Lian-Li Announces PC-Q01 Mini-ITX Enclosure

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Lian-Li has released a new Mini-ITX enclosure, and it is reasonably affordable.

Lian-Li has launched a new enclosure – the PC-Q01. This is a Mini-ITX enclosure with a capacity of just 13.3 L. Okay, there are smaller enclosures, but most of them won't actually have space for a decent graphics card.

The case measures in at 200 x 275 x 242 mm, and because it is fully made out of aluminum, only weighs about 1.6 kg. Internally, beside the Mini-ITX motherboard, users can mount CPU coolers up to 90 mm tall along with PSUs and GPUs up to 210 mm in length, though you will have to account for connector length with the PSU in case of modular power supplies. An ideal graphics card for using in this case would be the Mini-ITX cards from Asus or MSI. Larger cards like GTX 780's or R9 290's won't fit, as they are too long.

Lian-Li has fitted both the bottom and front of the case with identical hard drive support, where each of those areas can house either one 3.5" drive along with a 2.5" drive, or two 2.5" drives. This allows for up to four installed drives. A fan can also be mounted at the bottom of the chassis, though, which might be preferable considering the only other case ventilation would be provided by the power supply.

Front I/O connectivity is fairly standard with the standard set of HD audio jacks and two USB 3.0 ports.

Pricing for the unit is set at €50 over in Europe, with no official word on U.S. availability yet. Hopefully, it'll be under about $70 when it gets here, as that'll make it a very nice option for a mid-range compact gaming system.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • icrf
    If you're talking about "here" in the US, what's with all the metric measurements? You should convert from the press release for your target audience. I know, it's a little work, but it's worth it.
    Reply
  • Benthon
    If you're talking about "here" in the US, what's with all the metric measurements? You should convert from the press release for your target audience. I know, it's a little work, but it's worth it.

    Except case measurements are always given in mm, regardless of site or location. You don't see other locations converting the 2.5" and 3.5" bays to their respective metric counterparts, do you?

    Babby's first tech news?
    Reply
  • tonicipriani
    This would be the first case I've seen from them without the logo on the front. Looks much better...

    Your turn, Silverstone.
    Reply
  • Darkk
    I like this case. May get one for the next home media server.
    Reply
  • Firion87
    The cooltek/jonsbo u2 is much better. Theres room for a proper psu and cpu cooler.
    Reply
  • Haravikk
    This case just seems like a wider TU100 minus the carrying handle. While that does mean it can take bigger, more useful, CPU coolers, it also inherits the same problems; namely the horrible cooling. The TU100 has a front-fan which is arguably more useful, but could really do with a second fan mount (it can easily fit 2x 120mm fans), especially since the longest graphics cards that fit top out around 16cm anyway, so the extra 4-5cm is dead space. Of course in this case that's not true since the only cooling fan seems to be on the bottom, which is a really weird choice as it's still not going to cool the GPU all that well, while also starving the CPU; it seems that to get good airflow you'll need to use the extra CPU cooler space to fit some powerful fans to function as exhausts, either that or intake from the rear and exhaust out the bottom. Neither option is particularly appealing though, which only means you're going to end up with the same problem that the TU100 has which is the cooking GPU trapped in a pocket of hot air at the bottom of the case.

    I love that Lian-Li tries to innovate, but with many of their small cases they have great overall designs that fall flat on the details; a case this small doesn't really have the luxury of a featureless front unless it is extended forward to leave space at the sides to draw in air. When everything is packed in so tightly, a pair of 120mm fans could make all the difference if they'd just stop to squeeze them in; I know they could do it as I'm planning to drill holes myself in a TU100 for this very purpose, but it's something the manufacturer could easily do in the first place.
    Reply
  • JeanLuc
    If you're talking about "here" in the US, what's with all the metric measurements? You should convert from the press release for your target audience. I know, it's a little work, but it's worth it.

    Thanks for reinforcing typical American stereotypes. :(
    Reply