a smart end user could probably build a pretty solid machine in it by very carefully choosing the components used. The TU200 is a very new design for Lian Li, though, and it needs a lot of refinement. $179 is just too much to pay for a rough draft; hopefully Lian Li will produce a second generation design that alleviates the issues this one has. Done right, that one could be a very easy recommendation.
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Iketh - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
I too would love to see a case like this without an optical drive bay, or even a 3.5" cage. Look at all that unsused room behind the optical bay! At least one 3.5" drive could be screwed to the top of the case in that area. A 2.5" SSD can practically be placed ANYWHERE in a case, they're so small!Imagine the size of the case if the optical drive bay and the 3.5" cage is removed, and how much better airflow would be. One spot for a 2.5" and one for a 3.5", that's all I'd need in a case in this segment.
Oh and if I gave you any ideas for your case design in this post, be sure to stamp a "by IkethTech (tm)" next to it in inside the case :)
rbsc - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
Excellent Points.May I also suggest the following:
*Mount the hard drives (2 max) to the doors.
*Add 4x USB to the back.
*Refine the handle to be removable. Grommets could be placed there if not needed.
*Specify the TDP limits on both CPU and GPU.
Also it is unclear if the tolerances for CPU cooler height were specified in the documentation, but that would've been useful when I was building my PC31. Luckily I took a guess and the cooler but barely fit the enclosure.
n13L5 - Friday, September 7, 2012 - link
on the TU200, you can't mount drives to the doors, cause the doors are just snap-on.. if you add any weight, they might just pop off during transport and dangle on the hard drive cable (shudder)nubie - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
Yep, I agree on most of these points.I wonder if you could take this case and disassemble it and trim it down to the size you would like?
I don't know if I am a fan of full-size power supplies in an ITX case, but if you are using a dual-slot GPU anyway, why not.
Perhaps flipping the case upside-down so the GPU gets a decent intake would be a good idea too. Of course then you may hear the fan if it is annoying.
I just realized the problem with removing the front bays and the CD. The GPU is likely to be the deciding factor in the depth of the box anyway, although you will lose some height be getting rid of the 5.25 bay.
As always, there is never a perfect pre-manufactured case for every person, this one gets mighty close though.
gaiden2k7 - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
hey guys i just wanna post my old project w/ a Lian Li Q07 that was modded to be a homeserver, it needs to be updated b/c i recently remodded again but i was able to make some use of that optical drive bay and everything else.http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-work-logs/566798...
with some research you can fit alot of components inside a case like this :)
jebo - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
"Imagine the size of the case if the optical drive bay and the 3.5" cage is removed, and how much better airflow would be. One spot for a 2.5" and one for a 3.5", that's all I'd need in a case in this segment."*Exactly*. Somebody with a GTX580 probably doesn't want 5 hard drives in their system. You have two market segments for these cases. Small servers and LAN/gaming boxes. It seems trying to serve both with one case doesn't work.
Remove the ODD, put space for one 3.5" drive and one 2.5" drive and we'll be set.
Mr Perfect - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
Or just make it a slim line optical drive bay, like the Silverstone cases. Most people don't use the drive enough to need a full size monster, but it's still useful.On the drive bay side, just gimme two 2.5" mounts. One for a SSD, and one for a travel rated spinner. This case is clearly targeted at mobile lan systems, not file servers. Who would put four 3.5' drives in a road warrior?
At any rate, glad to see performance mITX parts one way or the other.
lapinou - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - link
Hi,If I may chime in.
Did you see the SilverStone Sugo SG05? I'd say it's less voluminous.
I got myself one of them with their 450W PSU (unfortunately you can't use a standard one, it's a way for them to make more money I guess) and their is room for a double slot 9.5'' graphic card. Instead of a - almost - useless 3.5'' ODD bay it has a slim drive bay.
At the time I was considering a Lian Li Q07, like the one modded by gaiden2k7.
But case's "weird" form factor detered me. Question of price I guess too... but at the end I cost me an arm cause I bought the Sugo SG05 with the regular 300W and was dumfound when I cound't plug the extra alim cable for the GTX 460 - ended up buying this 450W. I believe a year ago or so SIlverStone started shipping some SG05 with the 450W.
So it could be a good bet.
The SG06 already existed but some reviews shown it was apparently not as good as the SG05.
I was happy with the temperatures, air flow and - no - noise.
I'm using a i5 760 with stock rad (but no OC).
Hope that's bringing some interesting info to the lads looking to build an ITX gaming rig.
The Sugo SG05 home: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=210
PS: note sure you'll still easily find this model though cause it's quiet "old" according to the IT world.
lapinou - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - link
*useless 3.5'' ODD*I meant 5.25''!!!
lapinou - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - link
One review of the good old SG05 http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/758