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Brand | LIAN LI |
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Model | PC-A75 |
Type | ATX Full Tower |
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Color | Black |
Case Material | Aluminum |
With Power Supply | No |
Power Supply Mounted | Bottom |
Motherboard Compatibility | Micro ATX / ATX / E-ATX / HPTX |
Side Panel Window | No |
External 5.25" Drive Bays | 2 |
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Internal 3.5" Drive Bays | 12 |
Internal 2.5" Drive Bays | Using 3.5" Bays |
Expansion Slots | 11 |
Front Ports | 2 x USB 3.0 / 2 x USB 2.0 / Audio |
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80mm Fans | No |
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120mm Fans | System Fan (Top) 120mm x 2 (Optional) System Fan (Rear) 120mm Fan x 1 |
140mm Fans | System Fan (Front) 140mm Fan x 3 System Fan(Side) 140mm x 2 (Optional) |
Max GPU Length | VGA Card length: 360mm / 14.17" |
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Dimensions (H x W x D) | 23.03" x 8.66" x 23.23" |
Weight | 20.94 lbs. |
Features | Mix CPU Cooler Height: 170mm / 6.69" Mix PSU Length: 360mm / 14.17" |
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Date First Available | October 05, 2012 |
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Pros: Lian-Li typical great quality in a lightweight package. This thing can hold a massive 12x 3.5" HDDs, the most I could find of any case. The optical drive flap is removeable if you don't want it. Comes with a ton of screws of various types, and even includes a clear plastic case to organize and hold the extras! Lost of good cable routing options in the case.
Cons: 3-pin fans? Really? Had to replace those with some Noctua 4-pin PWM fans. Although it came with 120mm grills for if you want to install fans on the top, it did not include 140mm grills for the side panel, which is where I wanted to install the fans.
Overall Review: Overall it's a great case. I will say that there is a tremendous amount of wasted space in this case, though. There is SO MUCH room between the HDD cage and the motherboard, that they could have doubled the number of hard drives it can hold. I also ordered the BP3SATA backplanes (from somewhere else... Newegg doesn't sell) to use with this case, and they installed quickly and easily.
Pros: I just got this case today. I can tell you it's no larger than previous Lian-Li Full tower cases. I do miss the rolling wheels on my old Lian Li v2000, but this model is worth it. 12 Hard Drive slots on the front with 3 x 140mm fans (the v2000 has them stacked at the bottom 6x6 (with one fan), and the second row of drives tend to get very hot. Having all of the drives in the front will cause less drive failures due to better air flow. I've lost 4 drives recently due to various reasons, but this better air flow should keep my new drives working better.
Cons: The Fan Filters do suck pretty bad... but just like another reviewer said... easy fix. I put 4 eggs instead of 5 due to the fact you have to go through doing this.... took me... 15 minutes... but still they should have figured this out at the factory, and changed the design. (take your filters off and put them on the other side of the metal holes, you have to lock them in, so they are not easily removed ... but i tend to use an air compressor anyways on these to clean them out from time to time anyways... so works for me.
Overall Review: For the price... especially since it's on sale right now... I would go for it.... if you need to run 12+ hard drives and want to make sure they stay cool. It actually runs quieter than my desktop after fixing the front fan filters (at first boot they made a lot of noise... had to immediately fix that.... thus having to not give this 5 star review. The front Optical drive bezel broke easily.... but i have a black DVD drive anyways (only used for installing Centos Linux anyways...or the occasional Parted Magic or memtest, so no big deal there.... looks fine. Case runs very silent even with full power to the fans (as far as I'm concerned).... i want full air flow.... and again it's quieter than my desktop (which has water cooling) If you are a person looking for a case where you can run 12+ hard drives, and keep them very well cooled to avoid failure, then this is for you.... I thought it was going to be an ugly case from the pictures (i prefer rounded edges).... but it's actually pretty aesthetically pleasing in person. If you have bought previous Lian Li cases and know what to expect.... this one is opposite from their older designs (motherboard sits on the right side now, instead of the left).... but i love this case and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a "server" case and not a desktop.... look elsewhere for that.... but perfect for my needs. Hope this helps.
Pros: Room. Oh my, the room. It makes an ATX board look like a MATX. Not to mention room for video cards - my 280X is 12 inches long and it still has three inches to the hard drive cage. If you feel claustrophobic in here, you may have a problem. If you run out of hard drive space, you really have a problem. The black anodized finish exudes a clean beautiful look. No gaudiness here. Even the DVD drive is hidden. The included organizer for leftover hardware is a nice touch. Great airflow. The front 140mm fans aren't quiet to say the least but their wires will reach the mainboard so I can use the q-fan feature to slow them down to under 600 rpm. I used one Y-cable to run two from one header as the board only had two controllable headers up there. When at full speed they change out the air in a hurry. Plus, they come with filters. The fully rubber isolated hard drive mounting setup is very effective at cutting the noise from my Velociraptor drive. Video card support is always welcome.
