It's great to be working on some positive reviews right now! We have another one in the pipe already -- the new best performer for our ATX case benchmarks. That's an exciting shakeup since it's been the Fractal Torrent for years now. Check back soon for that - should be a matter of days. In the meantime, check out our case reviews playlist here! ua-cam.com/video/0r9yukG_9EQ/v-deo.html And check out our deep-dive into a failing tech company here: ua-cam.com/video/6VjYFdHMC3A/v-deo.html Or support our work! www.patreon.com/gamersnexus & store.gamersnexus.net/
So if I'm understanding correctly, side panel fans don't help with cooling much, especially a PC's hottest area, the GPU, and actually might make it worse? Since the popularity of glass side panels, we've seen very few cases with side panel fans. I was going to get a side fan enabled case for my next case, but I'm definitely going for a non glass side, like a good ol Antec P10.
@@GamersNexus it's fantastic. The effort that must have gone into that is something else. Normally we just see pictures of the case with arrows, but this was just 👌 *Chefs kiss*.
I'd also love to see more case reviews with these quality animations. Really helps visualize the airflow. Know what would be *really doap*? ... Superimposing GN airflow animations over some of that sweet Schuuhleeiruuhniner? imaging.
I honestly think mATX is a solution to a problem very few people have. It has a comparable horizontal footprint to the smaller ATX cases, and the vertical space savings are not so necessary, in both on-desk and under-desk solutions. People who have desk footprint restrictions use ITX, and those who don't prefer the wider configurtion options of ATX.
@@DarioCastellarin There are mATX cases that are on par or even smaller than NR200. However, mATX motherboards are much better options to build with than ITX because they don't have to sacrifice IO, VRM size, m.2 and PCIe slots and RAM due to size.
@@DarioCastellarin Eeeeh, sorta. The height of an ATX case makes it difficult to fit in places that didn't expect a computer case, like entertainment centers and pretty much most furniture. I vastly prefer mATX because it opens the possibility of putting a PC into more weird places if necessary, plus most of the cheap good motherboards nowadays are mATX anyway, an ATX case will feel empty.
@@dessimesLian Li is trying to be a trend setter. Trying to make "A"s the new "X"s. We're moving past consonants and going into the more eXclusive vowels.
Sometimes I get annoyed at the fact all your videos are 540 hours long, but then I watch them and say god damn, what an amazing piece of content. All the details, the tests, even the animation. Thanks, Steve.
I honestly think that mATX is the future of "small form" PCs that don't require exotic designs, and has been slept on up until very recently. The main reason being that they can fit modern superhuge GPUs more easily, without breaking the bank. My most recent build with a 58x3D and 6950xt went mATX for this exact reason. Thanks for the awesome 3D animation.
also for non OC scenarios in the case of X3D cpus or non K intel chips IMO...easier/cheaper to cool as well plus most GPU/SKU tiers...offer QUALITY/PREMIUM coolers/aib designs that really offer a lot of cooling potential/noise performance for smaller builds like this...good airflow in an M-atx chassis is still better than a glass/atx-mid with no airflow at all....plus it comes down to psu quality and heat generated by psu other factors for sure board/vrm quality as far as total system temps....just IMO id definitely lean towards X3D cpu or a 7800x3D in something like this before considering overclocking an i7 or an r9/i9cpu. For gaming its definitely good/enough and spares budget towards higher tier quality psu/board/gpu-cooler.
My secondary gaming PC has a Corsair Obsidian 250D which is a Mini ITX chassis but it has room for a 240mm liquid cooler and I have a 300mm graphics card crammed into it as well as a 200mm front intake fan. It's probably one of my favorite designs for a Mini ITX chassis.
Considering this is framed as a budget case, i would've liked to see a configuration with an air cooler and no intake fans. Still a great review regardless.
I have the Asus AP201 and recently transplanted my PC into it. It seems nearly identical to this case, minus the wood front panel. I genuinely love the build quality of it and honestly have been loving this form factor of case lately. I've done a handful of builds for friends of mine with these style cases and I think they are fantastic. I may pick up this one for a future living room gaming console build!
