Inside:

Due to the extensive use of thumbscrews, it's fairly easy to work with this PC-A70. Each side panel is held in place by three thumbscrews; remove these and panels slide back a few inches and then pop off. There's even a little handle at the back to help in removal. The left side panel can be secured by attaching a lock through a tab that protrudes from the back, adding some level of deterrence. Once inside, you'll find quite a large assortment of accessories.

Pretty much everything you'll need for this case is included, such as: screws, standoffs, rubber grommets and special screws for the HDD, extra mounting plate for a secondary PSU and what appears to be an Intel Xeon mobo mount. You're even provided with a nut driver for installing the motherboard standoffs in case you don't have one handy. This is definitely one of the most complete packages I've seen. A simple to follow, single page instruction manual is also included and it explains everything nicely.

The ability to mount two PSUs in this case, stock, will be of importance to those running power-hungry setups or water-cooled rigs. You can rest assured that this case will be able to contain your most expensive hardware.

Side panels are easy to remove.

Accessories.

Side internal view.

Looking inside, you'll see that a retaining bar runs from top to bottom; its purpose is to add extra security to long expansion cards that might be used. This is useful for server-type situations, but for most setups, it won't be needed and might get in the way. Thankfully, it can be removed by taking out its screws. When removed, you can see what a spacious interior this case offers. With most motherboards, you'll end up with quite a bit of extra space in between the motherboard and the drive bays, allowing you to keep things neat and making working inside the case easy.

Drive bays.

HDD bays.

Mounting system.

You'll also notice the huge number of drive bays provided by this case. In addition to the five 5.25" bays, there are an astonishing ten 3.5" drive bays - seven of which are up front and three of which are in a cage at the upper back. This virtually ensures that the PC-A70 will be able to handle whatever you throw at it in terms of storage. Feel like building a 2 TB RAID 5 array? No problem - this case will easily hold that with space for more. Having five 5.25" bays also helps, as I can't really think of a way to fill them, but those of you who like having bay-mounted displays will definitely benefit. Additionally, because the case's extra space, you shouldn't have any trouble fitting longer 5.25" devices such as a hot-swappable HDD bay.

Room for 7 HDDs up front.

5.25" drive bays.

Thumbscrews.

In addition to the two 120mm intake fans at the front, there are a further two 120mm fans right behind the front HDD cage. This results in a total of four 120mm fans up front - this might be overkill for most systems. Additionally, the 120mm fans behind the HDD cage prevent you from using a screw to secure your HDDs. (More on this later) Fortunately, you can remove the bracket holding these fans in place.

As further attention to detail, a fan grill is placed over the rear 120mm exhaust fan to prevent wires (and fingers) from getting accidentally chewed up.

Front 120mm fan bracket can be removed.

Rear HDD cages holds up to 3 drives.

Rear HDD cage attached with screws & grommets.

At the upper back is a cage that holds up to 3 HDDs. This cage is removable (it has to be for installation), and is held in place by four screws at the bottom. Grommets are in place to reduce vibration transmission and to cut down on noise. Directly behind this cage is another 120mm exhaust fan. Counting this one, the other rear 120mm exhaust and the four front 120mm fans, you have a grand total of six 120mm fans in this case - stock! Whether you need all of them is another story.

Below you can see bracket used for mounting a PSU. It's held to the chassis using thumbscrews but you'll have to use regular screws to attach the PSU to the bracket itself. The bracket can be placed in either the top or bottom position; if it's placed in the top, the HDD cage up there can be moved to the bottom, thus swapping the two. Alternatively, you can completely remove the rear HDD cage and use the second PSU bracket to have dual PSUs in this case. It's this kind of modularity and good design that makes the Lian-Li's not only suitable to any system but easy to work with as well. Installing a PSU using the bracket is also easy, since you slide the PSU in from the back rather than from the inside of the case, thus avoiding some clutter. Unlike the Lian-Li PC-A10B we reviewed earlier, a 24-pin power connector extension that can be used to power on the secondary ATX PSU automatically is not included, but it's an optional accessory.

PSU bracket.

Rear.

Fan connecters.

If you do use two PSUs, the second rear 120mm exhaust fan (behind the HDD cage) will have to be removed. It's on its own bracket and is easily removed with thumbscrews as well, so it's no big deal. The other rear 120mm exhaust is protected with a nice chrome grill, giving better ventilation and appearance. Above it are the in/out ports for a water cooling setup, should you choose to go that route. Fan connectors for all of the 120mm fans are 3-pin, and 4-pin adapters also provided, so these fans will work with any setup.

Front bezel removed.

Strong tabs.

No wires on front bezel.

As mentioned, the front bezel is easily removed and pops up easily without having to remove either of the side panels. It's affixed to the chassis using sturdy plastic clips and metal pegs, so it will be more reliable than how most front panels are attached. Another reason why it's easy to remove is because no wires are directly attached to it; instead the buttons and LEDs are mounted on the chassis itself. This helps simplify 5.25" drive installation and cleaning of the grill.

Fan filters removed.

Opposite side where HDDs installed.

Mobo tray held by thumbscrews.

The two front 120mm intake fans each have their own separate fan filter, which is simply made of a mesh material and held in place by a plastic bracket. The brackets are held in place by plastic tabs and you have to slide the brackets up and then out. This required quite a bit of force (as the fitting was quite tight) and I worry that someday the plastic tabs might break. Nonetheless, it's nice to be able to remove the filters and wash them. Every case should have a fan filter.

Normally you don't have to remove right side panel to install devices in a tool-less case, but for this Lian-Li you have to. This is because the HDDs in the front cages slide in from the right side. The motherboard tray is also removed from the right side. It's held in place by thumbscrews at the back, and simply slides forward and out. This tray is not a full tray in that it only holds the motherboard, and not any expansion cards; nonetheless it's welcomed since memory and CPU heatsink installation is far easier outside of the case, even in a chassis as big as the PC-A70's.

Tray slides back then pops out.

Simple tray; doesn't hold expansion cards.

Drive cover removed.

The 5.25" drive covers are also made of aluminum and are easily removed and replaced. They're simply held in place by clips, which do a good job of keeping them in place. Drives are directly attached to the chassis; no rails are used. There are no annoying drive shields to tear off, since the aluminum drive covers probably act as EMI shields. As expected, the expansion slots use thumbscrews for easy access, but you can always use a screwdriver if you feel you have to tighten them more.

No rails used.

Expansion slots use thumbscrews.

Mobo tray is big.

Lastly, it's worthwhile to note that the top is removable, being held in place by screws. You don't really need to remove it though, but there is an optional different top (not pictured) that adds two more 120mm fans for use with a water cooling setup.

Got News? Send 'em in!