Hello there, PC-A05
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Lian-Li is a brand well known amongst gamers and PC enthusiasts for manufacturing high quality and good lookin' cases. With enthusiasts that demand every last bit of power from their systems, the chassis has become just as important of a decision when building a new gaming machine as any other component. Finding a sleek and stylish case which doesn't compromise on functionality can be a difficult task, but as Lian-Li has shown us, far from impossible.
When it comes to building a gaming system, most tend to look away from mini tower cases. The limited sizes of these cases not only typically limit the scope of components of which you can choose from, such as being restricted to mATX motherboards or shorter lesser-model graphics cards, but also compromise the air flow and cooling efficiency of the components within. And as any enthusiast knows, keeping the system cool is just as important as the performance it outputs.
Lian-Li have taken a keen eye to this with their PC-A05 mini tower, and have concocted a formula which allows you to install components of nearly any size, without taking any drastic compromises.
Here are the specifications of the A05 provided by Lian-Li:
After reading these specifications, you may be wondering, how on earth do you fit a full size ATX motherboard in a mini tower case? We can do this because Lian-Li has taken a special approach to the mounting position of the PSU. Instead of mounting it at the bottom of the case beneath the motherboard, limiting you to smaller mATX boards, the PSU is mounted in the front of the case. More on this later in the review though.
So can it really be done, can a mini tower case really be used for a true gaming machine? Let's find out.
The box and all that it holds
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The packaging of the PC-A05 is about as typical as it gets. The case arrived in a typical brown double-walled corrugated cardboard box, with no information short of the model name and unit colour printed on. I am one to prefer simplistic packaging, but this box has taken it a bit too far and doesn't provide any of the important information or sales points of the case.
The inside of the packaging is your typical Lian-Li stuffing. The case is wedged between two styrofoam blocks and wrapped inside of a plastic bag. This isn't much, but it should do the trick and did manage to protect the tiny little PC-A05 from a nasty ding which can be seen on the box.
Inside of the plastic bag, along with the case, is a short instruction manual as well as a flyer for other Lian-Li cases and accessories.
As you can see, you need not a Lian-Li logo to tell who makes this case. The A05 screams Lian-Li with it's minimalistic and streamlined design. The case doesn't feature any windows or additional frills, it's simply aluminum all around.
The Power and Reset buttons are both made of plastic but compliment the front panel nicely, however the reset button is a tad on the small side. Now, during those few times where you've had a 20 page unsaved word document open or you're leading a BF2 match with a 100 point headway, a smaller, less accessible and less accident-prone reset button may be seen as an added plus (yeah, we've all been there). However, when simply trying to reset the PC (on purpose), it can be a bit of a pain to have to dig your pinky finger in there in order to press it.
On the top of the case is a decent amount of ports. There are two USB 2.0 ports, a single Firewire port as well as a microphone and headphone jack, all hidden nicely behind a small door. Generally, it is nicer to see onwards of four USB ports, but two should suffice for most. On the back side of the case is the 120mm intake fan as well as the plug for the PSU's power lead. Each of the side panels are fastened using two moderately sized thumbscrews.
Takin' a look inside...
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Here you can finally get a clear look at the unique layout of the PC-A05. The PSU is mounted in the front of the case directly beneath the HDD cage and uses an extension cord to connect the PSU to the rear power outlet.
The box taped within the HDD cage contains all of the necessary screws as well as a small plastic cable clip, three small zip ties and a handy miniature screwdriver which is made specifically to fit the motherboard standoffs, which is a welcomed addition as these can sometimes be a pain to install. The brown piece of paper within the case is treated with a sort of anti-corrosion additive. At first glance, I simply assumed this would work similarly to how a silica pack functions in a pair of new shoes. However after carefully reading the print, it states that it is supposed to be wrapped around the entire product, so I am not entirely sure what purpose the paper is meant to serve.
The HDD cage inside of the A05 is, unfortunately, non-removable. The same can be said for the motherboard tray. This is a bit of a disapointement as they would have aided immensely with the installation process.
One thing to point out about the motherboard tray is the ventilation slots. It seems Lian-Li revised the case at some point, as these slots are not seen in previous images of the case.
As with most Lian-Li case, the font bezel easily comes off with a gentle pull, revealing the front exhaust fan and PSU mounting bracket.
Also new to this revision of the case are three rubber noise-dampening pads which are positioned along the mounting rail for each side panel door.
Cramming it all in
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Despite the lack of a removable hard drive cage and motherboard tray, the installation process wasn't all that bad.
There was still enough room inside the case to maneuver my hands properly and installing the motherboard was quite easy. As you can see from the picture above, there is also ample room for larger CPU coolers. Hard drives are installed into the hard drive cage by first attaching four noise dampening rubber grommets, and then sliding it into the cage. One problem I did run into is that your graphics card will prevent you from inserting a drive into the top bay of the hard drive cage. You will have to insert the hard drive before installing your graphics card.
The PSU is installed by first attaching the mounting bracket using four screws, sliding the PSU into it's slot and then fastening the mounting bracket to the case with four thumbscrews. While this process is easy, I am a bit curious as to the necessity of it. There is sufficent room to install the PSU from the side of the case and it would have been no more difficult, if not easier to do.
