I
f youthinkyou’veseena similarcase
tothePC-O11Dynamicbeforein
thesepages,you’dberight.The
RazerEditionofLianLi’shighlypopularcube
casecostsaround£40more,butthebasic
modelwithoutfancylightingandRazerlogos
costsjust£120,meaningyoucanplougha few
tennersintootherhardwarewhileowningthe
samebasiccase.
Ofcourse,if you’veheardofthePC-O11
Dynamicalreadyorseenourpreviousreview,
you’llknowthatit is a littlespartanoutof
thebox.Whilethere’scopiousamountsof
aluminiumandtemperedglass,makingthis
byfarthemostpremium-feelingcaseontest,LIAN LI PC-O11
DYNAMIC/£120inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukit's devoid of fans. This is
a blank canvas as cases
go, and while you can
clearly air-cool the case,
there’s only 155mm
CPU cooler clearance,
so most tower heatsinks
won’t fit. However, the
PC-O11 Dynamic makes
up for its air-cooled
failings with stupendous
water-cooling support.
While it’s limited to 120mm fans, with most
protected by dust filters, it can house no less
than three 120mm radiators in the roof, base
and side panel, with nine 120mm fan mounts
in total.
It can also house E-ATX motherboards and
no GPU is too large, with 420mm clearance.
All this, though, fits into a compact cube
chassis that’s just 44cm tall and 45cm deep.
The PSU has been flipped on its side and sits
in a second chamber behind the motherboard
tray. There are three 2.5/3.5in drive mounts
as well as three dedicated 2.5in SSD mounts,
so there’s plenty of scope for a decent
storage array in addition to liquid cooling.
As you’d expect at this price, there’s a
Type-C USB 3.1 port on the front panel plus
a pair of USB 3 ports and inside there are a
few cable-routing holes, but surprisingly few
other modern conveniences, especially when
compared with the fabulous and similarly
priced Phanteks P600S. The side panels also
take an age to open, you’ll need to be a cable-
tidying ninja to stop things looking messy and
there’s certainly not much flexibility when it
comes to cooling either.
The large interior helped to limit the
damage caused by a lack of stock fans, but
the CPU delta T of 55°C was still the highest
on test, while the GPU delta T 46°C was evenfurther in the wrong direction. In short, this isn’t
a case in which to put an air-cooled system
without adding plenty of fans, but ultimately,
it’s not a case for air-cooling, period.Conclusion
The severe CPU cooler height limitation and
lack of fans out of the box mean only one
thing: the Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic is primarily
focused at liquid-cooled systems. Here, it
offers more than any other case on test and
by a large margin, plus it gives a better view of
your photogenic liquid-cooling system than
nearly every other case out there too.
It might not score highly overall, but if you
want a great case for a liquid-cooled PC, the
PC-O11 Dynamic is currently one of the best.VERDICT
A near-perfect case for water-cooled
systems but it falls short when it comes
to air cooling.FRESHLYCUT
GRASS
+ Superbwater-cooling
support
+ Attractivedesign
+ Three hard disk
mountsSILAGE- Poor air-cooling
support - Nofansoutofthebox
- Fewer features than
similarly priced cases
SPEC
Dimensions(mm) 272 x 446x 444 (W x D x H)
Material Steel, plastic, glass
Available colours Black
Weight 10.1kg
Front panel Power,2 x USB 3, 1 x
USB 3.1 Type-C, audio jacks
Drive bays 3 x 2.5in/3.5in, 3 x 2.5in
Form factor(s) Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX
Cooling 3 x 120mm side fan mounts
(fans not included), 3 x 120mm base fan
mounts (fans not included), 3 x 120mm
roof fan mounts (fans not included)
CPU cooler clearance 155mm
Maximum graphics card length 420mmCOOLING
25 / 30
DESIGN
26 / 30FEATURES
15 / 20
VALUE
14 / 20OVERALLSCORE
80 %%