Lian Li A70F case mod ideas?

setter · 2 Mar 2013 at 19:05

Looking into using this case again for the build in sig. It's a great case for cooling, but not fantastic for cable management. Been considering a few ideas to mod it.

1, get a few cable routing holes cut in the mobo tray, (black lines)

2, section of the botom area where the psu sits to cover the psu and cables. Id like this boxed area to have a cutout on top for routing gpu cables, (side connectors on gtx 670, soon to be sli).

3, powdercoat the internals in black.

Im wondering, will it be ok to have the psu boxed in like this? When installed in this case it sits on rails raised about an inch or so with vents beneath, and a mesh grill at the bottom rear of the case.

paradigm · 2 Mar 2013 at 20:07

See, now I found my A71F to be the opposite. It was fine (not great, but fine) for cable management, but rubbish for cooling as there is nowhere for me to mount any radiators.

I'd still be using it today (well, I am, but for my old i7 920 build) if I could get two 360 (or similar) radiators in it.

setter · 2 Mar 2013 at 20:14

The A70F can fit some 480 rads uptop, if anything the 71F would fit some of them better as it doesnt have it's pwr, reset, usb and audio etc on the top. Then theres the option of a 280 in front, but you do loose the hdd rack's, which is a major plus point on theese big cases. Cooling wise, the A70F is streets ahead of my shinobi xl. Mainly down to the A70F having the grilled front. I saw a 5c increase in gpu and cpu temps when moving to the xl.

Was googling images of modded A70's earlier and found this rather tidy build.

There's also some stunning modded buildlogs/projects on overclock.net.

paradigm · 2 Mar 2013 at 21:55

But I'd need a different top panel, which I never managed to successfully source.

setter · 2 Mar 2013 at 21:59

Yep, or send it of to be cut. I have a friend who does cnc cutting so that is an option. Are you still using the shinobi for your main system? The panels are rather hard to get a hold of in the uk, iirc lian li produce a triple for the 71, but only a single for the 70. I thought that the one for the A77F would fit the 70, but theres a few mm difference in length. The 77f also has top mounted io etc.

paradigm · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:05

I had ordered a triple rad panel for my 71, but I missed the last one in stock, and the supplier never managed to get another.

Yep, still using the Shinobi XL on the main rig.

setter · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:15

Shame the panels are so hard to source. With the 70f, modding is the only option for the top panel.

How are you finding the xl after having had it for a while now? Personally i like it's style/design, internal layout and it's a pretty nicely finished case for the price. But for me, with air cooling, it's lack of intake is the worst point. At 4.5ghz, my 3570k maxes at 75c under 100% load, gpu hit's 67c in benching, 62 in game, (clocked @1310/7586) the card dumps heat into the case which doesnt help.