Two flaws should be pointed out however. The first being that, while my Antec Truepower Trio is rather small, I did notice that larger PSUs will almost certainly interfere with the motherboard and potentially collide with the RAM slots and any installed modules. The second being that the room behind the motherboard tray is practically useless, as the lip at the edge of the tray leaves very little room between it and the side panel to route cables though. The slot at the bottom of the lip is not for cable routing, but to allow the mounting brackets on the side panel to slide through.
Unfortunately, most optical drive bezels don't exactly compliment the design of the case all too well. So to counter this, I've also purchased a Lian-Li C-01 aluminum optical drive bezel to match the brushed aluminum design of the case. It would have been nice for Lian-Li to include at least one of these with the case, especially as they retail for mere $5, but you can't win 'em all. The difference it makes is quite noticeable.
Once all is said and done, you should have something which looks like this:
But how good is it?
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As I mentioned in the intro, the case is just as critical as any other component in your build. The cooling efficiency and overall performance of your system can lie entirely in the hands of the case. It is important to make sure that the case is able to efficiently expel hot air produced by the components within, all the while keeping it nice and quiet.
The following hardware was used in these tests:
Cases: Cooler Master CM690, Lian-Li PC-A05B
CPU: Intel Xeon E3110 (45nm Wolfdale) @ 3.0Ghz w/ C1E and EIST disabled
GPU: EVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked
Motherboard: DFI Dark P35-T2RS
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar T7500K
RAM: 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 @ 2.0v
PSU: Antec TruePower Trio 650w
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P w/ stock Noctua NF-P12 Fan
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
One issue to note with this case is the lack of any ventilation on the top panel. This can pose an issue as it leaves nowhere for the graphics card and any other installed cards to either intake cool air or expel their hot air. This can cause a heat pocket towards the top of the case. Knowing this, instead of toasting up the CPU for the temperature tests, I instead overclocked the graphics card and stressed it using the GPU Folding@Home client. This should allow us to see the impact the lack of ventilation at the top of the case has on the graphics card.
For the noise level tests, I measured the overall system noise using a Galaxy Check Mate CM-140 sound pressure level (SPL) monitor, which can measure sound levels between 32db and 80db accurately within 1.5db, and with a resolution of 0.1db.
I took two noise level readings of each case, one at a distance of 6" and one at 2', which would be the average distances between the user and their PC in a standard workplace.
While the PC-A05 did produce slightly more noise, this increase is to be expected. The thin aluminum walls of the case simply do not insulate the noise as well as the thicker steel walls of the CM690. The stock fans of the PC-A05 are also fairly strong and push a large amount of air, resulting in louder operation.
The temperatures here are exactly as I would have expected. The lack of any ventilation at the top of the case resulted in the 9600GT running at higher temperatures, but the larger air throughput of the stock Lian-Li fans and upside down positioning of the components inside resulted in lower temperatures for the CPU.
Some Final Words
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If you're in the market for a mini tower case, the Lian-Li PC-A05 is one heck of a case to consider. They have managed to eliminate many of the issues which turn enthusiasts away from mini towers, all the while leaving the case open to almost any hardware. The only area in which you will be restricted is the PSU. Larger 1000w units may not fit in this case and will more than likely interfere with your RAM and possibly any ports at the front of your motherboard.
Of course, you should also consider that this mini tower can only accept two 5.25" drives, and three hard drives. However, you should be well aware of these limitations if you are already in the market for a mini tower.
The cooling performance of the A05 was siginifcantly better than I had originally anticipated. The side vents on the front bezel allow more than ample airflow for the exhaust fan and the aluminum construction of the case certainly does its part. However, I definitely would liked to have seen a third 120mm fan port located above the expansion slots to better cool the graphics card.
Assembling the PC with this case was fairly easy, but the process could have been made much easier if the motherboard tray and hard drive cage were removable. The space behind the motherboard tray is also left to no use due to the lip at the end of the tray, preventing you from routing any cables behind. This forced me to cram any excess cables behind the HDD cage.
It's also somewhat of a dissapointment that Lian-Li did not include any of their prettier C-01 optical drive face plates with the case. At a price point of $100 for the case, and only $5 for the plate, you would think they could throw at least one in. The face plate makes a world of difference with the overall aesthetics of the case.
In the end however, I would strongly recommend the Lian-Li PC-A05 for anyone who is in the market for a mini tower case. While it does have it's flaws, these flaws are common to the very fundamentals of the mini tower design, and Lian-Li has taken a large step forward in eliminating many of the issues which plague other mini towers.
The Good
+ Very stylish design
+ Fair amount of room inside
+ Fantastic build quality
+ Fairly priced
+ Improved mini tower layout
The Mediocre
* Lack of included optical drive face plate
* Seemingly pointless PSU installation process
The Bad
- Limited PSU size
- Lack of any ventilation at the top of the case
- Cannot route cables behind the motherboard
[P.S. Apologies for the somewhat blurry images at points. I didn't realize until after taking the majority of the pictures that there was a big smudge on the lens.]
Looks like a good little case.
