Lian Li PC-O11 Air Mid-Tower Chassis: Loads of Airflow and Radiator Capacity
by Joe Shields on July 12, 2018 11:45 AM EST
The new Lian Li PC-O11 Air is an update to the PC-O11 series to allow more airflow through the chassis. The PC-011 Air has five locations for air intake and exhaust and is able to accommodate a total of twelve 120mm fans and multiple 360mm radiators inside the Mid-Tower sized case. Lian Li dubs the case as the ultimate platform for cooling.
On the outside, the Lian Li PC-O11 Air changes some of its panels (compared to the PC-O11 Dynamic) in order to accommodate more fans in the system and create a better environment with improved airflow. Instead of the sealed glass fascia, the new panel is perforated to let air in and allows for 3x 120mm fans. As far as connectivity goes, the front panel consists of two USB 3.0 ports as well as a USB 3.1 Type-C port along with headphone and microphone jacks and the power button.
The other nine 120mm fan mount points are on the top and bottom as well as the on the inside of the case mounted on the right side of the motherboard tray/baffle. With so much potential airflow, dust prevention was considered and the front, bottom, top, and side panels all use magnetic dust filters to help that cause and keep the dust out. Up to three 360mm radiators can fit inside the case in either a top/bottom/front or top/bottom/side configuration. Using the front mount blocks the side mount location. In addition to the 12 potential fans, two 80mm mounts are found on the back.
Internally the structure looks strikingly similar to the PC-O11 Dynamic on the inside, with its dual chambered setup and plethora of fan mount locations. The chassis is able to support microATX, ATX, and E-ATX sized boards along with the ability to use a heatsink up to 155mm. This height will fit the vast majority of air coolers on the market, but will not fit monsters like the Noctua NHD-14. VGA card length is up to 420mm which should fit just about every modern graphics card.
Cable management should be fairly easy with the angled motherboard tray and back side cable management bar to conceal any mess from cables. A unique feature inside the PC-O11 Air is the ability to use two different power supplies. If a second power supply isn't needed, the mount location can be swapped from top to bottom.
On the storage side of things, a total of six 2.5-inch devices can fit inside with two on the bottom panel in the main chamber, and four more 2.5-inch devices (or three 3.5-inch) can be housed in the dedicated storage and power chamber behind the motherboard.
| Lian Li PC-O11 Air | ||
| Model | PC-O11 Air | |
| Case Type | Tower | |
| Dimensions | (W) 270mm/10.6" (H) 465mm/18.3" (D) 476/ 18.7" |
|
| Color | Black | |
| Material | Front: Plastic Side: Tempered Glass Body: 0.8mm SECC |
|
| Net Weight | 9.5kg/20.9lbs | |
| External Drive Bays | None | |
| HDD/SSD Bays | 9 (3 x 3.5" + 6 x 2.5") | |
| Expansion Slots | 8 | |
| Motherboard Type | MicroATX, ATX, E-ATX | |
| System Fan | Front: 3x 120mm Top: 3x 120mm or 2x140mm Bottom: 3x120mm Rear: 2x 80mm |
|
| I/O Ports | 2 x USB 3.0 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 2 x 3.5mm jacks Power/Reset Button |
|
| VGA Card Support | (L) 420mm/16.5" (H) 159mm/6.2" |
|
| CPU Cooling Support | (H) 155mm/6.1" | |
| PSU Support | ATX PSU (2x) | |
| Radiator Support | *Front: 360mm Top: 360mm *Side: 360mm Bottom: 360mm *Max of 3 radiators - front OR side is possible |
|
The PC-O11 Air will come in two versions. The base model includes two 120mm fans, while the RGB version uses three Lian Li Bora Lite 120mm fans in addition to the non-RGB fans. The base model is available for $129 from Newegg.com with the RGB version at $149. The case is available for pre-order now and available on July 18th.
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14 Comments
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rahvin - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
Why has every case manufacturer decided that no one wants a CDROM anymore and that all hard drives are 2.5" now. Not even the option of a CD-ROM!It's not that hard to include a spot, and make the rack removable. There are still people out there with desktops that want the ability to rip DVD/Bluray without having to use a USB drive. I like the case but the complete lack of drives is just a non starter. I've yet to find a case that hits all the button points and includes USB-C in the front panel.
inighthawki - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
Almost zero people still use CD drives. I myself can't even remember the last time I held a CD (or DVD/etc), let alone used one. Drive bays prohibit the inclusion of far more valuable features that system builders often opt for.Why are you against buying an external drive?
piroroadkill - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
I still rip blurays and DVDs, so I need them for that...X1XN0B0DX1X - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
You sir are someone who understands how I feel, so many great looking cases have a utter lack of a 5.25 inch bay, which immediately disqualifies it as a potential case, which is also the reason I'm still rocking a master case pro 5 (great case btw) I even went as far as to get the tempered glass side for it, tho it lacks a USB c front.jordanclock - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
If there were enough people like you, then I'm sure they would make cases with 5.25" bays. Lian Li and others aren't going to leave money on the table.Death666Angel - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
Top3 comment on cases that have 5.25" bays: "Why do manufacturers insist on putting 5.25" bays into their cases, such wasted space!". :DVatharian - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
there are 'work and play' PCs, and honestly they are just a toy.Forget about optical media - I do have one for emergency, but that's second priority. I need 5.25" bays, and siginificant number of them to boot, for hard drive trayless caddies,I have headphone amp that is meant for 5.25", I have output panels and temp monitoring fan control also in 5.25" format.
Next, let's talk about hard drives: There are cases which give you option of mounting more than two 3.5" hard drives, they are far inbetween, but they do exist. Some even have space for... six of them. Why? Why not eight? Even older Chieftec server chassis had 6. Thermaltake - all 6. Cooler master - 6. Fractal Define? Yup, you guessed, six, with one and sole exception of XL R2, which (by some engineering fluke, I guess) has eight.
But that still doesn't matter much, since if you want to put in any radiator for anything else than single CPU, you have to remove all those HDD cages.
This goes a little bit further - There are no more cases for building modern workstation. If I want to drop 8 hard drives, dual CPU, dual GPU, watercool it for low noise that effectively forces me to buy ultra-ovesized dual-chamber ultra-gaming case, that won't even necessarily fit SSI-EEB (or even SSI-CEB, which should be standoff-compatible with EATX) board, or find super - old-school case and mod the hell out of it.
bolkhov - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
If you need a workstation-grade case, why not buy a true workstation case, e.g. from Supermicro?Those support long GPUs (AFAIR, ~340mm), big CPU coolers (NH-D15 would fit), lots of hard drives (incl. hot-swap from front panel), and there are options with 1kW redundant PSUs.
Impulses - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
Still trucking along with my old Corsair Air 540 here, the 2x 3.5" caddies weren't ideally placed (but I'm not using it) and the right hand compartment wastes some space (they could've fit a second 2.5mm rack tbh) but the layout and the two vertical 5.25" bays still suit me well.bazampi - Friday, December 7, 2018 - link
You are one of 12 or so people who still use optical drives, sorry to say. They are completely outdated and pretty much useless. There's no one thing you can't do faster or better through a flash drive.