LIAN LI SUP01 Unboxing Review

The SPU01 is a compact, upright chassis with a three-compartment mounting structure that provides the most efficient cooling solution for graphics cards up to 400 mm in length. It supports up to ATX-sized standard motherboards and ATX backplane motherboards, and comes with three 120 mm fans that can be expanded with 360 / 280 mm water cooling to provide additional internal cooling, as well as a free 510 mm PCIE 4.0 cable. The 510 mm PCIE 4.0 cable extension and ARGB lighting support give the PC a unique look.

LIAN LI SUP01 Chassis Specifications.

Dimensions: 403.45 (L) x 212 (W) x 534 (H) mm
Color: Black, White
Material: Steel, 4 mm Tempered Glass
Motherboard: Backplane ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX
CPU air cooling: up to 88.2 mm
Graphics card: 400 mm long
Power supply: ATX (max. 220 mm)
Fan Mounting Positions (Side Front + Side Rear + Rear): 140 mm 0+2+0 pcs, 120 mm 3+3+1 pcs
Water-cooling support: 360 / 280 mm after measurement
Chassis I/O Ports: USB 10Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, Composite Audio, Color Setting, Light Mode Setting
Hard drives and bays: two 2.5", two 3.5", or 2.5" (composite)

LIAN LI SUP01 Chassis Unboxing

At the beginning of the year in LIAN LI 2024 Digital EXPO When I saw the SUP01, I was particularly interested in the special architecture of the chassis, and I have to say that the number of times I've unboxed the chassis since 2023 has decreased dramatically, and I've been pushing the focus of unboxing to other hardware, mainly because the chassis design hasn't been updated.

Since LIAN LI launched the O11D series, what is the next market direction? All of them are the so-called "seascape room" structure chassis, and then at the end of 2023, there will be a back-plugged chassis with a back-plugged motherboard, but it's just a small modification of the motherboard that doesn't interest people at all.

The appearance of the SUP01 is a rare chance to get interested in the chassis a little bit. The SUP01 boasts the use of a "vertical platform" architecture design, which reduces the use of space through the vertical design and compact layout, significantly reducing the desktop space compared to previous dual-cabin tower chassis, while retaining the feature of multi-cabin use of space.

SUP01 is also available in black and white colors, SUP01X and SUP01W, with dimensions of 403.45 x 212 x 534 mm in length, width and height, and 45L in volume.

∆ This unboxing is for the SUP01 white model (SUP01W), which measures 403.45 x 212 x 534 mm.

 

The front panel of the chassis is fully integrated with mesh holes to give the front graphics card the best cooling space, which is also the most important feature of the SUP01. The front panel is secured by a latch and is also equipped with a magnetic dust filter underneath to minimize dust ingress, which is a very suitable combination for dust-sensitive users.

∆ Web Hole Front Panel.

∆ The front panel is secured using latches.

∆ A magnetic dust filter is included for the graphics card.

The LIAN LI logo on the bottom of the ∆ front panel also serves as the power-on and reboot buttons.

 

The fully transparent 4 mm tempered glass allows for a clear view of the interior details, and simply looking at it this way makes you feel that there is something different about this chassis from the common ones.

The chassis I/O port is located under the side of the chassis and provides USB 10Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, composite audio, color setting, light mode setting buttons and more.

∆ Fully transparent tempered glass.

∆Color Setting, Light Mode Setting Button, Composite Audio, USB 10Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 3.0.

∆The side panels and the top cover are equipped with a paddle or groove for easy opening.

 

From the rear viewpoint, you can see that this chassis architecture is quite special. The motherboard mounting position is pushed towards the glass side, which makes the backside much more spacious, presenting a 50/50 split chassis width, allowing the water-cooling to be mounted at the back, but the drawback is that the CPU air-cooling towers or water-cooling heads are reduced in height.

The entire back of the chassis is covered with holes to allow for smoother airflow to the interior, but the dust protection on this side doesn't seem to be as good.

∆ A view of the rear of the chassis.

∆The bottom-mounted power supply mounting space, the small hole on the left is for the monitor cable outlet, and the small hole on the top is for the PCIE rear fan cable hole.

