The Lancool 217 ships with 5 followers: two 170mm entrance consumption, two 120mm shroud-top consumption with reversed blades, and one acts as rear exhaust. The shroud-top followers might be moved all the way down to the within floor of the shroud, which reduces house accessible for drives, cables, and the PSU, however clears the best way for a vertical GPU mount. There is a third fan mount on the shroud that is blocked off by the PSU; its solely function appears to be compatibility with 3×120 UNI fan kits.
4 of the 5 case followers are mounted tool-lessly, and the entrance followers specifically might be rearranged into “CPU Mode” or “GPU Mode” with plastic spacers in between.
Lian Li additionally included a full set of longer screws to make the tool-less mounting system work particularly with the 28mm-thick UNI followers.
Lian Li’s Lancool 215 launched 5 years in the past. It was groundbreaking on the time because of the two 200mm consumption followers, typically solely discovered on giant, costly instances, however with a brutally low MSRP of $70 achieved by contracting out case manufacturing and that put plenty of stress on the trade.
The $120-$125 value for the 217 is not as unbelievably low because the 215’s was, however Lian Li has preserved a number of options of the 21X collection.
The case additionally has a 90-degree rotated PSU mount and an elaborate vertical GPU mount that is suitable with shroud-top followers for as soon as, though it requires a separately-purchased riser cable to make use of.
Lian Li Lancool 217 Overview
Lian Li says that the self-described “Modern Wooden Accent” requires notably tight manufacturing tolerances. Different instances just like the Fractal North (learn our assessment) go for remoted strips that need not completely line up, however the wooden parts in our 217 all sit flush with one another, and the entrance mesh truly seats into the wooden on the backside. On our pattern, it finally ends up trying fairly good with no large gaps.
We often solely see wooden used as ornament, and we have seen the dangers of utilizing it as a purposeful ingredient with the cracked panel on our Fractal Period 2 (learn our assessment).
The association of the trim reminds us of the Antec Flux and Flux Professional (learn our assessment) instances, which Lian Li could also be focusing on with the discharge of the 217.
Lian Li Lancool 217 Specs
| COLOR | White or Black |
| DIMENSION | (D)482mm x (W)238mm x (H)503mm |
| MATERIAL | Metal / 4.0mm Tempered Glass / Wooden |
| MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT | SSI-EEB(Width Max 330mm) / E-ATX（Width Max 280mm）ATX / Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX |
| BACK CONNECT MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT | ATX / Micro-ATX |
| PSU SUPPORT LENGTH | Customary Mode：ATX（Underneath 220mm）Rotated Mode：ATX（Underneath 180mm） |
| FAN SUPPORT | Entrance: 170mm x 2 (Included) / 140mm x 3 / 120mm x 3Top: 3 x 120mm / 2 x 140mmAbove PSU Shroud: 3 x 120mm (2 Included)Underneath the PSU shroud: 2 x 120mmRear: 1x 140mm(Included) / 1x 120mm |
| RADIATOR SUPPORT | Prime: 360 / 280 / 240mm |
| DRIVE SUPPORT | Again Join Motherboard: 2 x 2.5″ SSD / 1 x 2.5″ SSD(behind MB)2 x Drive Cage: 1 x 3.5″HDD+1 x 2.5″ SSD+(1 x 3.5″ HDD or 1 x 2.5″ SSD)PSU Shroud: 1 x 2.5″ SSD |
| GPU LENGTH CLEARANCE | 380mm (Max.) |
| CPU HEIGHT CLEARANCE | 180mm (Max.) |
| EXPANSION SLOT | 7 |
| I/O PORTS | 2 x Energy Button2 x USB 3.01 x USB Sort-C1 x Audio |
| DUST FILTER | 1 x Backside, 1 x Entrance |
| Hub | ARGB / FAN Hub：6 x PWM FAN port4 x 5V ARGB port |
| WARRANTY | 1 yr(Fan: 3 years) |
*Specs copied from producer supplies, please learn assessment for our personal measurements and opinions
The Construct
Let’s begin with “CPU Mode” and “GPU Mode.” That is one thing Lian Li has carried out up to now however have modified their execution this time. The 2 entrance 170mm followers are hooked up tool-lessly by screwing rubber washers onto the followers after which sliding them into place, a typical technique for putting in storage drives. Between these followers, two plastic blanks might be inserted like old-school 5.25″ covers. The blanks additionally assist to information circulate and forestall re-circulation.
