My Lian Li PC-A71F

paradigm

paradigm

paradigm

Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
Posts
37,508
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Leafy Cheshire
After nearly a decade with my previous case (Coolermaster ATCS-201-SXK, aka the Silver Widow), I had finally outgrown it's usability. With 6 HDD's two ODD's, three video cards, and a board that filled the entire motherboard tray, cramped wasn't the word. The heat build up was insane, and further expansion was impossible.

I needed a full tower (not least to allow me to watercool in the coming months), I knew I wanted it to be simplistic in design, and also wanted the quality of the build to be good, this narrowed me down to Lian Li. I was in OcUK on Saturday only meaning to buy an E5300 Pentium Dual-Core CPU and some RAM, but ended up walking out with a Geforce 9800GT (for physx) and the Lian Li PC-A71F (go figure, my spending habits are weird).

It took me just over 4 hours to transfer the PC from my Coolermaster to the Lian Li, but I wanted to make sure that the wiring was literally as neat as possible, to maintain the airflow in the case, and to ease the watercooling installation in the future (nothing in the way means nothing to relocate).

The build quality really is superb, I was most impressed with the cantilever design for the PCI slots, really well made and such a nicety to not have to use screws or those stupid plastic sliders. I was slightly disappointed that the HDD's couldn't be mounted in reverse without losing the "locking" ability of the HDD rack, but hey, at least they DO fit backwards, so the cabling can be kept out of sight (and out of mind :p).

So, pics:

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I'll be replacing the ODD's (or perhaps just vinyl dying them black) in due course, but for now they are hidden behind the door anyway :p. And I want to replace the fans, as I'm sure there are quieter and better performing fans out there.

If anyone has any ideas on what to replace the stock fans with I'd be all ears, and if anyone has any ideas on what watercooling kit to use, again, I'd be appreciative. Likewise if anyone has any questions or requests then I'll try my best to answer :)
 
RJC said:
Nice setup :)
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Cheers :)

Vinni3 @H|H said:
Very nice setup you got there! Shame about the optical drives, I think that some black SATA ones would be nice. You could possibly put a rad at the top of the case with some modding.

EDIT:
Bit Tech did reviews of 120mm fans:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2009/09/28/what-s-the-best-case-fan/1
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I can't use SATA optical drives, due to having no spare SATA left, and no room for expansion cards due to the three double height GPU's! So IDE it is for me, so unless I can find some decent IDE optical drives (unlikely), I'll just spray these Pioneer units.

Nice review, shame the intake fans are 140mm on this! :p
 
Cheers, that's what I was going for after the compacted nest of cabling that was my Coolermaster! Poor thing, it looks lonely :(
 
Well that has helped me make my new case decision..thanks! Currently in a PC7 for my old PC, Lian Li make great cases. Only everything to go in it to go..

Lovely clean build too. Are your top port cables routed around the back of the motherboard tray?
 
Iraklis F.C. said:
congrats , your setup is one of the cleanest i have seen here :)
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Why thank you!

Collider said:
Well that has helped me make my new case decision..thanks! Currently in a PC7 for my old PC, Lian Li make great cases. Only everything to go in it to go..

Lovely clean build too. Are your top port cables routed around the back of the motherboard tray?
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They run down the back of the HDD's, along with the power and SATA, then along the bracket at the base of the mobo tray that extends to the front of the case, and finally curves under the tray and plugs into the mobo.

Definitely upgrade to one, they are superb cases IMO :)
 
paradigm said:
Why thank you!



They run down the back of the HDD's, along with the power and SATA, then along the bracket at the base of the mobo tray that extends to the front of the case, and finally curves under the tray and plugs into the mobo.

Definitely upgrade to one, they are superb cases IMO :)
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Thank you..hope you don't mind but have saved your pics to use as an example (doubt I can get as clean a look but its worth a try!).

On the HDD point, does losing the locking mean you just needed to use screws to secure them in the other way (ie quite simple to do)? I think they look better with the SATA cables at the back like that.

I've been reading loads of case reviews, its good to have the box bit settled!
 
Basically, the drives are tool-less, you screw in 4-thumbscrews (one per corner of the drive) with additional rubber grommets to stop vibration, and the slide into the rack. Due to the layout of the screw holes in the HDD, reverse mounting them means that the HDD hits the back of the rack before the screws on the other end are fully in the rails. So I used the rear and middle screw holes on the HDD, allowing all 4 screws to be in the rails (and therefore supplying vertical stability for the drives), but it means that there is no thumbscrew at the entrance end of the rail (where the locking mechanism is), so the drive in theory can slide an inch or so in the rails (although they don't as the power cables keep them in place, and the rubber grommets give decent friction).

I have however started cutting some perspex pieces to slide into the rails after the drives, which should solve the problem :)
 
Good to know, thanks again 8).

And thanks on the rubber grommets point too as the reviews I have read didn't mention them so I was mildly concerned about noise from vibrating drives.
 
I just got the PC-A70F (same thing, without the door). Internally yours is a lot neater than mine! It's an absolutely lovely case.... putting my latest rig together was pure pleasure, due to the awesome case.

I've also got 6 HDD's, but I put 4 in the front double-spaced, and 2 in the top. I'm in the process of putting all my DVD's on HDD, so eventually it's going to be full. :D
 
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jimbob27 said:
I just got the PC-A70F (same thing, without the door). Internally yours is a lot neater than mine! It's an absolutely lovely case.... putting my latest rig together was pure pleasure, due to the awesome case.

I've also got 6 HDD's, but I put 4 in the front double-spaced, and 2 in the top. I'm in the process of putting all my DVD's on HDD, so eventually it's going to be full. :D
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A70FB here as well, though it certainly isnt very neat, compared to Paradigm's. Great cases though, build quality is fantastic. Great cooling as well, my cpu runs 3-4c cooler than it did in my akasa eclipse.
 
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