Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Show off your quiet rig.

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phantom220
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:15 am
Location: Hobart, Australia

Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by phantom220 » Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:09 pm

Hello SPCR,

I first became interested in the quiet computing scene with the purchase of my first computer back in 2008 - a Core2Duo E6750/8800GTS build in an Antec P180B. Having grown up with jet engine-like family computers, I jumped at the chance to turn things around and ended up with the following mods to the system:
  • Thermalright HR-01+ with a Scythe SlipStream 800rpm
  • Top fan removed and covered over
  • Rear fan replaced with a SlipStream 800rpm
  • Front fan doors removed
  • Front and rear fan grills cut out
  • Bottom middle fan replaced with a SlipStream 800rpm
  • Acoustipak Deluxe throughout the case
  • Custom RivaTuner profile for the GPU
These mods stood me well through an upgrade to a Core2Quad Q9450 and a GTX260. The time had come, however, to sell the old system and start afresh in January this year.

Enter the following parts:
  • Lian Li A10 (quite a difficult case to track down; pretty sure I found the only one left in Australia)
  • Core i7 2600K
  • Gigabyte P67A-UD4
  • Gigabyte GTX570
  • Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHz
  • Corsair F120 SSD
  • Corsair AX850
  • Samsung F4EG 2TB x2
  • Samsung Blu-Ray drive
  • Lian Li BZ-025 intake
  • Scythe SlipStream 800rpm x3
  • Thermalright HR-01+
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Loot.

Due to the success of my P180B build in terms of both acoustic and thermal performance I'm aiming to replicate the airflow in the A10 as much as possible. So, with that in mind, I started on the mods...

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BZ-025 intake installed. This currently has a Lian Li fan of unknown specification installed; however depending on performance this may go down the track.

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The fan grill from the rear of the intake has also been removed.

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Corsair AX850 installed in the bottom compartment. 850W is overkill I know; however the fan in the AX850 doesn't even spin up until ~300W load, meaning no noise from the PSU at idle.

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Corsair F120 SSD mounted, ready for installation in the bottom compartment. I know it's not suspended, but with no moving parts this shouldn't make a difference.

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Gigabyte P67A-UD4 and Corsair Vengeance 8GB installed and mounted onto motherboard tray. Note the Scythe SlipStream mounted as a rear exhaust, also with no fan grills (yay for screw-on grills = no Dremel). The motherboard has now been removed from the tray in preparation for cable management holes to be cut.

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Gigabyte GTX570 ready to go. The stock vapour chamber cooler is already an excellent performer; though the card will also get some fan tuning courtesy of MSI's AfterBurner software.

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A shot of the bottom compartment showing the removal of the stock front Lian Li fan, and the installation of a Scythe SlipStream 800rpm in the middle position. This necessitated the removal of the second HDD cage, though with only three HDD this wasn't an issue. The middle position of the fan should result in better acoustics than one mounted at the front, as well as ensuring excellent cooling for the HDD and PSU.

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A shot of the top fan, now cut out from its grill in preparation for blocking off.

That's all for now, still waiting for a few parts to show up before I can continue - HR-01+ and the Samsung F4EGs. Also need to buy a Dremel for some cable management action.

Comments, criticism and advice welcome :)

R2_
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Brasil

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by R2_ » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:17 pm

Congrats fellow! Lianli makes everything much easier for sure... installing MOBO "outside" the case is way better.

Question: Did you remove the back (outer) grill/mesh ? Since the inned grill looks totally useless for me (on lianli site)

matthanson
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:03 am

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by matthanson » Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:07 am

Any update to this build? I'm about to start an identical build with the same case and components and would love to see how this one turned out.

phantom220
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:15 am
Location: Hobart, Australia

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by phantom220 » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:03 am

matthanson wrote:Any update to this build? I'm about to start an identical build with the same case and components and would love to see how this one turned out.
Yeah fair call. Sorry about the delay, haven't been around SPCR for a while.

So far I've been amazed with the performance of the A10 as a silent case - it performs the same as my P180B did minus the extensive AcoustiPak treatment and with an extra fan.

I'm more than happy to put up a few extra photos if you're interested as well as answer any questions you may have.

Cheers :)

jimdoe
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:08 am

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by jimdoe » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:19 pm

I have a question, or two, as I want to make a similar build to your's.

How's the material/construction of the case. I went to go look at cases yesterday, and much prefer the quality of the Lian Li opposed to Antec.

Please post more pictures, I'd love to see some.

N7SC
Posts: 179
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:22 pm
Location: Sunny Florida, where dead people vote 3 times in a county they never even lived in!

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by N7SC » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:53 pm

That is a nice build Phantom. I'm glad you found the LL A10 case to be quiet, on par with the Antec cases, as I have a LL A10-A too, and have wondered how it compares acoustically with the Antec cases.

Why did you cut the top fan from the frame to remove it? You can just unscrew it from above and put the screws back in with some nuts.

How are your cpu and Northbridge (or its equivalent in your mobo) temps without the top fan?

Are you going to put a spinning hard drive in your A10 in the future? If you do, you can drill out the rivets on a pair of the HDD mounting brackets, remove them from the front drive cage, and use elastic bungee cord to suspend the drive in the front cage. The fit is tight, side to side, but it works wonders for virtually eliminating hard drive noise. I have four spinning drives stuffed in the front cage that way, and they are virtually silent now.

The removable motherboard tray in the LL A10 must be sent from heaven. I managed to mount the entire water cooling system on my mobo tray. From now on I'll never build in a case without a removable mobo tray.

The LL A10-A case is a thing of great beauty. Upon being unboxed it made two impressions on me: It was much bigger than expected, and it looked as stunningly and breathtakingly clean and beautiful as an Isamu Noguchi sculpture.

Thanks for the post and the info. If you would like a photo or two of my build, just ask.

N7SC
Posts: 179
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:22 pm
Location: Sunny Florida, where dead people vote 3 times in a county they never even lived in!

Re: Lian Li A10 | i7 2600K | GTX570 build

Post by N7SC » Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:34 pm

jimdoe wrote:How's the material/construction of the case. I went to go look at cases yesterday, and much prefer the quality of the Lian Li opposed to Antec.

Please post more pictures, I'd love to see some.
The quality of the A 10 is fantastic. You have to see one to appreciate it. I've only seen one of the newer LL cases, a Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W. I built a up a rig for my daughter's friend in it. Here is a link so you can see a Lancool PC-K58. Even though the Lancool cases are much less expensive than the LL cases, the quality was the same. It was a very well made and well thought out case. Impressive for only about $80 USD.

Here are some pictures of my rig. . . .

Here is mine, today, with a cooling system controller being tested, and not yet mounted. Note the four hard drives in the front drive cage. I have also removed the aluminum duct and fan that cools the GPU, you can see it in the last photo. Please don't rag on me about my cable management, I'm testing something, and will clean it up in a week or so when I do annual maintenance on the cooling system
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Here is the whole mobo tray and cooling system removed from the case (taken 4 1/2 years ago)
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For some more recent photos, please see the recent thread about stopping the vibrations in the top panel that are caused by the top-mounted fan. This thread. The Acoustipack Extra worked, by the way.

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