Introduction

Ten years ago the only chassis that a water cooling enthusiast could purchase off-the-shelf was a Mountain Mods U2UFO case. However this company was based in the USA and one had to pay an over inflated delivery charge and a worrying issue that all the panels were packed in cling film.. yes you heard correctly ‘Cling Film’ or ‘Saran Wrap’ as our distant American cousins would say. As such scratches and  dents to the powder coating were all too common.

 These days everything has changed for the better and we have a number of companies for vying for the throne, which are under the banner of XSPC and Caselabs.  The latter have fast been gathering a reputation as the water cooling enthusiasts dream machine, however the issue is that this company is also based in the aforementioned country and if anyone wishes to purchase one of their products then an extortionate price on delivery must be paid. To make matters worse there is an import tax to consider and that is not just on the product itself but also a tax on the delivery fee. So when adding various taxes plus the delivery fee then the product can easily double in price.  The question is why would anyone go to such lengths to obtain one these chassis? The reason could be is that all these manufacturers specialise in manufacturing a product that can utilise two or more high specification water cooling radiators with very little or no modification to the chassis.

Enter Lian-Li; the aforementioned company does have the habit of producing high quality products for a myriad of differing customers and with their latest product they have high hopes that one can turn this current trend of paying hundreds of pounds Sterling in taxes and delivery costs around.

Enter the Lian-Li PCD 8000

 

 

 

Company Background

 

Lian Li Industrial Co., LTD was founded in 1983. We are one of the largest and most reputable manufacturer of aluminium PC case in Taiwan. With over twenty years of experience in the computer products field, our dedicated team of engineers, production specialists and adminstrative staff provide the finest quality accessories available on the market. 

In 1993, Lian-Li Introduced the new lines of computer hardware, including bracket ( for case & interfaces), Mobile rack (for H.D.D.), mounting kit (for FDD & HDD), aluminium PC cases, IPC, external cases, server cases and more. We also provide OEM & ODM services, you are assured of designs that will meet your exact  specifications, innovative ideas in manufacturing that will give your products an essential market edge.

Our outstanding quality has earned us ISO 9001 certification for all of our products. In addition, we back up our quality assurance with a two-year guarantee on most of our products.

(http://www.lian-li.com/en/about-us/  29/08/2013)

 

Specifications

 

Overall the specifications of the Lian- Li PC-D 8000 case are quite extraordinary, with what looks like support for no less than TWENTY Hard Disk Drives and yes bless them water cooling support. However many manufacturers say ‘WC ready’ these days when reality differs from this. With this in mind we should  not pre-judge and  instead move on with our overview of this product.

Model	PC-D8000
Case Type	Full tower chassis
Dimensions	(W) 405mm (H) 628mm (D) 572mm
Front bezel Material	Aluminium
Color	Black
Side Panel	Aluminium
Body Material	Aluminium
Net Weight	13KG
5.25″ drive bay (External)	5
3.5″ drive bay (External)	None
HDD bay	3.5″ HDD x 20
Expansion Slot	11
Motherboard	HPTX E-ATX ATX Micro-ATX
System Fan (Front)  120mm Fan x 6 (Optional)
System Fan (Top)	D8000-1 (Optional)
System Fan (Rear)	120mm x 1 140mm x 3 (Optional)
USB	USB 3.0 x 4
Package Dimensions	(W) 478mm (H) 674mm (D) 658mm
Gross Weight	14 KG

 

 

Some interesting Specifications there and judging by the size of the packaging the Lian-Li PC-D8000 looks to be a behemoth of a case.

 

Packaging

 

As shown by the single photograph below the case packaging is of the usual faire, with the standard foam inserts and a polythene bag. Nothing to write home bout thus far.

 

 

 

However for once we shall skip this section and move onto the external Tour of this monster of a chassis, which we are indeed looking forward to. As the packaging for this product is just that a plain brown generic box, which does the job that its required to do.

 

External Tour

 

Upon unpacking the Lian Li PC-D8000 chassis there were some interesting words that sprang forth into our minds, with these being (and amongst others) Behemoth, Grandiose, substantial and granite-like. The case as far as size is certainly impressive and is certainly imposing.

Although its external design could be considered as uninspired by some, we at OCT sway towards the feeling of a to classy minimalist look. The case measures an impressive measures 24.7″ (628mm) tall, 22.5″ (572mm) long and 15.9″ (405mm) wide, and weighs 30.8lbs (14kg) when empty. Due to the aluminium material used within its , which is surprisingly light when you take its dimensions into account.

The front sports it has a sleek brushed black aluminium bezel with six 5.25″ drive bays,  with a single bay acting as the front I/O panel, which is removable without any tools and allows access to the D8000′s 20 drive bays. The I/O panel occupies a 5.25″ bay,though it can be moved if necessary.

The 5.25 inch bay covers are well crafted and unlike Mountain Mods or XSPC cases there is an absence of a  2mm gap between the plate cover and the top of the bay area, of which can only be a good thing. In addition the  covers themselves whilst being tool free they do not pop in or come loose either.

Both of the side doors are removable and sport a ventilation  grill that is directly to the side of the hard drive bay, in order to enable to let air flow over the  drive bays. The aforementioned side panels are held on by three thumbscrews and lock with a reassuring sound.

The top panel also sports the anodised ‘mat black’ look with eight  ’alan key’ based screws. This allows the consumer to utilise either 4x 120 or 140mm fans, ergo either 2x 240 or 280mm radiators. However these sections are not in the centre of the of panel and are situated towards to the rear.

Next we take a look at the rear of the case, of which shows a completely different look. This uses a bare aluminium look, but why Lian-Li have chosen to go with this idea instead of continuing with the black anodised theme is anyone’s guess. However in all fairness the aluminium is finished off rather nicely and looks well presented.