@@RolandsSh The A3 give or take is about 20mm shorter in height and 30mm shorter in length combined that with the rounded edges and wooden front I was sold.
AP201 is the best case ever invented and i will fight you in the street if you disagree. all joking aside, it's my case of choice and want to recycle my current one for all future builds i do.
Same, I believe the AP201 has better cable management and more mounting points for SSDs which is also a plus. Prefer the cable mounts up top too, but I can see where bottom would be better.
@@cc0767 i do believe, but i usually don't watch case reviews, only if the case looks interesting... In the last few months I'm interested in small cases, which somehow tend to be more expensive.... As well as motherboards...
Of all the PC cases I've ever built in, this is by far my favorite. Small enough while having a lot of room to work in, easy to disassemble, lightweight but quality. An absolute winner.
I'm in the process of trying to downsize the case without hurting performance and getting myself a headache of trying to cram everything into the mini-ITX world. More small/medium sized case review like this is much appreciated!
These animations are really damn cool. I seriously hope to see more of them in future case reviews unless they're a hassle. It really helps us consumers who don't understand (or in my case hate) physics.
Vertical GPU mount: To show off your video card. Glass panel: Shows off your video card but suffocates it. One exists for the other yet can not be used at the same time /s.
I have the original black version of the A3 and I absolutely love it! It was a summer budget build for my son and we both love how it has excellent airflow, no ugly RGB. We can run the 4 Be Quiet! fans we have installed (2 120mm bottom, 2 140mm top) in it low enough to make the entire build very quiet with great temps.
Just built my first pc in this case tonight, 7600x, sapphire nitro 7800xt, with Asrock A620i PG Lightning Wifi mini itx, full size evga psu. Thank you for this valuable information 🙏.
Great review! The animation section was really cool and a great helpful visual to go along with your explanation. Thank you for the thorough reviews! It's great to see good matx cases being made.
I really enjoyed this format where you give a bit of a summary of the key points first, and then move on to the details. It honestly made me more interested. Also I love a good budget case, thanks GN Team!
So happy to see a review on a case that I'd Ben eyeing for a while now. I've been holding off because I need an matx case which can accommodate a 280 aio and a full ATX PSU. Although my GPU is only 250 or so, I've been hesitant towards this form factor because of the compatibility concerns, so I'd been veering towards the Asus SP01 or the SAMA 01,
What about setting up the side fans as an exhaust? That should relieve pressure above the gpu, helping exhaust gpu heat, and increasing flow from all the rest of ther perforations. (I know that positive pressure is the norm , but i remember experiments (at SPCR I think) that showed that for the same noise, negative pressure had the lowest temps.)
not entirely sure, but that might have a negative effect on cpu thermals if the aio is top mounted exhaust. it would be interesting to see side exhaust, as you suggest, with the top mount aio being switched to intake. as long as the side exhaust fans are moving more air than the aio intake fans, the results might be interesting.
I don´t think this makes sense, because most people have their pc on the right side of the desk. With side exhaust you´re shoving the hot GPU air straight in front of the monitors.
@@jojobetzler3732 pc on right side of desk makes more sense with tempered glass side panel - but since this example has perforated side panels, left side of desk should be perfectly suitable. you're right, though, about blowing hot air all over the user/monitor area if it is on the right side of the desk. that would be uncomfortable, especially so during the warm months. i'd still be interested to see results with side exhaust, assuming the user was fine with the pc being on the left side of the desk.
Oh man hearing Lian Li again after some time made me remember about my first "serious" gaming PC I built. It was in their A75 case a while back. It even had those grommets at the back to route water cooling tube out the back of the case lol. Watching your video now and loving the small form factor. Not sure if I am ready to take the plunge yet though, my daily is a massive full tower case with space for a second mobo... 😅
This case just arrived yesterday and I'm still experimenting with the fan configuration. This video is really helpful, especially the animation, thank you!
