Lian-Li A4-H2O Black SPCC/Aluminum Mini-ITX Computer Case, PCI4.0 Riser Card Cable Included - A4-H2O X4 BLACK

Product Information

All images and descriptions are for illustrative purposes only. Visual representation of the products may not be perfectly accurate. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Although we endeavor to present the most precise and comprehensive information at the time of publication, a small number of items may contain typography or photography errors ValantarThere's the Asus Crosshair VIII Impact (C8I for short) that uses that extra space for ... uh, some extra audio caps and some other stuff? It's not really clear what it uses the space for given that its featureset is 99% the same as the ITX X570 Strix, but it's supposedly better for LN2 OCing. It does have a couple more USB ports though, including one really weird 2.0-only USB-C (which seems to be intended for audio devices?).I think you might be thinking of the B550 Strix with the weird daughterboard USB-C. Overall, a great experience as a first time builder in a case this small. Lian Li has proven to be extremely high quality especially for this price point, and I like having the option to go liquid cooling later down the line next time I upgrade my PC again. I'm glad to be a member of the SFF PC community now with this case. There is ample ventilation throughout the Lian Li x DAN Case A4-H2O thanks to the fine mesh featured on the side and top panels. Promoting outstanding natural airflow, this will work perfectly with the AiO cooler to keep your gaming PC at optimum temperature. Choices Realistically, every major OEM makes a 3060Ti, 3070, 3080, and 3090 that won't fit in an M1, mostly because of the depth of the card rather than the length of the card. The A4-H20 can handle deep cards because it's using a riser cable, so that's at least an option for people when the M1 won't fit. 13" triple-slot cards that protrude 2" above the expansion slot cover are ridiculously common and popular, which is irritating as most of that extra height is typically just decorative shroud for the sake of making the card physically bigger and not actually extra cooling surface.

Impact is the manifestation of "sounds great, doesn't work". Both B550 ITX boards I've used OC better, on CPU and mem, at half the price. Memory latency performance is all over the place like no other. The Strix/Impact VRM is supposed to be the best, but not actually because the "heatsink" is so sad. The 5 fan headers are great but two are on the SO-DIMM. The SO-DIMM is good for SSD cooling but only with active airflow, and flops around (which isnt a problem for DIMM.2 due to orientation). SO-DIMM is well-known for causing severe bowing on SSDs. SO-DIMM and fan headers are a pest for loop planning if you want aesthetics. etc etc Now for the part that really blew me away was the temps. This shouldn't be surprising because the NZXT H210 is notorious for being an oven, but somehow I was expecting such a small case like this one to run hot as well. GPU temps dropped by more than 10 degrees across the board. Full load previously was 84C but has been reduced to 72C now. For my normal usage (60-75%) the GPU stays around 64C. Compared to the H210, the noise level is much quieter and the GPU is no longer screaming for its life. Another thing I like is how the GPU is on the right side of the case. Most other sandwich layouts I've seen have it on the left, but since I put my PC on the right of my desk this means the loudest part will be facing away from me. In terms of pricing, it feels a bit expensive considering something like the Lian Li Q58 with PCIe 4.0 actually has a lower MSRP than the A4-H2O with the same interface standard. That seems odd, as the Q58 offers a slew of more functional features and a more interesting material mix.

Standoff extensions for the riser to allow 2-slot nvidia FE cards to have room to breath (necessary since they have a fan on the top not just bottom of the card) To sum things up, the Lian Li x DAN A4-H2O is a compact, simple SFF chassis that will work well with run-of the mill AIOs. It doesn't offer the flexibility we have recently seen from other SFF units, but manages to drive home the understated and functional minimalist focus quite nicely. This case is absolutely amazing, punching well above its weight class. Let's start off with what I have inside mine -- an i7 12700K and am RTX 3090 TUF, powered by a Cooler Master V850 SFX PSU. Man, does this case make it happen. GungarThe Ncase M1 can fit any GPU except the stupidly long ones, you can also fit a 3 slot card no problem.The NCase M1 certainly fits some pretty large GPUs these days but the triple-slotters are suffocated by the extremely fine mesh on the bottom and the actual width of the case can interfere with both some of the sillier shrouds and many of the PCIe power connectors. Sure, there are workarounds for both problems by using dremels to the mesh on the bottom or U-turn PCIe adapters but the main issue is that the M1 was conceived when a 12", dual-slot card that protruding 1" above the expansion slot cover was considered insanely large.

My experience with this case has been fantastic, but it did leave me wanting more. Having a liquid-cooled, 11.24-liter PC means it's going to be a tad heavy. It's also too big to fit into my DSLR camera bag. I also think this case's width dimension would be a tight fit in a carry on-size tough case like one from Pelican. I don't get an explanation that someone doesn't have enough space for a larger PC case. The foot is almost as large as that of small ATX towers. Small ATX towers cost less, can install cheaper ATX motherboard, can install cheaper ATX PSU, can install more standard CPU cooler, and the PC runs cooler without additional noise. So I see it like all these expensive ITX builds are for enthusiasts who like to "compress" stuff for fun. I won't deny, I like to build small PCs but the marketing around it is ridiculous. Beware the CPU will likely run a bit hot since the top AIO is the only exhaust vent, and there isn't really room for any additional fans (with great effort I was able to squeeze a slim 80mm fan in the bottom but that was about it).Finally, where an aircooled solution also cools down the VRM/m2, this will not be the case with an AIO. The efficiency of the sandwich/convection concept of the original DAN A4-SFX is what I love about that case. I am now trying to wrap my head around how this would work in the A4-H2O: All of the above make me wonder if and how an AIO is actually better than a decent aircooled solution like in the A4-SFX... If you need a small form factor PC for saving desk space, this is an excellent option. That's the niche this serves for me, and it delivers. With 100% of the case’s airflow coming from radiator fans, the dual-fan CPU cooler even dropped graphics card temperature by around 8 degrees...

The A4-H2O gets a lot right. You can cool some higher end CPUs, use a full length GPU, and a semi-pleasant building experience. To top it off, it looks amazing, and the parts are high quality. Just keep your hands off the case, as the finish shows off fingerprints well. The larger radiator worked so well that we wouldn’t mind using the Lian Li A4-H2O with an even more power-hungry processor: Something like the Core i7-12700K perhaps?

Of course, as in all things hardware cooling, there is no free benefit: Corsair’s fans are a bit noisy at max RPM, and even more noise piles into the mix as we add another one. Let's face it, in the current market you have to choose the case to fit the GPU you can get hold of, not choose the GPU to fit the case....