The Offical Lian Li PC-A05 Owners Discussion/Modding Thread!

[Richdog]

The Official Lian Li PC-A05 Owners Discussion/Modding Thread!

So yeah I finally got around to buying this case, and also modding it! More on that a bit later...

So anyway why this case? Well, quite simply it's one of the most compact cases on the market capable of accepting a full ATX mobo... yet large enough inside to house a large GPU (8800GTX) and heatsink (Thermalright Ultra-120) with no issues. Not to mention its killer looks... under-stated and elegant, and no rubbish door! People have also used it for watercooling successfully... and it appears to be adaptable to so many different setups and configs that it really is one of the most versatile cases on the market!

For pics and professional review see here http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909585/m/319001496831

HUGE thread with LOTS of info and pics at [H]ard Forum http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1133290

User review at SPCR http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38415

Watercooling project threads and pics: http://coolercasesuk.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3260

Sooooo anyway I went and bought one. Upon receiving it I then went about modding it to fit a dual rad grill at the top to make a dual 120mm fan blowhole... one of the issues with this case is that hot air collects at the top, and blowholes can help massively in reducing case temps, they really are a real benefit to this case!

Also planned was drilling out the HD cage rivets to make it rmeoveable. For some reason unknown to man Lian Li decided to put the front fan in the case and then seal it with the HD cage... which means that to replace it with a better one you are left solely with the decision of removing the cage. Not a lot of hassle, but annoying nevertheless.

Any other owners that want to post pics of their case or discuss any mods then feel free to do so!

 

[Richdog]

Ok i've just cut the rad grill hole by doing the following:

• Used a pencil to mark out the exact dimensions of the grill (including all holes) on the top of the case relative to where I wanted it put.
• Used masking tape to go over the lines, then re-drawn the line over the tape to ensure the panel wasn't scratched to **** and that it was easily visible when cutting.
• Used a large drill head and drilled holes on the inside of the line so that it was easy to put the jigsaw blade in, one hole in the middle of each line, and one at the end of each corner so I could do a straight diagonal cut for all corners.
• Used the jigsaw to cut out the hole, it went through it very easily with the metal cutting blade and was pretty neat.
• Used a metal file to smooth out any sharp bits.
• Removed masking tape and then cleaned all the metal shards form the inside and outside of the case, as well as cleaned all pencil marks off of the top panel.

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THESE PICS, EDIT OUT THE IMAGE AND LEAVE ONLY THE TEXT IF QUOTING TO SAVE FORUM SPACE!


Here's some pics of after the hole was cut...

Here's some pics of it with the grill over, but not yet fixed (I have all the screws etc, just haven't attached it yet) Looks quite neat if you ask me!:

I also drilled out the HD cage rivets with a suitable sized drill head... they came off very easily. Just make sure the drill bit is sharp!

So all in all an easy mod... just make sure you take the time to mark all the dimensions and where you're going to cut and it's a breeze. I had my dad help to hold the case steady when drilling/cutting, but i'm sure you all know at least one person who can do the same for you!

I'll post pics of the finished product when it's all completed and setup. I also need to mod all my Yate Loons for 7v or mayube 5v, haven't decided yet! Will 7v be quiet enough do you think...and if not would 5v push enough air?

 

[Richdog]

Ok finally here's my pics of the finished product:













I still need to colour those top screws black... or i'll likely end up replacing them for flat black anodised self-tapping screws... but i had none at the time so they had to do!

The top two fexhaust ans are at 5v with both intakes at 7v... all fans are of course Yate Loons. The GPU is running 100% passive, and the HSF is currently being cooled only by the rear intake fan... yes it's warm at 56c idle, but it's stable as a rock (heavy gaming tested) so while I will add a fan at 7v to it later, i'm not in any rush to do so.

Very happy with it... besides the cable management which I really suck at lol.

 

[Richdog]

Looking good Richdog.


Here's a few pics of my project.


What do we have here then.

That's all for now.

More to come.

Mate that is damn sweet, good job! I've never modded a case before and it's surprising how satisfying it is.

Bit off topic but can those fan grills (or similar) you have ontop of the case be bought seperatly?

Yes, it didn't come with the case, hence why we "modded " it. Google "AC Ryan grill".

 

[Richdog]

k3v1n where did you get the new feet from? They look like the feet from my Silverstone!

I'm also planning to build a "platform" on castors for it... basically a "wooden thing on wheels" with a foam bed to cut out all the vibrations form the case, and to make it easy to move the thing around under my desk.

 

[Richdog]

K3v1in please email it to my email the link to the feet addy in my trust... I don't think the mods will mind me asking as it's only for feet for this specific case, and OCUK don't sell them here.

 

[Richdog]

Yeah that's what REALLY put me off of the 06 and 07... how on earth they can put 80mm fans in them in this day and age i'll never know!

The A05 is imo the perfect case... provided you're willing to mod it!

Oh and do you think the top two 120mm exhaust fans will be ok with only 5v running through them? I was thinking 7v but considering heat rises and they're at the top I don't see the need for running them at 7v, any reduction in speeds/noise will help!

 

[Richdog]

Yeah 5v would be quieter.

