Over the last decade I've reviewed
countless Lian-Li cases, many full towers including one that fetched
upwards of $700, however as of late it's been the company's more
affordable mini-towers that have impressed me the most.
The Mini Q PC-V354
that we reviewed about a year ago quickly became my favorite microATX
computer case. This model was followed up by a Mini-ITX version called
the PC-Q08, which essentially provided all the same features while
supporting an even smaller form factor.
Unfortunately, this also meant that the PC-Q08 inherited all the
PC-V354's shortcomings, so Lian-Li went back to the drawing board to
refine the product. The fruit of its labor manifested in the PC-Q25,
which was announced last August and vowed to be Lian-Li's most advanced
Mini-ITX offering.
The case has plenty of room for high-end hardware, including full-length graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 6990 or GeForce GTX 590.
Besides catering to gamers, the chassis also attempts to woo media
buffs with support for five 3.5" hard drives and some impressive cooling
options.
The PC-Q25 has received hot-swap connectors to quickly load hard drives,
tool-less side panels for faster access and it lost the 5.25" optical
drive bay. The new arrival certainly appears to be a more modern
enclosure, but it also seems to have a few drawbacks that we'll flesh
out right up next...
External Design
Like most Lian-Li cases, the PC-Q25 has a very clean and minimalistic
design. The chassis measures 7.8" wide, 11" tall and 14.4" deep
(199x280x366mm) and weighs a featherweight 6.8lbs (3.1kg) when empty.
Although it's slightly longer and taller than the PC-Q08, the PC-Q25's
reduced width takes its internal capacity down 4% from 21.3L to 20.4L.
At the front, we have a sleek brushed aluminum bezel that only features a
small circular power button and Lian-Li's branding. There's no optical
drive support while all forms of front panel connectors are missing as
well. Although we're content with seeing optical support dropped, the
lack of front mounted USB is unusual and a little disappointing.
While the PC-V354 was one of my favorite mATX cases, I resented the fact
that you had to undo eight screws to remove one of the doors (a
patience-straining 15 screws for both doors). The PC-Q25 solves this
issue with its tool-less doors, which easily unclip when pulling on a
small tab at the back of the door -- a welcomed upgrade, to say the
least.
Reattaching the door is just as easy and takes a few seconds. The clips
hold the doors in place well and when transporting the PC-Q25 we didn't
have any problems with the doors falling off. Both the left and right
doors feature small in-take vents along the right side which are
utilized by the internal mounted fan to draw cool air into the system.
Another large ventilation grill is underneath the PC-Q25 and features a
dust filter that should help keep the case and its internal components
clean for longer. There are also four round feet that raise the
enclosure off its resting surface by 0.51" (13mm).
From the top, the PC-Q25 is almost as plain as it is in the front. The
only noticeable detail is its 120mm fan grill, though this does blend
into the design nicely.
Around the back, you get a feel for just how compact this case is when
looking at the motherboard I/O panel slot and PSU bracket. The removable
power supply bracket takes up a great deal of real estate, as does the
I/O slot. There are also two ventilated expansion slots for your
dual-slot graphics card or any other PCI/PCIe expansion device you're
using.
The Lian-Li PC-Q25's innards are equally simplistic, but again, this
isn't a bad thing and the case does have plenty of clever features. With
the side panels removed, you're presented with a very tiny empty box.
We immediately spotted another improvement the PC-Q25 has over the
PC-Q08: it gets a separate motherboard tray instead of forcing the right
panel to pull double duty. This allows you to easily remove the right
side door without having to dismantle half the system first. The tray
itself is fairly basic and supports Mini-ITX as well as Mini-DTX
motherboards.
The case floor has a removable adapter capable of supporting an additional three 2.5" or 3.5" drives. However, keep in mind that it's not possible to install 3.5" drives in the bottom of the PC-Q25 when using a dual-slot cooler. Many high-end graphics cards will also make it difficult or even impossible to install 2.5" drives.
Nonetheless, there are five hot-swappable 3.5" hard drive bays. These have a tool-free design that require you to install a pair of mounts to each drive, allowing you to slip them into place. This system works extremely well, though we did experience on issue.
While the PC-Q25 is built to support standard ATX power supplies, most
ATX PSUs actually exceed the design specifications. The spec calls for
dimensions of 6 x 3.5 x 5.5" (150 x 86 x 140mm) -- the length (last
figure) being key here.
We first tried to install OCZ's modular ZX 850w which measures 6 x 3.5 x
6.8" (150 x 86 x 175mm). That's 25% longer than the original spec and
it made the ZX 850w far too long to install.