What a nice Case. If i hadn't built a custom full front mesh on my Dark Base 900 Pro rev.2 this year, i would be looking at this mid smol boi. Missed Case modding. Had a good laugh at this rough Review. Please more throwing around pieces. Pure Energy. Thanks Steve. And more slamming the Parts. Refreshing.
I just built in this case. Used my GPU fan as "intakes" and have a rear exhaust by the CPU and my AIO exhausting oiut of the top. Zero airflow issues. I bought a wooden front panel months ago from Etsy and it's ventilated.
I love this case. Ditched my Corsair 1000D with 1680mm of thick rad and 30 fans for this case and an AIO and 4 total fans. Still quiet and 13900k runs within 5c of water loop and 4090 is about the same. So nice to have something easy to move around.
Got the white version. It's amazing. Have a 360 AIO in the side, three 120 MM fans in the bottom and top and a 120MM in the rear. Got it for 60 euros. It was a breeze to build in and temps are amazing. Keep up the great work you guys and stay safe.
I got the lian LI D11 for my last build. I was literally smiling ear to ear putting that build together, because i kept running into things that were so well thoughtful. My wife was laughing at me "neeeerd!"
Man, I'm not in the market for a case, and frankly, I don't even find them interesting. But I watched the full thing because I just like watching Steve explain things so well.
My solution to the funky airflow pattern is building an itx machine in it and filling all that extra matx space with 360mm watercooling radiators. Some guy on reddit fit 3 in there!
This case looks great! I just wish they offered the white version with a wood front panel option. The black is really nice with the wood, but it would be great to have another option. They already have the white case and the wood front panel design, which shouldn't make it too hard to do the wooden front panel in white. Hopefully Lian Li has already considered this, for that is the case that I would like to buy.
Got this case for a couple builds at my job. So far it's been pretty nice. Just easy to build in and spacious. Only gripes are the front panel like Steve mentions right out of the gate, and the fact that hiding / managing cables isn't super easy in there. For a workhorse machine that's not a huge deal though.
That custom 3d animation with calming music was really zen, the meditation session was appreciated, "Thanks Steve". I feel like that only applies to the founder's edition type coolers though (of the 4000 series). If you get something like an MSI or ASUS 4000 series and it's just 3 frontal fans, then with the vertical mount and extra fans it would probably be a positive.
I got the earlier version A3 just over a month ago to build a dedicated VR system from a few hand-me-down parts and a few new ones (new MB, GFX, PSU and NVME). Really liked all the different options for AIO or Air mounting, space for a full size PSU with different mounting positions, extra mounts for SATA drives etc. I always aim for positive pressure, so went for two intakes at the bottom, one aimed at the GFX card fan input, the GFX card is a 7800XT, so a shorter 2 fan card, so the other case intake fan was set to push air round the front of the GFX card into the main case. Then just one exhaust fan at the back, as I wanted to pull air away from the CPU (air cooled). So far, zero heat issues, very happy. I wanted a more stealth case, no glass, RGB etc. This was spot on for me. (Although the wood replacement front looks tempting!).
AnandTech (and many of the old standbys may be going away) but your/GamerNexus' methodologies and thoroughness is keeping the scientific method and real explanations of the technicalities in reviews alive and well -- never just regurgitated manufacturer claims. Keep doing what you're doing.
The only thing that imo is missing with this case is an illuminated power button. I choose this case about a month ago for building a new budget air-cooled desktop for my mother-in-law. I added slow spinning 140mm side intake, 140mm top exhaust and 120mm rear exhaust (non-RGB) fans, making the build nearly silent. When the computer is on, but the monitor went in standby mode, my mother-in-law tends to forget whether she left the computer on or not 😀 So she sometimes presses the power button actually turning off, while she wanted to turn it on 😀 Otherwise nice case to build in, certainly at the price.
A single tower fits in this, so you could feasibly do 2x120mm intake fans, mount the air cooler to blow vertically and 2x120mm exhaust fans through the top. 7800X3D + a mid-range GPU for a wild 1440p air-cooled build.