Cons: Biggest flaw with this case is the side panel design. They use multiple tabs top and bottom that have to all slide in at the same time; unfortunately being an aluminum panel big enough to use as a spare barn door from time to time, it doesn't stay flat and can be a real pain to get all eight tabs in at the same time. This is far harder on the left panel once wires are in because they will push the panel out just enough to make it infuriating. If I take that panel off, I have to lay the case on my bed to gently push with a knee and elbow to keep the panel flat enough to reassemble. My $50 Antec case was far easier to put the panels on because of its front-hinging swinging design. The fan filters are a welcome inclusion but they're a hair's width from the fan blades. About two weeks after assembly, two filter screens lost their flatness just a tiny bit and suddenly I had scraping noises from them contacting the fan blades. Fortunately, this was an easy fix. The grommets that hold the fans to the case frame can slide on their screws; so if those are pushed down to the fan body, fans installed, and afterwards the three filters simultaneously twisted into place from the front of the case, there will be about 4mm of new space to keep them off the blades. Plus they're easier to clean because that darn left panel won't have to be removed to remove them (the front cosmetic panel pops right off). Wire management. You'll have to get creative although the excess room will help. Those three grommets in the motherboard tray will pop out every time you push a wire through, not to mention every time you put on the left panel and it pushes gently against all the wires, and you'll be tempted to toss them. Tip - you can insert them from the back side and they'll pop out far less often. Fingerprints. It'll be as bad as a brushed stainless steel fridge. Hard drive cage only removable after drilling out some rivets. Size can be a con, from trying to fit it next to my desk, to the comments like if I was working for NASA now to need a case that big. Another tip - if you don't have one, order up an extension for your 8-pin CPU power plug on the top of the mainboard. It's only a couple bucks. The filter under the power supply is just odd. I don't see that getting a whole lot of use.
Overall Review: Overall it's a good case. Maybe not so much if you take it apart a lot due to those darn panel tabs and propensity for fingerprints, but for a build that's rarely disassembled, it's fine. It stays cool, looks great like any Lian Li, and does the job. I wouldn't pay the $170 it was originally, mostly thanks to other more friendly cases to work with for that price, but for roughly $125 I paid it was worth it, especially for the room.
Pros: This case is spacious, plenty of room for everything. I can't believe how light it is for the size. It is built to quality I have only seen provided by Lian Li. Easy setup with no need to read the instructions. Plenty of air flow. Hard drives slide into place easily. Front usb/audio cables have enough length to wire them however you want without having them in the way.
Cons: DOESN'T INCLUDE the air filters for the side panel leaving add-on fans exposed. What a pain. It wouldn't be such a big deal if the part was easily available, but I cant seem to find a reputable distributor in the US for it (part PT-AF-14-1B).
Overall Review: Lian Li chassis never disappoint. I have used at least 7 different models over the years and have nothing but great experiences. They don't overload the chassis with features and gimmicks. People with complaints probably didn't take a close enough look of the case features.
Pros: Case is an absolute beast. My huge hands have never known luxury such as this. Extra-Long Thumbscrews to hold to motherboard to the posts? I had never even considered such a thing possible!! The thing is absolutely gigantic, yet somehow manages to weigh under 15 pounds. Even at that weight, it's real sturdy, owing to solid construction and a removable strut running up the outside wall. As far as cable management, I'm not one to put much effort into it, but I didn't even need to here. Combined with a nice modular power supply, I've got 4 drives in it, and the thing feels empty. Everything is nice and accessible despite my sloppy organization, though I did have to re-route the power button/audio jack/led cables from the front. Not a huge issue at all. It's also a wind tunnel, and the removable air filters are awesome. Was thinking about doing water cooling, but I think stock cooling will be just fine in this case. Decently quiet as well, but I don't generally care about how much noise my machine makes, so don't take my word for it. Lastly, it's totally beautiful. If you want a perfect black monolith, this is the case you need. Great finish too, It's totally great looking. Considering how gaudy and awful
Cons: The rubber grommets for running cables through the back are a little janky, and popped out too easily when feeding cords through, but I didn't even end up needing them to be honest. The instructions that come with it are also pretty bad... most of it you can figure out yourself, but the pictures are too tiny to show anything meaningful. They include some brackets you can use to support a heavy video card (which mine is) by attaching them to the strut running up the side, but I have no idea if I'm using it correctly, and I couldn't find any usable documentation on the feature online. I *think* I've got it working, but I just can't be sure... Wish I could consult the instructions, but alas. The converter that allows you to plug your front usb 3.0 ports into a 2.0 slot on the mobo was definitely not up to par. Pulled one of the wires out just doing a test fit. My mobo has a 3.0 port on it, but if yours doesn't and you want to use all 4 (!) front usb ports, you should probably by the converter yourself. Over all, none of these issues detract from the fact that this is hands down the coolest case I have ever own. It'd be Foolish to let any of that stop you from getting this as soon as you can!
