Does anyone actually want to stick up for Lian Li at this moment- just days before I will bite the bullet (or kick the bucket) and buy an Antec Solo. All stores were out of stock and will take a few days. You may actually be doing me a favour if you do. I have been saying I was going to buy a Lian Li for a while and every time I was told I shouldn't buy a case with, for example with small (in/out) fans. So I heard it so often I agreed and it wasn't long in the forums here I decided the Antec Solo was just right. It is a king or queen of quiet. It would have to be to make me change my mind about the LL. I want a quiet pooter. I am willing to take all the steps to make it so, the right hw, backing off my overclocking, etc. But I do prefer the look of LL. Can anyone say that I could get a LL and make it as quiet as the Antec Solo. Or close. Also, are there any links you can give me for LL owners who like it and have it quiet. For that matter if you have any specific links about reference method cases or the like in here that use the Solo as well, thx. It is not 100%, but probable that my LL choices are PC-6070B+2, PC-60B+2: here in Toronto we don't have an LL distributor, but I still may be able to get a PC-A16B, and PC-A08 shipped in.
Also, LLs have what I think to be fantastic ideas for cooling &/or quieting. The cpu duct/fan intake, the gpu "blower" duct/fan exhaust-I think, and the ps exhaust deflector duct. These items I will not get with any other stock cases, and I may not add them either. I would think these to allow better quiet (and cooling) and increase the odds I could logically get a nice quiet LL case I wanted for so long in the first place, instead.
give me props for Lian Li for quiet: only days/hours left
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
Don't give up on Lian Li 
Sometimes I get the feeling that most people around here are kind of brainwashed to think that Antec cases are the only ones that can be used for silent computing. It makes me a bit sad, because there are a lot of other nice cases available. Often better looking
As a change, it could be nice to read about and look at some of them.
Personally, I think most cases can be made silent enough. However, I must admitt, that Antec Solo probably makes it more easy. But must it be that easy? What about some challenge?
Sometimes I get the feeling that most people around here are kind of brainwashed to think that Antec cases are the only ones that can be used for silent computing. It makes me a bit sad, because there are a lot of other nice cases available. Often better looking
As a change, it could be nice to read about and look at some of them.
Personally, I think most cases can be made silent enough. However, I must admitt, that Antec Solo probably makes it more easy. But must it be that easy? What about some challenge?
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Shadowknight
- Posts: 1283
- Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 2:43 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC, USA
LL PC-S80
Bent,
I too am a fan LL cases. I have had a 60 for many years and have built 3 systems in it. My enjoyment of that case drove me to look for a LL case that had larger (120 mm) fans for additional cooling. However I also wanted it to be quiet. Since I am running an ASUS A8N32 Dx with a heatpipe system I wanted the MB to be in the "upright" position.
So after reading many reviews on the web and searching (including Mike C's comments about airflow) here I went ahead and purchased the PC-S80.
I have found my system runs about the same temps as in the 60. But much quieter. So I had hoped to get better cooling and "quietness" and only got a quieter system.
If you are going for silence and have a "hot" (not further defined/subjective) system I would recommend against this case.
It is very nicely put together and I can make it quiet but not silent.
The Hardrive cage will get in the way of a long GFX card.
No Motherboard tray.
Long if you use the muffler on the back.
Bad airflow.
So I like it but wanted it to be a little cooler for the cost. I am thinking about buying some Noctua P-12s to run in front of the Harddrives where I need strong fans to work against the constricted air tunnel.
Questions?
I too am a fan LL cases. I have had a 60 for many years and have built 3 systems in it. My enjoyment of that case drove me to look for a LL case that had larger (120 mm) fans for additional cooling. However I also wanted it to be quiet. Since I am running an ASUS A8N32 Dx with a heatpipe system I wanted the MB to be in the "upright" position.
So after reading many reviews on the web and searching (including Mike C's comments about airflow) here I went ahead and purchased the PC-S80.
I have found my system runs about the same temps as in the 60. But much quieter. So I had hoped to get better cooling and "quietness" and only got a quieter system.
If you are going for silence and have a "hot" (not further defined/subjective) system I would recommend against this case.
It is very nicely put together and I can make it quiet but not silent.
The Hardrive cage will get in the way of a long GFX card.
No Motherboard tray.
Long if you use the muffler on the back.
Bad airflow.
So I like it but wanted it to be a little cooler for the cost. I am thinking about buying some Noctua P-12s to run in front of the Harddrives where I need strong fans to work against the constricted air tunnel.
Questions?
I've had a PC60 since one of the first shipments from Japan way back in the 300a days. Back then the extras amazed me, like the fan controller and the rather simple cable management. This was coming from Addtronics and Inwin. The thing that always bothered me was the noise, and I promised myself I'd never buy an aluminum framed case again.
