Lian Li Lancool 215 Case Review: 70 Budget Airflow Benchmarks
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Date: 2020-10-04
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Comments and reviews: 10
sirgallium
Even if the rear of the fans is obstructed, you will still get better flow with this setup than if you had fans small enough to fit within the obstructions in the rear of the front fascia. Because even the rear obstructed portions of the fan are collecting more air from the intake side which will be captured behind the fan blades until they rotate around to the free portion of the rear side. Also this trend of exhausting hot water cooler air into the front of the case is absolutely ridiculous. Hot air is supposed to go OUT not INTO the case lol. so silly. This is why we can't have nice things.
Another way to think about it: If you have 2x 140mm fans, and they are totally unobstructed, you will have 196 cm 2 of airflow on the intake sides, and another 196cm 2 on the exhaust side.
With the 200mm fans you will get 400 cm 2 on the unobstructed intake side. And if for instance half of the rear side is blocked, you get 1/2 400 cm 2 = 200 cm 2 of airflow on the exhaust side.
This gives you a total of 392 intake and exhaust cm 2 for 140mm fans, VS 600 cm 2 for the 200mm fans with half of the rear obstructed. Now obviously the math doesn't work out so simply in real life, the buffeting of the air on the obstructions is going to reduce the efficiency of the unobstructed intake side of the fans to some degree. But even with that efficiency loss I bet that if you fed both fan sizes the same amount of amps and volts (or use decibels and match the fan speeds and power levels based on noise level would also probably give the advantage of better airflow to noise ratio to the 200mm set) that you would get more flow with the 200mm set. Also I bet you could easily dremel away a decent amount of the obstruction on the inner face to further improve it.
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Even if the rear of the fans is obstructed, you will still get better flow with this setup than if you had fans small enough to fit within the obstructions in the rear of the front fascia. Because even the rear obstructed portions of the fan are collecting more air from the intake side which will be captured behind the fan blades until they rotate around to the free portion of the rear side. Also this trend of exhausting hot water cooler air into the front of the case is absolutely ridiculous. Hot air is supposed to go OUT not INTO the case lol. so silly. This is why we can't have nice things.
Another way to think about it: If you have 2x 140mm fans, and they are totally unobstructed, you will have 196 cm 2 of airflow on the intake sides, and another 196cm 2 on the exhaust side.
With the 200mm fans you will get 400 cm 2 on the unobstructed intake side. And if for instance half of the rear side is blocked, you get 1/2 400 cm 2 = 200 cm 2 of airflow on the exhaust side.
This gives you a total of 392 intake and exhaust cm 2 for 140mm fans, VS 600 cm 2 for the 200mm fans with half of the rear obstructed. Now obviously the math doesn't work out so simply in real life, the buffeting of the air on the obstructions is going to reduce the efficiency of the unobstructed intake side of the fans to some degree. But even with that efficiency loss I bet that if you fed both fan sizes the same amount of amps and volts (or use decibels and match the fan speeds and power levels based on noise level would also probably give the advantage of better airflow to noise ratio to the 200mm set) that you would get more flow with the 200mm set. Also I bet you could easily dremel away a decent amount of the obstruction on the inner face to further improve it.
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Loonie
I really was curious, when it was mentioned this case was exactly the same price as what I got last year, as to how this would do. But yeah...200mm fans, while looking cool and RGB, really do defeat the flexibility in upgrades comparing to a 2-fan P400A non-digital. 70 EUR for 2 good standardized 120mm fans, that I absolutely plan to reuse and move around during its life, while I could never be that effective + creative with these 200mm ones, not quite as smooth front mesh panel clip removal, the clumsy big rear-eject filter just make it problematic - tho at least larger PSU compatibility and the 3.5 inch bay implementation is a bit better. The only thing left was thermals, but because you don't have as much flexibility for upgrades imo due to the 200mm fan setup and you're leaving a couple degrees from stock GPU temps...honestly, feel like it loses overall for future upgrades I want to make - especially for water cooling!
I guess I could see this as good alternative, if you never plan to upgrade and you're into the 200mm RGB sorta thing for cheap prices, but a killer it is not quite. Personally, though, this just reinforces me feeling extremely grateful that I managed to snag the very last P400A non-digital last year for its MSRP
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I really was curious, when it was mentioned this case was exactly the same price as what I got last year, as to how this would do. But yeah...200mm fans, while looking cool and RGB, really do defeat the flexibility in upgrades comparing to a 2-fan P400A non-digital. 70 EUR for 2 good standardized 120mm fans, that I absolutely plan to reuse and move around during its life, while I could never be that effective + creative with these 200mm ones, not quite as smooth front mesh panel clip removal, the clumsy big rear-eject filter just make it problematic - tho at least larger PSU compatibility and the 3.5 inch bay implementation is a bit better. The only thing left was thermals, but because you don't have as much flexibility for upgrades imo due to the 200mm fan setup and you're leaving a couple degrees from stock GPU temps...honestly, feel like it loses overall for future upgrades I want to make - especially for water cooling!
