Tiny Case, Plenty Of Space: Lian Li Launches PC-Q21 Mini ITX Case

[kcarbotte]

Lian Li introduced a new Mini-ITX chassis designed to take up the smallest physical space, while still allowing for a full-powered desktop build inside.

Tiny Case, Plenty Of Space: Lian Li Launches PC-Q21 Mini ITX Case : Read more

 

[salgado18]

Too bad it doesn't have audio jacks, otherwise it's almost perfect.

 

[dstarr3]

Looks a bit like a mini-fridge.

 

[norseman4]

"The case includes mounts for multiple hard drives, and space for large graphics cards."
"cards as long as 170 mm, allowing almost any card to be installed."

The R9 Nano was ooh's and ahh's at for being 6", there are some other small graphics cards that would fit, but usually by going over the 2 slot width.

170mm is 6.69 inches, the mITX form factor is 6.7x6.7 inches. So no, Almost any card will not fit in this case. Please correct this article, unless it's talking points directly from Lian Li, in which case please indicate so.

 

[RedJaron]

Thinking the same thing. 170mm is NOT a large graphics card.

 

[kcarbotte]

"The case includes mounts for multiple hard drives, and space for large graphics cards."
"cards as long as 170 mm, allowing almost any card to be installed."

The R9 Nano was ooh's and ahh's at for being 6", there are some other small graphics cards that would fit, but usually by going over the 2 slot width.

170mm is 6.69 inches, the mITX form factor is 6.7x6.7 inches. So no, Almost any card will not fit in this case. Please correct this article, unless it's talking points directly from Lian Li, in which case please indicate so.

Thinking the same thing. 170mm is NOT a large graphics card.

Definitely did the math wrong.
You're correct. That is not very long. I will amend the article.

 

[atheus]

I'm a bit confused how this thing cycles air. In the video he says the air is drawn in either through the vents on the side panel or through the filtered vents in the bottom, but the only place you can actually mount a case fan is on the bottom — leaving you with just the single SSD mount on the front.

I have no problem with only a single SSD mount, but this configuration would mean your one case fan is sucking in air through the bottom and blowing it straight into your GPU with a mere few millimeters of clearance. From there, the air heated by your GPU can cycle around to the other components, or just exhaust out the vents in the side. The only "exhaust" fan would be the PSU fan which is presumably sucking hot air from directly over the CPU (though it's drawing air LEFT where the CPU would be pushing air RIGHT inside the case, so it would be fighting the CPU fan for air, creating a low pressure area in the small space between them.

I can't see how this would adequately cool anything but an extremely low draw system.

 

[kcarbotte]

I'm a bit confused how this thing cycles air. In the video he says the air is drawn in either through the vents on the side panel or through the filtered vents in the bottom, but the only place you can actually mount a case fan is on the bottom — leaving you with just the single SSD mount on the front.

I have no problem with only a single SSD mount, but this configuration would mean your one case fan is sucking in air through the bottom and blowing it straight into your GPU with a mere few millimeters of clearance. From there, the air heated by your GPU can cycle around to the other components, or just exhaust out the vents in the side. The only "exhaust" fan would be the PSU fan which is presumably sucking hot air from directly over the CPU (though it's drawing air LEFT where the CPU would be pushing air RIGHT inside the case, so it would be fighting the CPU fan for air, creating a low pressure area in the small space between them.

I can't see how this would adequately cool anything but an extremely low draw system.

The PSU is left to do most of the ventilation.
Definitely would affect efficiency

 

[norseman4]

"The case includes mounts for multiple hard drives, and space for large graphics cards."
"cards as long as 170 mm, allowing almost any card to be installed."

Thinking the same thing. 170mm is NOT a large graphics card.

Definitely did the math wrong.
You're correct. That is not very long. I will amend the article.

Last sentence of the first paragraph needs changing as well.

 

[Mac266]

So why didn't they swap the PSU and GPU positions?

 

[DXRick]

So, what is the most powerful video card you can put in this case??

 

[RazberyBandit]

So... Based on the video, if the PSU doesn't specifically have a rear fan, and instead has a top/bottom fan, the configuration shown would have had the fan facing the CPU cooler and thus competing with it for air. That probably means neither one is cooling as effectively as possible.

The backplate cut-out did not appear ideally positioned. There was no access, or very limited access, to the backplate's top screws.

Why bother filtering the bottom if the primary air intake source is unfiltered vents? I would have rather seen Lian-Li implement a filtered side-panel than have to make a choice between a fan, HDD, or SSD on the bottom.

I just don't like it. There's room for improvement, so I'll wait to see the next version.

 

[dwatterworth]

Perfect way to cook every single component of your system. No room for a GPU with a blower fan configuration, no room for any CPU cooler that could help direct airflow, if there is an intake fan included on the bottom, any GPU will effectively block the entire base of the case for airflow. I can see this making a nice office build that uses integrated graphics of either Intel HD or AMD APU flavors, but anything other than a low-profile GPU or a very low power model would simply introduce way too much heat. Easily better cases out there with similar dimensions.

 

[Patrick Goetz]

The deal killer for me was that it can only take SFX power supplies. The choice of such power supplies is very limited, and they all seem to be rather noisy.

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

The deal killer for me was that it can only take SFX power supplies. The choice of such power supplies is very limited, and they all seem to be rather noisy.

Silverstone has several good, quiet SFX PSUs.

 

[FantasticFranco]

This is just like the Rosewill Legacy U3 (which for some reason I can't find anymore for sale along with Rosewill Legacy mx2. WHAT GIVES??)

 

[gadgety]

Wow, one of the few times Lian-Li hones and develops one of their models. I put together a PC for the kids using the PC-Q02 chassis and an AMD APU. The Q21 being just a tad taller and deeper, and using a more elegant slot drive is made to incorporate GPU, which could only be used with the PC-Q02 if modified. I like this chassis and might get one from myself. A question is cooling performance if using more powerful components.

 

[photonboy]

Air flow is a bit messed up as said.

At first I liked it, but looking closer I can't understand who it's designed for. Sure you could build a light gaming rig with a smaller EVGA GTX750Ti and suitable Intel CPU, but that seems a lot of heat will end up through the PSU.

And if I'm building a non-gaming rig I'd go with a different option so I could blow CPU heat towards the heatsink and right out the case.

 

[JoeSchmuck]

I like the thought that someone is considering building smaller quality cases but as others have mentioned, air flow is a possible issue unless you are just building a small home/office PC without any high horsepower requirements. I personally do not need a dedicated graphics card but the CPU cooler height restriction could be a killer.