Well, I decided to replace it with another Lian-Li, the PC-A16. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I'm using undervolted Noctua fans suspended with stretch magic, using rubber grommets, spacer beads, and crimp beads for isolation and fixation. I use the same technique for suspending hard drives in the wealth of 5.25" bays (which is why I chose this case, it's a silent server project). I decided I needed supports between every couple drives, so I cut down some aluminum bar and screwed those in with some rubber film in between. A few of those do a good job of keeping the rather thin drive cage from buckling in. I also fashioned some fan brackets reaching out from the 5.25" bays to suspend a couple more noctuas between the suspended hard drives and the motherboard. With the well ventilated front (a weakness and a strength for the case, good hard drive cooling but very poor noise blocking) these suck air over the hard drives, one blowing over my 3ware 9650se, it's BBU, and NIC, and the other over the memory and tower CPU heatsink. Then the 120mm PSU and 120mm fan over the backplane vent from the CPU (which has a passive Thermalright HR-01 Plus), and this Lian-Li case has their expansion slot bracket, which houses a 120mm fan.
Overall I'm very happy, but the one place I have problems is the hard drives. I have four 3.5" drives for /data and one 2.5" drive for /, so I get a lot of seek noise. I'm pretty sure I'll swap the Samsung drives for some of those 5400RPM RE2 drives from WD to take care of that. You could also buy the solid 5.25" bay covers from someplace like frozencpu.com and rely on the vents in the sides of the bezel for vents to the hard drives, I may do that yet. A little rubber film there would surely help further.
Speaking of rubber film, I've done so much vibration isolation work that I haven't had any need for rubber film on the case sides. I'll probably do it anyway just to be sure, but I don't feel or hear any vibration.
Sorry, I don't have any temperature readings, I took some early on but didn't record them. Right now I don't even have a video card in there, and am running Linux without X installed. I'll have to look into reading sensor data from the console. I'm pretty anal about temps, though, especially hard drive, and I didn't have any qualms.
Well, I decided to replace it with another Lian-Li, the PC-A16. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I'm using undervolted Noctua fans suspended with stretch magic, using rubber grommets, spacer beads, and crimp beads for isolation and fixation. I use the same technique for suspending hard drives in the wealth of 5.25" bays (which is why I chose this case, it's a silent server project). I decided I needed supports between every couple drives, so I cut down some aluminum bar and screwed those in with some rubber film in between. A few of those do a good job of keeping the rather thin drive cage from buckling in. I also fashioned some fan brackets reaching out from the 5.25" bays to suspend a couple more noctuas between the suspended hard drives and the motherboard. With the well ventilated front (a weakness and a strength for the case, good hard drive cooling but very poor noise blocking) these suck air over the hard drives, one blowing over my 3ware 9650se, it's BBU, and NIC, and the other over the memory and tower CPU heatsink. Then the 120mm PSU and 120mm fan over the backplane vent from the CPU (which has a passive Thermalright HR-01 Plus), and this Lian-Li case has their expansion slot bracket, which houses a 120mm fan.
Overall I'm very happy, but the one place I have problems is the hard drives. I have four 3.5" drives for /data and one 2.5" drive for /, so I get a lot of seek noise. I'm pretty sure I'll swap the Samsung drives for some of those 5400RPM RE2 drives from WD to take care of that. You could also buy the solid 5.25" bay covers from someplace like frozencpu.com and rely on the vents in the sides of the bezel for vents to the hard drives, I may do that yet. A little rubber film there would surely help further.
Speaking of rubber film, I've done so much vibration isolation work that I haven't had any need for rubber film on the case sides. I'll probably do it anyway just to be sure, but I don't feel or hear any vibration.
Sorry, I don't have any temperature readings, I took some early on but didn't record them. Right now I don't even have a video card in there, and am running Linux without X installed. I'll have to look into reading sensor data from the console. I'm pretty anal about temps, though, especially hard drive, and I didn't have any qualms.
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mr. poopyhead
- Patron of SPCR
- Posts: 376
- Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:37 pm
- Location: Mississauga, ON
- Contact:
Has anyone seen the more recent Lian Lis on display or worked with them?
There's general agreement that you don't want the earlier soda-can-thin Lian Li cases. Some of the more recent ones are clearly thicker and claim to have been designed for quiet. Some look like little vaults.
But the last time I was buying nobody in my area stocked 'em, and if I'm going to mod something I want to take a good look at it first. Antecs are sold everywhere.
And yeah, the Solo doesn't look cool, but it's inexpensive and does the job.
There's general agreement that you don't want the earlier soda-can-thin Lian Li cases. Some of the more recent ones are clearly thicker and claim to have been designed for quiet. Some look like little vaults.
But the last time I was buying nobody in my area stocked 'em, and if I'm going to mod something I want to take a good look at it first. Antecs are sold everywhere.
