Best Case of 2022 so far? Lian Li Lancool III Review

[@swizzler8053]

Had the lancool two mesh performance. What a great case. Airflow is optimal and very compact for its size. Was a joy to build in. I really dig the upgrade. Keep up the good work and stay safe.

[@cppctek]

Bar far one of the most innovative cases I’ve seen this year! Love it!

[@RicochetForce]

IMO, the removable fan mounts and sliding panel for cable management needs to be the default in most cases. That looks like it makes building incredibly easy.

[@kathrynck]

I have this case. It is excellent. And the price is not cheap, but not crazy high either. In some ways it's over-complicated. But it is gorgeous, and it's a 140mm fan beast. And it has a lot of versatility. I actually got an iCUE 420mm h170i to fit (top mount!). It took about 4 hours to figure out how I was going to get everything to fit & work, but the case was versatile enough to work with me on it. It is pretty big for a "mid" tower, but it is considerably smaller than my 750D. Gorgeous build, runs cool af. If you do a 420, I STRONGLY recommend you mount the rad in the case, and sort out your front fan arrangement FIRST. There is only one position which will work (out of 6 possible arrangements for the front fans & fan bracket), and you'll need to put the rad in with only 'some' of the screws, set loose enough to allow the rad to slide a bit in the screw grooves. Then get your front fans sorted (make sure the front panel can close on it), then slide the rad back far enough to get all of the screws into it. It's the only way to get it in, and still allow the fan bracket lever room to work. Then add the forward-most rad fan. Then go seat your m.2, cpu, & ram (shorter profile only, no fancy ram) on the mobo, then put the mobo in the case, then add the remaining two rad fans. You'll want to attach your pump & hoses to a rubber band or something to keep it pulled safely out of the way while playing with the delicate electronics. Once all that's in place, and you've seated the pump on the cpu. The rest of the build is normal. The fan position needed is to have the fan bracket reversed, the front fans taken off & re-mounted to the front of that (mind the fan direction), but the fan bracket set to the more rearward position of the two slots it can go into (so the front panel will fit on the case). To get the bracket into that position, a 420 rad needs to be held in place "loosely" so you can slide it back enough to get everything where it needs to go (the locking mechanism for the fan bracket is a problem otherwise), then snug the rad forward, tighten the screws down and put in the remaining screws which would have obstructed sliding it. This probably all sounds like pig-latin, but if you've been in the case for the last 2 hours trying to figure out how to make it happen, this should make sense. No rear fan? No big deal. You have 3 140mm pulling in the front, 3 140mm pushing out the top (included), and 3 120mm pushing air up into the case from below. At that point one solitary fan at the back isn't doing much, and frankly just looks weird all by itself. I just wish it had mounting holes to put 140's on the bottom for a full 140mm build and some extra symmetry. I'll have to look into modding it to work. The case is slightly larger than 3 140mm fans tall, and 3 140mm fans long. Other than that, it's a bit thick, which is good for cable management, big graphics cards, and getting a 420mm rad to clear the ram.

[@amart8341]

The front lever completely latched? I spent about 2 hours trying to figure it out and gave up and packed it up to return before now just reading your comment.

[@kathrynck]