It's great to be working on some positive reviews right now! We have another one in the pipe already -- the new best performer for our ATX case benchmarks. That's an exciting shakeup since it's been the Fractal Torrent for years now. Check back soon for that - should be a matter of days. In the meantime, check out our case reviews playlist here! ua-cam.com/video/0r9yukG_9EQ/v-deo.html
And check out our deep-dive into a failing tech company here: ua-cam.com/video/6VjYFdHMC3A/v-deo.html
Or support our work! www.patreon.com/gamersnexus & store.gamersnexus.net/
You should have tried top intake bottom intake side exhaust
nice
What if the side panel fans are configured as exhaust, rather than intake?
@@hyperturbotechnomike seconded
I liked you going through all the different alternatives available for around the same price.
That airflow 3D animation is just *chef's kiss
Thank you! Will let Andrew know you liked it!
Absolutely
As an engineer, i'm a big fan of functional 3D animations.
So if I'm understanding correctly, side panel fans don't help with cooling much, especially a PC's hottest area, the GPU, and actually might make it worse?
Since the popularity of glass side panels, we've seen very few cases with side panel fans. I was going to get a side fan enabled case for my next case, but I'm definitely going for a non glass side, like a good ol Antec P10.
can't say that about ur wifu
That airflow graphic is an absolute thing of beauty. I've watched it about 5 times. Please do this for all cases.
Working on it for more of them! We're making another one for an ITX case coming up and for a pre-built!
@@GamersNexus it's fantastic. The effort that must have gone into that is something else. Normally we just see pictures of the case with arrows, but this was just 👌 *Chefs kiss*.
@@GamersNexusNice.. now make one for dell to show how crappy their pc case..
I'd also love to see more case reviews with these quality animations. Really helps visualize the airflow.
Know what would be *really doap*? ...
Superimposing GN airflow animations over some of that sweet Schuuhleeiruuhniner? imaging.
mATX is so underrated. Hope to see more.
Back to you, Steve!
Has always been underrated and underserved. As multi-GPU has died and builds with a lot of hard drives have fallen off, maybe it'll have its moment!
I honestly think mATX is a solution to a problem very few people have. It has a comparable horizontal footprint to the smaller ATX cases, and the vertical space savings are not so necessary, in both on-desk and under-desk solutions. People who have desk footprint restrictions use ITX, and those who don't prefer the wider configurtion options of ATX.
@@GamersNexus I'm still mourning multi gpu :c
They can they can take my titans from my cold-.. ok maybe not dead hands..
@@DarioCastellarin There are mATX cases that are on par or even smaller than NR200. However, mATX motherboards are much better options to build with than ITX because they don't have to sacrifice IO, VRM size, m.2 and PCIe slots and RAM due to size.
@@DarioCastellarin Eeeeh, sorta. The height of an ATX case makes it difficult to fit in places that didn't expect a computer case, like entertainment centers and pretty much most furniture.
I vastly prefer mATX because it opens the possibility of putting a PC into more weird places if necessary, plus most of the cheap good motherboards nowadays are mATX anyway, an ATX case will feel empty.
The A3 being bigger than the A4 makes perfect sense when you go and look at metric paper sizes.
What doesn't make sense though is the lack of additional X's in the name to show its better.
@@dessimesLian Li is trying to be a trend setter. Trying to make "A"s the new "X"s. We're moving past consonants and going into the more eXclusive vowels.
It being 45 x 32cm is also in the ballpark for A3 page size (42x30). It's around A3+ size actually.
can't wait for A5 and A0
Steve still doing case reviews makes my day.
Mine too!
@@GamersNexus is the Corsair 3500x next?
Steve leaving the A4 to flop around inside the A3 was hilarious
As the great philosopher poet Paul Wall once said,
"Big A take lil' A."
An A3 should fit exactly 2 A4
Really appreciated the animation for the airflow, really cool to see.
Thank you!