The case ships in GPU mode, which means (from prime to backside) spacer/fan/spacer/fan with a bias in the direction of airflow decrease within the case.
It may be reconfigured to CPU mode, which means fan/fan/spacer/spacer with the followers increased up. That is comparable in spirit to the “air cooling mode” and “water cooling mode” configurations of the Lancool 216 (watch our assessment), however extra streamlined, sensible, and loads simpler to make use of.
Alternatively, regular fan rails might be put in on the entrance with 120mm or 140mm spacing, however that may be a waste because the 170mm followers cannot be relocated to every other a part of the case. The followers are factored into the case’s value, and every belongs to a clearly designated space, so it makes essentially the most sense to purchase the 217 for those who’re planning to go away the inventory followers alone.
Making a vertical mount that is suitable with shroud-mounted followers is difficult, and Lian Li completed it with an elaborate assortment of {hardware}: a tiny shroud extension on the entrance so the followers might be shifted forwards, one other barely bigger extension on the again to mount a standoff to, then the standoffs. With all that within the accent equipment, it’s not usable for a vertical GPU with no riser cable, which they don’t embrace, but it surely’d additionally closely influence the value.
The detachable prime radiator bracket is a welcome return from the 216; it might help as much as a 360mm radiator with out subject, however different mounting areas would require shifting the inventory followers. We discovered ourselves eradicating the highest bracket and popping the tool-less entrance followers off to work contained in the case, which makes parts accessible from a number of angles.
PSUs might be mounted in both “Customary Mode” for as much as 220mm size or “Rotated Mode” (the default) for as much as 180mm size. As with the Lancool 207 (learn our assessment), we recommend sticking to shorter (~150mm) PSUs in rotated mode to permit additional room for cable bends.
In case you use one among Lian Li’s Edge PSUs, it have to be mounted fan-side-up and can compete with the GPU for air.
A fan and RGB hub is included, which can be one other function meant for UNI fan compatibility provided that the case would not ship with any RGB LEDs. The hub splits SATA energy, a 5V ARGB enter, and a 4-pin PWM fan enter throughout 4 ARGB outputs and 6 fan outputs.
The handbook specifies which followers must be related to every port, however we confirmed (with a tachometer) that followers run on the identical pace no matter which port is used.
There are two energy buttons. There’s the apparent one on the prime of the case, however there’s one other tucked away with the remainder of the I/O on the aspect of the case. It is a continuation of the 216 (watch our assessment), which allowed swapping the whole I/O meeting between the 2 areas. It’s a compromise as in comparison with the 216’s swappable choices. The buttons are hardwired to a unified entrance panel connector, to allow them to solely be used for energy.
Lian Li has already responded to consumer criticism of the shortage of help for shifting the I/O by saying that its 217 Infinity (which we noticed at Computex) will permit I/O top-mounted as nicely.
There are two different options from the 216 that had been dropped. First, the bizarre fan bracket that might be caught over the rear enlargement slots is gone, however our unique testing did not present any important profit to putting in a fan there. Secondly, Lian Li has dropped the screw from the glass panel, which is a nitpick we’ll all the time convey up: glass panels ought to have a solution to be mounted down securely for transit.
The drive help is troublesome to summarize on a spec sheet. There are two 2.5″ mounts behind the motherboard tray, however solely one among them can be utilized if an mATX back-connect board is put in. There’s one other 2.5″ mounting location on prime of the PSU shroud (if the rearmost fan slot is not used). Lastly, there are two conventional HDD cages within the accent equipment that match beneath the PSU shroud, every of which inserts two drives in any mixture of three.5″ and a couple of.5.” That is unusually beneficiant for a contemporary case, however understand that just one drive cage will match with the PSU in customary mode.
The 217 contains the identical flip-able cable grommet bar that the 216 did. Rotating the bar provides clearance and exposes standoffs for SSI-EEB boards as much as 330mm in width.
Cable administration house will depend on the PSU orientation and drive cages, however the cable cutouts are giant and are not compromised on account of back-connect compatibility. Eradicating the small GPU help opens up one other giant cutout, though it lacks a rubber grommet. The plastic clips on the rear of the case from the 216 are again, making EPS12V cable routing particularly simple.