Overall Review: Wish I could have ordered the sata hotswap backplane to go with it; not that I need that functionality but it could've been nice for cable management. Oh well. It's also way bigger than I imagined it would be, but that's my bad for not looking at the measurements. Even so, still very, very happy with it.
Pros: This Full Tower case is very well constructed and improves upon Lian-Li's previous Full Tower cases. It includes two USB 3.0 ports on the top, as well as two USB 2.0 ports, and headphone jacks. They're spaced appropriately to allow the usage of multiple, or even all ports simultaneously. The internal drive bays allow for as many as 12 hard drives. Three of those 12 also have mounting holes for SSDs. However, I found enough parts included to mount two SSDs, not three. It still allows for positioning however. All of the internal bays use anti-vibration rubber grommets. This case also is made to fit a water cooling radiator in the top without it getting in the way if you choose to use water cooling.
Cons: It only has two external drive bays. It could really use a third.
Overall Review: There are three front fans, and they are not wired together from the factory, so you will need at least one Y-cable. The one I used is a StarTech 6", (Newegg item # N82E16812200855). That takes care of two fans and then the third I hooked up to a separate fan connector on the motherboard. I also recommend ordering one or two 24" SATA III cables since the ones that come with motherboards don't reach the 5.25" external drive bays. I would like to see Lian-Li make the panel on top for the USB ports, etc. be modular for all of their cases and allow consumers to purchase them so the consumer could get the ports they want.
Pros: Colossal interior - Very easy to work with, and will easily accommodate the largest GPUs Beautifully constructed - The all aluminum fabrication provides fantastic rigidity and is wonderfully lightweight, making handling such a large case incredibly easy. Massive airflow - The case comes with three 140mm front fans and a rear 120mm fan, plus intakes on the bottom, the left side, and top. the front and bottom intakes are each filtered. Internal airflow is enhanced by the extremely open interior of the case. Drive baby, drive - The case will accommodate 12 3.5" drives, or 8 3.5" drives and 3 2.5" drives. Drive installation is wonderfully simple, and even more so if optional Lian Li drive back planes are installed (these are not included with the case). Toolless optical drive installation is also supported. Rad cooling support - The top air intakes will accommodate a standard 2x120 rad kit with no modifications needed. Beautiful inside and out - Really, photos / videos of this case don't do it justice... The case interior is all black, and the brushed anodized exterior is just gorgeous, and the case's elegant, minimalist design play perfectly to aluminum's inherent aesthetic strengths. Seriously, this case belongs in a modern art exhibit.
Cons: Not many... The drive cage is not (easily) removable. If you want to take the case out (possibly necessary if you want to mount a front 3x140 rad cooler) you'll have to drill some pop rivets. Cable runs may be a bit tight - depending on your motherboard, you may find the center back panel cable conduit getting a little crowded. Not a big deal, but just plan accordingly. You may need an EATX power cable extension - Because of the case size and the placement of the PS mount at the bottom of the case, it's a bit of a haul to get to the EATX ports if your MB mounts them at the top (which I think is standard placement for them?). My PS cables made it, but just. Again, not a big problem, but be prepared just in case.
Overall Review: A beautiful, highly functional case. One criticism I've seen of this case is that it does not readily support multi-rad cooling installations. I reflecting on this, I can see Lian Li's design philosophy - this case is all about disk drives. With 12 drive bays, there is a strong emphasis placed on convective cooling - hence the use of three 140mm fans placed directly adjacent to the drive bay. A rad cooler mount is available at the top of the case, but clearly Lian Li wanted to balance the availability of both heat transfer methods. The A75 excels at multi-drive installation support, and is designed and built for this. Finally, let me just say (again) how ridiculously beautiful this case is... It's really the Eams chair or Minotti table of the PC case world. A fantastic, beautiful work of engineering - highly recommended!
Pros: Good case
Cons: N/A
Overall Review: I burned Lian Li pretty bad, and I think an apology is owed. The HDD mounting system is different, you have to screw in the mounting screws to the hdd, with the rubber buffers, that's important. Not using the buffers will result in a noisy case, or worse. I've owned 3 cases and none of them use a system like this but it does manage to hold the drives pretty securely once done correctly. And newegg can delete my other review if you want.