A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the inside, you first have to remove the top cover, which is held in place by two thumb screws. Then, you are able to simply lift all the panels off the chassis. The detail and engineering that went into the way these panels are put into place is excellent. The main compartment of the PC-O11 Air is pretty empty. As there are no front bays and no PSU, this side only holds the motherboard, GPU, and cooling elements.

Turning the chassis around, you will find the PSU bay and multiple possibilities to mount hard drives within the chassis. Besides the two aforementioned classic trays, which may be used for either two 2.5" or 3.5" drives, Lian Li has also placed a plate in the center of the compartment for another 3.5" or two 2.5" drives. Lian Li had enough foresight to make the bottom of this plate thinner, which means a longer primary PSU will fit—once again making the most of the space within the PC-O11 Air in a smart fashion.


In the main compartment are two 2.5" drive trays you may install your SSDs in to also show them off to curious onlookers. Thanks to well-placed holes, you should also be able to connect both data and power leads easily while keeping everything neat and tidy.


One of the most unique elements of the PC-O11 is the offset radiator-mounting location on the side of the chassis. Lian Li has placed two 45° bends into the motherboard tray, making the most of the space provided, thus allowing you to install a 360 mm radiator along with fans. Thanks to the slight offset, you will still be able to install big graphics cards within the chassis.


The PSU bay is pretty basic, but functional. Any unit will have its fan face outward so that it pulls cool air in through the side of the chassis. You should be able to add a longer unit as a primary PSU without losing any of the hard-drive bays. Above that, the 3.5" cage may be removed to give you another, slightly more compact possibility to add a secondary PSU.


In the main compartment, the eight horizontal motherboard expansion slots are protected by individual, reusable covers. Above this is the only obvious Lian Li branding within the chassis in the form of a silver-brushed aluminium plaque. As this case comes co-branded with "der 8auer", both brands are presented equally here. In the very top, you usually find some sort of fan-mounting position next to the square motherboard I/O plate cutout. However, with the PC-O11 Air, this space is intended to hold a pump or reservoir, once again catering to the liquid-cooling enthusiasts.




You will find all the expected connectors within the PC-O11 Air. These consist of traditional LED/power plugs and the usual audio and USB 3.0 leads. On top of this, Lian Li has added a fully fledged USB 3.1 Type C connector for you to use should your motherboard have such a header.