@@amart8341 ya, there's only one position which works. - The front fan bracket can be placed in the higher or lower position (one being deeper recessed). - The front fan bracket can be turned 180 degrees (which changes the fan bracket's face depth. - The fans can be mounted on the inner or outer side of the fan bracket. So technically I mispoke when i said there were 6 possible arrangements for the front fans, there are 8 (2x2x2 possible mounting positions). Ultimately, there is only 1, out of the 8 positions, which allows room for the rad AND room for the front panel to go onto the front of the case. If you set all possible options to get the fans as far forward as possible, you actually end up with the fans so far forward the front panel won't go on. I _believe_ that I ended up on is fan bracket reversed (so the mounting plate of it is further forward), fans on the front side of that, but bracket slid into the more recessed of the two possible positions (of the options for the bottom 2 side guides to slide into). I'm not 100% sure! because I tried a LOT of combinations that day hehe. But I'm 90% sure that's the settup I ended up with. But one of the 8 positions (basically 7th furthest forward fan mounting) does allow the front panel to click on (with all 3 front fans), and the 420 rad behind. __ *NOW the bit which I THINK you're asking about...* In the one position which fits, the rad doesn't want to have enough clearance for that little latching lever at the top to move. Bracket is ok, front fans are ok, but the latch-lever is blocked by the 420 rad, prevents it moving enough to let the bracket click into place. I was very frustrated with that! After finally figuring out how to get it all to fit, and being blocked only by the latch arm. BUT there is a solution. Where the 420mm rad screws into the top of the case, some of the screws go into screw holes (and have a _specific_ position). And some of the screws go into sort of "grooves" which technically allow the rad to move forward & backward. >>> I removed the rad screws which go into holes on top, and loosened the screws which go into groves a couple turns. This allowed the radiator to slide rearward about a centimeter. That's enough space for the latch to work. I clicked the front fan bracket in place. Then moved the radiator back to where the screw holes are, and put all the removed screws back in & snugged everything up. I think alternatively, if the front fan situation was completely sorted before mounting the radiator, that would also work, since the latch lever would already be 'set' when the rad is installed. But it's hard to gauge exactly how to set up the front, without having the radiator in there ;) But yeah, if you remove all of the screws which prevent the rad from sliding forward/backward, you get an extra centimeter or so to play with, to get the latch closed for the front fan bracket. BE SURE that you've chosen the option which still allows the front panel of the case to fit on top of the fans (before adding the missing radiator screws back in & locking it's position). I didn't do that, and had to backtrack hehe. I think i tried every possible option which doesn't work, before finding the one option which does. And ended up pulling screws out of the rad twice before it was all sorted. __ ALSO NOTE: my motherboard has BIG heat sinks on it. And that became a problem with fan clearance. I was able to squeeze the forward-most and middle fan of the top-mount radiator in there. They are 'snuggly' touching the top heat sink of the mobo. But there was a big blocky shape around the rear I/O plate of the mobo (it's the asus x670e prime pro, with the word "01 PRIME" backlit with RGB lighting on a block attached to the rear IO plate). Basically, the edge of that kinda exaggerated heat sink with the (RGB logo stuff mounted to it) would NOT clear the rear-most corner of the rearmost radiator fan. I ultimately just sat & patiently sawed off that back-rear corner off the fan housing. So that radiator fan is a 3-screw fan now. 3 corners, and one rounded edge where I sawed the corner off. The fan works fine, does not rattle or vibrate with 3 screws, and because of the position, you cannot see that I sawed anything unless you stick your head inside the case, or use a dentist's mirror or something. But I did have to hack a corner off of a fan housing. I do not know if that would be an issue for a different motherboard. My impression is that the I/O plate area is "extra bulky" on my motherboard, to showcase the RGB logo. And I'm sure there are motherboards which would fit without this 'custom work'. I don't know if there is space for the rear fan of the case with a 420 rad & fans installed. It looks like "maybe". I didn't try. I just left the rear fan off. That particular fan isn't rgb. And it's kinda an odd-ball. Really a fan in that location is a holdover from venting hot air from air cooled cpu's. Not really relevant to the airflow in the lancool III with water cooling. So I omitted it. I have 3x 140mm fans in front, 3x140mm fans on the topmount rad, and 3x120mm fans on the bottom (above the PSU area). The build took me a full day (which is really long), and possibly a little bit of my sanity. But I do have a lancool III, with a topmount 420mm rad in it. And it does look sick, like the case is just made of glowing fans hehe. And airflow for days. Would not recommend the Corsair H170i (420mm AIO) + Lancool III combo to anyone without some building experience and plenty of time on their hands though. It can be done. And the end result is great, but it's a long & winding road. Great if you enjoy a challenge, but completely horrible if you were trying to do 6 builds a day to ship to customers or something. In ye olden builds, you'd always cut yourself on the air cooler tower. I considered it good luck to bleed on a pc build hehe. Newer cases & AIO's don't really draw blood though. But I managed to nick myself doing that final fan customization. So it has the blood sacrifice ;) PPS: these new cpu's run hotter than heII. Even with a monster cooler on it. 7900X was +24C (delta) at idle. PBO undervolt (-20) reined it in though (+16C delta). Zero loss in benchmarks. I set max temp to 85C. Whether the cpu can take 95C or not (long term) is debatable, but I just didn't want to cook the thermal paste that much. It does hit 85C at full load, even with the 420, thermal grizzly, & lancool III. But it doesn't seem to thermal throttle much with the PBO tune. I think it's just barely hitting 85, more 'touching 85' than 'bouncing off of 85'. I think the factory settings are over-juiced for yield. I hear similar about the 13000 series intel, very hot, bit too much current at default. PS: be aware that any overtly bulky ram will have fan clearance problems with a 420mm rad in there. Looking at it, it looks like the ram can be unusually tall and stick up under the fan, OR unusually wide and tuck in behind the fan, but not both. The corner of the fan comes near the corner of standard sized ram DIMM's, with a little clearance either way. I like my result, but i also completely understand someone backing off to a 360 rad. And the lancool 3 case fits a 4090 AIB with ease, if anyone was curious.

