The Lian-Li PC-8N is a high quality medium range aluminum case with a sober design at an interesting price level.

INTRODUCTION

Just a couple of weeks back I had the immense pleasure to review the LanCool Dragonlord PC-K58 case and as I mentioned in the introduction to that review, LanCool is a member Lian-Li family of brands.

The Lian-Li PC-8N is a medium tower case without too many “extra” features. It is a sober looking case made in aluminum that should attract anyone looking for a high quality case at a reasonable price level.

Let’s have a look at its specifications:

From what I can read from the specifications above, this case is not one of those high end cases with a ton of interesting features. Instead, Lian-Li have focused on building a high quality case in aluminum which includes a rather small portion of innovations. However, it seems from the specifications that they haven’t held back on the cooling system and the noise dampening features.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The accessories included with the case are: a manual; an anti vibration kit for the hard drives, screws, plastic bridles to organize cables, a small key and a system loudspeaker.

LIAN LI PC-8N IN DETAIL: THE OUTSIDE

The first thing that hit me when taking the case out of its packaging was that it’s really light compared to other cases I have reviewed in the same class. Of course this is due to the aluminum.  The second thing that hit me was the sobriety of its design.

In the upper part of the front there are four 5.25 inch expansion bays for optical drives, fan monitors, card readers or whatever you choose to install. Under these bays there’s a 3.5 inch expansion bay, below which the power and reset buttons are located. The power and HDD LEDs are located at the top right section of the front, to the right side of the 5.25 inch expansion bays, check out the pictures below to see what I mean.

Perhaps one of the aspects in which Lian-Li has missed out on the PC-8N is the fact that the front external ports only consists of 2 USB 2.0 ports and two audio jacks. I would have appreciated an eSATA and a FireWire port as well.

Under the front ports, there’s a metallic grid behind which a 120mm fan is located.

The back part of the case is quite conventional. This case hasn’t any pre drilled holes or any other features supporting a liquid cooling system which means you will have to be a bit handy if you want to outfit this case with such a cooling system.

The upper zone has a hollow for the PSU as you can see from the images below. Under the PSU, there’s another hollow for the motherboard I/O ports. To the right of the I/O shield hollow there’s a 120mm fan which blows the hot air out from the case. In the bottom zone, there are seven PCI card expansion slots.

As you can see from the images, Lian Li have not used the usual “bee wax cake” looking metallic grid for the fan, instead they have used a circular type of grid which lets more air out of from the case.

The top and bottom sides of the case are both almost totally solid metal. The holes that you see in the image of the bottom side of the case are intended to be used for fastening cables to the bottom of the case.

Just like the top and bottom sides, the two side panels are made of solid metal. If nothing else, they give a striking feel of quality and robustness.

THEY ROLL LI PC-8N IN DETAIL: THE INTERIOR

The inside of the case seems very simple at first but there are quite a few smart details as you will see.

The interior of the box follows the same principle of simplicity as the outside. The 120mm fan placed in the back has a rather dense grid to avoid that any cables get stuck in it.

The upper part looks like a wind tunnel but its function is actually to work as a storage area for the left over cables from the PSU. This is great because it leaves the rest of the case free from cables prohibiting the air to flow through the case.

The front expansion bays do not hold any bigger secret either, but I am a bit puzzled over why Lian Li did not include a “Tool-less” mounting system for the 5.25 inch bays, while they have included other nice details such as the white protector plastic as you can see in the image below.

When I removed the front panel of the box, I found a dust filter on the front fan which is great because this fan sucks air into the case and the filter will thus leave the dust on the outside of the case.

Another nice detail is that it’s possible to remove the external front ports, which means that you will have fewer cables to worry about inside the case.

The two 120mm fans that Lian Li has included with this case are the same and their model number is: LI121225SL-4. Their rotation speed is 1200rpm and they consume on average 3.24W. They have a very low noise level which is great but it also means that they don’t move too much air.

ASSEMBLY

During the assembly of the equipment I will show you some of the nice details which the Lian Li PC-8N has to offer.

This first task was to install the hard drives; one 3.5 inch unit and one 2.5 inch. A nice detail is that the screws have rubber anti-vibration rings. To install the 2.5 inch drive, I had to first remove the metallic bay and mount the drive in it outside of the case.

To install the PSU, you start by fastening a back plate to the PSU and then you fasten the plate and PSU to the chassis. It takes a little longer than usual but on the other hand it goes a little more effortlessly.

I was little bit worried about that it would be a somewhat painful experience to mount the motherboard and the rest of the hardware in this case. I guess the main reason for my concerns was the fact this case doesn’t have all the little extra features that I have gotten used to. But I was wrong in my expectations; the installation went without any troubles at all. As you can see from the images above, the final result is quite OK, but I would have liked to see a more extensive cable management system.

The above images shows how it looks from the opposite side and as you can see; the arrangement of the cables is not optimal.

CONCLUSIONS

It is always hard to sum up a review of a PC case because there are so many options available on the market today and one has to consider that all consumers are looking for different features and functions. All I can do is to as objectively as possible give you a fair view of my own experience with this case.

Most advanced users are picky about what material the case is made of and the favorite material amongst advanced users is aluminum. The reason for this is that aluminum is a light metal and the finish is normally great. I also suspect that there is another factor called vanity which plays a role here.

All in all, Lian Li PC-8N is a high quality medium range box which offers great materials, low weight and an excellent finish. It has some good details like the anti-vibration system for the hard disks; the fans and their anti dust filters and grids… but I can’t help wishing it had a decent cable management system and that the installation was tool free. If it had those two features it would be a practically perfect case. Still the case is quite spacious and the fans are quiet which lifts the overall score somewhat.

The Lian Li PC-8N is not a cheap case; it goes for around 100 bucks at Newegg. The main reason for its rather high price tag is of course the aluminum and if you want a case in this material you will have to put up this much cash.

Pros:

• Aluminum
• Finish and quality
• Anti-vibration for hard disks and side panels
• Quiet cooling system

Cons:

• Lack of eSATA port
• Better cable management system
• Tool free installation
• Hefty price tag

The final score is 85 out of 100 owls, and we give the “Lian Li PC-8N″ our Recommended Award.

Thanks goes out to Lian Li for letting me review this case.

Author: Manuel González Fernández

Translator: Vince Emiloz Sanderson