LIAN LI PC-A05NA Silver Aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Pros: Simple in looks and mechanics. Lots of room inside to work. Good instruction sheet with clear photos.

Cons: Absolutely nothing.

Other Thoughts: This case is worth every penny by the time and trouble it saves. It's kind of incredible how easy it is to put a pc together and maintain it with this case. I will never get a bargain basement case again, and will likely stick with Lian Li. I'm impressed with the amount of homework the designers put into it.

Pros: Reasonably small form factor.
Solid aluminum construction.
Good airflow.
Standard ATX compatibility.
Pretty.

Cons: More exspensive than standard case.

Other Thoughts: I really have nothing bad to say about this case. It is smaller than a normal case, but in no way hard to work with. The airflow moves from the back of the case to the front, which is reverse from a normal case but works out pefectly. There are sort of funky rubber thumb screw mounts for the drives, but the noise reduction is so spectacular as a result that I cannot fault them. The brushed aluminum is smooth and cool to the touch. It's also surpisingly nice looking up close. The upside down motherboard mount is also funky, but this design allows for a crazy long video card which most mini-ATX cases DO NOT support, so they get props for that.

I realized that I was not using any of the extra expansion slots available in a normal mid tower and wanted to find a suitable smaller case that would take standard parts and yet be lighter and more mobile. This case fit the bill PERFECTLY. I love it and if you get one, you will too.

Pros: This case is well constructed. Everything fit nicely. The "fit and finish" is very good. The brushed aluminum finish and minimalist design is a good relief from the "cyber-warrior" video game chassis.

The two included case fans are quiet and provide good ventilation. Although, my build was low powered.

Its not black colored.

Cons: The description says the case is constructed with 1.5 mm aluminum. This is somewhat misleading. The main frame is 1.5 mm AL, but the side panels and motherboard tray are 1.0 mm AL.

Others have commented on the light leakage from the front panel LEDs. This is true. This is easily fixed by slipping some heat-shrink tubing over the LEDs and light pipes.

This case is silver colored. Good luck finding a silver colored optical drive. Newegg does not sell siver colored optical drives. Why are they all black?

The "tool-less" optical drive retainers are goofy and unnecessary. I have screwdrivers and know how to use them.

Other Thoughts: The problem with black colored optical drives can be overcome, I think. Lian Li offers an optical drive cover, part number C-02A. I have not bought one yet, so I can't say how well it works. Newegg doesn't stock it.

Even though I list some cons, I'll still give it 5 eggs. Its nice to have a quality case that looks good.

Pros: This case is close to perfect. I've purchased somewhere in excess of a dozen cases from Newegg and others through the years and to date nothing else quite measures up. I almost didn't choose this case because of other's comments about the side panels being flimsy. I found them to be just right. I also agree with the reviewer who said the front panel tension for removal is just right, not too loose or flimsy. I found the fan placement to be excellent, both case fans lining up perfectly with the huge Zalman 11X Extreme atop the Intel Sandy Bridge 2500K CPU and blowing directly across the SSD and second spinning drive. No cooling issues here. I also like the way the minimalist black strip on the top of the case ties in with black optical drives. For my tastes, the simple clean lines, light weight and small size (with lots of room inside) are just hard to beat.

Cons: A few gripes. The power LED could be dimmer. You could use it alternatively for a landing light at a small airport. It would be nice to have removable dust filters in front of the case fans (ala Antec). As others have mentioned, air flow around the bottom-mounted power supply, especially one with bottom fans rather than back fans, is tight. If you decide on this case you might want to consider a power supply with back-mounted fan. I bought my PS before the case. And if you want to use the power supply's rocker switch, it entails removing the front cover. Finally, and this is my biggest complaint, I would like to see Lian Li use mounting screws on the hard drive cage instead of rivets. When mounting the hard drives with the supplied screws and rubber grommets (an excellent mounting system in itself) it is easy when sliding in the drive caddies to get the allignment of the rubber grommets wrong, as they are a snug fit (necessarily so). It would be much easier to avoid this problem if the

Other Thoughts: hard drive cage were removable, as in some other cases.

But all things considered, this is the best all-around case I've owned and comes highly recommended.

Pros: Nice finish, no sharp edges, solid construction. While not the best case I've ever purchased, definitely up there. What's ironic is the best case I've ever purchased was also made by Lian Li. Plenty of thumbscrews to make working with it easy.