This is the first time I've used Yate Loons so I dont know how load they are at 7v, if they are to load then I'll 5v mod them.

Air flow should be fine at either voltage.

Cool, I think i'll mod a pass-through cable for 5v instead of modding the fans directly, someone on [H] suggested it and to be honest I would never have thought of that! I'm also buying a 1TB drive due to the lack of HD space (room for 3 basically) and with them being so cheap now (the Samsung F1 can be had for £125inc) there's really no excuse not to, I need to get rid of all my 250GB etc drives, no use for them now due to my space requirements being quite heavy. Ohhh yeah I also have an Icy Box "hot-swap" 5.25" SATA to add to it too.

EDIT - I've only just noticed you modded a 120mm hole in the PSU bay... it looked so clean and tidy I thought it was a standard feature, I had to go check mine to make sure I wasn't going mad!

Yeah that's the only thing I'm not really liking about the A06, not sure why they put an 80mm there instead of a 120mm. May change my mind and go with the A05, will see how it goes!

I would if I were you mate... don't be daunted by these mods we're doing they're really very easy... i'm a complete DIY flid so if I can do it anyone can!

 

[Richdog]

K3v1n take my advice... sell that 150GB Raptor and buy a 320GB Samsung F1... it's just as fast and the difference in speed/vibrations is simply dramatic, about 5x less. I have just swapped my 150GB Raptor for one and can't believe how quick it is... actually faster in almost all situations, and half the price! No to mention when you add the price of that extorionate Smart Drive HD silencer it just becomes a complete and utter unecessary extravegence!

 

[Richdog]

I'm looking forward to seeing the fans in place under the rad grill. I'd say 5V is plenty for the Yates, especially as you both have two of them. Don't be afraid of trying them as intakes rather than exhausts, you might find you get better results that way.

Hmm not sure i'd have them as intakes... would impede the airflow going out of the case. I'm actually thinking of having the rear AND the front fan as intakes and using the top fans only as exhaust... would create a lot of positive airflow and ensure cool air is being drawn in both two sides into the case.

Rich - what size drill bit did you use to drill out the HDD bay rivets? I might get rid of mine next time I open her up, as it's only impeding the airflow. I'm suresome of the early A05s had removeable HDD bays as standard, it's annoying that they removed this feature... Are you going to reinsert the HDD bay at all, or just stick the hard drives in a 5.25" bay instead?

Umm I think it may have been 3mm? Not sure really, just chose one that fitted lol. As for the HD cage it's definately going back in, I just needed it removed to change the front fan and to make any future work easier!

Too late, allready bought them and installed.

 

[Richdog]

You do realise you don't need to drill out the cage to change the front fan right?

Err at the risk of sounding incredibly stupid... I had a good look and couldn't see any way to remove the fac without removing the HD cage as the gap at the bottom was n't big enough for the fan to slide down? I unscrewed the fan and tried it... didn't budge! Care to enlighten me as to how I could have done it?

Oh well I was going to make the HD cage removable anyway so alls well that ends well.

 

[Richdog]

you have to remove the psu backplate first then slide down the fan

Ahhhhhhhhh LOL... to be fair though I only had a cursory check to see i it would come off, and then seeing as I was going to make it rmeoveable anyway didn't give it another thought. Shows how practical I am. (not).

 

[Richdog]

The 8800GTX fits in it no problem, plenty of pics of them in the case in other threads, check out the one on [H] forum I linked in the OP and do a thread search for "GTX". It also fits large heatsinks like the Tuniq and the Ultra Extreme-120.

 

[Richdog]

Dude those look sweet... did you buy the braiding from the same place as the alu feet? Those feet are sweet too... definately buying some when they come back in stock

I have about 8x of these Loons so will be doing what someone on [H] suggested and modding a pass-through cable for 5v to supply both the top exhaust fans, and i will leave the front and back intakes as 7v. I can't see the PSU heat being a problem as my Corsair HX620 barely puts any out anyhow, and I think the front intake is high enough from the PSU to allow the vast majority of it to dissipate effectively.

Oh yeah another question... where did you get those alan key screws from (is that what they're called)?

 

[Richdog]

Kevin they look huge... did you snip then down at all?

 

[Richdog]

Hmm I owuld definately have to give those some serious trimmage. What size nuts are on them?

 

[Richdog]

That would be far too logical. My DIY knowledge knows no bounds.

 

[Richdog]

Hmm where would I find some black flat-head screws for that top rad grill? I thought about using those bolts you used but I don't want the heads sticking out of the top of the case so much and i'd much rather have it looking as flush as possible.

EDIT - I always wanted an excuse to search Ebay for "black nuts".

EDIT EDIT - Ok nkm I ordered everything to fix the rad grill, those allan bolts will be fine.

Oh, what do you guys suggest for making the HD cage removeable... I just want something that will keep it nicely in place yet be quick and easy to unfasten.

 

[Richdog]

Ok, so those self-clinching nuts seem to go into the holes created for the HD cages that the rivets were punched out of and stay stuck there after they've been pressed in?

 

[Richdog]

Listen as I said previously, when you talk to me about anything DIY-related, you need to pretend you are talking to a remedial kid being asked to re-take his "DIY For Noobs" exam for the eleventh time.