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We have reviewed many cases recently on KitGuru but today we have something special up for review, the new Lian Li PC-8FIB aluminium chassis.
Lian Li have a well deserved reputation for creating beautifully understated designs which appeal to the most discerning of enthusiast user.
The PC 8FIB is a new ‘tool less' design and features various customisation capabilities to ensure it attracts an audience who want something a little more high end than the norm.
They are shipping three versions – PC-8FIR (spider edition in red), PC-8FIA (silver) and the one we are looking at today in black, the PC-8FIB.
As with many Lian Li products, the PC-8FI is created around a purely minimalist style. The front is hair line brushed and anodised for the ultimate appearance. The new design follows the common modern day approach of having the power supply mounted at the bottom, it also fully supports the largest of processor coolers.
- Dimensions: (W) 210mm x (H) 460mm x (D) 490mm
- Front bezel Material:Aluminum
- Side Panel: Aluminum
- Body Material: Aluminum
- 5.25″ drive bay: 3
- 3.5″ drive bay (External): 1(use one 5.25 to 3.5 converter)
- 3.5″ drive bay (Internal): 6
- USB 3.0 ready
- Motherboard: ATX / M-ATX
- System Fan (Front): 120mm Blue LED Fan x 2 (1200RPM)
- System Fan (Top): 140mm Fan Hole x 1 (Fan not included)
- System Fan (Rear): 120mm Fan x 1 (1200RPM)
- I/O Ports: USB3.0 x 2 / e-SATA x1 / HD Audio
- Weight 5.85kg
The Lian Li arrives in a simple coloured box with the highlighted marking top right which says “2010 new” – refering to the fact this is a new tool-less design.
As I have been reviewing many steel cases lately I was stunned how light the PC-8FIB really is, you can easily lift it with one finger, it weighs less for instance than the Antec P193 side panel alone which we reviewed recently.
Classic, stylish and simple designs are at the forefront of Lian Li's products and the PC-8FIB doesn't fail to meet these goals. The engineering quality is absolutely stunning and it is easily seen once you get down on your knees to look at the edges, finish and fitting mechanisms.
The front view of the case is a master class example of how to create a chassis without the design ruining the sleek, formed lines. The anodised aluminum finish is stellar.
The front features 2 x 120mm 1,200 rpm intake fans which are filtered and hidden underneath a ridged exterior design. They have blue LED's, however on the red ‘spider edition' they have included red LED's to match the design.
The bundle contains everything you need to create a fully fledged system, from a USB 3.0 double header adapter which plugs directly into the motherboard to thumbless finger screws for connecting all the devices. Lian Li also include an SSD 2.5 inch drive mount and a 140mm fan filter if you decide to populate the top chassis position – we will look at this later.
Both side panels are identical and extremely high quality aluminum material, which is very light weight yet surprisingly strong to hold.
Underneath is a filtered intake area for the power supply, when we crack open the case later we will look at this from the interior view. This filter is removable and washable.
The rear of the chassis is home to another 120mm 1,200 rpm fan which sits above 2 rubber encased watercooling hose feeds. There is accommodation next to this for 7 PCI slots and underneath is the housing for the power supply.
Each side panel is opened by the simple removal of four thumbscrews, two on each panel.
The top is home to a wealth of connectivity. 2 USB 3.0 capable ports, high definition headphone and microphone jacks as well as reset and power buttons. There is also an eSATA port here which we always love to see.
After removing the first two thumbscrews we see the highly reflective aluminum interior, which is a sight to behold. It has been a while since I have seen the insides of a Lian Li chassis, what a finish! There is also a box which contains all the necessary screws and connectors to create your final system build.
At the bottom is an angled aluminum air duct system which allows the power supply to suck in cold air from below the case. The power supply also rests on rubberised cushions to prevent vibrations when turned on.
The front drive rack mount area, which rests directly in front of the filtered 2 x 120mm 1,200 Lian Li branded intake fans.
The top of the inside of the (extremely reflective) chassis. The two USB 3.0 capable cables connect to the front header area. Another 1x 120mm 1,200 rpm fan at the rear which acts as an exhaust. Above there is a removable section to fit a 140mm fan. Sadly this does not arrive populated, but we will be fitting a high quality Enermax Apollish Vegas fan to enhance the cooling prowess of the chassis.
The PCI mounting system is one of the most intricate I have seen, it is completely tool-less and unlike many, actually works. More on this later.
The top section is home to the optical drive bay installation. We rarely install optical drives at KitGuru, prefering to rely on a combination of high speed Corsair Survivor USB drive for OS installation and external Asus branded USB 2.0 Bluray drive for media.
A slightly wider angled shot of the beautifully designed front rack area inside the chassis. You will notice there are plenty of routing holes cut into the chassis for a neat and tidy system build.
