Lian Li O11 Air Small Case – Mini ITX

Veo que hay pocos comentarios en español, así que escribiré el mío. Primero que nada, el gabinete es hermoso a la vista y al tacto, pasé de un gabinete de gamma media de plástico a este Lian Li, no tengo palabras, es hermoso.

Lo malo, este gabinete te hará sufrir en dos cosas: la fuente de alimentación y el radiador para CPU. No podrás usar una fuente de poder “tradicional” (ATX), esto no lo supe hasta después de la compra por ignorancia mía, el espacio en el gabinete es MUY pequeño, así que compré un SFX. Respecto al radiador para la CPU, no podrás usar uno de 3 ventiladores 360mm, solo se puede instalar máximo uno de 2 ventiladores 280mm. Si quieres instalar 3 ventiladores tienes que comprar el soporte para el radiador, búscalo como “LIANLI RB-001X O11 AIR”.

So, I bought the Lian Li O11 Dynamic DUAL-CHAMBER Case, not expecting much beyond a standard box to shove my PC parts into, but holy motherboard, was I in for a surprise. This case is like the Swiss Army knife of cases, but make it fashion.

First off, the quality is on another level. I’m talking about “did I accidentally order from a luxury tech boutique?” kind of quality. The dual-chamber design is so clean and sleek that I swear I heard my cables breathe a sigh of relief, finally free from the spaghetti monster they used to live in. It’s spacious, well-organized, and has more room than my first apartment.

And the extras? This case comes packed with thoughtful touches and features that made me feel like a kid discovering hidden treasures. I half-expected it to come with a personal butler to manage my cables and bring me coffee.

If you’re looking for a case that makes you go, “Wait, this is MY build?” every time you look at it, the Lian Li O11 Dynamic is the one. Five stars for making me feel like a PC-building genius and for being so nice, I almost feel guilty putting parts in it. Almost.

This case has great airflow and can do anything, atx, itx (even fits atx psu) and is so easy to configure as it’s so modular

This is my second Lian Li case, the first being a PC-65 that is twenty years its senior. Building into the O11 Air Mini and simultaneously rebuilding into the PC-65 with my old components made for an interesting comparison.

Volumetrically the cases are the essentially the same size but a very different shape. The steel-and-glass O11 Air Mini is a lot heavier than the aluminum-and-acrylic PC-65. The panel attachment on the O11 is also less reassuring: small screw-heads in short slots, rather than the large and deep tabs used on the PC-65. Clearly this case was not designed for the LAN parties that made the old case famous.

The build quality of the old case is better, with a nicer finish and better precision of assembly and thumb screws that turn smoothly and easily. The only thing I found actually off on the O11 Air Mini is the location of one of the MB mounting holes, but in general screws turn roughly and have uneven thread engagement like some things barely fit. However the PC-65 is a simpler case and cost $150 in 2003. It would cost many more of today’s devalued dollars.

The new case has vastly improved cable management, tucking nearly all runs into the rear chamber out of sight. The stock options for airflow are simply phenomenal compared to the 80mm fans and restrictive panels of the PC-65. (The latter received a 140mm intake in place of three 5.25″ bays.) Building in the O11 was very easy, with huge access holes on all sides until the fans were mounted last. The slide-out motherboard tray of the PC-65, exemplary in its time, simply cannot compete, and one had to drill out the rivets for the top panel to get similar access from above.

My only real complaint about the O11 Air Mini came after assembly: my 3.5″ Hard Disk Drives were running hot and noisy. The included thin rubber drive grommets do very little to damp vibration. I was able to fit larger and softer silicone grommets on the side mount, and placing my 7200rpm drive on these made it a lot quieter. These larger grommets cannot be used on the rear trays as there is not enough clearance for them to slide in after mounting. The close mounting to the trays also restricts airflow, which brings me to the next problem.

While it is easy to get a lot of air moving in the front chamber the rear chamber is starved. Mounting a fan in place of the lower side drive mount did not solve this as the air flowed out the vented side panel. Taping over the forward portion of the side panel perforation helped to direct air to the rear bays but not enough; I think it was flowing out of the cable routing slots above and below the MB, causing recirculation. My solution, in addition to the stock fans: 2 * 120mm intakes on the bottom, 1 * 120mm exhaust on the top, the lower side fan slot open but empty. I then covered the remainder of the top and bottom panels as well as the gaps above and below the front intake fans. This finally gave me positive pressure inside the case, pushing air out past the rear HDDs.

In all I really like this case. Despite the build quality not being a match for the old PC-65 I think it is a very good value. However if I did not still use internal HDDs I would have looked for a smaller and lighter case, and since support for these lead me to chose it I am disappointed that provision for them is poor. The case would be much improved by trayless rear bays with felt vibration strips and mounting for a dedicated HDD exhaust fan for those who need it.

I absolutely love the look of this case. It strikes a nice balance between being very gamery and still looking like a professional machine. My only real complaint about this case is that it does limit you in how big of a graphics card that you can put into it if you use a front-mounted water cooler.

Also, if you opt for a 280mm liquid cooler it has to be front mounted as the top of the case has the holes for it, but the radiator and fans would be mashed against the motherboard.

Beyond that, though, the included fans have been great. Nice airflow yet quiet. It’s sturdy as all. Breathes very well. Extremely easy to configure the case to your liking and place your components into. Cable routes are easy to use and sensibly place. Lian Li really does make some of the best of the best, and you can tell in all the finer details. Not one sharp corner on the whole thing.