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Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:22 pm
by Cov
Hi, what do people think about this new Mini iTX PC case?


• Weight = 3.1 Kg
• Material = Aluminium
• Maximum video card size = 320 mm
• System fans = 140 mm (front) and 120 mm (top)
• Dimensions = 199 (w) x 280 (h) x 366 (d) mm


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Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:42 pm
by nutball
It looks nice. Like many of Lian-Li's cases it seems to be something of a lost opportunity. I'm not sure it can make up its mind what it wants to be.

The Q08 has one more hard-drive slot, so arguably is more flexible for a NAS. This one might be better for a general PC, but it lacks an optical drive bay (which is "courageous" even in the era of ever common digital download).

In short it'd be better if

a) it could accommodate a slot-loading optical drive, or
b) it used the available space to house seven drives

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:02 am
by Mats
nutball wrote:b) it used the available space to house seven drives
It does, 5 + 2, and the Q08 is 6 + 1 (5.25"). One HDD less is hot swap, not a deal breaker for me.

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:15 am
by Gramkow
I like this case a lot, to be honest.

I have a couple of PC-Q08 cases, which are used for Home Server builds. Since I tend to use the 5.25" bay for hard drives as well, the lack of an optical drive slot is no deal breaker IMO. With a 3.5" drive in the optical bay on the PC-Q08, that can fit 7 standard hard drives as well.

However, my main beef with the PC-Q08 is accessibility. When a hard drive needs replacing, I curse the side panels on the PC-Q08. In that area, the easily removable panels on the PC-Q25 look like a winner to me - I wonder how prone they are to vibration though. Being able to easily access at least five of the installed drives will be a nice change from the PC-Q08. Granted, hard drives don't need replacing that often, but it annoys me every time I have to take that case apart.

This one looks like a winner to me - for NAS / Home Server duty at least.

/ Gramkow

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:02 am
by nutball
To be clear, my point about the optical drive was that a PC needs one, a NAS doesn't (in my opinion). If this case wants to be a PC, it needs an optical drive, and I said slot-loading because it's more elegant (personal taste). If it doesn't want to be a PC, and wants to be a NAS, then it doesn't need an optical drive, but then the other design decisions compromise that role.
Mats wrote:One HDD less is hot swap, not a deal breaker for me.
Not a deal breaker maybe, but it's the difference between adequate and perfect. It looks like a decision made so that the case can accommodate a long graphics card, which in a NAS is unnecessary. Conversely the Q08 arguably has too many drive bays for a run-of-the-mill small-yet-powerful PC, and as Gramkow says is a bit of a pain to work with if put into NAS duty.

Taking the Q08 and Q25 together, with a few design tweaks Lian-Li could have the perfect NAS and the perfect mini-power-box-PC. As it is they have two cases each of which is merely adequate at one role and merely OK at the other.

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:00 am
by Mats
I dunno what to use the DVD drive for, honestly.

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:17 pm
by Gramkow
Got a PC-Q25 on order for my WHS 2011 box. Will report back on the experience when I have it up and running.

/ Gramkow

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:27 pm
by Cov
Gramkow wrote:Got a PC-Q25 on order for my WHS 2011 box. Will report back on the experience when I have it up and running.
Hi Gramkow, that'd be very interesting. Please let us know later.

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:14 pm
by evlo
I agree that for small high capacity nas this is not ideal - there is no way to swap graphic car space for more hdd slots, but it is still best case for that price you can get if you want small nas :)

Re: Lian Li PC-Q25 Mini iTX

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:14 am
by Gramkow
Okay, finally found the time to sit down and share my experience with the PC-Q25 ... waiting for a RAID rebuild :wink:

I have been using a PC-Q25 for my WHS 2011 build for apx. 6 months now. It took over WHS duty from a Lian Li PC-Q08 which I was pretty satisfied with.

My main issues with using the PC-Q08 were these:

- Motherboard affixed to side panel - makes installation / maintenance etc. a real hassle
- Hard drive fitting and removal not exactly quick or easy (lots of screwdriver action)
- Flimsy hard drive cage construction (as described in detail in SPCR's review)
- Lots of screws to remove in order to gain access to drives (6 screws on side panel)

I ran the PC-Q25 with a Supermicro X7SPA-HF motherboard (Atom server board with 6 SATA ports), an additional 2-port SATA controller and 7 x 2TB drives + a slimline optical (5.25" bay fitted with a Lian Li EX-553 module which allows slimline optical + 3.5" HD). Standard 350W ATX PSU (BeQuiet). With judicious use of damping materials (CaseKing KingMod) throughout the case, it was plenty quiet for my use (only the occasional seek noise was audible, sitting on a shelf 1 meter from my desk in my office.

The promise of having tool-less access to the hard drives drew me to migrate the system to the PC-Q25 - and honestly it has been a bit of a mixed blessing:

Pros:

- Easy access to hard drives (5 hot-swap bays)
- Able to fit 7 x 3,5" + 1 x 2,5" (which is what I currently have fitted)
- Slightly smaller in size than the PC-Q08
- Drive cage seems more robust than the PC-Q08 version
- Decent cooling for hard drives with relatively low noise
- Best "drives to cubic feet" ratio I've seen so far
- Motherboard mounting tray is not part of the side panel

Cons:

- No hard drive activity LED
- Dimensions (mainly width) make it hard to fit noise damping materials
- Click-on side panels very prone to vibration

Now, don't get me wrong, I really like the PC-Q25. However, I will probably be replacing it sometime in the near future, because although it is pretty low-noise by now, the vibration problem with the side panels is driving me nuts. It emits a sort of pulsating hum, and due to the width of the case I cannot fit damping materials to silence the vibration. The "pop-on" side panels are really nice from a maintenance perspective, but they simply do not hold on well enough to allow any form of compression when damping material is fitted. The PC-Q08, although a hassle to work with due to all the screws, allowed for proper damping of the panels.

That's it for now, might upload some pictures later...

/ Lars