Lian-Li PC-05S Wall Mountable Mini-ITX Chassis Review

Complete System

Before we take a look at all the pretty stuff around the front, let’s have a quick look at the cable management. The Silverstone SFX power supply I’m using isn’t modular, so there are some excess cables showing. It doesn’t look too pretty, but there really is a lot of room here for spare cables, so that’s hardly an issue. One issue I did have is that the 8pin motherboard CPU cable didn’t reach, fortunately I had an extension cable to hand, but it’s worth keeping in mind that many SFX power supplies have shorter cables if and when you make a purchase.

With the rear panel back in place things are looking much better. You’ll also notice the two plastic caps just above the panel, these cover the hook mounts, which can be used to literally hang the chassis on the wall like a picture; just make sure you’re using strong hooks, as this thing could be pretty heavy.

Around the back you can see there’s plenty of room for cables and to access the rear USB ports.

Now for the best bits! The interior of the chassis looks absolutely stunning, with all the major components proudly on display for your viewing pleasure.

The motherboard riser cable allows us to mount the graphics card away from the motherboard, in this case it’s turned 90 degree so that we can see the full face of the card; a welcome break from the usual back-plate only view.

The PSU fan mounts upwards, facing the glass of the chassis. The cables do look a little scruffy on the model I have used today, but you could easily get a modular model with sleeved cables to keep things looking neat and tidy.

There’s plenty of room around the motherboard for airflow, but keep in mind that you will need to use a low profile cooler, or risk conflicts with the glass panel.

As I said before, the chassis can be used laid flat in a HTPC style layout, perfect for slotting into your home AV setup. You can also see that I’ve now installed the vertical mount; as much as I would love mounting it to the wall, I don’t fancy drilling two big holes in the office wall right now (sorry folks).

The vertical mount is superb as it brings the chassis and your internal components into clear view; I could quite happily have this sitting on top of my desk like a trophy!