Lian Li PC-A04 Preview

Lian Li PC-A04 Our Initial Thoughts

Our test system fired up without any problems, and thankfully didn't cook after a long gaming session either. In fact, those front 120mm fans work surprisingly well when it comes to cooling a huge graphics card, and the GPU didn't even top 80^oC after the game. The CPU also remained cool, with the CPU fan working in tandem with the roof exhaust. However, our Gigabyte H67 test board doesn't allow overclocking, so we couldn't test that.

The fitted fans are also very quiet - although not silent - and emit a low hum that's not particularly intrusive. If you wanted to replace them, though, there's a good 30mm of space between the front panel and hard drive racks, giving you plenty of choice in terms of thickness.

If you've owned an all-aluminium case before, you'll already be well aware of the material's pros and cons, and they're all present here. For starters, the case is surprisingly light and very easy to move, even with all this kit inside. In fact, when it's empty you can even lift it with a single finger.


However, thin aluminium is also quite dent-prone, which means it's a questionable material for a LAN box unless you like the weathered look. Vibrations can also be a problem. If you don't screw down everything tightly something will vibrate because it's always in close proximity to a fan or hard drive. The side panels are the biggest victims here, so don't lose those thumbscrews.

The PC-A04 has its quirks, and it could definitely be better, but its build quality is also impeccable, as you'd expect from Lian Li, providing a middle ground for a smaller multiple-disk home server, or a condensed but powerful gaming box. Despite all this, though, we feel that Lian Li needs to put its ear to the ground and stop just making what it can, and instead make what the market demands.

In terms of price, you're looking at £71.98 inc VAT for the black version of the PC-A04, making it around a tenner cheaper than Fractal Design's Define R3.