Cons: I had to remove the back case fan and turn it so the cable was long enough to reach the far side of the board. The power supply location is in an odd position in front, preventing one from flipping a PSU's built-in on/off switch. Basically this design forces a PSU to become a power vampire.

Other Thoughts: Other than the 2 minor cons, this is a great case. Would I purchase this case again? Probably.

Pros: All Aluminum, extra screws for everything, enough space for full size ATX board and 6950 video card, power supply front mount allows PS to be upside down or right side up and cord is long enough to route neatly inside the case. This is a compact case with enough room to run a full system with no problems.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Installed my P45 mainbord with a HD6950 and Antec 650watt power supply. There is room for 2 optical drives and 3 hard drives and still have airflow around all parts! Typical Lian Li construction makes this a very nice looking high quality case with no major faults. The hardest part was routing the wiring to minimize the clutter and even then I was able to keep 75% of the cables out of the airflow paths. Love the look and functionality of this case!! It is my new favorite!

Pros: My favorite Lian Li Case so far and I've owned 3 different models even the new PC-B25F.

All models have top of the line build quality but this particular model is the smallest and most minimalistic of the few I've owned.

It seems to have around the same depth as a mid-tower but shorter so you can fit anything full-sized in it.

This is huge plus for me as I upgrade often and can't be hindered by size issues when deciding what to purchase for the system next.

Large video cards will fit. An old 8800gts 512 and a newer HIS 5770 vid card both fit with no complications and they are by no meens small cards.

Cons: Like most people I'd prefer the usb and other audio jacks to be located on the front instead of the top. If you're anything like me the top of a pc case is the first place you set things and usb's tend to get in the way.
Not a design flaw but more of a personal preference. My brother likes it the way it is.

Other Thoughts: If you can swing a few extra bucks and like the smaller, clean-cut, minimalistic, and classy looks this case won't disappoint.
From what I've learned in dozens of builds is it's worth getting a good case. Why buy a new case every time you rebuild?

Pros: Aluminum looks great and the case is very lightweight. Toolless construction and no sharp edges.

Fit my MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr graphics card with no problems. There is only about an inch or two of clearance between the edge of my Micro ATX motherboard and the optical drive bays, however, so longer graphics cards may be tight. If you take or cut the optical drive bay somehow you may be able to get an extra ~6 inches or so of graphics card room.

Cons: It looks a little larger overall than I was expecting. System runs cool but a little noisy. The built-in fans are relatively quiet but don't push much air.

I have the two built-in case fans, a quiet 120 mm fan on my Seasonic 520W power supply, the stock fan on an Intel Core i5-2500, and the two fans on an MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr graphics card and it's about as loud as my Jasper Xbox 360 (non-slim).

Also, the power and HDD LED's on the front are very bright blue/orange respectively. I wish they were about 1/3 as bright because they light up my room a little at night.

Other Thoughts: My better half appreciates the more adult aesthetic of this case when compared to my old Antec Three Hundred. It's significantly lighter too thanks to the aluminum.

Pros: - Looks great.
- Nicely designed, easy to work with, lightweight.
- Back to front airflow eliminates hot air cushion between the case and a wall.
- 2x120mm quiet fans.
- Rubber washer suspension for HDD for low noise and vibration.
- Front mounting for PSU provides better access to components.

Cons: Aluminum is thinnish - need to be gentle when working with the case.

Other Thoughts: Back to front airflow is a good idea, because computer cases tend to be stashed in close spaces and that leads to hot air layer trapped between the back of the case and the wall. This case gets the air in the back and blows it out of the front.

Some reviewers said their cases case with black front cover screws, but my case had chrome screws. However my case has black trim on the top of the front cover, which I personally don't mind because I have black card reader and DVD drive faceplates anyway.

Pros: light weight, compact, clean design, easy access

Cons: some black trim, no wheels

Other Thoughts: Love this case. I have about 6 cases , and this is much better than my AntecMini Tower thats supposed to be quiet. You know the one with piano finish. I have that in white, and it looks OK, but its a heavy steel case, and its just not easy to flip on side and work on it if need be. the case design is hard to access things for it also. THe Lain Li, is thought out for the most part. It has good airflow in my opinion, it works just fine.As long as you have the fans blowing in the right direction, and you dont have super high speed at wrong point and mostly sucktion, your good to go. My 3.6Ghz i7 16gb x64 setup resides in this case. It maybe looked at the least important thing to consider for a PC setup, but in the end it becomes the foundation of it all, and that is key, and worth a few extra bucks for a well thought out case.