New Case: PC-A05b (with Pics)

[p4radox]

I'd got a bit fed up with my little Antec Aria case, despite the fact that it'd served me well for 2 years and been dragged around to numerous events. The PSU was on its last legs and it was stupidly noisy. So I thought I'd do the job properly and upgrade the lot, doing my best to silence the system.

The Old machine:

And now the new build:

The cables aren't yet as tidy as I'd like, but I can work on that. The whole case just feels incredibly well built. The finish on the aluminium is fantastic, and there are no sharp edges.

Here's what I bought:

Lian Li PC-A05b
Corasir HX 520W
Zalman VF900 Cu
Samsung 203 DVDRW drive
2 Yate Loon Fans
Akasa Fan Controller Jr
Scythe Quiet Drive HDD enclosure (not yet arrived)

I have the 2 Yate Loon fans and the VF900 hooked up to the fan controller, and currently they're running at minimum speed. The whole system is barely audible. All I need now is to get the HDD in an enclosure to shut out the seek noise and to get hold of a passive heatsink for the CPU.

So, a quick summary of the PC-A05:

Pros:
-nice and small
-Extremely high build quality
-Easy to silence
-Hard drive bay is easy to use
-"Back-to-front" airflow seems to work well

Cons:
-Hard Drive bay not removeable
-Motherboard tray not removeable (no big deal tbh)
-Changing front case fan is slightly fiddly

 

[RJC]

Very nice, looks good

 

[Chimerical]

That looks really smart. I like the placement of the PSU at the front of the case.

 

[Massive Attack]

very nice case tempted to get one myself brilliant layout, what are temps like?

 

[Raikiri]

Looks nice, pretty sure the HD bay is removable though

 

[Deleted member 58846]

I don't like the idea of the power supply at the front. Very nice apart from that.

 

[p4radox]

Looks nice, pretty sure the HD bay is removable though

I've seen the posts over at [H] with removed HDD bays, but it needs the rivets to be drilled out. I'd rather not do it just yet, especially as the airflow is more than good enough for the time being.

See here:

They're not screws, they're rivets.

 

[WarBird]

They're not screws, they're rivets.

are you sure both sides are rivetted? cause on my pc-7+ 1 side is riveted and the other screwed so it sides under i think

 

[nikebee]

That certainly looks very swish.

Where's the PSU power cable go though? (i.e. Kettle Plug)
Any chance of a pic

 

[Arc]

Rather tempted to get that as my next case (moving away from SFF to).

From a bit of reading on other forums it could do with a top mounted vent but apart from that it's perfect .

 

[Massive Attack]

That certainly looks very swish.

Where's the PSU power cable go though? (i.e. Kettle Plug)
Any chance of a pic

theres a tiny thumbnail in here but you get the idea

http://www.lian-li.com/product/product06.php?pr_index=19&cl_index=1&sc_index=1&ss_index=4&type=b

 

[p4radox]

Here's a pic of the front with the whole panel removed (it just pulls off, very nice).

It's basically an extension for the power cable. There's the usual kettle-lead socket at the rear of the case.

Also note the 6 rivets holding the HDD cage in place.

 

[Massive Attack]

did u buy it from ocuk?

 

[p4radox]

No, it was from a competitor. OcUK were out of stock when I ordered.

 

[Massive Attack]

No, it was from a competitor. OcUK were out of stock when I ordered.

, i am looking at this very case, lian li's website clearly states the hdd cage is removable, how can you possibly change the fan if you cant take the cage out

 

[p4radox]

When you remove the front fascia the 4 fan screws are exposed. Once the PSU is removed the fan can be dropped out and another one slid in from below. It does appear that the Lian Li website is lying with regard to the removeable HDD bay, unless there's already a second revision.

 

[p4radox]

Okay, the final part of my upgrade arrived this morning: the Scythe Quiet Drive HDD Enclosure.


Firstly the drive is placed in an aluminium box and the box is screwed together.

Then a gel sheet is placed on the top and bottom of the drive. Presumably this damps the noise...

Then the drive is placed in the outer casing. There is padding around the interior of the enclosure which is designed to muffle the noise of the drive. The SATA and power cable extension sticks out of the back, allowing the SATA and power cable to be plugged in.

The top half of the casing is placed over the drive and the enclosure is then screwed together with another set of screws.

The drive can then be placed in the 5.25" drive bay. I had to push the HDD enclosure right to the back of the bay in order for the front bay blanking plate to still fit on.

The verdict: I can't hear the drive spinning (I couldn't anyway). The seek noise has not been eliminated, but has been muffled slightly. To be honest, I think I'd have been better with the more expensive Silentmaxx enclosure, or spending the money on a big CPU cooler. Ah well, you can't win them all, and the system is now very quiet.

 

[Mlingard]

nice build i changed the 2 fans so they are normal airflow front - back and it doesnt make much difference if any , i have 4 akasa low noise fans coming from ocuk so i will replace the lian-li ones and install the other 2 but not sure exactly where , i was thinking 1 in the side panel and the other in the top of the case blowing air onto the gfx .