I guess I could see this as good alternative, if you never plan to upgrade and you're into the 200mm RGB sorta thing for cheap prices, but a killer it is not quite. Personally, though, this just reinforces me feeling extremely grateful that I managed to snag the very last P400A non-digital last year for its MSRP
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sirgallium
If mounting the extra cooling fan on top of the power supply is flush therefore making it useless you could easily just use some spacers to make it work. And then make some ducting to seal it back to the perforated PSU housing surface so it's only pulling fresh air. Just because a case isn't perfect doesn't mean it just doesn't work and you give up. There are very simple modding solutions to all of these problems you talk about, not major mods at all very simple things anybody could do. Which is how gaming PCs used to be made before gaming specific cases were ever produced.
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If mounting the extra cooling fan on top of the power supply is flush therefore making it useless you could easily just use some spacers to make it work. And then make some ducting to seal it back to the perforated PSU housing surface so it's only pulling fresh air. Just because a case isn't perfect doesn't mean it just doesn't work and you give up. There are very simple modding solutions to all of these problems you talk about, not major mods at all very simple things anybody could do. Which is how gaming PCs used to be made before gaming specific cases were ever produced.
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lone
the 4000d airflow from corsair is a nice case around 80 us. i was in Best Buy just buying a new psu when i saw the case and just pick it up for my second build , but i found out this case have some good designe for airflow, and it work realy well for me, i was wondering if you guy can give this case a fair testing , i want to see how it compare to all the other one, from all of the other case review i saw, i feel like this will do alot better then some of the other.
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the 4000d airflow from corsair is a nice case around 80 us. i was in Best Buy just buying a new psu when i saw the case and just pick it up for my second build , but i found out this case have some good designe for airflow, and it work realy well for me, i was wondering if you guy can give this case a fair testing , i want to see how it compare to all the other one, from all of the other case review i saw, i feel like this will do alot better then some of the other.
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Alexander_X
Your tests are very good and interesting but on my opinion they are for user who use budget low TDP sistems. I think, If you put in there high TDP components like 9900k-10700k-10900k + rtx 3800\2080ti, it'll give you way more profit from adding the bottom fan and the top exhaust fan. I think it'll give you more difference between best cases, not just a couple of degrees. And the worst cases in your chart won't be able to give a decent temperatures at all.
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Your tests are very good and interesting but on my opinion they are for user who use budget low TDP sistems. I think, If you put in there high TDP components like 9900k-10700k-10900k + rtx 3800\2080ti, it'll give you way more profit from adding the bottom fan and the top exhaust fan. I think it'll give you more difference between best cases, not just a couple of degrees. And the worst cases in your chart won't be able to give a decent temperatures at all.
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Stanis aw
Another pato-case with no filter on the front mixed with mesh front. That means airflow on the budget, but with paying price of noise and dust. But no need to buy quality fans, which don't care about mesh or closed front. If it's case for doing case torture, it's excellent choice. But for gaming or producing, who cares about these few degrees better results, which we see on 3D Mark or Blender?
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Another pato-case with no filter on the front mixed with mesh front. That means airflow on the budget, but with paying price of noise and dust. But no need to buy quality fans, which don't care about mesh or closed front. If it's case for doing case torture, it's excellent choice. But for gaming or producing, who cares about these few degrees better results, which we see on 3D Mark or Blender?
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ChestyCoughSyrup
Your case reviews honestly are amazing. Unfortunately I got a case last year with the more closed off front panel RGB aesthetic nonsense and have been watching these mesh airflow reviews with massive jealousy. I'm getting high thermals and case noise and definitely wanting to change soon, right now for me it's the P400A but holding fire until black friday!
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Your case reviews honestly are amazing. Unfortunately I got a case last year with the more closed off front panel RGB aesthetic nonsense and have been watching these mesh airflow reviews with massive jealousy. I'm getting high thermals and case noise and definitely wanting to change soon, right now for me it's the P400A but holding fire until black friday!
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Runoratsu
I wish some modern high airflow cases came with at least one or two 5.25 drive bays, for a BluRay drive, Fan Controller, whatever. Could even be accessible from the side instead of from the front, if they want, to be different! Just give us _some_ way to still use those devices
The only cases I can find that still support this are hideously ugly.
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I wish some modern high airflow cases came with at least one or two 5.25 drive bays, for a BluRay drive, Fan Controller, whatever. Could even be accessible from the side instead of from the front, if they want, to be different! Just give us _some_ way to still use those devices
The only cases I can find that still support this are hideously ugly.
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mjc0961
I would want to get rid of those fans. Replace them with some nice Noctua Chromax fans, so I don't have that tacky as hell lighting. Crap like this is why, even though I know it'll never happen and probably shouldn't because it's worse for most people, I would love to see cases not include fans.
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I would want to get rid of those fans. Replace them with some nice Noctua Chromax fans, so I don't have that tacky as hell lighting. Crap like this is why, even though I know it'll never happen and probably shouldn't because it's worse for most people, I would love to see cases not include fans.
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Legardian
Don't like ATC cases but this is cheap and looks good. This guy finds the dumbest stuff to critique about. Front panel being really tight is a plus for me. And who installs a power supply before running cables and wires? It's cheap so this fool has to make something up to knock on.
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Don't like ATC cases but this is cheap and looks good. This guy finds the dumbest stuff to critique about. Front panel being really tight is a plus for me. And who installs a power supply before running cables and wires? It's cheap so this fool has to make something up to knock on.
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