I made custom Lian Li fan shrouds for improved PC cooling

Want to potentially improve your Lian Li case temperatures? I present to you my custom made custom made 3D printed Lian Li fan shrouds.

Despite significant improvements in PC cooling such as increasingly efficient coolers and more powerful case fans (not to mention overall affordability), there are still areas that are relatively unexplored. Hence why I decided to experiment with some custom designed Lian Li fan shrouds.

Due to the standardised dimensions of 120mm PC fans, I was able to design a basic but effective Lian Li fan shroud that works for the following cases: Lian Li O11 Dynamic, O11 Dynamic XL, 011 Dynamic, O11 Dynamic Evo, 011 Dynamic Evo XL and 011 Vision.

My thinking was that airflow works best when it is served cool and focussed. But that is not always possible if, say, your fan intake pulls air through a warm secondary chamber, as is the case in a number of Lian Li cases (and other brands). Things can get warm with the hard drive, back of the motherboard, rear of the CPU, PSU and other components in this area churning out heat.

What does a Lian Li fan shroud do?

That is why I designed and 3D printed a fan shroud (available in black, white or custom colours) that bridges the gap between the main chamber intake and outside of the case while concentrating the airflow.

Basically, my Lian Li fan shrouds – of custom length, depending on the specific Lian Li case – allow the (hopefully cooler) outside air to bypass the likely warm secondary chamber. This, in theory, should help reduce the temperature around the CPU, GPU, M2 SSDs and anything else you have attached to the front of your motherboard.

What if you want to exhaust air from inside your case to out? You may also benefit as that warm main chamber air, heated by the CPU, GPU etc, can bypass the secondary chamber to help avoid making things any warmer.

What do you get exactly?

• 3 x 120mm fan shrouds
• 12 x M5 fan screws or 12 x 6-32mm radiator screw
• Temperature resistant PETG material
• Fan shroud dimensions of 120 x 120mm (depth varies depending on case)

Available from Ebay and Etsy, each purchase includes three fan shrouds for your chosen Lian Li case. While I have seen PLA filament used for 3D printed PC mods, I much prefer the higher temperature resistance of PETG. Better safe than sorry.

For those who want super strength and even better temperature resistance, polycarbonate (PC) is available at extra cost. I would, however, be the first to admit that this in most cases (pun intended) would be overkill.

As for the fan screws, you can choose between 12 typical fan screws or 12 32mm long radiator screws if attaching to a radiator. While the normal fan screws can work with fans of a greater depth such as the Phanteks T30, the radiator screws will be too short for any fan beyond the much more common 25mm depth.

For the fan shroud to sit snugly and do its thing as effectively as possible, you will need to mount the fans (and/or radiator) in the main chamber and attach the shroud from behind in the rear secondary chamber where all the cables live.

What if you have a non-Lian Li case with a dual chamber design and similar fan intakes? A custom fan shroud could work nicely given the consistent 120mm fan proportions (or even 140mm if your case allows). I would, however, need to know the depth to fine-tune my design so that it fits snugly and does not let air escape unnecessarily.

How well does a fan shroud actually work?

Excellent question. Due to the sheer number of case and component permutations, it would be impossible to say. In theory, it could be that you see lower maximums or a lower constant temperature in the main chamber.

Or perhaps you will see a lower temperature in the secondary chamber. Or a faster reduction in one or both chambers after intensive PC useage.  You would have to use HWiNFO or equivalent to find out how each PC component reacts to the concentrated airflow.

What I would say is there is no real harm in trying and that the theory behind this design is logical. Airflow ducting is, after all, nothing new and used in many situations where temperatures can be higher than they ever get in a PC.

For me, I have seen positive results and that brings peace of mind when you consider heat is one of the biggest killers of components and the biggest killers of performance. If you have already bought a fancy Lian Li case, why skimp on potential improvements?

Got a 3D model you want printed? Happy to help – just click here.

Custom fan shroud images