Next we tried the Thermaltake Thoughpower XT 575w which was the lowest
wattage and shortest power supply we had on hand, measuring 14% shorter
than the ZX 850w at 6.3 x 3.4 x 5.9" (160 x 86 x 150mm).
Even so, the Thermaltake unit required some physical persuasion to fit
inside the PC-Q25 and its modular cables pressed against the 3.5"
hot-swap bay, bending it slightly and making it more difficult to work
with the drives.
Ideally, you should aim for a power supply that adheres to the specification of 140mm long, such as OCZ's StealthXStream series.
The power supply also presents another problem. Given that the power
supply sits almost directly above the CPU socket, you'll have a tough
time finding an aftermarket cooler suitable for the job. As such, we
stuck with the standard Intel box cooler.
Gamers typically want extreme graphics while HTPC users desire plenty of
storage, and the PC-Q25 serves both. It can accommodate dual-slot cards
measuring 12.6" (320mm) long, which is enough room for the dual-GPU
Radeon HD 6990.
Naturally, cramming such a powerful graphics card into such a confined
space is going to raise concerns over heat. Thankfully, Lian-Li has
equipped the PC-Q25 with a pretty impressive cooling setup.
Cool air is sucked in by a 140mm fan while hot air is expelled from a
120mm top-mounted fan. This is in addition to the power supply and most
graphics cards, as both should feature their own external exhaust.
Overall, the Lian-Li PC-Q25's internal design left us pleased. Its
greatest drawbacks stem from the fact that it's so small, but there's
nothing that can't be resolved by careful planning (again, aim for a PSU
that measures 5.5"/140mm long).
Temperatures and Conclusion
To ensure accurate thermal results, we installed the same hardware in
each case when possible. Since we haven't tested a mITX case before, we
decided to compare its thermal performance to larger mATX cases. It goes
without saying that this isn't an apples to apples comparison.
For the mATX cases, we installed the Gigabyte H55M-UD2H, a Core i5-750
cooled using the Cooler Master Hyper TX3, a Radeon HD 6870, a pair of
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB hard drives and OCZ's ZX 850w power
supply.
The Lian-Li PC-Q25 was outfitted with the Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT
motherboard, a Core i5-2500K with the standard Intel box cooler (again,
the power supply made it difficult to use any third-party coolers), as
well as a Radeon HD 6870.
The Lian-Li PC-Q25's idle performance was surprisingly good as the HD
6870 ran at 41 degrees while the front-mounted intake fan kept the hard
drive at 31 degrees and the Core i5-2500K idled at 28 degrees -- a tad
higher than the Core i5-750 in the larger mATX cases.
Under full load using Prime95 and FurMark, the Lian-Li PC-Q25 performed
reasonably well. It kept the graphics card and hard drive cooler than
the larger PC-V354 and Vulcan cases. However, the Core i5-2500K
processor hit 74 degrees with Intel's stock cooler.
Conclusion
The Lian-Li PC-Q25 is a robust little chassis that picks up where the
PC-Q08 left off with a retail price tag of $120 -- a justifiable sum
considering its functionality. Granted, most Mini-ITX cases cost less
than $100 and include a power supply, but none of them can accommodate
dual-slot graphics cards and they certainly can't tame a beast like the
Radeon HD 6990. This alone makes Lian-Li's latest offering unique.
Think about it, the PC-Q25 lets enthusiasts build a shoe box-sized rig
that can tackle the latest PC games. Such a machine would cost
approximately $900 using the Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT motherboard, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a Core i5-2500K, and a Radeon HD 6970. That's around the same price you'd pay for a standard size desktop computer (see our buying guide) and again, it's a fraction of the total size.
Naturally, this comes with at least a few drawbacks. Although it's not
too difficult to work around the PC-Q25's PSU length limitations, keep
in mind that there's very little space for a tall aftermarket CPU cooler
(78mm is the maximum height). This isn't an issue in itself because the
stock cooler should be sufficient for standard usage, but it ultimately
means that you'll have less options if you intend to overclock.
Besides that, there are no real disadvantages to building a system in
the PC-Q25. We're very impressed with the quality and flexibility of
Lian-Li's new case and highly recommend it to anyone looking to build
anything from a portable Mini-ITX gaming system or a shelf-bound HTPC.
If you're seeking other alternatives, the only competitor we're aware of
is Silverstone's Sugo series (start at $105 for the SG05, $120 for the SG06, and go up to $210 for the SG07).
source:www.techspot.com
