LIAN LI PC-A76 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Pros: Perfect for a server. I was going to get one of those metal and plastic cases and I couldn't do it. I need Aluminum and this case is perfect for the home server that I am going to build in it. It takes up to 12 hard drives and 3 SSD's. It will fix any size mother board, so as I move my older systems into it to be the server board it will perfect. This is my 3rd Liam Li case. I moded that last one I had for water cooling. They are so easy to mod. I won't be modding this one, it will perfect the way it is, except I will be adding sound damping material so that is quiet. I put corsair fans and the H100i in it to cool it. I heard someone say that this case is too much for a server case, I disagree. Just a few more dollars than the metal ones.

Cons: I hope the Aluminum is not too thin, I know that is will someone thin at this price point. Other than that I can't think of one.

Other Thoughts: I am a sucker for Classy Aluminum cases, I have 3 Lian Li and 2 Silver Stone cases including the TJ11. I am not a kid and I want my computers to look good. I put expensive hardware in them and I want that hardware to match the case.

Pros: HDD cage. It's the most you can get without going rackmount.

Cons: Fans. They aren't as quiet as I'd hoped and the connectors for the motherboard headers are an absolute joke. This is a massive case and they provide you with fans that could not possible reach far enough to plug into anything.

Lian-Li Quality Assurance Dept. - My case came with one of the brackets that are meant to support an SSD only secured in three spots. A rivet was placed in the fourth hole, but never passed through the hole for the bracket. Instead the bracket rested on top of the rivet which caused the one corner to lift slightly. When I opened the case this was the very first thing I noticed. It doesn't seem like a huge deal until you realize that the inside of the case is painted when all of the parts are assembled. After drilling out & replacing the rivet, part of the cage was exposed that wasn't when it was painted.

In summary, I had to buy the case, extensions for the fans, and a rivet gun & rivets to fix the cage. The case is better than three eggs, but the annoyances ruined the experience for me.

Pros: This case is fantastic! The black on it is evenly distributed without a trace of its natural color, so the pictures featured on the site don't do it justice at all. The doors are nice and firm and the case is quiet contrary to what others elsewhere have said.

The fans also work really well and the case has dust filters! The fingerprints on it are as easy to clean as it is to get them on with a moist microfiber cloth, but you'd have to go out of your way to see the fingerprints anyway depending on the orientation of the light in your room. The top also fits a 240mm radiator easily, though you're better off using the screws your kit came with rather than the case screws.

Cons: Cable connection was tough, but no eggs deducted since it is a PSU issue (it has short sleeves and isn't modular). Also... nowhere for wheels! So the dream of transferring wheels from my old full tower to my new one is a dream denied. Wheels are great not only for cleaning but installation, especially when constantly switching back and forth between front end and back end cable management, but no eggs deducted since one doesn't manage cables or install components everyday so no biggie.

Due to the orientation of the 3.5 and 2.5 bays I couldn't use one cable for both my 2.5 and 3.5 drives, and my 5.25 and 2.5 couldn't connect the same way either so I had to improvise and place the 2.5 underneath the 5.25 and it works just fine even without extra 5.25 to 2.5 peripherals.

Other Thoughts: The rubber grommets come off easily. Some may think of this as a con but underneath the grommets is smooth, rounded aluminum so your cables are safe anyway. Besides, not everyone likes rubber grommets. The water cooling holes on the back are also made of a hard and tough plastic and it actually hurt my finger poking it through the plastic is so hard. I don't have that problem myself as I have a closed loop system though.

In summery, I challenge you to find a better case than this at this price point! I'm not holding my breath.

Pros: See review "The Limits of Aluminum"

Cons: See review "The Limits of Aluminum"

Other Thoughts: After owning this case for a bit more and discovering what it truly has to offer, I decided to change my review. This is a 4 egg case, so I rated it 5 eggs to even out my earlier review.

Everything I said before still stands, I just misunderstood how to take advantage of this case. The top 2x120mm fans should be for silent fans or closed loop liquid cooling. Loud fans that push a lot of air are somewhat useless, as the air flows from the front of the case to the back. These fans should only be used to get rid of excess heat, and the quiet stock fans from my earlier cases work perfectly here.

The HDD column serves as a PERFECT mounting bracket for 3x120mm fans. You can slip some rubber pads into the HDD slots (just like you're installing a HDD) and zip-tie a fan through the 50+ holes in the HDD column. Just like that you have 3 silent fans that can finish pushing air from the front of the case to the vital parts.

I noticed no noise difference between using 2x120mm fans on top of the case and keeping the aluminum plates locked in. Take advantage of this.

Opening the door on the case does increase airflow (and noise). My idle temps drop by about 6 degrees C with the door open (after about 15 minutes of leaving it open).

Do NOT use the fan kits that come with the case. The metal screens that Lian Li supplies are extremely prone to vibrating and hitting the edge of the fan cut out. Instead use a generic fan grill; it looks nicer too.

Since you're using an aftermarket CPU cooler (most likely a very large one) you'll only be able to fit one 140mm fan into the side of the case. My side fan actually fits so snug that it touches the heat sink of my CPU cooler. Keep an eye out for 140x20mm fans, they'll give you more breathing room. The fan that I can fit onto the side panel sits right in front of my two GTX 560s, which is perfect for sucking that hot air out. If you have an XL-ATX motherboard you'll have the same luxury.

This case isn't silent, but it's close. The stock case comes with 4 fans. I'm using 10, and the case has impressed me with how quiet it is. It's about as loud as my mini fridge.

