Lian Li's PC-Q04 Hits U.S. Shelves For $59
Lian Li's fanless PC-Q04 chassis is making its way to U.S. store shelves for a friendly $59.
Lian Li announced that it is bringing its tiny PC-Q04 chassis to the U.S. This is no ordinary chassis, however, as it is not only a Mini-ITX case, it also doesn’t come with any case fans and is made entirely from aluminum (like all of Lian Li’s cases).
Inside the case is room for a very simple system. Next to the Mini-ITX board, users can mount an ATX power supply, and below there is room for a dual-slot graphics card. Be careful though – the graphics card can be only 190 mm long. For CPU coolers, there is room for units no taller than 70 mm due to the placement of the power supply.
The top of the chassis has room for either two 2.5” drives or one 2.5” drive and one 3.5” drive. The bottom of the chassis has room for either a 2.5” drive or a 3.5” drive, or if you really need the cooling, a 120 mm or 140 mm fan.
Because of this design, the cooling in the system depends on natural convection combined with the forces of the CPU cooler, PSU, and graphics card fans. However, the case is rather open; the bottom and side panels have open meshes, which means that although natural convection can do its work, there is no noise isolation. When picking hardware, keep an eye out for low-noise parts.
The PC-Q04 is 194 x 294 x 210 mm (WxHxD), and it weighs in at just 1.33 kg when empty.
Pricing for the little PC-Q04 sits at just $59, making this one of the more affordable cases that Lian Li makes. If you want one in silver, that option will be available, too.
Update, 1/13/2016, 9:52am PT: Corrected PSU format to ATX.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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toddybody No ability to mount a 120mm on the mesh side? This would be a great little enclosure if you could cram in an AIO cooler and short PCB (970/Fury Nano) card.Reply -
SpeedEnforcedByAircraft This might work well with that Corsair M-ITX Bulldog cooler that's available.Reply -
DrakeFS An affordable Lan-Li case?!?! Seriously though, I always liked how Lan-Li keeps pushing ahead with the clean look.Reply -
N.Broekhuijsen ReplyIt looks like it would take a regular ATX PSU, not limited to SFX.
You're right, thanks! It's fixed now. -
zodiacfml @toddybodyReply
right!. the top side should have been more flexible by allowing a radiator there or a large, slow moving fan. I would also close all the side meshes to reduce noise and dust buildup. -
turkey3_scratch If I'm looking at this properly, it'll be very difficult to work on a motherboard in this case. The PSU is literally smack-dab in front of the motherboard, how are you supposed to connect stuff with the PSU in the way?Reply -
Onus The PSU mounts to a plate. Then, you hook up its cables through the hole, and when done you slide the PSU in and screw down the plate. A modular PSU is almost a requirement.Reply
This looks like a nearly ideal case for a low-power AM1 system. One cable not needed would be the CPU power cable. -
stoned_ritual ReplyIf I'm looking at this properly, it'll be very difficult to work on a motherboard in this case. The PSU is literally smack-dab in front of the motherboard, how are you supposed to connect stuff with the PSU in the way?
It will be a pain, but I would mount the board, then connect the cables, then shift the PSU into place.