Or warm, depending on the configuration
Finally a GN video where Steve doesn't kill someone.
Amen!
Thanks, Steve!
those red and blue arrows make it feel like i'm playing in the groove
hahahaha
Bro I literally just commented that
Sometimes I get annoyed at the fact all your videos are 540 hours long, but then I watch them and say god damn, what an amazing piece of content. All the details, the tests, even the animation.
Thanks, Steve.
lmao
Yes, certainly. I don't know where Steve finds the TIME.
The animation made it much easier for me to understand the impact of the side fans. You've gotten a new subscriber :)
That's awesome! Glad it helped!
delighted to see that some companies still care about budget :)
if only some in particular could 👀
Kind of surprising from Lian Li, they always have been the high priced high quality brand as far back as I remember. But they rarely disappoint.
I honestly think that mATX is the future of "small form" PCs that don't require exotic designs, and has been slept on up until very recently.
The main reason being that they can fit modern superhuge GPUs more easily, without breaking the bank.
My most recent build with a 58x3D and 6950xt went mATX for this exact reason.
Thanks for the awesome 3D animation.
also for non OC scenarios in the case of X3D cpus or non K intel chips IMO...easier/cheaper to cool as well plus most GPU/SKU tiers...offer QUALITY/PREMIUM coolers/aib designs that really offer a lot of cooling potential/noise performance for smaller builds like this...good airflow in an M-atx chassis is still better than a glass/atx-mid with no airflow at all....plus it comes down to psu quality and heat generated by psu other factors for sure board/vrm quality as far as total system temps....just IMO id definitely lean towards X3D cpu or a 7800x3D in something like this before considering overclocking an i7 or an r9/i9cpu. For gaming its definitely good/enough and spares budget towards higher tier quality psu/board/gpu-cooler.
My secondary gaming PC has a Corsair Obsidian 250D which is a Mini ITX chassis but it has room for a 240mm liquid cooler and I have a 300mm graphics card crammed into it as well as a 200mm front intake fan. It's probably one of my favorite designs for a Mini ITX chassis.
Yeah I prefer mATX. I dont need the space of a full tower and ITX just adds extra cost
And more than one PCIe slot which is why I still use matx
@@TheNiteNinja19 I love the 250D! Was finally able to track one down in the relatively recent past. It also has excellent drive bay support.
Considering this is framed as a budget case, i would've liked to see a configuration with an air cooler and no intake fans. Still a great review regardless.
agreed!
Same. Are there really people opting for liquid cooling and then getting a budget case? Seems a bit backwards to me...
isnt the standard thermal test done with air cooling?
Normally yes but they list "CLC" ie closed loop cooling on this one so they used an AIO liquid cooler in the testing @cc0767
Fractal North we have at home
More like,
Kid:
"Mommy, can we get DAN A3?"
Mommy brings home Fractal North:
"We have DAN A3 at home."
I have the Asus AP201 and recently transplanted my PC into it. It seems nearly identical to this case, minus the wood front panel. I genuinely love the build quality of it and honestly have been loving this form factor of case lately. I've done a handful of builds for friends of mine with these style cases and I think they are fantastic. I may pick up this one for a future living room gaming console build!
I also have an AP201 (tempered glass), but I wish this case existed when I did my build. I'd love to have a smaller footprint.
@@RolandsSh The A3 give or take is about 20mm shorter in height and 30mm shorter in length combined that with the rounded edges and wooden front I was sold.
AP201 is the best case ever invented and i will fight you in the street if you disagree.
all joking aside, it's my case of choice and want to recycle my current one for all future builds i do.
I put an XFX 6900xt in my case even though the spec says it wouldn't fit. It fits fine, lol
Same, I believe the AP201 has better cable management and more mounting points for SSDs which is also a plus. Prefer the cable mounts up top too, but I can see where bottom would be better.
YES! Finally! Been waiting for this review for forever!