 As we can see by the back panel the PC-D8000 sports a rather large motherboard tray which houses an impressive eleven  PCI-E ports and by this reckoning would be ideal for E-ATX motherboards. Above this is the section for the motherboard I/O shield along with a 120mm fan exhaust. To the right we see what looks like to be a dual fan mounting, Id-Est. both the 12o and 140mm varieties. Upon closer examination of these fan spacings we can see that the spacings for 140mm are of the 120mm variety, which should be compatible with the Hardware Labs Black Ice radiators. However most radiators manufacturers whom produce this type of product have now adopted the 15mm spacing standard. Which in turn brings us to the 120mm fan section and that there is a major issue that the fan spacing for these is totally incorrect and does not adopt the above 15mm fan spacings, of which is the standard for both radiator types. Lastly we can see that this chassis supports two power supplies which in itself is a good thing if it can indeed support twenty hard disk drives.

The bottom panel houses two PSU intake grills along with their much-needed dust filters. As in all cases of this size the Lian-Li PC-D8000 uses four castor wheels for easier transportation.

Well that is about it really for the external tour, so please read on for the internal workings of this product.

 

Internal Tour

 

One thing whilst photographing the Lian Li D8000 was that the chassis was actually far too large for our light box for a nice tidy presentation, we we had to improvise as best as we could.

When the side panels are removed the word’ cavernous’  is what springs to our lips and the next would be a wow’ The build quality of the chassis is set to an extremely high level and even though the chassis is manufactured from Aluminium, the product however does feel strong.

In order to access the front drive bays a gentle tug is needed upon the front door and once removed the racks to hold in the hard disk drives are exposed. How many may you ask? Well it seems the Lian Li are not happy to provide the usual standard six internal drive spaces, instead they have opted to house a whopping twenty hard disk drives at once. Obviously no motherboard out on the market supports this amount of drives, however with the addition of add-on cards then this figure is entirely possible. This section also contains two locks (one per rack) in which hard drives can be locked down in order to prevent theft during a possible LAN party session? Well in all honesty we doubt that this product will ever see a LAN partY event at all, due to the sheer size of the case.

A rather interesting discovery is that Lian-Li have implemented a divider between the 420mm radiator and the motherboard, presumably this is to separate heat producing areas from the rest of the chassis. Also additional fans can be mounted here to further cool the aforementioned areas. Lastly this divider can be used as a way of supporting the longer length type cards. The second image shows the strength that has been built into the structure of the case. What he have noticed (bottom left photograph) is that the hard drive bays have been riveted in, rather than the use of screws. The latter method would have been more then preferable as then the consumer can remove these bays as and when needed in order to make way for additional water cooling radiators.

As one can see below is that the Lian-Li PC-D8000 can support two power supplies, which in all honesty is a feature that will be needed should twenty hard drives ever be employed within a RAID or server-based environment.

The back panel is capable of supporting either three 140 or 120mm based- fans, however on the latter the spacings seem a little off and will not be able to utilise a 360mm radiator due to the former mentioned fan spacing issue. In addition though the grill can support a 420mm-based radiator it can only be that of a 20mm based one from such manufacturers like Hardware Labs, which is unfortunate as most 140mm-based radiator suppliers have now adopted the 15mm spacing standard which is the same for the 120mm-based variety.

 The below left photo shows a rather interesting feature of mounting 120mm fans to the side of the HDD racks in order to provide much needed ventilation to the latter-mentioned drives. However let us face it if a consumer were to employ even half the amount of drive space that this product is capable of then some seriously cooling is needed. However this is where we encounter a couple of issues. In the first instance the fans mounts are not set to the industry standard 15mm spacings and secondly as we explained earlier in this review and the HDD bays are riveted on, thus preventing removal for more water cooling radiators. However this issue can be solved by drilling the correct holes in the side fan mounts and taking out the rivets on one set of bays and then mounting the fan attachments to the remaining HDD bay rack-thus allowing for a further radiator.

The optical drive bays is another feature that has been nicely done, though if we are going to be honest a ‘tool-less’ feature on the former should be a standard feature these days. however Lian Li have found a nice-easy way of securing the optical bays which is rather nice.

The cables the lead from the front I/O panel are of an extremely high quality, whilst not utilising a black braid, instead employing a mould plastic in order to keep everything looking nice and tidy.

Since this chassis is geared more for hard disk drive space than the more modern solid state technology, Lian-Li have rectified this slightly by including a 5.25 to to Solid State Drive converter so those users are not left out in the cold. It is worth noting that this is capable of mounting two of the aforementioned drives.

The photos shown below demonstrate quality feel of the wire management in general and the sheer amount of space where one can manage the cables both from the Power Supply Unit and the fan cables. The rubber grommets overlap the holes nicely so this gives the former more of ‘grip’ to allow for thick cables to be pushed through.

The motherboard tray itself is removable and is quite large, more than enough to accommodate the largest of motherboards and by large Lian-Li mean just that. It even makes a normal -sized motherboard looks small and out of place in comparison.

 

 

A motherboard tray that can take a dual CPU EVGA motherboard and still make that same tray removable and yet still feel solid is amazing. Finally on the bottom right is where one can install castor wheels for transportation and this is very much needed here as even though the chassis is of an aluminium material based construction, it will still be heavy if a number of hard drives or radiators are installed.

Our final round of photos are a general reminder on how the PC-D8000 looks internally and externally- which is at this point we would say to the manufacture ‘why have you not anodised the inside also’?

 

 

Finally what really helps to sell this chassis is its price of only£299 GBP and RRP. If one were to import either a Caselabs or a Mountain Mods chassis then if we include everything such as delivery and import than the fees will be in total twice the amount of the Lian-Li PC-D8000.

 

 

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