Removing the other two thumbscrews we are able to peel away the right hand side panel. We can see a huge area cut into the chassis for ease of use when working with rear backplate mounted motherboard coolers. There are 4 main routing holes in this primary area and the underside PSU section is clean cut to allow easy routing for all cables. The front two fans are molex powered and can be also routed behind the system build.
The chassis seen from both angles with the side panels removed. One thing is for sure, we cannot question Lian Li's engineering standards, there is not a single sharp or unfinished section.
The front panel can be removed to get at the fans for cleaning. You don't need to remove screws or fiddle with a rubbish plastic mount system. You simply, TUG and pull.
The front removes extremely smoothly to reveal the fans and drive bays underneath.
The two 120mm dust filtered fans seen underneath the primary drive bay area.
The filters are attached with a simple locking mechanism, which is again tool-less. Push on the clips and pull out to remove.
Both filters can then be cleaned and replaced, literally within a few minutes.
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.
For testing today we are using an Intel Core i7 920 core processor with the Coolit Vantage installed. A full review of the Vantage running on an overclocked Core i7 970 will be published this coming week.
Review System
Chassis: Lian Li PC-8FIB Case
Processor: Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Cooler: Coolit Vantage
Memory: Crucial DDR3 1600mhz Ballistix Tracer (6GB)
Storage: OCZ Agility 2
Power Supply: Corsair AX 850W
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.
Two fans on the front acting as intakes and one on the rear which is used as an exhaust. The case is not supplied with a 140mm fan installed at the top although Lian Li do supply a dust filter for this position if you want to add one later. We will test first without one. We are glad to see Lian Li including a dual fan intake system at the front however as this is important for overall air flow.
We have placed thermal diodes in 5 case positions – 1; top optical drive bay position. 2; hard drive position. 3; top area between CPU and fan exhaust positions. 4; above PSU, graphics card (s) area. 5; motherboard central ‘dead zone’ area. Ambient room temperatures were maintained at 23c throughout.
These temperatures are fantastic, with the case holding steady at ambient or slightly above in the few dead air zones.
We then increased the CPU core voltage and raised the speed to 4.2ghz.
Diode 3 temperatures rose slightly to 28c after 30 minutes due to a lack of exhaust flow in this area.
We will add the 140mm Enermax Apollish Vegas fan in an exhaust position, set it to a midway point and maintain the same overclock.
Diode 3 dropped 3c thanks to the addition of the exhaust fan, and CPU temperatures lowered by 1c as the ambient temperatures were reduced slightly. As expected the addition of the 140mm fan is worthwhile.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
Today to test the Lian Li chassis we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the case. We have turned off the Enermax 140mm fan we installed in the top of the case as we want to measure noise from the chassis, just as people will buy it ‘out of the box’. The room rates as 21dBa before powering on the system (air conditioning unit in the far corner of the room causes this).
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
We have removed the GTX460 and replaced it with a Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate edition. The only fans now running are the 120mm Lian Li units installed in the case.
We measured just under 32 dBa which is a class leading result – the fans Lian Li supply are very quiet indeed.
After reviewing many cases recently made from steel and targeted at the budget audience it has been a total pleasure reviewing this Lian Li PC-8FIB today, hand crafted from the highest quality aluminum.
Lian Li have spent considerable time during the design phase as everything has received attention to detail, from the completely tool-less design, to beautiful touches such as the PSU holding bracket, hard drive installation racks and cable routing devices. The inclusion of washable air filters throughout as well as an additional 140mm filter for the upgrade option is a nice touch.
Build quality is as good as we have seen, the chassis is extremely light, yet strong enough to feel substantial and easy to carry from room to room. This entire chassis weighs less than the side door of the recent Antec P193 we reviewed!
With all the sharp edges removed for safety, there is no way to cut your hands when building a system, something we have experienced in the past with lesser chassis design. The external and internal surfaces incorporate the finest quality hair line brush anodised aluminum, and it shows. It really doesn't get much better than this.
While we would like to see Lian Li include a top mounted 140mm fan as standard, the cooling prowess of the chassis is top tier and our overclocked system at 4.2ghz was kept well within safety parameters. That said, if you want to run a highly overclocked system we recommend you populate the 140mm top position with a high quality fan.
Noise levels are also class leading, with the three 120mm fans generating around 30 dBa of noise, easily drown out by most graphics card or CPU fans.
All in all, to say we have been impressed would be an understatement. The only kicker is the price which is around £235 inc vat in the UK, more than double the price of many of the steel based designs we have reviewed on KitGuru in the last couple of months. This is targeting a different audience however and we think it is worth every penny, the craftmanship is the reason why Lian Li have such a well earned reputation. If you have the money for a high end chassis then this should be right at the top of your list.
KitGuru says: This is a breathtaking showcase of Lian Li's engineering prowess and build quality.
