Lian Li PC-A76 Full-Tower Case Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Lian Li PC-A76 Full-Tower Case Review - Lian Li is a name that is surely known inside enthusiast computer hardware circles. The company has produced cases for desktop computer builds nearly as long as there have been builders. Its new PC-A76 is all aluminum, weighing in at 21lbs, and makes you think it should be all that and a bag of chips.
 
Damn - been wanting a Lian-Li for ages to replace my Cooler Master Stacker 830 (I love the removable mobo tray). I'm not impressed by this one other than the aesthetics.
Please keep reviewing their cases as I love their overall quality after falling in love with my petite EX-503 HDD extension/RAID case.
 
If the outside were black, I would mistake it for an Antec P180/P280 enclosure.
 
I have about 5 Lian Li cases. I don't like how they changed the air filters to a different style. I feel like the new ones restrict air flow more. Other than that no issues with my case. However none of my cases are full towers.
 
I have the PC-A71F case and I like it alot, there is more than enough space inside it, it makes all of my hardware look tiny. My case does however suffer from a lack of holes for cable management which is saddening. The noise from my case is actually not very bad, I only hear it when my room is quiet and when I am on my computer netflix/Hulu is running on my PS3 or I am playing music. my case sits on the floor about a foot from me and it dosent get to loud and also doubles as a shelf.
 
I really feel that Lian Li's newer cases haven't been on quite the same level as the products they had in the past. I still love their designs but they are really behind the times in features compared to the newer cases from other manufacturers like Corsair.

My most recent Lian Li definitely uses thinner aluminum panels compared to the thick panels on my PC-6B I got ages ago. If Corsair ever made an aluminum 650D I'd be all over it.
 
For everyone else, the case is just missing too many features for it to be considered a solid buy.
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Totally agree with the review. I have a pretty old Lian Li full tower and I'm ready to ditch it for the new corsair 900d. Obviously this case is cheaper than the 850 or 900d's by corsair but at the end of the day, I can justify a more expensive case since it lasts a lot longer than say a video card. Lian Li gives you the full aluminum but other than that I feel like they've dropped the ball. No space for a 3 x 120 rad, old school drive bay mounting, etc... Was always a big fan but some of these smaller manufactures need to get it together if they want to compete.
 
::cRim:: said:
I really feel that Lian Li's newer cases haven't been on quite the same level as the products they had in the past. I still love their designs but they are really behind the times in features compared to the newer cases from other manufacturers like Corsair.

My most recent Lian Li definitely uses thinner aluminum panels compared to the thick panels on my PC-6B I got ages ago. If Corsair ever made an aluminum 650D I'd be all over it.
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Depends on which one you buy, this one looks like an updated Rocketfish with the thin aluminum panels. If you go toward the higherend with V series cases, they have nice thick panels that have no flex. Nice that they included the 120mm mesh inserts, I had to buy them for my V2120 and they weren't exactly easy to source. I certainly wouldn't pay $220 for this one though.
 
It looks real nice, but the failings on that case for the price are a real turn off. I'm glad I read the review. I'm looking for a new, minimal case right now, and this looked nice.
 
I have been using a Lian Li PC-V2000 since late 2005. It is an excellent case with at least 1000 holes for air cooling. lol I run 4 raptor drives in two Raid 1 configs, a decent video card and an I7-Bloomfield LGS 1366 Asus MB w/ a Zalman CNPS9500 cpu cooler & Zalman vga cooler. There are 2 120mm case fans and the sound level is not very high. It's certainly not as quiet as my Antec P183 which is my backup PC but definitely does not interfere with my work.
 
Been a very long time Lian-li fan. It is one of the reasons I find it so very hard to swallow the pill that so many manufacturers try to shove of non aluminum cases costing $150+ for a mid tower. However this is a big disappointment from Lian-li. I expect that kind of quality from retail crap like the Antec lanboy, I expect better from Lian-li. This has made it increasingly hard in recent years to find a new case. I want a new case, but when most of Lian-li's mid towers barely look different from my current, I find myself hard pressed to pony up a couple hundred bucks for a couple minor internal features. I really really like the Corsair obsidian line, but I laugh at the notion of spending that kind of money for a steel and plastic case.

