Lian Li PC-T80 Test Bench Review

Final Thoughts
Before I close out this review I wanted to say that I am actually a fan of the fact that the case does not come pre-assembled. I think if you actually have to build a product you have more respect for it and you just feel a certain way about it. You also feel like you’ve accomplished something once it is built. I think getting this PC test bench to build with a friend or family member would be a pretty cool thing.

Now on to the test bench itself. In typical Lian Li style the PC-T80 has beautiful aluminum panels which look great. The test bench supports large motherboards up to XL-ATX, 10 hard drives, longer power supplies and graphics cards, and even has room for watercooling radiators at the top. There really is not much that will fit inside the PC-T80. Lian Li also offers accessories that will add extra functionality to the PC-T80 as well.

The test bench is sort of odd to review because you can’t necessarily compare it to a typical PC case because it does not serve the same purpose. Let’s start by talking about what we bought the case for, to be a graphics card test bench. So the main thing we are concerned about is having room to swap out cards and that is basically it. Since the top is more or less open we can very easily do this and remember you can angle the top multi-function tray up to make room if need be, even if you have cooling or hard drives installed on it. Say I was testing motherboards, since the motherboard is secured with thumbscrews it is actually quite easy to remove. Hard drives, well hard drives slide into this test bench quite easily and Lian Li even sells a SATA backplane for the hard drive cage so you could hot-swap drives. The test bench is open-air and there are no panels to remove to get at all of your components. So as a test bench this is one of the best implementations I’ve seen.

This test bench is not perfect though. While you can install radiators on the multi-function top tray you have to watch the clearance, especially if you are doing a push-pull configuration or using a thicker radiator. Also since the multi-function tray has a honeycomb design and is not completely open you really can’t mount a radiator on the top of it and have it reach your CPU correctly. This means the radiator needs to be installed under the tray and as I mentioned that could lead to clearance issues with graphics cards. Also since the case has is made of aluminum you can easily scratch it.

At the end of the day the Lian Li PC-T80 is going to work perfectly for our graphics card test bench and would work great for anyone testing PC hardware. It is built with quality materials and you can fit a boatload of hardware inside. Right now you can pick up the PC-T80 for $159.99 online. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Lian Li PC-T80 Test Bench a 9 out of 10 score.

rating9 10 small

Pros:
– I really like the DIY aspect
– Made with quality materials
– Can fit up to XL-ATX motherboards
– Easily installation of components
– Supports watercooling

Cons:
– Watercooling implementation could be better
– Easy to scratch

About Author