Sensor panels are all the rage these days in the DIY PC scene, and Lian Li's just gotten in on the bandwagon with its much-anticipated 8.8" Universal Screen.

Sensor panels for your DIY PC build have become all the rage these days - in case you're needing a recap, sensor panels are small LCD display screens commonly found within your PC case (that has at least one tempered glass panel for obvious visibility reasons) or in some instances, might even come mounted on the exterior surface of your PC case. These screens are commonly used to display vital PC statistics, or serve aesthetic purposes where they can be used to display static images or videos of one's choice.

As a product category that's served in large part by no-name OEMs from China, this segment of the DIY PC industry is set for a good shakedown with the introduction of the Lian Li 8.8" Universal Screen. Utilising a USB 2.0 connection to your PC, it features a 1920x480 resolution IPS LCD screen with a 60 Hz refresh rate, great build quality, and a sleek aesthetic that's available in black or white colourways. The 8.8" Universal Screen's star feature has got to be its nifty mounting bracket that allows for numerous ways in which the screen can be installed and utilised - read on to learn more about this product, and to see it live in action in a demo build with Lian Li's new Vector V100 PC case in white alongside a bunch of the brand's new UNI Fan CL Wireless 120mm ARGB case fans!

Packaging & Accessories

The Lian Li 8.8” Universal Screen is available in black or white, and for the purposes of this review, Lian Li’s shipped over the white variant of the Universal Screen.

In terms of packaging, the screen ships in a rectangular box with Lian Li’s signature black and blue colourway, with information on the specs of the screen peppered on all sides of the box.

The 8.8" Universal Screen comes shipped with the following accessories:

• Safety information leaflet
• Thank you card
• Instruction manual
• 9-pin male USB 2.0 header to USB 2.0 Type-A male cable (~37,5cm)
• 4-pin Universal Screen connector to 9-pin female USB 2.0 header cable (~56cm)
• Adjustable screen stand (mounting bracket)
• Philips-head screwdriver
• 2x double-sided adhesive tape
• 4x screen mounting screws (for securing screen to screen stand)
• 140mm case fan frame mounting bracket and screws
• 4x screws (for securing screen stand to case fan)

Aesthetics & Physical Features

First impressions? The 8.8" Universal Screen's pretty hefty alright, all thanks to its full-metal construction, where it has a matte finish and is available in either black or white colourways. The screen also has an illuminated addressable RGB border, where the said border's lighting effects can be controlled via Lian Li's L-Connect 3 app.

Over on the rear, we get screw holes for a total of three different mounting positions with the included screen stand/mounting bracket.

Near one of the corners of the screen, we get two four-pin connectors, where you’ll have to hook either one of them up to the included 4-pin Universal Screen connector to 9-pin female USB 2.0 header cable so as to connect the Universal Screen to your motherboard’s USB 2.0 header. If you're intending to hook the screen up to a USB 2.0 port, simply extend the said cable with the included 9-pin male USB 2.0 header to USB 2.0 Type-A male cable. Lian Li’s included two of these four-pin connectors in different positions so as to afford some flexibility in terms of how you can run the said cable(s) to your PC, which is a much appreciated feature.

One important thing to highlight, the length of the included USB 2.0 cables. The cable that comes with a 4-pin Universal Screen connector on one end, and a 9-pin female USB 2.0 connector on the other end measures in at ~56cm in length (this figure is inclusive of the length of the connectors), while the other cable that comes with a male USB 2.0 Type-A connector on one end and a 9-pin male USB 2.0 header on the other end measures in at ~37.5cm in length – again, this length is inclusive of the length of the connectors on both ends. While the cables are pretty long, I do wish that they could have been even longer, as these lengths might not be sufficient for folks with really large PC cases, especially if you’re intending to mount the screen quite a distance away from your motherboard’s USB 2.0 headers (which tend to be located along the bottom edge of a motherboard).

The screen stand/mounting bracket with which to mount the 8.8" Universal Screen is a pretty nifty thing, where its lightweight and made of aluminium. We have a total of six ways to adjust the screen stand position to suit your intended screen mounting location - if you're interested to check out the six ways in which the screen stand can be manipulated, be sure to check out 4:37 of the YouTube review video embedded at the top of this article. All in all, given how many permutations of adjustments we have with the screen stand, the 8.8” Universal Screen should fit most PC setups without issues.

In the event that you’d like to secure the screen stand to a 140mm case fan instead of a 120mm case fan, you'll have to install the included U-shaped bracket, which attaches into place on the screen stand by means of four screws.

Summary of Specifications: Lian Li 8.8" Universal Screen (US88v1)

• Colours: Black (SM008X) or white (SM088W)
• Dimensions: 237mm x 73mm x 13mm
• LCD Type: 8.8" IPS LCD
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• Resolution: 1920 x 480
• Brightness: 500 nits
• Connectivity: USB 2.0 motherboard header of USB 2.0 Type-A port
• Official Lian Li product page: https://lian-li.com/product/8-8inch-universal-screen/

Screen Customisation with L-Connect 3 App

As mentioned earlier, you’ll have to install the Lian Li L-Connect 3 app in order to customise the screen border ARGB lighting effects, as well as what exactly is displayed on the screen. If everything is setup properly, the Universal Screen will show up in the sidebar as pictured above. Within the "LCD Screen Setup" tab, we get the ability to choose from nine preset portrait-orientation themes as pictured above, or if you have the screen setup in the landscape position, eleven preset landscape-orientation themes to choose from instead.