Such a shame to hear that one of their newest cases has this many flaws..:( Still kicking myself in the ass for not grabbing the PC-8FIR when it was available. I would kill for a solid aluminum case with a Red or white interior and black exterior, mid tower, 120mm+ rear fan mount and bottom mounted PSU.
 
In the time [H] has been reviewing cases I don't think I've ever seen one with so many negatives. :eek:

Lian Li is a great case manufacturer yet the oversights of this build are much more than glaring. They are, in a sense, a black eye due to the lack of attention to detail. Never thought I'd say that about a Lian Li case. :(

Thanks for the review, [H]. Much appreciate the efforts you all put into the reviews. :)
 
This case is actually pretty much par for the course for a Lian-Li case.
Wound up putting a water cooling rig together for a friend had REALLY disliked their case layout choices.

The hard drive retention system sucks rocks. A bunch of guide screws? So the drives slide around FREE, possibly pulling cables if you move the system? GTFO!

And the rear exhaust fan spot? Don't even fuck with it for water cooling.
It SEEMS like a good place, but the placement leave you with next to no space for anything. It sits down too close to the motherboard tray to be of real use.

And if you're using a motherboard (like X79 reference)? BUY LOW PROFILE MEMORY! And even then it's going to be a bitch and a half getting everything installed and fitted.

So yeah. It's a nice LOOKING case. If you're looking to mod or watercool? Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. ESPECIALLY at that price.
 
Thats a pretty damned comprehensive review. Also its about damn time there was a Lian-Li case featured on here. :)
 
cliche said:
Damn - been wanting a Lian-Li for ages to replace my Cooler Master Stacker 830 (I love the removable mobo tray). I'm not impressed by this one other than the aesthetics.
Please keep reviewing their cases as I love their overall quality after falling in love with my petite EX-503 HDD extension/RAID case.
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Still using a stacker 830 here and loving it, everything runs cool and the case is beautiful compared to most of the ammo boxes put out today. I sure wish coolermaster would update their stacker series and bring them back to life, the stacker cases were all awesome to work with, Id have a hard time giving up my removable motherboard for modern cases even those that do offer better cable management.

Dreaming of a new stacker 830 with better fan rack, better cable management but that said I still get lots of WOW's when people see my stacker 830. I remember the day I laid eyes on that case, like first love haha. Have yet to see a case that makes me say BUY ME.
 
conghelach said:
Id have a hard time giving up my removable motherboard for modern cases even those that do offer better cable management.
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Lian-Li and Silverstone still offer cases with removable motherboard trays, you just need to look (and pay) for that feature.
 
conghelach said:
Still using a stacker 830 here and loving it, everything runs cool and the case is beautiful compared to most of the ammo boxes put out today. I sure wish coolermaster would update their stacker series and bring them back to life, the stacker cases were all awesome to work with, Id have a hard time giving up my removable motherboard for modern cases even those that do offer better cable management.

Dreaming of a new stacker 830 with better fan rack, better cable management but that said I still get lots of WOW's when people see my stacker 830. I remember the day I laid eyes on that case, like first love haha. Have yet to see a case that makes me say BUY ME.
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Yup - still got my black and blue 830 Stacker. I wish it was updated in the way you describe too
 
Hey all, just signed up here.

I'm looking for some answers about this case, hope someone here can help me out. Afaik a 420 rad will fit in the front, as long as it has 20mm spacing, but it looks like the barbs will end up in the lower 5.25 bay, is this correct? Also wondering about details of the top rad spacing. I would like to extend the 120mm holes to 140mm to mount a 280, is there enough room to the front/back/sides to do this? Still in regards to the top rad spacing, it looks like there is only enough room for a thin rad with 1 set of fans? The Swiftech rad they used in the review is a 38mm thick one, and it looks like it is almost touching the motherboard. Thanks for any help. :thumbsup
 
..As you can see from the pictures below, the box was pretty beat up when it arrived at our offices. Thankfully the case suffered no damage thanks to the protection offered by the large foam inserts. We are not sure how the side of the package ended up being ripped so bad but, once again, the case somehow escaped being harmed, despite the damage you see here...
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It seems a enabling experiment.
 
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