Never heard "budget" and Lian Li in the same sentence till now. What a surprise 😄
Lancool 215/216 are fantastic budget cases
they made a bunch of budget cases, frequently featured here as well
@@cc0767 i do believe, but i usually don't watch case reviews, only if the case looks interesting... In the last few months I'm interested in small cases, which somehow tend to be more expensive.... As well as motherboards...
Lancool/Lanboy
How old is Lian Li now, i remember them putting out top end cases back in the late 90's.
Wikipedia says they've been at it since 1983!
I am curious how an air cooler would affect the thermals. Great case!
Of all the PC cases I've ever built in, this is by far my favorite. Small enough while having a lot of room to work in, easy to disassemble, lightweight but quality. An absolute winner.
I liked how some of the dust on the vertical mount cables moved with the camera while some didn't because it's actually on my screen.
I like these faster paced videos. More info while not feeling like I'm watching "a youtuber". Great job Steve!
Made me cackle at 16:40, Steve throwing components around is always a treat, but an entire ITX case inside another case? Caseception.
I'm in the process of trying to downsize the case without hurting performance and getting myself a headache of trying to cram everything into the mini-ITX world. More small/medium sized case review like this is much appreciated!
Then this is the perfect case for you, I managed to fit a double thick radiator AIO at the top, and 2x 120 slim fans at the bottom for the GPU.
These animations are really damn cool. I seriously hope to see more of them in future case reviews unless they're a hassle. It really helps us consumers who don't understand (or in my case hate) physics.
"This case is big enough to fit a smaller case inside it"
This is the kind of hard hitting journalism I am here for. Thanks Steve
Vertical GPU mount: To show off your video card. Glass panel: Shows off your video card but suffocates it. One exists for the other yet can not be used at the same time /s.
Been waiting for the video on this case to finally finalize my chosen case for my build.
Thanks Steve!
I have the original black version of the A3 and I absolutely love it! It was a summer budget build for my son and we both love how it has excellent airflow, no ugly RGB. We can run the 4 Be Quiet! fans we have installed (2 120mm bottom, 2 140mm top) in it low enough to make the entire build very quiet with great temps.
Just built my first pc in this case tonight, 7600x, sapphire nitro 7800xt, with Asrock A620i PG Lightning Wifi mini itx, full size evga psu. Thank you for this valuable information 🙏.
The 7000 series is not worth it.
Great review! The animation section was really cool and a great helpful visual to go along with your explanation. Thank you for the thorough reviews! It's great to see good matx cases being made.
That is a very cool airflow animation. This channel keeps getting better and better.
I really enjoyed this format where you give a bit of a summary of the key points first, and then move on to the details. It honestly made me more interested. Also I love a good budget case, thanks GN Team!
perfect thanks Steve!, ive been waiting for a review on this case
These 3D animations are great, they really do help in the explanations, please keep doing them when possible!
So happy to see a review on a case that I'd Ben eyeing for a while now. I've been holding off because I need an matx case which can accommodate a 280 aio and a full ATX PSU. Although my GPU is only 250 or so, I've been hesitant towards this form factor because of the compatibility concerns, so I'd been veering towards the Asus SP01 or the SAMA 01,
What about setting up the side fans as an exhaust? That should relieve pressure above the gpu, helping exhaust gpu heat, and increasing flow from all the rest of ther perforations.
(I know that positive pressure is the norm , but i remember experiments (at SPCR I think) that showed that for the same noise, negative pressure had the lowest temps.)
I wondered this too.
not entirely sure, but that might have a negative effect on cpu thermals if the aio is top mounted exhaust. it would be interesting to see side exhaust, as you suggest, with the top mount aio being switched to intake. as long as the side exhaust fans are moving more air than the aio intake fans, the results might be interesting.
I don´t think this makes sense, because most people have their pc on the right side of the desk. With side exhaust you´re shoving the hot GPU air straight in front of the monitors.
@@jojobetzler3732 pc on right side of desk makes more sense with tempered glass side panel - but since this example has perforated side panels, left side of desk should be perfectly suitable. you're right, though, about blowing hot air all over the user/monitor area if it is on the right side of the desk. that would be uncomfortable, especially so during the warm months. i'd still be interested to see results with side exhaust, assuming the user was fine with the pc being on the left side of the desk.