And yeah, the Solo doesn't look cool, but it's inexpensive and does the job.
well I was trying to do myself a favour and stay true to the quiet computing I promised myself. I had read SOlo is maybe not one of a kind but that kind of one. For looks a TT Swing looked pretty cool, I thought. But the Solo is nice. I wanted quiet. Line up all cases from 0 to 100(or 567), 0 being quiet, then chuck out 75% on general principle, no matter what. Then if I could get a window, and it didn't make much differnce then great, but I can't be sure. I hadn't seen a LL in a while and wasn't overly impressed with the PC-60B+2 I saw in person. The PC-6070B+2 I could have ordered from ncix.com, but may be warm inside. I ahd not given up on quiet and am happpy. Look what happened to the Miata which is one of the few cars still true to rwd, its a blast, voted best sports car of all time. Things just aren't that way in real life. I'd personally check the swing (6000) out, but I wouldn't compromise on the noise, and what do I know. Its not too Gaudy all things considered, in person. I really know nothing about it, hot or even quiet? For smallish, cool, quiet on the right side of the 25/75 pile, with a window, and pretty, who knows- if, I dunno. I just happened to see it. Maybe I'm dreaming - anyone want to comment compared to the SOlo. Afaik nobody can ever poo poo the Solo for quietness!
The Solo is at the huge end in height for me- its 50.5, about 7cm taller than the Swing.
LL I saw as mentioned, was not too impressive as is.
In reality though at these prices one could experiment and re-sell if interested.
after stumbling across more Solo posts I must include I probably don't know how good I got it. Theres probably no comparison.
The Solo is at the huge end in height for me- its 50.5, about 7cm taller than the Swing.
LL I saw as mentioned, was not too impressive as is.
In reality though at these prices one could experiment and re-sell if interested.
after stumbling across more Solo posts I must include I probably don't know how good I got it. Theres probably no comparison.
I browsed this forum for a while now, and seems to me everyone has either the Antec solo or the P182 series cases for quietness. I personally bought a Lian Li PC-S80A, its costly yes, its heavy yes, but damn it is a nice looking case.
The case is actually quite innovative with the double casing, and air tunnel to distribute air flow. Though the double casing might be a little bit cumbersome if you change your hardwares often, I cut myself everytime I open it somehow.
In my honest opinion, there is no case that will eliminiate the noise that is emitted by harddware components, the harddrive will always viberate, the fans will make that woosh noise, the mobo will buzz, so just pick the right components and stick them in a nice case and call it for the day.
Here is a list of components in my computer right now
E2140 with Noctua NH-U12P
2x 320GB Seagate 7200.10
2x1GB XMS2 CL4 Corsair memory
2xHD 3870
ZALMAN ZM600-HP
I have 5 fans running in my computer, and all of them are running at 5v, my computer is very quiet, its not silent but very very quiet, only thing you can hear from time to time in general computing is the seeking noise from the harddrive.
It's up you wether you want to stick to the main stream by getting an Antec or build a very quiet computer with a fine looking case.
I actually do have a friend that has P180 with Zalman Reservator II tower cooling system, I admit he spend less money than me and has a quieter computer, but that is such an ugly and cheap looking case.
The case is actually quite innovative with the double casing, and air tunnel to distribute air flow. Though the double casing might be a little bit cumbersome if you change your hardwares often, I cut myself everytime I open it somehow.
In my honest opinion, there is no case that will eliminiate the noise that is emitted by harddware components, the harddrive will always viberate, the fans will make that woosh noise, the mobo will buzz, so just pick the right components and stick them in a nice case and call it for the day.
Here is a list of components in my computer right now
E2140 with Noctua NH-U12P
2x 320GB Seagate 7200.10
2x1GB XMS2 CL4 Corsair memory
2xHD 3870
ZALMAN ZM600-HP
I have 5 fans running in my computer, and all of them are running at 5v, my computer is very quiet, its not silent but very very quiet, only thing you can hear from time to time in general computing is the seeking noise from the harddrive.
It's up you wether you want to stick to the main stream by getting an Antec or build a very quiet computer with a fine looking case.
I actually do have a friend that has P180 with Zalman Reservator II tower cooling system, I admit he spend less money than me and has a quieter computer, but that is such an ugly and cheap looking case.
Yes, the S80 is nice looking. In comparision Antec P180 looks like something that was manufactured in former East Europe. 
However, both are way too big for my taste and needs. Instead, I am very tempted by this one (click on image for more info):
Is it possible to use for a cool and quiet, low power system? Perhaps, some day, I will give it a try.
However, both are way too big for my taste and needs. Instead, I am very tempted by this one (click on image for more info):
Is it possible to use for a cool and quiet, low power system? Perhaps, some day, I will give it a try.