Lian Li PC-D888 Review

Lian Li PC-D888 Review

Manufacturer: Lian Li
UK price (as reviewed): £499.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): N/A

Lian Li is a long-standing and much respected name among enthusiasts and modders. Its commitment to aluminium has won it much merit, but does tend to reserve its cases for the premium end of the market. Its designs vary from plain, black boxes to wackier, alternative designs and it has a massive catalogue to choose from. Today, that catalogue gets a little bigger with the addition of the beast you see below, co-designed by OCUK's resident overclocker and extreme systems manager, 8Pack. As you'll see, extreme systems are precisely what the PC-D888 is designed for.


Compared to most cases we review these days, the PC-D888 is gargantuan - it weighs over 12kg, virtually all aluminium. 8Pack has rarely been about small things, but even so the first thing you'll notice about this case is the sheer size of it. Externally, nearly all the aluminium has an attractive, brushed finish. However, the material is very susceptible to fingerprints, which begin to accumulate as soon as you lay hands on it. Nevertheless, while it creaks and wobbles in a few places (mostly due to its size), the look and feel impress. Without any panels, the core chassis can be flexed, a little too easily for our liking but again it is very big, and more importantly when it's properly assembled it's solid.

The left hand side has a large, thick acrylic window with the 8Pack logo engraved into the bottom left corner. Even peeling off the protective sheet here is a bit annoying, because you have to pick at it quite a lot in and around the engraving. Still, once you've done this, you're left with a good looking window that sits behind the panel rather than flush with it. It gives you a decent view of the case's left chamber, which is where your core hardware will be on display. The right panel is simply solid aluminium as it hides the area where the PSU, drives and masses of cables will be stored.


The front panel has plenty going on. Down the left side is a big mesh section, behind which is a stack of four 120mm fan mounts serving the main chamber, each with its own individual dust filter. On the right side, meanwhile, is the I/O panel up top, including a whopping four USB 3 ports, as well as the covers for the five optical drive bays and two HDD cages that are stacked on the inside.

Moving to the roof, we find a further two strips of ventilation, each one above a trio of 120mm fan mounts. These do not have dust filters – normally we'd think this was an issue but in this case it's fair enough since the PC-D888 isn't designed for people who are going to leave these mounts empty. If they are empty, then it probably means you're using a lot of intake airflow, thus generating positive pressure and helping to keep dust from entering this way.


Around back there are eight expansion slots and yet more fan mounts, again all 120mm. There are three at the back of the secondary chamber and a solo one serving the main space. By default, all of these have metal blanking plates installed, but fan grilles are supplied if you do choose to use them.

There are yet more fan mounts, this time a trio of 120mm ones, along the floor of the case – if you've lost count, that's 17 altogether. These bottom ones are not supplied with dust filters, and this time we're less forgiving since this is highly likely to be used as an intake area. The PSU, at least, does have a dust filter, and this pulls out to the right side from underneath.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 380 x 511 x 597 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Aluminium
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 12.3kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 4 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays 5 x external 5.25in, 6 x 3.5in, 4 x 2.5in
  
• Form factor(s) E-ATX, ATX, micro-ATX
  
• Cooling 4 x 120mm front fan mounts, 4 x 120mm rear fan mounts, 6 x 120mm roof fan mounts, 3 x 120mm bottom fan mounts (fans not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 165mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 420mm
  
• Extras Removable dust filters, pump mounting bracket, blanking plates, fan grilles