Enclosure Am I insane to even consider a 400 dollar case? (Lian Li PC-O5SW)

Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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I don't know why, but out of all the amazing cases out there in the whole spectrum (mITX to EATX) I still can't get my thoughts away from the white version of the Lian Li PC-O5S case:


The only issue with this case (or any Lian Li case for that matter) is the price. This is over 400 dollars!!!

Why are these cases still so expensive? When they came to the market many years ago, they were among the only ones featuring aluminium panels and tempered glass; so the exclusivity was understandable. But now you can get tempered glass cases for 80 dollars.

So am I stupid if I give in and buy one of these cases? They are also quite limiting. Then again... It is kind of my dream case... :/ Does anyone know if there is an alternative to this case on the market that is as tiny, but still shows off components in the similar manner? And no: The Thermaltake wall-mount thingy is too big and bulky and thus not an option.



___________________
Dream setup:

- Lian Li PC-O5SW
- Asus Strix B350 ITX
- 1700X Ryzen 7
- Asus Strix GTX 1080Ti
- Corsair H100 V2 with cable mod white tube sleeve
- Corsair SF 600 PSU with White cable mod paracord cables
- G.Skill Trident Z RGB
- 2x Noctua NF-A12 Chromax fans for AIO with white corners and covered with 2x Phanteks Halos covers
- 1 TB 960 Pro Samsung NVMe SSD (or just 1 TB of normal 2.5" SSD)
- 2 TB Seagate SSHD 7200 RPM
- Slim Blu-Ray ODD
 
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10410039

Trash Compacter
Jul 23, 2017
39
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The panels are all flat, looks like it's entirely made on press brakes....hence the high prices :/

about the alternate options, TT G3 is the only one I can think of, not sure if Digital Storm sold their enclosure separately.
 
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Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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The panels are all flat, looks like it's entirely made on press brakes....hence the high prices :/

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this "press brakes". Why does that increase price?

Also, the DigitalStorm one was a Lian Li PC-O6 case, just rebranded for them.

Why does the Thermaltake Core have to be inverted? I don't want that. But thanks for the tip, mate!
 
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10410039

Trash Compacter
Jul 23, 2017
39
32
put it simply; press brake = sheet metal bender, it's mostly human operated machine. that $80 tempered glass case you mension earlier are mostly automated stamping, with peak production of thousands/day.

For the G3, wouldn't it possible just to mod it?
 
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Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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I like this case so much, but it is too big!

And NO, you are not insane.
Hahaa, thanks. It just feels like an insane price to pay for a case. I am not sure I could walk up to anyonr and say "I just spent 400 eur on a pc case" when others spend like 100 dollars on a premium case
 
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AleksandarK

/dev/null
May 14, 2017
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Hahaa, thanks. It just feels like an insane price to pay for a case. I am not sure I could walk up to anyonr and say "I just spent 400 eur on a pc case" when others spend like 100 dollars on a premium case
If you can spend that amount of money on a case, you might as well get something custom.
 

kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
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I have several o5s cases and they are freaking huge for itx boards and they run hot as hell so be careful with components. I had a 6700k and R9 Nano in one of mine and the cpu and gpu were always around 90c whole gaming. Also custom loop which I ended up going with requires a thin rad and fans so it ends up just as hot when the water warms up. It’s a lovely case buts it isn’t a great option for high end hardware. At least that’s my two cents
 
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Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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I have several o5s cases and they are freaking huge for itx boards and they run hot as hell so be careful with components. I had a 6700k and R9 Nano in one of mine and the cpu and gpu were always around 90c whole gaming. Also custom loop which I ended up going with requires a thin rad and fans so it ends up just as hot when the water warms up. It’s a lovely case buts it isn’t a great option for high end hardware. At least that’s my two cents

That is interesting and informative. Any reason why that case is so difficult to keep cool? It is an open air case with top-exhaust, so should be easy to keep cool, so why isnt it?
 

kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
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It’s open pretty much in name only. It’s maybe 1/4 inch gap between the glass panel and the chassis . The nhl9i fan sits I think 20mm from the glass and the vertical gpu is also pretty damn close to it even in the furthest back position which if you use btw you have to install the gpu before the motherboard and you’ll have to pull the board to swap graphics cards.
 
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Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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It’s open pretty much in name only. It’s maybe 1/4 inch gap between the glass panel and the chassis . The nhl9i fan sits I think 20mm from the glass and the vertical gpu is also pretty damn close to it even in the furthest back position which if you use btw you have to install the gpu before the motherboard and you’ll have to pull the board to swap graphics cards.

I had planned on using a Corsair H100 V2 as cooling

I'm not sure which case you had, if you had the non extended version or the extended version with room for AIOs up-top? But at least on Lian-Li's page it says there should be space for a 60 mm radiator (i.e. a standard 30 mm radiator + 25 mm fans). Or is this incorrect?

There are also 4 expansion slots plus some additional room between the third and the glass. Shouldn't that give quite some room to breath, even for a 2.5 slot GPU?

http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-o5s/
 

Soul_Est

SFF Guru
SFFn Staff
Feb 12, 2016
1,531
1,926
No, @Mortis Angelus , you're not insane. We put a lot into our systems and I mean a lot. We are willing to spend the money for an enclosure worthy of the system as well. Just have a look at the custom cases and the build logs.
 
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kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
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I actually have both the o5sx and the o5s. I still use the o5sx for my daughters pc with a pentium and 1050ti and it’s fantastic for that. If you put a big non blower card and an oc’d chip in it it’s going to run very hot. Not saying it won’t work I used to not think anything of components being 80+c all the time. It’s beautiful for sure.
 
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Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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I actually have both the o5sx and the o5s. I still use the o5sx for my daughters pc with a pentium and 1050ti and it’s fantastic for that. If you put a big non blower card and an oc’d chip in it it’s going to run very hot. Not saying it won’t work I used to not think anything of components being 80+c all the time. It’s beautiful for sure.
Damn... That is sad to hear. So you think I would burn down the house (figure of speech) with a 1700X at 4 ghz plus an Asus Strix 1080 Ti?
 

kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
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I’m just trying to relay my experience with the case, I absolutely loved it the build quality was super as well. But my 6700k and Nano ran super hot in that case. The white one is actually like 30% off on newegg atm.
 

Mortis Angelus

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Jun 22, 2017
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Yeah, they are cheap (relatively speakingł in USA. But here in Europe the white ones start at 380 EUR. Black ones are around 300 EUR.

If we lived in a world without taxs and shipping cost I would have bought it from USA a long time ago. =)