[@Mapantz1]

I've noticed from a lot of videos and pictures of this case, that they seem to avoid showing the front RGB fans on, while the case is sideways, like they're trying to hide the RGB showing up all of the messy cables under the shroud.

[@fafiteee]

yes, i saw a video where a guy building in this case said that, especially with rgb fans on the shroud, it makes the cables really visible through the side mesh (a worthwhile tradeoff for more airflow imo).

[@Excalabur50]

Wicked Guv, not seen you this happy for a case in awhile!

[@predality]

Nice and functional case, great review m8

[@lilytheghost7608]

Watching this in early 2023. About to build my PC been buying parts since black Friday. You've convinced me let's go lancool 3.❤❤❤ Love your content and your personality.

[@nathanchilds8867]

Always love your reviews. Feels very casual and like a friends recommendation more than a sales pitch. It was your review that made me buy the Lancool II, now I'm considering this one! So yeah...thanks for that -_-

[@tomsch86]

Lian Li Lancool III and the NZXT H7 Flow are the two best cases so far in 2022 in my opinion, because of the airflow/performance and the extensive build options

[@denesk2794]

I really wish there was more clearance in today's cases for fans and the IO on the bottom. I just want those old, full tower machines back, but with modern quality control and proper fan spaces. The most pleasant build I had lately was a Thermal take P3 ... but then it's Dust City inside on the components...

[@JamesAColemanFan]

"I know I walked in front of the camera but I'm not professional. " Ah Tom I enjoy your banter.

[@chefbink61]

Been looking for a new case and this one just may be it. Thanks TTL

[@MultiNastyNate]

If you want maximum air cooling look at the Fractal Torrent. I love mine.

[@kathrynck]

@@MultiNastyNate Fractal Torrent, NZXT H7 Flow, and the Lian Li Lancool III (this case) are I think the best new cases you can get. But this is the only one of those three which would let me fit a beastly 420mm AIO. My favorite case is a 25 year old thing which was beige once... but I customized it till it was completely unrecognizeable. Jagged hole cut for a huge air cooling tower to stick out like a street rod, mad-max thematic styling, etc. But this Lancool III case is my favorite 'out of the box' case so far. And I can pick it up without getting tetanus.

[@seydaneen8970]

if i was building a new pc i think this would probably be my case of choice 👀 im a sucker for nice looking white cases and i appreciate the things like the fan bracket just popping in and out so easily

[@CP_LuxuryHomes]

1 year with this case, and is the best case build by Lian Li, very efficient, very Solid.

[@birdsoup777]

What happened to the Vulcan Bomber model you had on a shelf in the background. Thank you for the detailed video. I just got this case.

[@Vonklieve]

Wow scoop by OC3D! Not seen this till now. Its got positive points, but and this is a big BUT. Is it not double the price of the Lancool 2? Mine cost £90.00 or less.

[@roydavies953]

I have a white one being delivered this week to replace my mini snow edition

[@brokawmike]

If this had a sidemount for a radiator (like the 5000D) it'd be case of the year, hands down. I'm looking to do a dual 360mm AIO build and this case is still at the top of the list, but it's making me think about doing an air build for the first time in a decade or so.

[@mohamedalmuhairi324]

i just order one after i saw your Review

[@gustavmh8423]

i am in my second morning coffee just for this video

[@LawrenceTimme]

Wow 2 dings today. I like how it's a traditional layout, but just executed very well. It's £150 without the RGB. That's the one I'd go for 😎

[@RicochetForce]

Yeah, paying more for light pollution doesn't make sense for me.