When our pattern shipped, the mesh part beneath the glass aspect panel had deformed barely, most likely throughout delivery. We had been in a position to bend it again, however the metallic on this space is skinny and laborious to completely flatten.
Lian Li Lancool 217 Thermals
Lian Li features a entrance filter within the accent equipment, with a word within the handbook that states “for those who want higher efficiency, please don’t set up this filter.” Based mostly on this, we handled the filter-less case as inventory and ran one check with it put in. We ran CPU mode, GPU mode, and a check with the GPU put in vertically in GPU mode, though (as we defined earlier) we had been pressured to put in the GPU one slot nearer to the glass than we needed to due to the size of the PCIe riser cable that we had.
Fractal’s current Meshify 3 (learn our assessment) is an apparent level of comparability for the Lancool 217 with costs as little as $140; our charted outcomes are for the costlier RGB variant, however efficiency must be comparable between the Meshify 3 SKUs. Antec’s Flux and Flux Professional could be the closest instances in the marketplace when it comes to each value and look, to the purpose that it looks like an intentional technique from Lian Li, however for now we solely have the Flux Professional on our charts. The Professional has a pair options that extra intently match the 217, just like the three accessible shroud-top fan mounts and rotatable PSU, however the non-Professional is the one which matches the 217’s value. Montech’s HS01 Professional (learn our assessment) is one other case with a mesh entrance and a excessive inventory fan rely that is launched not too long ago; we typically most well-liked the glass-fronted HS02, however the HS01 Professional immediately competes for the 217’s market.
CPU Full Load Thermals – Noise-Normalized
We’ll begin with noise-normalized thermals, the place we use our hemi-anechoic chamber to measure the general SPL of the case after which decrease fan speeds in tandem till it hits our threshold of 27 dBA.
Noise ranges had been barely completely different within the 217’s CPU mode and GPU mode (as we’ll element afterward), in order that they required barely completely different fan settings to be able to hit the brink. With these changes, each configurations averaged 41 levels Celsius above ambient throughout all cores and 45 levels throughout the P-cores. That is additionally precisely why we now have the acoustic chamber — we wouldn’t have the ability to decide up such small variations in noise earlier than, and that slight adjustment reveals that they’re about the identical for the CPU as soon as we regulate for RPM.
The Meshify 3 positioned increased on the chart than the 217, however its outcomes had been shut sufficient to be mainly equal at 40 levels all-core and 44 P-core. Montech’s HS01 Professional makes use of a bottom-intake configuration and subsequently has comparatively weak CPU thermals with our check {hardware}, averaging 49 all-core. In the meantime, the Antec Flux Professional matches the Lancool 217’s thermal efficiency right here nearly precisely, though once more the non-Professional variant is a more in-depth match in value.
Lian Li’s older Lancool 216 additionally stays unbeaten right here, with thermals that intently match the Meshify 3 and are subsequently fairly near the 217 as nicely. The 216 had extremely uncommon 160mm consumption followers, particularly for the time, with extra-wide frames to stop air re-circulation, and we discovered them efficient in our assessment and that also holds up as we speak.
GPU Full Load Thermals – Noise-Normalized
Wanting on the GPU thermal information for a similar set of noise-normalized outcomes reveals a extra important hole between the case configurations. CPU mode is at 44 levels above ambient for the typical GPU temperature and 48 levels for GPU reminiscence, whereas GPU mode dropped that to 42 and 45 levels, respectively. On condition that the earlier chart confirmed CPU temperatures had been unaffected, that makes GPU mode the higher configuration total for our check {hardware}. Though there are two consumption followers immediately beneath the GPU, biasing the entrance consumption followers decrease within the case has an opportunity to enhance thermals even additional. That traces up with what we typically discovered even with the earlier iteration of our check bench, the place GPU thermals typically had extra room for enchancment than CPU in high-airflow instances.
GPU mode gave the 217 a slight benefit over the Meshify 3, though the delta was lower than one diploma with the Meshify 3 averaging 43 levels above ambient. The HS01 Professional ran equally to the Meshify 3, and the Flux Professional landed on prime at 41 levels.