Pros: > Great clean design
> 12 3.5 drive bays (3 of which can readily accommodate a 2.5" SSD) - this isn't really mentioned in the newegg specs but you can see from the pictures as well as via Lian Li site.
> Fairly quiet with stock fans running and an additional Xigmatek XLF-F1255 120mm that I added to the top
> Room for 4 fans in addition to those included (2 x 120mm on top and 2 x 140mm on side cover)
> Nice (but loud) click of front door when opening and closing.

Cons: Below are some minor quibbles and I really can't take off a whole egg for these but here they are!

> Only 2 5.25" bays (both of which are externally accessible)
> "Main" cover was slightly difficult to remove but seems to be loosening up with repeated removals
> On such a beautiful case, there is use of 2 strips of off white weather stripping inside the front door that seems out of place. I guess this can be replaced pretty easily but I'm surprised at the use of material that looks so out of place.
> Wires for LEDs and PWR/Reset switches do not have a lot of length. I had to unbind them from the wire-guide post behind the motherboard tray so they could reach the pins on the motherboard. It's not pretty but hardly awful either.
> Top cover for USB and headphone ports is not that well engineered. It has already develped a noticeable scratch because there is no clearance here and I think I'm just scraping metal on metal to open this cover.
> Even when using right angle SATA cables, these really need to be attached on the side of the case under the motherboard (the right side when facing from the front). Maybe I did something funny with where I applied the included HD thumbscrews but when put on the 2 end most positions on my drives, the drives don't go far enough into the cage to allow for SATA cables to be plugged in on the left side so I inserted the drives with ports facing to the right (when looking straight at case) so there is plenty of clearance
> Case is so big that I couldn't comfortably route the main power supply cable behind the motherboard - it's just flopping out right on top of the motherboard.

Other Thoughts: > While I've poked around cases before, this is my first real build from the ground up
> In about 6 hours, I was able to put in a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H, core i7 3770K (with stock heat sink & fan), RAM, Corsair HX750 power supply, 7 3.5" HDDs, 2 SSDs, an extra fan, (old) Radeon 4850 video card, CETON InfiniTV card, SYBA 4 port SATA RAID card, and Hauppauge 2250 Tuner card
> Some wasted space in the front to back dimension (this is a borderline con but I guess the case is meant to hold eATX or XL motherboards and or super long video cards). It would have been nice if they included a removable drive cage or something to hold yet another 2 or 3 3.5" drives in front of the spot for the power supply but I'm really nitpicking here.
> Another reviewer commented that the construction is flimsy but I disagree. The material is mostly (if not all) aluminum and it isn't super stiff but I never was concerned. Actually, I was a bit careless and have repeatedly bumped the case into the metal legs of my desk and there has been no denting or noticeable consquences to the black finish. I think the use of aluminum is great because this case weighs a lot less than some others I've handled (Cooler Master CM 830).
> Not sure if I'm misunderstanding the intention but the top port panel seems to have a cutout for an eSATA port but it's just an empty hole. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this might work but maybe I can take it apart and string in my own eSATA jack here? This just isn't quite what i expected.

Pros: -As expected with a full tower case, there is plenty of room for anything you could want. Fits my XL-ATX motherboard with PLENTY of room left over.

-Extremely simple and elegant design. The black interior is beautiful; it swayed me to buy this over the PC-Z70B

-Installation of every component was a breeze. The front fans pop right out for quick cleaning, and the HDD's slide right in. SSDs can also be installed upside down which is kind-of neat.

-PSU can be installed with the main exhaust fan facing either down or up. This is awesome for those of us trying to cram as many cables behind the motherboard as quickly as possible.

-Cable management is superb. All of the front panel switches are already zip-tied to a support column which leads to the motherboard. TONS of room in the area behind the motherboard for all the cables you'll eventually use.

-Door blocks a lot of sound, but not a lot of airflow. There is a negligible difference in temperatures with the door open (less than 1 degree Celsius).

-Optional 2x120mm fans on the top of the case are perfect for closed loop liquid cooling, or 2 powerful fans. I run the fan configuration and the case stays just as cool as my other one which had 2x140mm fans on top.

Cons: -Price

-A con with almost all Lian-Li cases: smudging on the brushed aluminum exterior

-The airflow from the 3x140mm fans on the front panel is blocked by the HDD bays, which are not removable. However, the case does remain as cool as my old Lian-Li which had no HDD bay blocking the airflow.

-Only 3 slots for SSDs on the main HDD bay

*Build quality is suprisingly poor for a case in this price range. The aluminum feels flimsy and easily bendable, and the rubber grommets fall out constantly. For those buying the A75 (and A76 for that matter) they will notice that if you press in on the front panel it squeaks like an old rocking chair (due to the thin aluminum). If you have a good speaker system you'll hear the case rattle from the bass. It's the back panel which doesn't secure too tightly. Although this is a minor point, the sound dampeners feel very rough and poorly made compared to dampeners I've had in other Lian-Li cases. I expected much more from this manufacturer. (-2 eggs)

Other Thoughts: Although I'm dissapointed with the build quality, I don't regret buying this case at all. If this were in the $100-150 price range this case would easily deserve 5 eggs, and constant specials on Newegg leave that option open for you guys. It's an extremely impressive monolith stuck under my desk, but I just expected more from Lian-Li.

I owned their PC-50R for a year and was extremely impressed by the thick aluminum, solid sound dampeners, and overall quality of the case. The A76 seems like a budget version of my old case, yet it's more expensive. However, the price is hardly comparable considering that one is a full tower and the other is a mid tower (and I payed about the same price for the mid tower).