With regard to the ARGB border lighting effects, we get a total of 19 lighting effects to choose from, and you can configure the speed, brightness and direction of the lighting effects where applicable.

if you’re feeling creative, we get a "Custom Theme" tab as pictured above, where you get lots of options to create a custom display template, with a variety of sensor readouts and modules that you can overlay on your choice of static image or video - for the best effect, I'd recommend formatting the said image/video in the appropriate 1920x480 or 480x1920 resolution before uploading it into L-Connect 3. One thing I noticed was that there wasn't much by way of font types that could be selected - hopefully end-users get the option of importing their own fonts into L-Connect 3 with future app updates.

It’s worth noting that the L-Connect 3 app also has a built-in editor that allows you to do some edits to what you’ve uploaded into the app, which is a welcome feature to have for sure.

Finally, in the “Additional” tab pictured above, we get the option of enabling an offline mode clock such that the display shows the time and date even when your PC is switched off, and we also get a secondary screen option which, as you might have surmised from the name, allows you to use the Universal Screen as a secondary display.

A few words about the offline mode clock, once you have it enabled, the screen will display the date and time once you’ve powered off your PC. As far as I know, the date and time can only be displayed in the landscape mode. What this means is that if you have the Universal Screen mounted in the portrait mode (like I have in my demo build photographed above), it’ll still display the date and time but in the landscape mode when the PC is switched off, which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully this is something that can be worked on with future L-Connect 3 software updates!

Moving on, the secondary screen option allows you to use the Universal Screen as a secondary display. Now I personally wouldn’t use the screen for this purpose, in large part due to the screen’s "awkward" resolution for everyday use, but I suppose this is a feature that’s good to have in your back pocket nonetheless.

Screen Mounting Options

In terms of screen mounting options, the user manual for the 8.8” Universal Screen has five suggested mounting methods, though I’m sure if you’re creative enough, you can find other ways to use the screen in your PC build.

For the most part, installing the screen within your PC will involve securing the screen stand to the frame of your PC case fans, and for this review, I have it installed on a side intake fan of a demo PC build that I did up, where the said demo PC build uses Lian Li’s new Vector V100 PC case in white, as well as a whole bunch of Lian Li’s new budget-friendly UNI FAN CL WIRELESS 120 ARGB fans.

For the demo build, I had initially intended to mount the screen to the exterior of the Vector V100, as per "Scenario A" in the screen's user manual, but ran into a snag - as can be seen in the photos above, the exterior surface of the rear exhaust fan opening is not flush, where it has sections that are raised. This meant that I wasn't able to properly secure the screen stand to the surface, as the included fan mounting screws weren’t long enough. Just something for you guys to look out for on your own PC cases, in case you’re intending to do an exterior mount for the Universal Screen!

While you can also use the screen as an external LCD display screen to be placed say, on your table like how I’ve done so above, this option probably wouldn’t be my first choice, and I’d rather have it installed within my PC case. In any case, you have plenty of ways to use the screen, that is without a doubt!

Demo Build Aesthetics

Conclusion & Pricing

To sum things up, I think that the Lian Li 8.8” Universal Screen is a pretty solid product for anyone looking to purchase an add-on sensor panel screen for their PC build. Build quality is good, and I really like how Lian Li’s designed the screen stand such that it has so many different types of orientations to suit almost any way that you’d like to setup the Universal Screen for your PC build. The LCD display looks great too, and I appreciate the addition of the ARGB lighting border that gives you another option to spice up the appearance of your PC build.

While the experience with customising the screen from within the L-Connect 3 app was pretty smooth, I do wish that there were more font types to choose from when customising your own display template, and it would have been great if there was a portrait layout for the offline mode clock as well - hopefully these two niggles can be resolved in the future with a L-Connect 3 software update. One other item on my wish list to highlight, I’d have preferred if the USB cables that come shipped with the 8.8" Universal Screen were a bit longer so as to afford even more flexibility in terms of screen mounting locations, especially if you’ve got a really large PC case.

In terms of pricing, the Lian Li 8.8” Universal Screen will have a MSRP of US$84.99, While the price is steep especially when compared to other no-name/OEM sensor panels available on the market, this product is clearly targeted at folks who would prefer a more premium offering from an established brand such as Lian Li, and in my book, the 8.8" Universal Screen does live up to those expectations.

Get this universal screen from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gx4tWJ (affiliate link)

The 8.8" Universal Screen, Vector V100 PC case and Wireless CL case fans featured in this video were media samples provided by Lian Li. In addition, some of the Wireless CL case fans were sponsored by Corbell Technologies, the official distributor for Lian Li in Singapore.