Lian Li PC-D8000

The crew at techPowerUP! seem to have mixed feelings about the Lian Li PC-D8000 they have on the test bench today.

The D8000 is a huge cube chassis from Lian Li, and some may ask why such a monster is even on the market. The case caters specifically to those looking to build a super computer, as the D8000 can hold both HPTX motherboards and a crazy amount of hard drives with ease. We will for comparison's sake fill the chassis up with the same type of hardware we use for all our case reviews, which should help visualize the difference in space and size.

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Looks like there's enough room in there after the install to incorporate a combination "liquid cooling solution" / "beer fridge".

^ I like the way this man thinks.

Looking at that review and others, I am noticing a trend where manufactures are starting to exclude stock fans from their higher end (or at least highest priced) offerings. The giant bin full of stock fans in my closet likes this trend.

And looking at builds on these forums and others using such cases (generally $250-300+), I'm sure I am not alone as most of them replace the stock fans.

That said, this all assumes we are getting a price discount due to their exclusion, and the existence of such a discount is not exactly clear here. The D8000 is a lot of metal and metalwork, and maybe it would have been over $400 if fans were included.

I don't really mind the lack of toolless mechanisms on all but two of the external drive bays either. I'd imagine that most of those bays would be for reservoirs, additional drive cages and the likes of which I would prefer to attach with screws anyway.

But seriously Lian Li, please include at least one hot swap backplane and support for many more. Wiring up cases such as these without them is hell.

I love the stock Lian Li fans

They're not bad by any means, but they are not the flashiest nor quietest fans out there. As such I would venture that most persons purchasing such a case as this will end up replacing them, if only to be different and feel like they've customized everything they could.