∆ The power supply has a special rear drawer dust filter that can be washed, but the bottom of the case is not tall enough and may be a bit difficult to pull out if you don't have fingernails.

∆ Seven-slot PCIE device mounting location, one of them is used for graphics card extension device mounting, unified use of short file board specification if you want to expand other devices need to pay attention to this part.

 

The back and top of the chassis are also fully integrated mesh panels, which means that the SUP01 has a full mesh panel on the front panel, the back side panel, and the top of the chassis.

∆ Side panel on the back of the motherboard.

∆ Chassis top cover.

∆ Magnetic dust filter under the top mesh.

 

Besides the manual and screw box, the only additional accessory is the PCIE rear fan mounting bracket, which is compatible with a 12 cm fan mounted on the rear of the PCIE file board. LIAN LI has arranged for the SUP01 case to be used for intake air to help with the CPU cooler and the M.2 SSDs, but the author personally doesn't think it's necessary and there is still the issue of dust prevention to be taken into account unless there are more fans on hand. I'll talk about it when I have more fans on hand.

∆ Accessories at a glance.

∆ Installation concept.

∆ Accessories box at a glance.

 

Core installation space at a glance

SUP01 supports ATX/MTX/ITX motherboards, but the recently updated "Rear Plug-in Motherboard" can only support ATX specification, while the Rear Plug-in M-ATX motherboards are not supported.

The maximum height of the CPU cooler is compressed to 8.82 cm due to the structure, most of the tower coolers are out of the question; air-cooled coolers support downdraft or AMD Wraith Prism coolers at most, while integrated water-cooled coolers may not be able to support the height of some of the cooler's taller models (especially the flagship models with LCD monitors).

∆ Chassis mounting space, support ATX/MTX/ITX motherboard installation, CPU cooler maximum support height of 8.82 cm, both air-cooled and water-cooled headers need to pay attention to the size.

∆ Chassis cutaway semi-structure.

∆ also supports ATX backplane installation.

 

The front-mounted graphics card supports a maximum length of 400 mm and a thickness of 4 slots, and the overall mounting of the graphics card is inverted, which means that the screen output connector is mounted facing downwards. The detachable graphics card holder is an adjustable design, and the L-shaped groove underneath can be used to increase the maximum support length from 380 mm to 400 mm by default, but it is recommended that the entire bracket be disassembled to make it easier to mount the graphics card.

∆ Default upper mode.

The ∆ can be moved down to increase the length of the support, and to remove the bracket you only need to remove the screw in the center.

∆ Adjustment of use.

∆ To install the graphics card it is always recommended to remove the bracket for better operation. After installing the graphics card remember to connect the screen cables before locking it back.

 

In order to take into account the safety of the graphics card during transportation after installation, SUP01 has a graphics card mounting bracket inside to stabilize the card as much as possible, but the dual-fan graphics card won't be able to eat too much of this bracket.

∆ The graphics card holder is made of sponge that touches the end of the graphics card.

∆ Removable and adjustable design.

∆ The height can be adjusted according to the length of the card.

 

There is a mirrored reflective cover on top of the bottom-mounted power compartment which is perfect for displaying the model, except that the base and width of the model should be less than 8.82 cm. After removing the reflective cover, you can see where the two 2.5" hard drives are mounted, and you can cover them back up to cover up the ugly ones after mounting the hard drives.

∆ Mirror reflection cover.

Two 2.5" hard disks can be installed under the ∆.

 

The only place to install fans inside the chassis are the two fan mounting brackets on the back of the motherboard, with three 12 cm fans pre-installed on the left side, with fan speeds ranging from 300 to 1800 RPM, a maximum air pressure of 2.56 mmH2O, and a maximum airflow of 68.88 CFM, powered by a PWM.

On the left side, only three 12 cm fans can be mounted; on the right side, 120 mm x3/ 140 mm x2 fans or 360/280/240 mm size integrated water coolers can be mounted.

There are two fan mounting brackets on the back of the ∆.

∆ Pre-installed fan up to 1800 RPM.

∆Pre-installed fans are cascadable design, three fans need only one cable, extra extra cable at the top?

∆ Three pre-installed fans require only one PWM supply.

