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Lian-Li PC-A05 Mid-Tower Case
Inside the Case
Overview The PC-A05 is longer and maybe wider then anything you'll find at an electronics store, but it is certainly smaller than any full size tower. What makes it special is that it can still accommodate all the dream-worthy hardware you might find in a larger case. Everything worked as advertised. The hard drive mounting system is effective, the motherboard tray has mounting holes for anything you will be able to fit on it, and the power supply also mounts securely. The side panels were initially tricky. The removal instructions indicated they slide back, lean out, and pull up. Needless to say, none of those actions were as smooth as I anticipated. Though there is not much to the interior, everything fit well and there was plenty of space to tuck away unsightly cables. Drive Bays The two external optical drive bays and one external 3.5" bay are located at the top. The mounting for both is pretty standard, with all the holes where you would expect them to be. Those with more than one optical drive may be disappointed as they will run out of room for any specialty LCDs or fan controllers, but the average user should be fine. The hard drive cage is located mid-way down the case just below the 3.5" bay. If you look through the cage you will see the exhaust fan. This is where we see some of that high end Lian-Li hardware trickle down. To mount the hard drive you first fit four noise dampening rubber washers on the mounting screws, then you simply align the washers on the rail and slide the drive into place. The rubber washers have eliminated virtually all grinding noises my drive previously made and the drive locks snugly. After such an easy installation I was not expecting to wrestle with a ribbon cable for over a half hour making it the longest step of the entire install. On my motherboard, and most others, the PATA connector is located roughly in the middle on the inside edge of the board. This put about 4" between the connector on the drive and the board, and I had nearly a foot of cable. Now there are no clearance issues, but had I let it hang, the cable would have been directly blocking the path of the airflow. The last thing I wanted was poor circulation and I ended up folding and refolding the ribbon cable several times to keep it out of the way.  Motherboard Tray With all its mounting holes, the motherboard tray appears to be able to accommodate standard ATX and smaller. I now have more mounting screws than I know what to do with and I'm OK with that. Mounting the board could have been easier with a removable tray, but probably not feasible with an already compact interior. Here, the case width comes to my attention again. After checking a few different dimensions, I'm confident that you can fit even the tallest of heatsinks without clearance issues.   Cooling The most unique feature of the PC-A05 may be its cooling scheme. As I said earlier, the exhaust is at the front and intake is in the back. The case actually employs a reverse airflow design. It makes sense, to me at least, because now the intake fan is blowing directly at the CPU's HSF and then the excess heat is immediately exhausted behind the HDD cage. The included fans aren't exactly quiet, but should be suitable for most. The HDDs themselves receive plenty of cooling, but may begin to restrict airflow with all three racks occupied. Unfortunately, any graphics card installed will block any fresh air that might reach its own heatsink. My card got very toasty, because it seemed to be recycling the hot air that would build up at the top of the case. Lian-Li does drill the required holes for their cooling devices, like the BS-01, which I feel would be necessary for any hot card.     Power Supply The power supply mounts at the front of the case just below the HDD cage and like the case fans, exhausts hot air out the front. A bracket mounts onto the back of the PSU and is secured by four thumb screws. A cord extends the connector on the back of the PSU to the plug on the back of the case. Once inside, the PSU is actually elevated an inch or so above the floor of the case by an aluminum stand. This seems to give the PSU enough breathing room, but I still wish for a bottom vent when I hear the fan ramp up. 
Page 1: Introduction & First Impressions
Page 2: Inside the Case Page 3: Quality Check Page 4: Conclusion 
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