New Case: Lian Li PC-A70F

Seneker · 26 Sep 2009 at 01:04

Having greatly enjoyed pics of other builds, I thought I'd go ahead and post my own latest setup. Case is the Lian Li PC-A70F recently stocked by OCUK. Not a bad piece of kit I have to say.

The beast within:

Interesting clip design, not bad:

But not really liking the drive cage or what it'll do to case airflow:

Out she goes:

In go the drives, nice and out of the way:

The front, as is:

In goes the Scythe Kama bay for extra air intake (standard fan replaced with the 1600rpm Scythe S-Flex:

In goes the E-ATX Rampage II along with some cable tidying. Very roomy:

In goes the 295:

Case in profile:

Lights:

Action:

In all a very nice case. Pair of 140mms + one 120mm intaking plenty of cool air, which helps with the gfx card. Exhaust is out the top by way of two 120mms.

daz.wallace · 26 Sep 2009 at 08:19

Really nice case that, it's on my list but haven't made my mind up yet. I need to ask though, why a full tower when you have so few components in? The reason I ask is because the only reason I would have a full tower is to watercool, which my next build will be, for the extra room.
Is it just for the extra airflow?

Oh and 1 last thing, you need a black optical drive

Seneker · 26 Sep 2009 at 09:39

Chose a full tower for future proofing. The room also gives me quite a few options for messing with internal airflow, which is a big deal because the 295 unhelpfully exhausts hot air into the case itself. Also, the i920 is OCed to 4Ghz. Fortunately, at present, I'm getting temperatures not far from those posted by chaps with full watercooling setups but without any of the associated risks.

The optical drive colour mismatch is a good point, but I kinda like the aesthetic

xb8browney · 26 Sep 2009 at 09:49

Looks really good but as said above the optical drive is killing the whole look. I'd rather it have flip out drive overs or something to be honest.

LukeTW · 26 Sep 2009 at 17:45

Please get rid of that optical!!!

.:SAmSuNG:. · 26 Sep 2009 at 17:50

Haha white dvd drive and IDE ribbon. Please sort it out dude..

BlackBat · 26 Sep 2009 at 17:55

Why not get a Lian Li drive bay cover, that way it'll be cheaper than replacing the drive and IMHO look a whole lot better.

zia · 27 Sep 2009 at 14:19

Very nice build,

did you have any issues with tooless pcie holder not locking in the upright position?

zia

Seneker · 27 Sep 2009 at 14:32

@zia - thanks. Most challenging part was angling in the card to slot properly into place, but no, no serious issues otherwise. Everything tightly locked down.

Stuff · 27 Sep 2009 at 15:45

As the others have said, you need a new optical drive!

RJC · 27 Sep 2009 at 15:54

Looking good, I must agree with the other's regards the optical drive

eXocet · 28 Sep 2009 at 17:05

How do you find this at cooling and how loud is it with having an open type front? I'm interested in one of these also.

Seneker · 28 Sep 2009 at 18:17

I've modified the standard fan setup slightly. I left the front two 140mm intakes alone but added a modified Kama Bay for a third intake. Have two exhausts out the back, one of which is standard. In all, the case is quiet but not silent. It's all subjective but to give you an idea, despite the 6 fans in the box, I can sometimes hear the hard drives. The fan on the graphics card is the loudest component, but only at load. I chose this case over the 71FB exactly for the open front, as I wanted unimpeded airflow. As for overall cooling, I've found this setup to be top notch. Hope this helps.

As for the optical drive colour comments, well, thanks for your thoughts.

setter · 20 Jan 2010 at 15:30

Just ordered this case, im wondering will the scythe kama bay need any modding to fit or should it screw in as standard.

Dinkas · 20 Jan 2010 at 16:43

It'll fit without issue as the holes on it match 5.25" devices. That said, I've got a Karma bay, and tbh, It's poorly made and there are horrific gaps around it. The Lian Li alternatives that Arcane used in his recent build look far better quality: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=15762750&postcount=2, however, I've no idea where he got them from as the only ones I can find have Lian Li branding on the front (which is uglyfailcake).

setter · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:12

Thanks Dinkas, my kama bay does have a few gaps round the edges on my current akasa eclipse, though in the pics posted by Seneker above, it looks to be a better fit on the A70. The non labeled Lian li units do look very nice as well though.

shmacks · 20 Jan 2010 at 22:52

Got to agree with the above posters that optical is killing the look. Such a nice sleek case to have that atrocity in there, its a crime i tell you.