Quick Look at the Lian Li PC-A20: i7 Build

[Blankeee]

gawdamn that's a beautiful case!

Would love to own one, but the cost! My God the cost! Very Nice build as well

[twwen2]

Beautiful photos as usual Shazza.

Looks like a very nice case with excellent build quality and plenty of options for expansion and cooling. If only it wasn't ~$600 down here...

[ACE76]

Nice build! Very neat and orderly. With most cases these days, you almost HAVE to make holes to properly do wire management, but here none were needed. I believe many of the newer Lian-Li cases use this same interior so peopple who don't want to make cuts in their expensive new cases, can rest assured they can still do a neat wiring job.

[ACE76]

I just realized I don't see the SATA cable from the DVD burner...how did you route the SATA cable for it? I'm assuming it's going behind the mobo tray and then back up from underneath it?? The video card is hiding any cables that may rest in that section nicely.

[shazza]

hey, i have this case too and its awesome. One question tho, yes theres a lot of space inside, but i can't see where the radiators would go if i plan to water cool it... And since you keep mentioning about watercooling, could you shed some light on where you would place ur radiators for this case?

There is room at the top to put a radiator ... would require cutting holes. Also room in the front, although it might require a bit of modding. It would also be possible to put a radiator on the bottom on it's side (kind of like the TJ07), which would also require cutting holes in the back of the case. If I eventually water cool it, I would be hesitant to do too many holes, as one of the benefits of this case is the fact that it's designed to be pretty quiet.

I just realized I don't see the SATA cable from the DVD burner...how did you route the SATA cable for it? I'm assuming it's going behind the mobo tray and then back up from underneath it?? The video card is hiding any cables that may rest in that section nicely.

Yes ... the SATA cable goes behind the mb tray, and up through the opening under the video cards. You can't see the connection to the optical drive in the pic because of the black sound dampening material on the back.

[NameTaken45]

i love when the cables are brought up from behind the mobo. that is the ultimate way to do it imo.

[moreempty]

And, in case you're wondering why I didn't remove the QC sticker, it just happens to be my husband's birthday, so I kept it for luck

pretty young husband, i bet he is a bit childish

[hiiyah777]

Man that's a beautiful case! Great work, Shazza!

Also, I am loving your cable management and your computer enthusiasm. Your husband is a very lucky man. I'm trying to get my wife into a lot of this stuff, as well.

[Yil]

Great to see this build, also we have the same great CPU cooler, Noctua rocks....



Keep up the good work.

Gr Yil

[Hilfiger]

nice case indeed

noctua fans and coolers are very good

[Alex L]

shazza

did you have any problems installing motherboard in PC-A20? I happen to have bought the same case as you and it looks like motherboard ports are 2-3mm lower than I/O shileld cutouts. That is standoffs are shorter than they are supposed to be.

Can you pls advise if you had anything like that with your case? If so what was your workaround and if no, can you pls measure the height of the standoffs that came with case?

Many thanks

Alex

[Frananta]

My first impression is the cleanliness of the case

it clean, neat and looks healthy too

[sholvaco]

Alex L:
I've been seriously considering this case for a while now including looking at builds around the net and noticed the same thing, for example:

http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-a...20-chasis.html



The upper photo makes it pretty obvious. I've been thinking of maybe adding some non-conductive washers (nylon) between the MB and the standoffs.

Anyway I'd like to hear how shazza solved this too if she even had the problem to begin with.

Oh and another question, actually more of a request for you shazza. If you could please somehow measure the distance between the bottom edge of the motherboard and the "floor" of the upper chamber or alternatively find an object that's at least 5mm thick an stick it inbetween them and see if it passes (possible MB clearance issues). Thanks in advance.

[shazza]

Alex ... responded to your PM. I didn't have an issue with the motherboard fitting properly. Unfortunately, this computer is at my house in Florida, and I'm back in Arizona for a couple of months, so I can't do any measurements.

I can't remember for sure if I used the stand offs that came with the case, but I believe I did. I imagine you can get longer standoffs.

[Alex L]

Alex L:
I've been seriously considering this case for a while now including looking at builds around the net and noticed the same thing, for example:

http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-a...20-chasis.html



The upper photo makes it pretty obvious. I've been thinking of maybe adding some non-conductive washers (nylon) between the MB and the standoffs.

Anyway I'd like to hear how shazza solved this too if she even had the problem to begin with.

Oh and another question, actually more of a request for you shazza. If you could please somehow measure the distance between the bottom edge of the motherboard and the "floor" of the upper chamber or alternatively find an object that's at least 5mm thick an stick it inbetween them and see if it passes (possible MB clearance issues). Thanks in advance.

sholvaco,

I addressed the problem to Lian Li in Taiwan and they promised to dispatch proper standoffs.

In the meantime I just used some nuts between tray and standoffs so it's not all bad. I also tried sourcing them standoffs from everywhere but since they are not usual standoffs with 6-32 thread (in fact they are D-SUB kind 4-40 UTS), it was easier to use nuts as washers.

The case I have bought was built May 23, 2008 and it came sealed so I doubt mounting kit was misplaced by distributor.