That's what Lian-Li recommends in the manual.
Watching you pull apart 2 in seconds really emphasizes how quickly you can get to everything on these lol
That 3D animation is awesome!! Thank you for that visualization!!
Oh man hearing Lian Li again after some time made me remember about my first "serious" gaming PC I built. It was in their A75 case a while back. It even had those grommets at the back to route water cooling tube out the back of the case lol. Watching your video now and loving the small form factor. Not sure if I am ready to take the plunge yet though, my daily is a massive full tower case with space for a second mobo... 😅
16:39 legit lmao. The realistic comedy is just amazing. 😂
Animation really upped the production value. Fantastic
Lian Li is my favorite brand when it comes to PC cases.
Same, I'm not going back to a different brand anytime soon
@@iHaveTheDocuments Until now I'm very happy with my Dynamic XL
That 3D section was so cool! You guys are always looking to improve with every media release.
This case just arrived yesterday and I'm still experimenting with the fan configuration.
This video is really helpful, especially the animation, thank you!
What a nice Case. If i hadn't built a custom full front mesh on my Dark Base 900 Pro rev.2 this year, i would be looking at this mid smol boi. Missed Case modding.
Had a good laugh at this rough Review. Please more throwing around pieces. Pure Energy. Thanks Steve. And more slamming the Parts. Refreshing.
The different between Steve with +2 mill subs and other bigger channels is, Steve earned each single one subscriber.
Loving the airflow visualization. Hope this becomes a staple for future and upcoming case reviews ❤
I wish EVERY case came with an animation of the optimal fan positions
this is thee only non biased tech channel. GN is the only real one left
I just built in this case. Used my GPU fan as "intakes" and have a rear exhaust by the CPU and my AIO exhausting oiut of the top. Zero airflow issues. I bought a wooden front panel months ago from Etsy and it's ventilated.
The effort to modelise the case and airflow is top notch, I'm loving it ! Thanks !
The 3D animation is amazing, now i wish there was this kind of animation for every case.
Animation is super sick, you guys are always doing the most with case reviews
I love this case. Ditched my Corsair 1000D with 1680mm of thick rad and 30 fans for this case and an AIO and 4 total fans. Still quiet and 13900k runs within 5c of water loop and 4090 is about the same. So nice to have something easy to move around.
In the animation I like how the arrows are textured with an opacity mask on cylindrical geometry. Clever!
Got the white version. It's amazing. Have a 360 AIO in the side, three 120 MM fans in the bottom and top and a 120MM in the rear. Got it for 60 euros. It was a breeze to build in and temps are amazing. Keep up the great work you guys and stay safe.
Just ordered the wood case for my new build. Further excited seeing this video just post along with your positive feedback.
oh shit, I spent all day watching videos on this thing since I am foolishly planning on building a home server in it. perfect timing!
any recommendations for air cooling in the case, or is the recommendation "don't use air cooling in this case" lol
Love the A3, It's such a clean looking case and mATX is just great if you don't have a specific usecase for more Pcie express slots
I was actually looking at this case for a new m-ATX build I've been pondering. excellent timing!
12:50 Steve just casually pulling a Linus, banging that A4 inside of the A3
awesome I was just looking at a few different wood panel cases, I love this one! Thanks steve!
Love seeing you review SFF cases, thanks Steve. It looks like a large NR200P.
I just bought this case. It is so good. Very easy to work with.
Great custom animation. Thanks Steve!
Been waiting for y'all to review this
Just as I was looking for a new matx case, you guys drop this. Amazing timing!
huh fractal really made an impression on the industry
I'm here for that tactical cable management!
I love how he just ragdolls the cases xD! Great video! I'll probably buy this case now that I know the exact specs and thermals thanks to you guys!
