Snowhite and the 7 dwarfs

[psycho_666]

Hello everyone.
My 10 years old PC case started falling apart some time ago. I love mi case, but it’s obviously time to move on…
So I decided to do exactly that.
I picked up a new case and decided to make some other “upgrades” to my system as a whole.

Here is my current system:
Asrock AB350 Pro4
Ryzen7 1700X@stock
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid 240Lite
4x4GB Crucial Elite 2666MHz
A-Data SX8200Pro 256GB OS drive
TeamGroup MS30 512GB SATA M.2 gaming SSD
WD Black 500GB
XFX RX 480 RS 8GB
Seasonic Focus 650W Gold
Fractal Design Arc Midi R2

The Fractal case is the main thing, that is getting replaced.
For a replacement case I have chosen Lian Li o11 Air Mini. The local stores only have white versions of the case, so here we are…
It’s fine tho, since most of my system is entirely black and white anyways.
So here is the plan:

The motherboard is thin ATX board, that goes in the blue spot.
The green spot is reserved for the new SSD I bought for the new case. That is one of the 2 main issues I have with this case - there is a mount to show off your SSDs but no way to cleanly route cables if you want to show off your SSDs. I would see what I can do about it.
I have bought a dirt cheap PNY 960GB SATA SSD just for storage. The main idea being 1. it’s black and white and 2. it’s silent, unlike the current WD Black HDD…
So the new build should be quieter just based on the fact there isn’t gonna be any mechanical HDDs in it.
Then we come to the fan placements…
I am planning on having 7 case fans located on the red spots. 2x140 front intakes, 2x140 bottom intakes, 1x120 rear exhaust and 2x120 roof exhausts, that are also gonna pull double duty as cooling fans for the AIO as well.
I have a huge pile of Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140mm fans, so I will use those.
I bought a couple Arctic Bionix P12 fans for the AIO. They are generally regarded as quiet and powerful, and they look really nice…

So those would be mounted on the AIO. And the rear exhaust will either be the old Arctic F12 or the stock Lian Li fan, that comes with the case.
So that makes total of 7 fans. And this is why I called the build Snowhite and the 7 dwarfs.

I also have some white cable extensions, that I bought back in the day, but never actually plugged, cause I didn’t have a reason to disassemble and reassemble the entire system.
Now that I will do that, I will use the opportunity to use the white cable extensions.

I want to see if there is any way for me to mount the fan controller from the Fractal case to the LianLi case in a way I can reach it and use it without opening the case.
I have some ideas, but I want to get my hands on the case first.

I could have bought an NVMe cooler, that will give the system extra visual flair, but I forgot when I ordered the other parts, so no NVMe cooler.

Tomorrow all of my parts will arrive, I will pick them up and will update the thread with pictures and impressions.

[anon7678104]

you might want to hold off on putting the f12 on the back exhaust…
its an fdb (fluid bearing fan) which if mounted vertically will fail pretty quick.
as fdb fans spin up and spin down they can sink through the oil that supports the central spindle.
after a while this causes wear and then fail, long before the fans rated lifespan is reached.
better to mount fdb fans horizontally.

the fractal fans should be rifle bearing so best mounted vertically.
they will work fine horizontally but will be a little noisier than fdb fans.

stay clear of dual bearing fans if you want anything that resembles quiet at load

[psycho_666]

@anon7678104

the fractal fans should be rifle bearing so best mounted vertically.

Nope…
The Fractal fans are FDB as well.

Fun fact: the original fans that came with the case a decade ago are still running on the case today.

@anon7678104

fans spin up and spin down

My case fans are usually set on a flat line. I don’t like to play with curves and softwares and stuff. After all with 7 fans I will have a wind tunnel even at ultra low speeds.

[anon7678104]

@psycho_666

Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140mm fans

im surprised. i bought a dozen of the f12 all of them failed within a few months.
i assumed that was part of the reason the r3 switched back to rifle bearing.

[psycho_666]

OK, kids, buckle up, cause this is going to be a long one…

The case…
Lial Li o11 Air Mini

OK. the case is in plain packaging, nothing special, but it does the job…
And I wouldn’t call it “mini” really. It’s wider than my Arc Midi R2 and only a tiny bit shorter, so it’s about the same size, just wider.
The panels are insanely sturdy. No flex what so ever, despite the fact they are mesh. Speaking of mesh, it’s finer than I expected, but I still won’t feel comfy using this case without any dust filtration in the front…

The case floor supports 140mil fans no problem…

The dust filter on the bottom is… Not great. It’s the plastic fine mesh, that most cases use, but worse.
First off it’s not all that fine. And second it is heat melted and stuck to a thick restrictive plastic frame.

One great thing, that surprised me massively and in a good way:

All screws and stuff are packed in a plastic box, not just a bunch of plastic bags… It’s weird they decided to put the screws in a plastic bag inside the freaking box, but here we are…
Now moving to the disappointments…

This is the plate, covering the side vents. I have an entire plethora of issues with those…

1. You can only mount them BEHIND the fan mounts, so you don’t hide the mounts for the fans. You cannot mount the plate infront of the fan mounts.
2. The plates have mounts for SSDs and HDDs. This is fine. You can only mount SSDs one speciffic way. The plate is large enough for dual SSDs, but there are no mounts for it.
   
   
3. The plate mounts are solid and enclosed, so there is no routing of any cables in any way around them.
   
   

I am so frustrated with this. This could have been amazing selling point.
You have the option to show off your SSDs but no option of cleanly routing your cables. This could have easily be solved by either cutting holes in the plates to allow cables to pass through or just literally cut a corner… Well, not a corner, but the sides of the plates could have been trimmed to allow for cable passthrought.

Or optionally allow me to mount the plate on the inside of the case to hide the fan mounts and making it easier to route the cables through the rubber grommets.

