Recommended Matx cases, Lian Li A3 Wood is too 'boring' apparently!

GeorgeStorm · Monday at 21:59

Hi all,
I'm in the process of building a new PC, and have got everything setup other than a case, currently running it on an OBT which is fine to be honest but I think I'd still rather move it into a case, I had my eyes on the Lian Li A3 Wood version as I thought it was quite a nice understated look, wouldn't look out of place etc, but my wife said she thought it was rather boring and would just look like furniture, if I'm going to make a new PC why not get something a bit more exciting, which is not what I had expected!

I showed her the Thermaltake The Tower 300 in yellow which she thought was better, I'm personally not 100% sold on it, part of me really likes it but part of me less so, I also already have an air cooler (phantom spirit) and it appears that most people use an AIO in that case.

So thought I'd ask for some recommendations for an MATX case that is a bit more 'interesting' I guess, but has at least half decent airflow as I'm wanting a fairly quiet PC.

Thanks!

WARburton · Tuesday at 12:32

GeorgeStorm said:
I showed her the Thermaltake The Tower 300 in yellow which she thought was better, I'm personally not 100% sold on it, part of me really likes it but part of me less so, I also already have an air cooler (phantom spirit) and it appears that most people use an AIO in that case.

most people use AIO's in everything now days, i personally like the tower 300 look very nice.
i would assume she just wants loads of glass and RGB.

i really like that Jonsbo TK-1

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Antec CX500M RGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-02734) = £54.95
1 x Aerocool Dryft Mini v2 Micro-ATX Case (SKU: CAS-AER-00607) = £54.99
1 x Jonsbo TK-1 2.0 Micro-ATX Case, Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-JON-01530) = £119.99
1 x Jonsbo TK-1 2.0 Micro-ATX Case, Tempered Glass - White (SKU: CAS-JON-01531) = £119.99

Total: £349.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Charlie Bravo · 2025-01-29T05:43:37+0000

Funny how you see a thread title and immediately think to yourself 'this is a wife post'.
I was correct

GeorgeStorm · 2025-01-29T10:17:52+0000

WARburton said:
most people use AIO's in everything now days, i personally like the tower 300 look very nice.
i would assume she just wants loads of glass and RGB.

i really like that Jonsbo TK-1

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Antec CX500M RGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-02734) = £54.95

1 x Aerocool Dryft Mini v2 Micro-ATX Case (SKU: CAS-AER-00607) = £54.99

1 x Jonsbo TK-1 2.0 Micro-ATX Case, Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-JON-01530) = £119.99

1 x Jonsbo TK-1 2.0 Micro-ATX Case, Tempered Glass - White (SKU: CAS-JON-01531) = £119.99

Total: £349.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)

I mean I've used them in the past but was recommended just to go for an air cooler, less to go wrong etc, but then again the whole build has ended up being more than I'd originally planned! (just a small upgrade turning into a totally new pc)
Haven't seen that Jonsbo one before that is a bit different as most of those style cases are massive, still not 100% of location on our desk though so will have to have a think about how things could be arranged.
In a way I'd love an inverted case so it could sit to my left actually, more room to play with there as the desk has a bit of an L that end. And yeah in the end might just go for the tower as it is a bit different, gives plenty of room for future upgrades etc, and could sit on the left as can just turn it around without having loads of cables etc showing too badly.

Also discovered she *really* doesn't like white cases after I sent a couple of pictures over the other day haha.

Charlie Bravo said:
Funny how you see a thread title and immediately think to yourself 'this is a wife post'.
I was correct

I mean the PC is for me so in the end I can go for whatever but she just asked why not go for something more unique/interesting so figured I'd at least have a check for options since it'll potentially be sat on a desk between us if we're both gaming on our PCs

jsbombjack · 2025-01-29T18:43:27+0000

I have the Lian Li Air Mini. Boring, but it scales from mATX to ITX and ATX quite happily while still being reasonably small. In white it looks nice, though it is just another dual chamber case for sure

Lian-Li Air Mini

WARburton · 2025-01-29T21:26:30+0000

jsbombjack said:
I have the Lian Li Air Mini. Boring, but it scales from mATX to ITX and ATX quite happily while still being reasonably small. In white it looks nice, though it is just another dual chamber case for sure

Lian-Li Air Mini

they made this take a full size psu right?
i got stung by the O11 mini needing an SFX psu

jsbombjack · 2025-01-30T04:46:25+0000

Correct, full size psu if you want is no problem. My only issue with it tbh is that it cannot take a 360mm aio, but with the number of fans it can take it's less of a problem realistically