Out of sight, out of mind is no longer the only way when it comes to PC building, with RGB fans and tempered glass cases becoming the new de facto standard. Recognising this, Lian-Li has further pushed into both markets, launching two affordable Alpha mid towers alongside a set of Bora RGB fans.
The Lian-Li Alpha 330 and Alpha 550 cases are almost identical, built with aesthetic in mind. Each case offers beautiful 4mm thick tempered glass panels on the front and one side of the chassis. Cable management is at the forefront of its design, with a power supply shroud hiding the messiest parts and smart detail solutions guiding each wire to its destination without crowding the innards unnecessarily. They also have two slots at the rear of the case, built for vertically mounting GPUs. Both the 330 and the 550 come in two different colour schemes.
Despite both being mid-towers, there is plenty of room to house CPU air coolers up to 170mm and graphics cards up to 400mm. If watercooling is more your style, each case can fit up to two radiators in 360mm and 420mm formats. When it comes to storage the Alpha 330 and 550 can fit up to 4x 3.5″/2.5″ and 4x 2.5″ drives. The last thing which the cases share is the same I/O ports, containing two USB 3.0, a single USB 3.1 Type-C and HD-Audio In/Out ports.
Where the cases differ is in its dimensions. The Alpha 330 sits at 230mm × 517mm × 540m (W × H × D), whereas the Alpha 550 is Dimensions: 230mm × 546mm × 450m. The 330 also comes with a single 120mm fan with the option to install a total of 7. The 550 however, includes three of Lian-Li’s brand new 120mm Bora RGB fans, an RGB strip, a PWM hub and a remote control.
The Bora fans feature 16 individual RGB LEDs, controlled by a remote rather than software to cycle through over 300 dynamic lighting effects. Their double ball bearing design means that they can achieve high speeds while remaining quiet, not sacrificing airflow. Specifically, Lian-Li states that they perform around 57.2 cfm and 1.9mm H20 static pressure.
All of these Lian-Li products are available at Overclockers UK, with the Alpha 330 available for £79.99, the Alpha 550 costing £124.99 and the Bora fans starting from £25.99 in Black and Silver variants to £59.99 for three packs. The prices of the cases might go up once the pre-order period is over.
KitGuru Says: The Alpha 550 in particular is interesting to me, packing all of that lighting into such a small price tag. It might not grant as much freedom as software based RGB, but it would also come without the hassle. Personally, 300 options is about 299 more than I’d use. Do you like the look of Lian-Li’s Alpha cases or Bora RGB fans?