Testing Time

We followed our standard case testing methodology, as detailed in our previous heatsink and case testing article, and fitted the usual set of hardware into the Lian Li PC-888, doing our best to hide and tidy cables to ensure as few airflow restrictions as possible, which in this case proved very difficult indeed. Here's a reminder of the hardware we use.

CPU: Lapped Intel Pentium XE 955 (dual-core, 3.46GHz)
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 Ultimate passive cooled
Motherboard: MSI P6N SLI Platinum
RAM: 2x 512MB Corsair XMS2-667
Hard Drive: 1x 250GB Western Digital WD2500 7,200RPM
Heatsink: Asus Silent Square Pro
Power Supply: Xilence XP700 700W PSU

While this isn't representative of current ultra high end hardware, the equipment we use is specifically selected to kick out the maximum amount of heat inside the case, with a passively cooled graphics card and 130W TDP processor at its core to really heat things up and push the case's ability to cope with toasty components to the limit.

In our experience, the CPU stress test is a good test to indicate a case's ability to exhaust hot air and the GPU stress test is a better indicator of a case's intake ability as the GPU is generally further from the exhaust fan and so its operating temperatures rely more on case airflow than exhaust.

With its inbuilt fan controller, we decided to test the Lian Li PC-888 with its fans set to both the full speed 1,500 RPM and lowest 1,050 RPM settings, although to be honest both settings are fairly low speed and we're a little concerned that the PC-888 won't be able to push enough airflow through itself to be able to compete with the high airflow monsters we've previously tested. However, the slim design and close proximity of the front intake fans to both the GPU and CPU could still produce some decent results.