Lian Li PC-T60 ATX Test Bench

Usage:

After the Lian Li PC-T60 Test Bench was fully assembled, it was rather nice and worked out fairly well. However, it was not perfect. Testing motherboards are most often what we prefer to run in an open-air environment due to the number of screws needed when securing it in an ATX enclosure and it just being all-around easier leaving it outside of an enclosure when benchmarking. With the PC-T60 we hoped to be able to just set the motherboard atop its cardboard box and set that on the PC-T60 motherboard tray, but when using a standard ATX motherboard the boxes we tried were a bit too large to fit between the stand's two vertical supports. The carrying/support bar at the top of the PC-T60 also inhibited any standard-sized graphics cards or full-height expansion cards from being installed regardless of whether using an ATX or micro-ATX motherboard. With tall CPU coolers there may also be issues with the handle interfering with their installation even when the motherboard is properly installed. We ended up just needing to install the test motherboards onto the standoffs like normal.

It would have been nice to be able to slide a motherboard atop its cardboard box on the motherboard try of the PC-T60 to make our motherboard testing process quick and easy like when running the system's directly off a table, but taking advantage of the PC-T60's vertical orientation and stacked approach with the power supply, hard drive bays, and optical drive bays being located underneath the motherboard tray. While the PC-T60 may not be optimal for our motherboard testing, the PC-T60 would work out fine for us and those frequently swapping out graphics cards, system memory, CPUs and other components. The 3.5-inch hard drive cage is also designed to be easily removable by taking out two thumbscrews, but from there the individual hard drives still need to be mounted using screws rather than any quicker, tool-free approach.

Conclusion:

While the Lian Li PC-T60 Test Bench is built well and comprised mostly out of aluminum and in theory is a great product for enthusiasts and professionals that frequently find themselves swapping out hardware, in reality this was a nice product but had its shortcomings. If you are not frequently changing out the motherboard, hard drives, or use a tall CPU cooler, the PC-T60 should be a fine product. The PC-T60 ATX is certainly one of the best-looking test benches we have seen, has sufficient 2.5/3.5/5.25-inch drive bays for a test system, and has USB 3.0 connectivity support. The Lian Li PC-T60 test bench is available for about $100 USD (Amazon.com).

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