Lian Li PC-A55 Case Review: Unfortunate Name Befits the Design
by Dustin Sklavos on June 16, 2012 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- Lian Li
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
When testing the Lian Li PC-A55 I came upon a real conundrum. It's easy to argue our traditional assembly is less than ideal for testing this case, and the usual testing conditions unfortunately involve testing it on a thinly carpeted floor. At the same time, these are the exact same conditions that every other case was tested under, so making these allowances for the PC-A55 would potentially skew the results.
There was also the distant possibility that a second set of tests would give the PC-A55 some breathing room, so to speak. I originally made a judgment call and decided against testing on a different surface, but we eventually decided it was best to show what would happen if the case isn't on carpet. The results certainly improve, though not as much as you might want, and ultimately more data is always good to have.
With summer now here in Northern CA, my AC is working overtime to keep temperatures in check. I tested the PC-A55 under our standard conditions with an ambient temperature of approximately 24C, and again using the side panel of an Antec P280 as a flat surface on the carpet; those results are the ones labeled "elevated."
At stock, the thermal results of the PC-A55 aren't horrible, but they're still near the back of the pack—and on the carpet, the PC-A55 really lives up to its name. The SSD runs particularly hot, and that's due to the fact that there's no airflow around either of the 2.5" mounts. In an ideal situation, air is channeled up from the bottom 140mm fan, through the left side of the case, and out of the top 140mm fan. There's literally no ventilation anywhere near any of the drive bays and we're forced to rely on the aluminum building material to channel heat off of the drive.
Even that wouldn't be too bad, except that due to the way the drive mounts to the cage and the bottom of the enclosure, there's a small gap between it and the aluminum surface of the case. 43C is probably still okay for an SSD, but it's at the limit of where I'd be comfortable, and the rest of the storage bays are likely to be just as hot. Running a couple 3.5" HDDs sandwched together in this sort of enclosure is not something I would recommend.
Elevating the PC-A55 does improve temperatures substantially, but not really enough to make it competitive. The one to beat here is the Corsair Obsidian 550D, which performs comparably thermally but as you'll see in a moment it runs much quieter.
Even at stock clocks the CPU fan is already running nearly full tilt under load, while the graphics card fans are running at higher than usual settings. Putting the PC-A55 on a flat surface (or resting it on its side) and allowing cool air inside at least mitigates the video card's fan speed, but the CPU fan is still suffocating.
Thankfully Lian Li's case runs fairly quiet despite essentially cooking itself. Having only two fans (one of which is muffled in the bottom) allows the PC-A55 to run below the noise floor of our sound meter at idle, while load noise is bad but not horrible. Keep in mind that part of this is because there's virtually nowhere for sound to escape either, though; the only ventilation the PC-A55 really has is through the top fan.
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KingKongDonkeyBong - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
I'm a Mac junkie now, but rewind 4 years back and I used to build my own tower PCs like no tomorrow. I loved to pick out the best of the best components and put them together only to sell what I had done and start over again. To me, Lian Li has always stood for excellent looking aluminum cases, but they were bloody expensive then and are still today. I dreamed of a Lian Li case bak then, but I never got to build a PC with one of those beauties. :( It's great to see them still making top-notch stuff, though. Some of the better companies faded into oblivion, like SuperFlower. CoolerMaster used to make some good stuff back then, but no longer. :/ I'd put my money on Lian Li if I still had the passion to build tower PCs.Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
...did you actually read the review?JarredWalton - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
I'd guess not. He looked at the picture and said, "That's a nice looking case!" Too bad it doesn't have the performance to back it up, unless maybe you just want to run a Core i3 CPU with now discrete GPU? Buying a $110 case for such a PC seems a bit much, though, and it still performs like A55.Brutalizer - Monday, June 18, 2012 - link
There is a smaller ATX case, the Lian Li PC-V700. It is 21 x 40 x 50 cm. And it holds six 3.5" disks.http://www.tomshardware.com/news/lian-li-mid-case-...
yyrkoon - Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - link
Yeah. I have a PC-G50. It is smaller than this ( 14.5" tall or so ), and has 3 3.5" drive slots. With the Add-on 4in3 bay adapter, I've had 7 HDD in it at one time. Plus it added a 120mm intake fan into the mix.It is not the perfect case for a couple of reasons. but I am very happy with it. However, it is by far in my mind a better design compared to this.
Move the PSU horizontal, sideways, and reverse ( with perhaps an adapter cable going out to the back ). After removing the drive bay from the bottom of course.. Then add ventilation for the PSU intake, front, or side ( both ? ). Just thinking out loud here . . . Still lots of things could be done to improve this design. Obviously.
yyrkoon - Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - link
My guess is that this person did not read / understand the article title. Never mind the article its self.One thing you do have to keep in mind however. Individuals have a mind of their own. Just because you or one of your cohorts gives equipment a bad review. Does not mean that someone else has to agree.
And there is a lot to disagree with sometimes, from the articles / reviews presented here. Everyone's priorities are different.
wonderpookie - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
Hehe, yea, I was just about to ask the exact same thing! Thank you for the in-depth and informative review, appreciated!Flunk - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
Lian Li makes some great cases, this may not be one of them but there are a lot of other models so if you like the look of this there probably is a case for you in there somewhere. I have a PC-9F that is quite similar but a bit bigger than this that's just great.p05esto - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
If you use Macs then what in the world are you doing on this site poser? This site is for computer enthusiasts and those into the latest and greatest, open standards and system, fastest machines around that can be upgraded and overclocked. Apple products don't fit under any of those headings. Maybe if we created an "overpriced preschool computing" Apple would fit nicely. No one wants Apple crap around here buddy.tim851 - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
Who made you boss, kid?It sure was that guy Anand, who probably owns every Mac ever made.