I’ll hold all the liquid cooling you can afford
Lian Li’s O11 Compact Vision is the latest addition to the PC case maker’s popular O11 series, bringing a refined take on the dual-chamber mid-tower case at a price of around $139.99. Positioned as a slightly more compact alternative to the O11 Dynamic EVO, it trims a bit of height while maintaining the O11’s signature focus on expansive cooling support and extreme interior visibility. This case can host an army of fans and radiators, but with no included fans and an optional glass top that you can interchange with a mesh panel, it’s clear this case is designed for enthusiasts who plan to fine-tune their airflow setup at their own expense. While the «aquarium»-style O11 Vision Compact excels in flexibility and premium aesthetics, prospective buyers should be ready to invest in additional cooling to get the best out of it—and reserve cable-routing time to make it all look great.Design: More Compact, Less ‘Dynamic’
We never quite pinned down what it was that supposedly made Lian Li’s previously reviewed O11 Dynamic EVO so «dynamic», but it was an exemplar of dual-chamber case design, with its spacious interior and modest 18.2-inch height. The Vision Compact fits most of the same hardware into similar dimensions, with the main difference a further shrink in overall height to only 17.6 inches. That’s still, by no means, small, but it’s an inch or two shorter than the average mid-tower, while still reserving enough space above the motherboard for a thick radiator to sit comfortably.
The Vision Compact’s «front panel» features are actually located on the front (not always true in the PC case world), with the power button near the top of its right edge and the ports/jacks far down below, located on the front of one of the case feet. That power button has a lighted diffuser for its power-on indicator LED, and the other connections comprise a headset jack (headphone and microphone on a single cable), USB Type-C (with a Gen 2×2 motherboard connection), and two USB 3.x Type-A ports.
A full-length dust filter slides out from beneath the Vision Compact’s left side for easy cleaning. Because this is the case’s only dust filter, fastidious builders might want to plan this mounting position for their main air intake.
The top panel sits so far above the motherboard mounting area that the extra space on the back panel makes room for two 120mm exhaust fans, one above the other. Lian Li has moved the power supply to a second chamber situated behind the motherboard tray. The rear also offers the standard ATX allotment of expansion slots (seven).
Also seen from this angle, two perforated sections of the steel right side panel (at the front and rear) ventilate the power supply bay and a side-facing internal fan bracket.
Like its right side panel, the O11 Vision Compact’s default top panel is punched with a grid of cooling perforations and has no underlying dust filter. One note: We removed the front glass to more easily reach and remove the protective plastic film Lian Li applied to its back side, but we recommend not taking that step if you’re able to get to it from inside, because getting to this point also requires removing the front trim strip.
The “Vision” part of the case’s name comes from an optional glass top panel that users who don’t want the top ventilation can swap into place. Installing this glass panel requires the existing panel be removed first, then the top fan bracket, then a vertical riser that runs from the fan bracket to the bottom panel.
The fan bracket under the factory-mounted top panel is designed to hold up to three 120mm or two 140mm fans in a 96mm-high space above the motherboard.
