Lian Li PC-T80 Modular Test Bench Chassis Review




/ 9 years ago

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Introduction


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Test benches are a vital part of the work we do here at eTeknix. They’re used for our motherboard, processor, CPU cooler, graphics card, hard drive reviews and no doubt many other components we’ve reviewed have been hooked up to a system on one of our test benches. Of course, we’re not the only people in the world with need of a good quality test bench, as there are many professional industries and enthusiast users that need easy access to their components for everything from product testing and design, through to overclocking and modding. With all that in mind, having a modular test bench that is capable of many different tasks can be a huge boost to your productivity and with Lian Li having already created some of the best test benches in the business, we’re eager to see what their latest one is capable of.

As you can see from the specifications below, the T80 is available in two models, silver (PC-T80A) and black (PC-T80X), both of which are made from aluminium, lending to them only weighing 6KG each. Both chassis are capable of holding an impressive array of storage devices and motherboards of up to XL-ATX.

Lian Li T80 Spec

While I normally just list the few components that come in the box, the box was full of a wide range of panels, poles and screws; you have to build the chassis yourself. The instructions are far from clear, with only small pictures and limited descriptions, but as anyone knows, instructions are rarely perfect.

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There are lots of screws, thumb screws, rubber strips, rubber washers, retention brackets, feet, motherboard stand-offs and more included.
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All the major components are individually wrapped in plastic, which took about ten minutes just to unpack! From left to right, we have the hard drive/cooling mount, the lower plate and the hard drive tray.

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Literally every component is movable in some respect, if you don’t need a component, there’s no need to install it to the chassis. Here we have the PSU back plate, expansion slot bracket and a hard drive caddy. The drive caddy features a locking system slide in rails for 3.5″ drives and an extra fitting in the top for a 2.5″ drive.

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These are the support poles that run the length of the chassis, but we’ll come back to how these work in a moment.

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The left and right side of the chassis, which are funnily enough upside down in this picture, but I didn’t realize that at the time. Each of the key-shaped holes is for mounting one of the bars you see above, while the large cut-away offers you side access to the upper levels of the chassis, as well as forming a kind of handle.

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The motherboard tray is huge, with several cut-outs for cables routing and a massive CPU-cooling mounting cut-out. The tray on the right is cut with holes to mount the PSU bracket, as well as the storage caddy; you can mount each in multiple locations to best suit your needs thanks to the extra screw holes.

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Building the PC-T80


Time to put this sizable stack of aluminum together! While I would have loved to have a more progressive picture set, some of the construction felt like it required three hands. The under plate and the side panels screw into each other, but you have to hold both and screw them at the same time, so make sure you have a clear workspace and a calm state of mind. The instructions are woefully unclear, as I discovered from the fact that the PSU bracket you can see is actually on backwards.

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There’s only one of these hard drive caddys included with the chassis, although there are other mounting solutions on the chassis. Lian Li also sells compatible hot-swap backplates for this, as well as extra caddys should you need them.

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The motherboard tray looks great now that we’ve got the expansion card bracket and stand-offs screwed into place. You’ll also notice there’s some rubber trim on the cable routing cut-outs, perfect for preventing your cables from snagging.

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The open nature of the chassis means that the thumb screws on the expansion card mounts are really easy to access; handy if you’re planning to test a lot of graphics cards.

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The support bars run the width of the chassis and can be loosened to remove trays, or tightened to hold them into place thanks to the key-shaped cut-outs on the side of the chassis.

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The top tray is perfect for radiators or fans up to 360mm, or you can use it as an easy access hard drive tray. This tray can also be mounted on the rear of the chassis if you need it out of the way, as this would leave you with unobstructed access to the motherboard tray.

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The chassis is pretty huge once complete, but when you’re testing high-end hardware, you’ll be grateful for the extra space.

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The large cut-outs in the side panels give you a little extra access to your components, but they also double as very sturdy carry handles.

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Complete System


Building my test system in this chassis took just ten minutes, easily the fasted build I’ve ever done. It really is as simple as dropping a few things onto the plates and you’re done.

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What I do love about this chassis is that I can disconnect the cables from my motherboard, and list out the graphics card, motherboard, CPU cooler and anything else attached to it in one go. I can tinker with the motherboard, then put the whole thing back.

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The open back area makes accession connection ports a very simple task. You can buy and optional front panel I/O panel, but with easy access to the motherboard ports, I doubt many people will have a need for one.

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Hard drive testing couldn’t be easier, just pop them up top where you can quickly swap out the drives.

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The same is true of the bottom 3.5″ drive mount, as the screw on fittings allow you to slide the drive in and out with ease, which a locking screw holds them in place on the chassis.

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Overall a very easy chassis to work with, with lots of space for routing cables, extra drives and more.

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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”

Lian Li PC-T80 Modular Test Bench Chassis Review

Lian Li PC-T80 Modular Test Bench Chassis Review

Thank you Lian Li for providing us with this sample

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