 

Why are the two fan brackets on the back of the motherboard the same, but the left one can only install fans, while the right one can install water cooling? The main consideration besides the water-cooling pipe direction planning is the whole cable problem, the left side of the bracket there is not only the graphics card extension cable, but also the motherboard 24-Pin power supply which is the most difficult to deal with the cable will be passed through.

The depth of the entire cable behind the water-cooling mounting bracket on the right side of the ∆ is almost 10 cm.

∆ The two brackets are each secured by two screws.

∆ Anti-drop setting.

∆ The detachable bracket allows for easy removal of the fan or water cooling.

 

After removing the two fan brackets, you can see the cable layout and graphics card extension cable on the back. A 510 mm PCIE 4.0 graphics card extension cable is included in the chassis and is pre-positioned, so gamers just need to install the graphics card.

There is a controller mounting board on the back of the motherboard, so if you have fans, hubs, controllers, etc., you can magnetically attach them to the board.

The ∆ comes with a PCIE 4.0 extension cable with a generous amount of devil's felt harnesses on the back.

∆ The controller mounting plate and CPU power supply cable retaining clips.

∆ Chassis I/O cable, graphics card extension cable and chassis light bar support 5V 3-Pin ARGB lighting synchronization, remember to connect it if you want to synchronize through the motherboard.

∆Integrates the boot key and SATA power supply.

 

The lower-mounted power compartment supports up to 220 mm ATX power supply mounting, for a total of approximately 250 mm of power supply mounting space with a composite drive mounted in the front by default. The composite drive bay supports the installation of two 2.5" or 3.5" hard drives.

∆ Undermounted power supply mounting space.

∆ The composite drive cage supports the installation of two 2.5" or 3.5" hard drives.

 

Actual Installation

Then we will actually install LIAN LI SUP01 chassis to show you, this chassis because of the structure of the special reason so the installation sequence will be more special, after removing the two fan brackets, before installing the water-cooling is recommended to remove the chassis above the beam to the water-cooling, the back will be better.

∆ The upper beam of the chassis is secured by three screws.

∆ The water-cooling head or the water-cooling pipe can only be removed after the water-cooling head or the water-cooling pipe has been removed.

 

The recommended installation sequence for other hardware parts is as follows: power supply, graphics card and monitor cable, motherboard, water-cooling header, connecting power supply cables and wiring, water-cooler locking bracket, fan bracket installation, water-cooler bracket installation.

∆ Because it shares space with the fan, each wire must be tied off.

∆ The overlap condition of the graphics card extension cable with the 24-Pin of the motherboard.

∆ The power module wires come out from here.

∆ CPU power supply cables with snap finishing.

∆The screen cable runs through the lower power compartment. When installing the graphics card, remember to install the screen cable first, otherwise it will be difficult to install it later!

∆ Finally, lock the fan and water-cooling bracket back.

The Devil's Felt at the back of the ∆ can help to straighten out the cable. The HDMI connection on this side is just for demonstration only, because I don't bother to take a picture of the keyboard and mouse.

∆ The actual installation of the interior is shown.

∆ The water-cooling pipe is presented, and if necessary, it can also be used with the devil's felt on the side to tie up the water-cooling pipe.

∆ Graphics card installation display.

∆ Shows the front of the card.

∆ Actual energized display.

∆ An L-shaped ARGB light bar is located above the power compartment.

∆ Graphics card extension cable lighting display.

∆ Mirror plus light bar display.

∆ Full-transparency glass side-by-side display.

 

Chassis Thermal Performance Test

Then we also tested the cooling performance of the chassis, with Intel Core i9 13900K processor and MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY motherboard, during the test process in the motherboard BIOS will be integrated water-cooled PUMP and fan two slots set to run at full speed, the test scenario for the 28 ℃ air-conditioning operation of the closed room for the actual test, due to the ordinary room ambient temperature is difficult to control so just for reference. The ambient temperature of the room is difficult to control so it is only for reference, recently the air conditioner has broken down and only the air supply function is left, I am really dying of tears.

The software uses AIDA64 FPU and Furmark 2 individual burn-in tests to simulate the temperature data of the processor and graphics card under high load stress, and Cyberpunk 2077_Electric Renegade 2077 1080p game to run the test scenarios, while the data is collected using HWiFO64 to collect and record the maximum temperature and power consumption.