Anyway, except for a few minor drawbacks the case is great. I was considering Tyr PC-X2000 vs PC-A20 and glad I bought the latter. Although stated as mid-tower, it is in fact MASSIVE. Wide and long. Glad I didn't go Tyr X2000 way.

Here's some pictures to show how misaligned mobo is. The tray slides in until mobo meets I/O shield. Spent some time examining the issue and the verdict is: short 6.5mm standoffs. 9-9.5mm standoffs needed.

[Alex L]

Alex ... responded to your PM. I didn't have an issue with the motherboard fitting properly. Unfortunately, this computer is at my house in Florida, and I'm back in Arizona for a couple of months, so I can't do any measurements.

I can't remember for sure if I used the stand offs that came with the case, but I believe I did. I imagine you can get longer standoffs.

shazza,

thanks a lot for replying back quick. Finding longer standoffs used by Lian Li is a bit of a problem and here's why. Majority of cases I came across used 6-32 UTS coarsed thread. Lian Li tapped the tray using 4-40 UTS thread which is the same as jackscrews used in DVI and D-Sub connectors. Now one cannot simply bolt on another set of 4-40 standoffs supplied by Lian Li as setup will be much taller. Neither DVI/D-Sub jackscrews can be used as the stud itself (the part where mobo bolt screws in) is too short for the task.

Simply put it is tricky and one either needs longer properly threaded standoffs (9...9.5mm) or use of washers. I would use washers as a last resort as by using them the part of standoffs going into tray is a bit too short. I am sure it will hold the motherboard okay but being a perfectionist kind of guy myself and having spent a bit of a money on the hardware I would try to find them standoffs if possible. Not to mention that using some shop to make the standoffs will cost more time and money than I thought to invest into this.

Another problem is with CPU retention bracket which I need for dual Xeon 771. It has standoffs welded so extending those by 3mm is still a task I hope Lian Li will resolve. If not I will have to fabricate the solution.

That's the story. Sorry for the boring techie post.

Alex

[Alex L]

Oh and another question, actually more of a request for you shazza. If you could please somehow measure the distance between the bottom edge of the motherboard and the "floor" of the upper chamber or alternatively find an object that's at least 5mm thick an stick it inbetween them and see if it passes (possible MB clearance issues). Thanks in advance.

The distance is 8mm but one can still slightly move mobo upwards for a a mil or two. Here's the picture for your records.

Alex

[Osterman]

Somebody could show me how it look like with all the wires behin the motherboard tray.
And if it possible... where did you put the resto of the wires, because is amazing the cable magement on those shazza pictures.
Thanks!

[recent]

This looks so clean and nice. Right colors, love Evga's 260.

[shazza]

Somebody could show me how it look like with all the wires behin the motherboard tray.
And if it possible... where did you put the resto of the wires, because is amazing the cable magement on those shazza pictures.
Thanks!

Hi Osterman - I think I mentioned in a PM that I'm not able to take pics right now of the computer, but I will say it wasn't all that difficult to run the wires behind the motherboard tray (I don't have it set up beautifully, I can tell you that -- but it would be easy to tidy it up, just taking longer than I wanted to spend).

And ... just to clarify and repeat a couple of tricks that help make it look clean:

- I installed the hard drives with the connectors facing to the back of the case, to make it easier to hide the Sata and Power cables

- The optical drive cable does is visible, but you can't see it in the pictures (or much in real life), because of the black noise-dampening lining on the back panel

- The USB, Audio / power/reset/LED cables run underneath the bottom video card - so are hidden from view. They'd show in a non-SLI setup.

- I'll have to double check my motherboard I/O ports, but don't recall any particular problem with the P6T Deluxe motherboard. I do know that I've got several items connected to the USB ports, Lan Port, and have used the Clr CMOS switch without issue.

[PaRn ssR]

[Aldur123]

Its a nice looking build you have there. However, the case colour looks like anal pastries.

.... Who the hell wants a white/silver case?

Make it black and itll be a nice lookin' case, if a bit different. - Oh, and it looks really well built too, looks quite sturdy.

Nice hardware

[shazza]

Its a nice looking build you have there. However, the case colour looks like anal pastries.

.... Who the hell wants a white/silver case?

Make it black and itll be a nice lookin' case, if a bit different. - Oh, and it looks really well built too, looks quite sturdy.

Nice hardware

I wanted a silver case. Which, obviously, is why I bought it. My monitor and printer are silver, and I like my stuff to match - so it's simply personal preference.

Always good to get dissenting opinions

[Alex L]

I second shazza's choice. Buying silver was no brainer for me. My Apple computers are silver too. So are my cars.

[sholvaco]

The distance is 8mm but one can still slightly move mobo upwards for a a mil or two. Here's the picture for your records.

Just the answer I was looking for. Thank you very, very much.

Color wise I was looking into the black version at first; as a matter of fact I already had one ordered, but then chickened out and cancelled. It was this very thread that made me change my mind towards the "A", that is if I eventually decide on it and get one. My build is still a couple of months off and there's allways a newer, better thing just around the corner.