Lian Li PC-T80 Modular Test Bench Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Lian-Li PC-T80 isn’t cheap, but high-end Lian Li chassis never are. The chassis is available in black and silver and will set you back around £124.99 from Overclockers UK. This seems like a lot of money, which it is, but when you look at the level of functionality and ultra-high build quality from all that aluminium, it’s worth every single penny.

Overview

Lian Li never fail to impress me and the PC-T80 test bench is yet another incredible product in their already award-winning catalogue. It’s not perfect in every sense, but nothing ever is, at least not to everyone. The only issues I have with this chassis are quite minor, and the first has to be how much of a pain in the butt it was to put the chassis together. The included instructions are far from clear and one would hope that for this kind of money, a clear multipage step by step guide wouldn’t be asking for much. I mounted the base plate backwards and had to start over again, I screwed the PSU bracket on backwards and overall it took me just under two hours to get everything out of the box and build the chassis. This is of course a one-time thing, once the chassis is built, it become incredibly easy to work with. I guess the trade off of a couple of hours building it is worth it, since the chassis is very easy to work with once complete.

Build quality is as high as you would expect from a Lian Li product and thick cut aluminium is incredibly strong, while also looking incredibly beautiful. The only issue you might have is that black brushed aluminium is prone to scratching, so those who intend on doing a lot of component rebuilds may want to invest in the silver model; it’ll hide scratches a lot better. The aluminium panels may be big, but they’re very light too, giving the chassis a total weight of just 6KG; if you plan on moving the chassis around your office as much as we need to, this will be a welcome bonus.

The modular design of the chassis means that it can handle just about anything you throw at it. Being able to lift out trays makes installing components a lot easier than it ever would be in a normal chassis, of course it’s only worth investing in a test-bench like this if you do plan on swapping out components a lot, otherwise a cheaper alternative may be more suitable.

Pros

• Exceptional build quality
• Lightweight design
• Modular
• Tool free mounts
• Can be expanded with extra drive caddys, an I/O panel and hot-swap bays (sold separately)
• Nice aesthetics
• Easy to work with (once built)

Cons

• Unclear instructions
• Building the chassis a tricky process

Neutral

• Expensive, but if you want the best quality, you have to pay for it

“Lian Li are one of the best chassis manufacturers in the world and the PC-T80 is a prime example of their engineering skills. Exceptional build quality and outstanding functionality throughout make this one of the best test benches available, so long as you can put it together in the first place. There are a few minor issues with this chassis, but they’re far outweighed by the fantastic end result”

Thank you Lian Li for providing us with this sample