Testing Platform

Processor: Intel Core i9 13900K (QS)

Cooler: Valkyrie E360 (full speed)

Water-cooled fan: LIAN LI UNI FAN P28 (full speed)

Motherboard: MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY ( BIOS version: 7D29v1H )

Memory:Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5 RGB 7200 MT/s 16GBx2 (White)

Display card:MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 100ME

Operating System: Windows 11 Professional 22H2

System Drive: Plextor PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 2280 SSD 512GB

Gaming Disk: Intel 670P 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe SSD (Solidigm)

Power Supply: MONTECH Century 850W

Graphics Card Driver: GeForce Game Ready 555.99

Chassis: LIAN LI SUP01

 

I would like to add a few things, the first is that I have updated the BIOS version of MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY to version 7D29v1H, the second is that the default PL1 / PL2 of MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY is 288 W. I will use the default settings of this motherboard to conduct the test, which means that the average power consumption is limited to 288 W for long time, and the extreme power consumption (for Turbo Boost extreme state) is also 288 W for short time. The power limit (for Turbo Boost limit) is also 288 W. The rest of the settings are: Game Boots_off, XMP_on, water-cooling fan and PUMP_full speed.

In the separate AIDA64 FPU test, the 13900K was around 213 W; temperatures topped out at 80 °C, while the GTX 970 graphics card topped out at 71.3 °C in the Furmark 2 test.

The maximum processor and graphics card temperatures during Cyberpunk 2077 games were 74 °C and 67.3 °C, with graphics card cooling performance not too different from the barebones platform.

1. Play Cyberpunk 2077 1920 x 1080(FHD)_15 Minute
2. Graphics Card Standalone Test Furmark 2_30 Minute
3. Processor Standalone Test AIDA64 FPU_30 Minute

• CPU Package temperature is recorded by all Digital Temperature Sensors (DTS) in the package as the average of the maximum temperature over 256 milliseconds, and is the HWiNFO64 recommended CPU temperature observation value, which is also used as a benchmark for overheating and downclocking of the processor.

∆ Chassis thermal performance chart.

∆ AIDA64 FPU test screenshot.

 

Conclusion

LIAN LI's new compact vertical chassis, the SUP01, is really appealing in terms of architectural innovation. While the width of the SUP01 is a bit narrower than that of the previous dual-cabin chassis, the O11 Dynamic series, the SUP01 has a lot more space than the previous two-cabin chassis, and the SUP01 has a lot more space than the previous two-cabin chassis, the O11 Dynamic series, but if we take a look at the whole mid-tower market, we can see that the width of the SUP01 is not that different from that of the common bottom-mounted mid-tower chassis.

What is the advantage of SUP01? It's about optimizing the thermal performance of the graphics card. Take the unboxing of the author's previous MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 100ME The maximum temperature of the graphics card is exactly the same as the bare test platform, so gamers who are quite sensitive to the temperature of the graphics card should be very interested in it, and what about its drawbacks...

 

Although the author's air-conditioning is also affected, but the CPU cooling performance is indeed a little bit down, this part I personally leave to other people to open the box to verify, I personally do not think that the air-conditioning will affect so much.

Although the CPU all-in-one water cooling is hidden in the back to greatly reduce the screen clutter, the installation process does take a few more steps due to the special structure, and it is highly recommended to buy a slightly longer screen cable, preferably 2M~3M or more, if there is a need for multiple screens, it would be best to install the screen cable as soon as you install the graphics card, or else you will have to dismantle the graphics card bracket in the future which is a little bit inconvenient.

Using a short PCIE board with the included graphics card extension cable to get more installation space is similar to the previous HYTE Y60 / Y70 (of course the concept of space is different), this chassis is more suitable for gamers who want to play around with different architectures and pursue the ultimate cooling performance of the graphics card, if you have other PCIE devices to expand your needs, remember to check if there is a short board in the expansion kit that can be replaced. If you have other PCIE device expansion needs, please remember to check whether there is a short board in the expansion device accessories can be replaced, if you only want to install the graphics card to use, then I think this chassis with the B650E AORUS STEALTH ICE is super suitable for use.