[@deshawn4077]

Which is better, this or the Fractal Meshify 2? I have a 360 AIO and a 3090ti

[@transformrollout6292]

Tom you didn't cover the fact the the front fan mounts can be flipped and move back and forward , saw this on the hardware Canucks review

[@LiVeWiRez]

@ OC3D, Nice review! quick question are the fold down mesh flaps removable ? can they be unscrewed ?

[@prospero7849]

Why on earth is it still necessary in 2022 to have front panels that have to be yanked off like it's a wrestling match.

[@waitandhope]

I went online long ago telling people why are we using plastic panels on cases it made no sense to me, they all went nuts and said glass was to expensive. Now they're all glass lol something similar may happen to front panels eventually

[@aceberganabolic]

is front mesh material strong ? would it be easly dented ?

[@Riggan201]

Nice Vid, thx so much. Could you say something about Fan noise?

[@sL1NK]

Finally a contender for my P600S. Almost got me.

[@Aint1S]

I knew this case was going to have you awarding it! I'm sitting here thinking 🤔*"WHITE GOLD!"* A chunky rad up front and maybe an odd one, I'm thinking a slim read down below too. It would be different and I wish it gave a little headroom for a modest rad up top. Mmm, then again, I'd probably still go slim on the bottom... A non-issue after all. 😁 I love this case, best I've seen in a long time! You've got an eye for only the best stuff and thanks for bringing one on to overview/review. Cookies and coffee, we know it's a serious dive into this case! 👍🏼👍🏼

[@williammurdock3028]

have two Lan Cool II cases, air flow kings.

[@alistermunro7090]

I still think the Fractal Torrent is the best case so far, especially the opaque no RGB version.

[@johnnyutah9939]

nope , top mounted PSU suck , lancool 3 is better and cheaper .

[@alistermunro7090]

@@johnnyutah9939 Depends what you are after. The Torrent offers the best cooling. I've never noticed my Dark Power 12 1000W fan come on with a 12900k and 4090 TUF.

[@indika420]

Seems very good to me, the only thing i would be worried about in the new panel opening mechanism and if it couyld cause extra wear and tear on new movable parts

[@paultapper9300]

Tried looking for the dust filters set (LAN3-1X/1W / LAN3-1 Dust Filter Kit) and we cant get them in AU.... yet. Dust is my biggest bug bear and a must have to protect my PC's.

[@bartacus3521]

Tom with your thorough attention to detail, it is a bloody shame that you don't build more custom loops in cases like this, and do some typically thorough Tom torture testing (T5 for short, LOL). As a man who will never air cool again, this information would be valuable.

[@anthonytech]

Honestly they should’ve just done a solid back side panel. It would cut down on cost and what’s the purpose of have a glass back side panel when there’s panel behind it that hide the cables. Never understood when manufacturers do glass back side panels. That area is meant to hide cabling

[@RicochetForce]

This is a high end enthusiast case. This part of the market has almost always been full of showy, extravagant stuff. Even back in the 90s.

[@2011jaydog]

well gonna hafta get this...got a black anf a white lancool2 mesh...even a q58, pretty neat revisre of the lancool..

[@busyswizzler]

Looking forward to see how this stacks up to the new 216

[@mohamedalmuhairi324]

Lian Li Lancool III Case Drive Cage is not compatible with the new HDD 3.5 from WD or SG

[@BlissBatch]

I feel like if I wanted to spend that much money on a case, I'd splurge just a little bit more and get the OG Fractal Torrent.

[@lolzlolz69]

Appreciate the video is a bit old but does the 4090 fit in without affecting the sliding cable tray?

[@OC3D]

Honestly dont know dude sorry. Ive not tested the card in there

[@lolzlolz69]

@@OC3D No problem. Ive gone for the Corsair 7000d anyway. Thanks

[@nadtz]

It's a shame more manufacturers don't offer a solid side panel option, guess I'll be sticking with Fractal/workstation cases. Really like this case otherwise considering there's a no rgb option.

