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

Final Thoughts

Pricing

This was never going to be a cheap product, you only have to take one look at it to see why. The PC-05S will set you back £214 and will be available in the UK very soon from CaseKing. No doubt other retailers will follow very soon.

Overview

The Lian-Li PC-o5S is one of the most incredible looking chassis I’ve ever reviewed. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone comes along and creates something unique and beautiful; today that someone is Lian Li.

Build quality is as good as it gets. The chassis is cut from ultra high quality black brushed aluminium and there isn’t a rough edge in sight. Everything is finished with absolute precision and attention to detail, from the sleek front panel mesh, to the milled power switch. On top of that (literally) is a stunning tempered glass cover. For those who have perspex side panel windows in their chassis, once you see the quality difference of real glass in your system, you’ll never want a perspex panel ever again. The only downside of all this lovely build quality is that it does make this chassis a little heavy; even more so once you’ve installed all your components (obviously). A heavy chassis isn’t a bad thing, but when you’re wanting to hang it on your wall, you will need to take a few extra precautions to ensure a long-lasting mount is installed.

In terms of aesthetics, it’s up there with the best of the best. The smart move of using a PCIe riser cable to move the graphics card away from the motherboard and putting it on show in the bottom of the case is genius. It looks incredible and I can’t think of a better way of showing off your shiny new graphics card.

I thought the installation process was going to be difficult, but it really wasn’t. Once the top panel was removed, I found lots of room to work with; even our massive Sapphire R9 270X graphics card fit with room to spare. There’s plenty of room behind the motherboard for cable routing, extra hard drives, an optical drive and more. Overall, this is a very competent chassis; it’s not just a pretty showpiece.

Pros

• Unique design
• Ultra-high build quality
• Vertical, horizontal and wall mountable
• Cable management
• Cool expansion card mounting system
• Water cooling support
• Excellent ventilation and two high quality fans pre-installed
• Dust filters

Cons

• None

Neutral

• It’s is expensive, but you get what you pay for

“The Lian Li PC-05S is absolutely stunning, it’s an impressive chassis for showing off your hardware, but it’s sleek enough to have as part of your home AV setup or on your desktop. While I’m not likely to wall-mount my chassis, I love that you have the option of horizontal, vertical and wall mounting the PC-05S, as having more choice is never a bad thing. It’s expensive, but you really do get what you pay for and this may very well be one of my all time favourite chassis'”

Thank you Lian-Li for providing us with this sample.