The older 216 carried out equally to the HS01 Professional with a 43 diploma common, which is to say it additionally carried out equally to the 217. All the outcomes we now have recorded for the 216 this time round are within the inventory configuration; in our unique assessment, we discovered that the alternate air-cooling mode barely improved GPU thermals and barely worsened CPU thermals with an previous bench.
GPU Full Load Thermals – Full Velocity
Shifting to the total pace exams, the Lancool 217 is now the loudest case on this chart aside from the Fractal North XL, measuring in at 44.8 dBA with all 5 followers operating at their most pace (44.3 in CPU mode). We’ll skip proper to GPU thermals right here, since CPU thermals had been the identical in all 4 examined configurations. As anticipated, the vertically mounted GPU check had the worst common at 47 levels above ambient, adopted by CPU mode at 43 levels, then GPU mode at 40 levels. This could enhance with a GPU within the slot nearer to the board.
Putting in the entrance filter had no important impact on thermals or noise on this check, which is not one thing we see typically, so Lian Li deserves some credit score. Technically the consequence with the filter put in had a barely cooler common than with out, however inside our one diploma margin for check variance, and the GPU reminiscence temperature stayed at 41 levels for each exams. That is inside error. That implies that the filter has minimal influence on GPU thermals in our check, so it isn’t that obstructive. That’s good for Lian Li.
The GPU Mode 217 outperformed the Meshify 3 and HS01 Professional by about one diploma, but it surely’s additionally audibly louder than both of these instances, whereas the Flux Professional manages to be each cooler at 38 levels and quieter at 39.7 dBA compared to the 217.
That is the primary check we have seen to this point the place the 217 places a niche between itself and the 216, with the older 216 averaging 43 levels above ambient.
VRM & RAM Full Load Thermals – Full Velocity
We might usually look at the VRM and RAM thermals from the noise-normalized outcomes, however sticking with the total pace chart as an alternative permits us to see how the assorted configurations affected motherboard temperatures. All 4 of the VR VCC sensor outcomes recorded for the 217 rank among the many finest we have seen, with the CPU mode consequence at 20 levels above ambient, each GPU mode outcomes at 19, and the vertical GPU consequence at 17 levels. Mounting the GPU vertically would not do the GPU itself any favors, however within the 217 it permits the underside consumption followers to blow immediately up via the case with out being blocked by the horizontal GPU cooler.
SPD Hub temperatures from the RAM had been equally wonderful, with the vertical GPU consequence additionally on prime at 10 levels above ambient. GPU temperatures are the next precedence, however motherboard temperatures are price taking into consideration when evaluating vertical GPU mounts, which we’re doing right here.
Lian Li Lancool 217 Conclusion
The Lancool 217 is not leaps and bounds forward of the earlier Lancool 216, but it surely contains some logical modifications and enhancements based mostly on case developments (wooden, again join motherboard help) in addition to Lian Li’s personal merchandise (EDGE PSUs, STRIMER cables, UNI followers).
The wood ornament on the entrance panel is essentially the most important change, adopted by the tool-less followers which make reconfiguration simpler than it was within the 216. The 216 already had wonderful thermal efficiency, and for essentially the most half the 217 merely matches it, solely actually pulling forward when the case followers are all pushed to max pace (which is impractical attributable to noise).
At $120, the 217 competes favorably with the similarly-performing however costlier $140+ Meshify 3, though Fractal has choices for RGB lighting. The followers and efficiency you get for the cash push the 217 previous Montech’s HS01 Professional, leaving the $120 Antec Flux non-Professional because the strongest contender.
The 217 appears to be Lian Li’s try to match the Flux Professional in efficiency and options whereas matching the dimensions and value of the non-Professional, and it is a success in these elements. That mentioned, the Flux non-Professional is just like the 217, and the comparability between the 2 comes all the way down to some very particular objects.
The 217 has wonderful inventory followers, extra spare connections on its built-in fan hub, help for rotated PSUs, it matches SSI-EEB motherboards, it might match a larger variety of drives, and it has some out-of-the-box help for vertical GPU mounting (though it would not embrace a riser cable). The Flux has probably higher airflow on the backside of the case attributable to its ventilated ground, and its fan structure is extra reconfigurable since all of the inventory followers are both 120s or 140s. A few of us at GN want the 217, but it surely’s a decent race.
