Conclusion

The lian Li PC-D8000 is one beast of a case, the quality of its construction puts some manufacturers to shame, with its attention to detail and the sheer creative drive that the chassis exudes.  There are some rather interesting features, such as being able to install a 420mm radiator at the rear and 2x 240 or 280 radiators on the top panel. Also the easy front panel removal is a nice touch.

However all of the above comes at some cost, as the designers at Lian Li HQ have obviously envisioned this  as a giant server case only and as an afterword thought of water cooling. The reason for this is that there are some mistakes with regards to the above as in the first instance when utilising the top panel for a radiator this, which will then conflict with a possible rear 420mm radiator.   Whilst we are speaking of this is that the rear fan holes also support 120mm fans, however on these the spacing is incorrect for use with a 360mm heat exchanger. The final issues are the fan mounts which cool the drive bays also have the aforementioned spacing issue and lastly the HDD bays are riveted rather than screwed on for easy removal. If one notes during the conclusion of this article is that of the case itself there is not one thing wrong with the product, however we just have issues with the fan spacings for water cooling enthusiasts and a few very minor gripes with the case not being painted on the inside.

Bare the above in mind, then we can add a few more positives too, for instance; the motherboard tray is of the eleven PCI-E slot variety and can accommodate E-ATX and XL-ATX motherboards. Of which is a great feature as most other cube-based chassis manufacturers will only include the standard seven PCIE-slot tray and charge the consumer extra for the privilege of having the larger option. In addition the wire management makes sense and the grommets are tastefully utilised, along with a high quality feel. The latter means is that they do not pop out of their sockets when a cable is passed through them.  Once again we can see that the whole case does feel well constructed and the anodising that has been carried out on much of the exterior is second to none. The sheer modification potential of this product makes it one to look out for, for should the chassis be modified correctly then a possible seven (yes you read correctly) SEVEN high specification water cooling radiators can be installed. It is this feature more than any other that redeems the Lian-Li PC-D8000 chassis. The case has lots of potential but must be utilised correctly in order to achieve  the full benefit of this quality product.

The best way I can describe the Lian-Li PC-D8000 chassis is that it is a blank canvass and has the potential for a beautiful picture to be painted by the artist or water cooling/ modification expert.

For air cooling the Lian-Li chassis is hard to beat, however for the water cooling enthusiasts get your dremel out!

Pros:

• Massive
• Built well
• Good quality feel all round.
• Can support a 420mm radiator (20mm based)
• Twenty hard Drive support
• Extra Large motherboard tray
• Internal heat divider
• Built in long VGA card holder
• Can accommodate two power supplies.
• Top Panels can be exchanged for either 120 or 140 based radiators
• Option of adding Hot-Swappable devices.
• Anti Vibration mounts included for just about everything.
• A plethora of screws and nice box to keep them all in.
• Good RRP Price

Cons:

• Back panel only supports 20mm spacing based 420mm heat exchangers
• Same panel has incorrect spacings for 120mm radiators.
• Optional top panel will conflict with back radiator mount.
• Not painted on (bare aluminium only) the inside.

Given the information provided above, Overclockers Tech are happy to award the Lian-Li PC-D8000 a score of 82 out of 100 and therefore a Silver award.

author: gilgamesh