Lian Li Q-08 case review

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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mzimmers
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Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by mzimmers » Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:02 pm

On page three, it says:
The case has a pair of front USB 3.0 headers but as most motherboards do not have internal USB 3.0 headers, external cables are provided that can be routed through the back and plugged into the back panel. An internal header adapter is included.
Really? I just bought one of these cases (not for this feature), and I can't see any way to do that. Anyone have any information on this?

Complicating my situation is my choice of the ASRock A68M-ITX/HT mobo. it wants you to connect their remote receiver to the front of the system, but it needs to be plugged into a USB 2.0 header co-located with something called a CIR header. (I tried this, but couldn't figure out how to get it to work, so I unplugged it.) Assuming I wanted to make that connection, that pretty much returns the front panel to 2.0, doesn't it?

Since I don't need a GPU card, I got a internal USB 3.0 adapter from Silverstone. I haven't been able to use it yet, because it doesn't fit under my cooler. I guess I'll get getting a right-angle adapter for that slot. I can plug in the front panels to this, but...then I can't use the remote. (ASRock says to only use their receiver with a front panel port (I guess for line of sight).

This appears to be one of those situations that calls for a compromise, I guess. I don't really care about using the remote, but I'm curious about the idea of running the internal cable out the back of the case.

Any ideas? Thanks...

faugusztin
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Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by faugusztin » Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:55 pm

First of all, i guess you meant Z68M-ITX/HT, right ? Well, then you are in similar situation as me and the solution is relatively simple, depending on what country you are living in :). Because you are living in US, your situation is much, much easier than mine. In short - buy this (the alternative is to find a USB PCI bracket and unscrew the USB connectors from it),. Then connect that to the CIR+USB header, and route it out in the back. Use USB extension cable if needed. This is exactly what i did with my PC-Q09 - notice the USB header connection to the cables routed right out through the back of the case :
Image

The CIR header works this way :
Image

In short - forget the USB header top row, and connect everything one row lower, so one of your USB connectors will be connected to USB header and other one to the CIR header. The one connected to CIR header will be then the one to which you should connect your remote dongle. And that's it.

mzimmers
Posts: 85
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:00 pm
Location: Central CA

Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by mzimmers » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:38 am

Thanks for the reply, faugusztin. So, if I understand your technique, you:

1. split the internal USB cable with the product you linked to
2. attach one side of the splitter to the internal USB 2.0/CIR
3. run the other side of the splitter out the back of the case, and into the USB 3.0 port on the back panel

Is that correct?

faugusztin
Posts: 450
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:47 am
Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by faugusztin » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:43 am

No :).

1) plug the front panel USB3 cables to the motherboard back panel USB3 connectors.
2) plug the linked product to the internal USB2/CIR header as shown on the picture.
3) If the linked product cable is long enough, route it out of the case directly and plug your IR receiver to the correct USB connector you just routed out. If not, then find out which one is the CIR connector, and then plug an ordinary USB extension cable into it, and at the IR receiver at the end of the USB extension.

See the picture :
usb_asrock.jpg
As you can see, i plugged the USB3 from the front panel to the back USB3 connectors, while i routed the USB2+CIR cable and just directly plugged the IR reciever to it. This way you can customize the location of the reciever, hide it, put it at any place you like. But if you wish to have it at front panel anyway, you could probably plug one of the USB3 cables i plugged in the USB3 connectors to the correct USB2 plug connected to the CIR header and then plug the reciver to the front - but i think this is a ugly solution compared to the hiding of the recieiver somewhere visible, but not in front of the case.

Hope it helps.
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mzimmers
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Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by mzimmers » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:42 am

OK, I think I understand now. So, you're connecting the front panel ports directly to the motherboard via the back panel, and you're connecting the receiver via an internal/port adapter cable. Is that essentially it?

But, l don't see how you're running your internal cables out the back of your case; what did you open up to allow the cable to pass through?

As a side note, once I install my 3.0 adapter card, I won't have to route the cables out the back of the case, but I'm still interested in how you're doing this.

Thank you for the help.

Lawrence Lee
SPCR Reviewer
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Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by Lawrence Lee » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:57 am

mzimmers wrote:On page three, it says:
The case has a pair of front USB 3.0 headers but as most motherboards do not have internal USB 3.0 headers, external cables are provided that can be routed through the back and plugged into the back panel. An internal header adapter is included.
Really? I just bought one of these cases (not for this feature), and I can't see any way to do that. Anyone have any information on this?
Sorry, that was a typo (just fixed it). I was referring to this internal USB 2.0 header adapter:
Image

It allows you to use front USB 2.0 so it's not a complete waste if lack an internal USB 3.0 header.

faugusztin
Posts: 450
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Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by faugusztin » Mon Mar 05, 2012 11:51 am

mzimmers, there was a hole to route the USB3 cables, i "abused" this hole for the USB2 cables as well. Looking at pictures, with PC-Q08 it will be a bigger issue, but you can still get an even simpler solution - get yourself a PCI bracket with USB connectors on it and connect the header to the USB2/CIR headers - something like this :
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-2-Port-Panel- ... B002IWEDSS

mzimmers
Posts: 85
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:00 pm
Location: Central CA

Re: Lian Li Q-08 case review

Post by mzimmers » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:20 pm

I think I'm going to give up on this. I purchased a SilverStone USB 3.0 card for my PCI-E slot. Not only doesn't the supplied bracket fit the case, but the card juts out too far to close the case cover. Disappointing.

I used the 3.0-2.0 adapter that Lian-Li supplied and connected it to one of my 2.0 headers, and that works, so...I'm just going to live with the front ports being 2.0. Not a big deal, considering I don't even have a 3.0 device, but...it would have been nice to make it work.

I did get that USB 2.0 panel you recommended, but I'm using it for a different purpose: to connect to the CIR header. It seems to have installed OK (the BIOS now gives me the CIR options where it didn't before), but now I have to figure out what the CIR remote is supposed to do. Currently, it doesn't do anything. But, I suppose that's a different question for a different forum.

I'm still very pleased with my choices on this project. This thing is amazingly fast, cool and quiet. I've got ubuntu on it as well as Windows 7, and both work very well.

Thanks for the assistance, everyone.

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