[@lilblackduc7312]

Ding!!! Thank you, Tom. 🇺🇸 😎👍 ☕

[@ChopperPBM]

Is the 'Lian-Li' logo on the front bottom removable at all?

[@OC3D]

depends if youve got a dremel....

[@NevilleFernandez666]

does this still support the old lancool 2 vertical gpu mount ?

[@_Snapper]

Sold have to have it

[@AG-cg7lk]

No idea why they increased cost by fitting glass on the mb side. Totally pointless. They also should have added screwdowns for the internal doors so that they can retain cables properly. Otherwise, really can't complain for the price, performance and looks. I need a well made, high airflow case with lots of drive bays, so this is top of my list right now.

[@StonedViper101]

you are taking out the front fan panel the wrong way, there is a lever you push that is located under to front I/O panel, just above the fans

[@bannas101]

Better than the HAF 700 EVO?

[@OC3D]

huge difference on price. This delivers so much for so little in comparson. The haf is allllll about size

[@NeoDon1]

Why would anyone put a MB in this $ case with no addressable RGB?

[@christofor8487]

Does it also comes in Black color ?

[@OC3D]

It does

[@christofor8487]

@@OC3D Thank you , might get my hands on one of these . The Airflow is good + it looks great .

[@natsts50]

For me it looks like they have taken some ideas from other case brands “like Phanteks evolve x” and made a budget version. The back panel layout is almost a copy of it.

[@user-vk7jg5yr3v]

Good engineering but both thermals and noise is worse than Lancool II Mesh. Not for me...

[@MrDvneil]

i feel they failed with this case, vs 216 vs evo xl , just a bit more options to mount RL and nothing more

[@dimwillow7113]

yeah love it but its to long for me..a shorter and its a buy

[@chrisstokley7687]

Luv it: absolutely gorgeous and very versitile/ easy clean- get at it! Lots air flow- perfect cable management! i retired and need buy 1 piece at time! This be my first choice :>) ..tyvm. ...i own star citizen but my DDR 3 want play it :>( ..one day !!! one day :>)

[@NullifidianYT]

Disappointing what it doesn't have dust filters and more front USB ports.

[@Wilding777]

You will never ever be able to beat Cooler Master Cosmos 2 for design and originality. Was a beaut!

[@enescustovic1883]

Soda and biscuits? The British are always on the cutting edge of social advancement

[@Rayu25Demon]

I miss metal panle case. The main reason that i switched to laptops is the gay microwaves trend in pc cases. Why we don't have options ?

[@OlettaLiano]

This case gets a NO from me. I don't like single-chamber chassis with a basement.

[@v0ldy54]

Dunno about this case, surely performance and features are good but it looks kinda lame and plasticky despite the build quality.

[@meuflo]

I completely agree

[@franklinlora7380]

Have you seen this case in person? I can assure you is rock solid. Great build quality.

[@v0ldy54]

@@franklinlora7380 I'm sure it is, but it still looks like it has 5 tons of plastic on it

[@stevewatson6839]

Got a pint mug of tea... no biccies though. Do Jacob's Crackers get a pass, especially as the case is a cracker and not crackers? 🤪 Sorry; best I can do at 5:40 in the morning. Don't ask.

[@edwardharris4330]

ᑭᖇOᗰOᔕᗰ ☺️

[@2009numan]

its lian not lan

[@香噴噴-p6f]

why is it best lol , nothing special about it at all

[@gurhankaya]

n1

[@estate-tidus1007]

So much wasted space in these big arse cases.

[@matthewrezuke8130]

The evo is better

[@CJEndowed001]

I don't like the name of the brand Lian Li!

[@realkaibr]

Worst case I've had to use.

[@dipitydoodaa2397]

Not my style. The case is bland

[@philkyle8919]

horrible looking case looks like it was built by corsair or found on amazon for £50.00

[@espi8997]

That's what I first thought about the Lancool II Mesh and I ended up buying a second one. Don't let the first impressions fool you!

[@RicochetForce]

@@espi8997 Yup, the Lancool series is a bunch of understated monsters.

[@bk201xe]

squicky. return of the squeek! thanks for another case review ttl

[@TechTalkTobi]

Hi TTL ! yes, i agree to 110% - will be my next case. 140mm in the back - finally ! aaaaand those over-engineered stuff - love it !