This is my biggest issue with that case. Such missed opportunity. Just an arms length away from true greatness… So frustrating…

OK, moving on.

I removed the back plate with the derbauer logo. But I kinda need it, cause there are no cable tie down points what so ever, other than the ones with Velcro straps. So I may want to stick to the backplate… Get it? Stick? Cause velcro… Get it? GET IT? GE oh nevermind…
The hard drive cage is attached with screws, so I can remove it. I will not tho, cause the cage itself will work as a nice cable storage since I want to use cable extensions…

OK, I must say, it’s super solid case. 10/10 build quality. No flex anywhere. I love my Fractal Arc Midi R2, but that case is flexing, and not in a good way. The Lian Li - no flex anywhere. Amazingly solid.
Color - great. Uniform, good. I approve.
All thumbscrews are captive with rubber washers. Mi approves.
Comes with pre-installed ATX motherboard standoffs. Good, me approves.

Overall I am giving it 9/10. If only they thought about those SSD mounts a bit more…

Now, I also got my SSD:

And I got the Arctic fans… I must say I really like how they look. So nice…

I will transfer my hardware in the case tomorrow. I will make a similarly tiny post as well, sharing the build experience. I do not expect to have any issues what so ever in this case based on what I am seeing.

[psycho_666]

PS: Oh wow, the side alimun(i)um panel, the one with the I/O on it is also removable. It’s held together with screws instead of rivets.
I am impressed…

[MisteryAngel]

Hey cool to see you are revamping your build.

Of course it is a little bit unfortunate that you seem to have a few minor issues with the said case.
However overall i think it is very cool looking case.
And some of the issues might be solvable like the cable routing for the ssd´s.

I´m going to follow this closely because i could get some inspiration out of it to.
Do you have any planes to change any internal hardware in the future as well?
I think that the new non X AMD Ryzen 7000 cpu´s can be pretty interesting.

[tjw]

agreed

the jump from zen 1 to 3 is huge even

[psycho_666]

@MisteryAngel

Do you have any planes to change any internal hardware in the future as well?

@tjw

the jump from zen 1 to 3 is huge even

I need GPU upgrade before anything else… So I would do that eventually at some point.
I mean when I play games the CPU stays idle, and I really have no use for more powerful CPU… I mean I have no use for this CPU and that’s just Zen 1.

[MisteryAngel]

Yes of course the gpu upgrade is the most important.
So i agree that would be the first thing to take a look at.
However there is no white gpu haha.

[psycho_666]

@MisteryAngel

However there is no white gpu haha.

The Sapphire 6600XT will fit just fine. Black with silver trims…

[MisteryAngel]

Yeah that is a cool card

[GigaBusterEXE]

I just now got that the dwarves are the 7 fans

@psycho_666

So that makes total of 7 fans. And this is why I called the build Snowhite and the 7 dwarfs

Listen I mostly just look at the pictures okay

[MazeFrame]

@MisteryAngel

However there is no white gpu haha.

Galax Hall of Fame series is white.

Edit: Powercolor also has a white card.
Gigabyte AERO
Zotac’s “Amp” series has white editions, but their site is too garbage to link to…

[anon7678104]

id be a bit weary of recomending powercolor.
had one of there cards, the blower unit failed and they refused the rma. it was less than 3 months old when the impeller snapped its shaft.
end result i had to spend another 50 quid on a 3rd party cooler. *after that the card was good and performed above expectations.
but still.
refusing to honour a basic warranty?. yeah i cant recommend them after that.

and yeah zotac’s site is a mess… but there cards

[MazeFrame]

@anon7678104

id be a bit weary of recomending powercolor.

They always seemed a bit suspect to me.

A friend of mine purchased a Galax 1080ti HoF when he wanted a white card.
Buildoid on the above card
Also: Galax is sometimes called KFA2, just to help their obscure brand…

[psycho_666]

@anon7678104

id be a bit weary of recomending powercolor.

@MazeFrame

They always seemed a bit suspect to me.

They are like XFX - very hit or miss…

[wertigon]

@psycho_666

The motherboard is thin ATX board, that goes in the blue spot.
The green spot is reserved for the new SSD I bought for the new case. That is one of the 2 main issues I have with this case - there is a mount to show off your SSDs but no way to cleanly route cables if you want to show off your SSDs. I would see what I can do about it.
I have bought a dirt cheap PNY 960GB SATA SSD just for storage. The main idea being 1. it’s black and white and 2. it’s silent, unlike the current WD Black HDD…

Like, I get that you need more storage but why not utilize the two m.2 slots on your motherboard instead, and invest in these two babies (KC3000 is boot drive, PNY is secondary storage)?

Kingston KC3000 1.024 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive...

PNY CS1030 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive...

That is $200 for 3TB of storage, not bad…

Cool build though, can’t wait to see how it turns out

[psycho_666]

@wertigon

Like, I get that you need more storage but why not utilize the two m.2 slots on your motherboard

They are utilised.
I posted a part list.

@psycho_666

A-Data SX8200Pro 256GB OS drive
TeamGroup MS30 512GB SATA M.2 gaming SSD

Both are m.2 format. One is boot drive the other is purely steam and gog drive…

@wertigon

for 3TB

I do not need anywhere near that much.
I have a half empty 500gb HDD…

[wertigon]

@psycho_666

They are utilised.
I posted a part list.

Right, so why not upgrade your m.2 drives, a 2TB drive is only $100 now and the other drives can go to family members or placed in the living room PC or something.

Like, I understand you want to hold on to something that works but at some point it’s just forcing you into unwanted purchases. Your time, your money and your system though

And… Do yourself a favor. Get a Ryzen 5700X for that system, it will blow your mind.