I got the lian LI D11 for my last build. I was literally smiling ear to ear putting that build together, because i kept running into things that were so well thoughtful. My wife was laughing at me "neeeerd!"
Man, I'm not in the market for a case, and frankly, I don't even find them interesting. But I watched the full thing because I just like watching Steve explain things so well.
I have this case, One of the best cases i've ever used
Was so close to getting one, then an M2 showed up in stock. If I were building my first system now, this is the case I’d pick for sure.
Bought this pre-used from overclockers £20-off. Absolutely adore it.
Thanks for going above and beyond GN appreciated the animation a lot :D
My solution to the funky airflow pattern is building an itx machine in it and filling all that extra matx space with 360mm watercooling radiators. Some guy on reddit fit 3 in there!
Animation was slick nice job
This case looks great! I just wish they offered the white version with a wood front panel option. The black is really nice with the wood, but it would be great to have another option. They already have the white case and the wood front panel design, which shouldn't make it too hard to do the wooden front panel in white. Hopefully Lian Li has already considered this, for that is the case that I would like to buy.
Got this case for a couple builds at my job. So far it's been pretty nice. Just easy to build in and spacious. Only gripes are the front panel like Steve mentions right out of the gate, and the fact that hiding / managing cables isn't super easy in there. For a workhorse machine that's not a huge deal though.
That custom 3d animation with calming music was really zen, the meditation session was appreciated, "Thanks Steve".
I feel like that only applies to the founder's edition type coolers though (of the 4000 series).
If you get something like an MSI or ASUS 4000 series and it's just 3 frontal fans, then with the vertical mount and extra fans it would probably be a positive.
the way steve handles all the things he reviews.. and then reviews prebuilds noticing every detail.. sounds like "Do as I say, not as I do" :D
GN puts out a case review, it's a good day.
I got the earlier version A3 just over a month ago to build a dedicated VR system from a few hand-me-down parts and a few new ones (new MB, GFX, PSU and NVME). Really liked all the different options for AIO or Air mounting, space for a full size PSU with different mounting positions, extra mounts for SATA drives etc. I always aim for positive pressure, so went for two intakes at the bottom, one aimed at the GFX card fan input, the GFX card is a 7800XT, so a shorter 2 fan card, so the other case intake fan was set to push air round the front of the GFX card into the main case. Then just one exhaust fan at the back, as I wanted to pull air away from the CPU (air cooled). So far, zero heat issues, very happy. I wanted a more stealth case, no glass, RGB etc. This was spot on for me. (Although the wood replacement front looks tempting!).
That airflow graphic was sooooooo good!
insane timing, i just ordered this case. looking forward to building in it!
Nice animation on the airflow there. I would love to have more insights on how it perform with air cooling as well
The animations are really helpful because it would be hard to wrap my head around the idea that more cool air can be worse for thermals
I'm impressed by the airflow animation
AnandTech (and many of the old standbys may be going away) but your/GamerNexus' methodologies and thoroughness is keeping the scientific method and real explanations of the technicalities in reviews alive and well -- never just regurgitated manufacturer claims. Keep doing what you're doing.
I got one. Works ok. No real filters.... Won't supress fan noise...
The only thing that imo is missing with this case is an illuminated power button.
I choose this case about a month ago for building a new budget air-cooled desktop for my mother-in-law. I added slow spinning 140mm side intake, 140mm top exhaust and 120mm rear exhaust (non-RGB) fans, making the build nearly silent.
When the computer is on, but the monitor went in standby mode, my mother-in-law tends to forget whether she left the computer on or not 😀 So she sometimes presses the power button actually turning off, while she wanted to turn it on 😀
Otherwise nice case to build in, certainly at the price.
A single tower fits in this, so you could feasibly do 2x120mm intake fans, mount the air cooler to blow vertically and 2x120mm exhaust fans through the top. 7800X3D + a mid-range GPU for a wild 1440p air-cooled build.
Love the animation! Great review
Thank you for leaving the A4 in the belly of the A3 for the remainder of the video.
Lian Li never disappoints in their case quality.