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The Lian Li PC-8FIB while a Midi tower design has been well designed to allow ample space to work inside. We fitted the Corsair AX850 power supply (review to be published shortly) easily enough and it rested on top of the rubber anti vibration mounts.
There is a cable management bar also supplied which can be used to keep all the routing as neat as possible.
We then used four of the thumbscrews to tighten the PSU into the chassis, again tool-less. There is a metal mounting bracket which fits into the chassis under the motherboard and then ‘clamps' down over the PSU into an aluminum socket, this stops vibrations and movement which can cause noise.
Our motherboard of choice for this particular system build is an MSI X58A-GD65 with our long standing Core i7 920 D0 processor. Installation was as straightforward as we hoped and again took only a few minutes. You will notice also Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 1600mhz modules – these are some of our favourite memory modules and look amazing with a windowed case.
Micro ATX and ATX motherboards are supported.
The image above shows that there is a very little space at the top of the chassis to fit any customised cooling solutions such as the Coolit Vantage (review published shortly) seen here (it wouldn't work anyway as this is a 140mm fan mount). We have to remove the rear mounted 120mm Lian Li fan and fit the Vantage here.
The Coolit Vantage radiator and fan fitted into the rear of the Lian Li Case. It is important at this stage to connect the CPU power connector to the motherboard as it will be impossible to get at after mounting the CPU block.
The Vantage fitted and installed. Again this only took a few minutes – be sure to check out our full review of the Vantage, coming shortly.
To connect our OCZ Agility 2 SSD drive we used the supplied OCZ 3.5 inch mounting plate, Lian Li supply their own version which does the same thing.
A standard 3.5 inch drive can be fitted without tools by using thumbscrews as seen above – Lian li support rubber stoppers for these screws to stop mechanical based vibrations when the platter is spinning. The sata and power cables can be cleanly connected from the other side of the chassis, keeping them out of view.
The Lian Li chassis is fitted with one of the best PCI mounting systems we have used. To remove a metal slot, pull on the corresponding ‘arm' and it can be slid out with minimal effort. This is again tool-less and are mounted and held in place by a rubber padded arm which stops vibration. The brackets are also equipped with rubber pads to reduce noise and minor vibrations.
An eVGA 1GB GTX 460 fitted. The maximum video card size you can fit is 285mm which means the HD5970 at 309mm would prove an issue. You can remove part of the drive bay however to get them in.
Our final build, one of the most painfree and enjoyable we have experienced in recent months.
To further enhance the cooling properties of the PC-8FIB we fitted a high quality Enermax Apollish Vegas 140mm fan to the top. This is one of our favourite fans on the market right now and the LED's match this system build perfectly. Check out our review over here.
A few shots of the case fully lit up at night. Notice the Enermax Vegas fan top of the chassis. You can see this fan in action below.
My lord, I creamed my pants there, what a case !
That is just simply stunning, no other word for it.
FINALLY ! a LIAN LI review on KitGuru, this has made my week as I was looking at this case on overclockers last week, and for the price I need an indepth analysis. off to read this again before parting with my money.
Well words fail me. I saw the score and thought, has Zardon lost it. 9.5 out of 10? but by the end of it, 10 seems a fair score. The only thing I would say is the room for graphics cards. it wont handle a 5970 without moving the HD rack. thats the only real flaw I can find, and its not a big one as I would say 10 people have one 🙂
Excellent review, pictures are fabulous also, really helps to sell the case. the appearance is exactly what I want.
Sadly I wont be spending that amount of cash on a case, but its well worth it. I just need a better job first.
That is pretty much the perfect chassis. Nothing omitted that I would want.
Luxiourous high end design and beautifully implemented.
Great review Zardon, this is a dream case for me.
Great to drool over, but sadly way out of my price bracket when im buying a case, £120 is my self enforced limit. I have never owned an aluminum case mind you so maybe its worth it ?
wicked review that. put me in mind to blow more money when im paid. I hate this site sometimes.
Well aint this pretty. the price surely isnt tho.
God damn it, I want this case and have done for weeks when i saw it listed. This review has made the craving worse. its just so much cash 🙁 shall think over a pint 🙂
I love Lian Li products, this is beautiful. no other words for it 🙂
Just took delivery on one of these… Cost just over £140 delivered (to the UK) from Germany. For some reason caseking appear to be able to sell these at just €149, about £100 less than anywhere in the UK, just in case anyone was thinking of getting one.
Did I miss something or is there no power and disk drive activity lights?