Lian Li Mini Q PC-Q08 Computer Case

Components and Design Continued

After removing six small recessed phillp head screws we can get our first look into the case. Right from the factory they have included the accessories box inside of the case. The is securely attached with a heavy duty plastic tie to sure that no scratches or damage are caused during shipping. What we see is that there is the bare minimum of items in the case, after there is not even one square foot of area space available. Starting from the front we have a single 140mm blue LED fan followed by the all aluminum hard drive cage. On top of that is located the mounting space for a one ROM Drive along with a just enough space added that allows you to mount a single 2.5 drive underneath it. Not shown in the image is a single 120mm fan that removes air from the inside of the case.

^{The way the air flow is designed for the case.}

The right side case panel is also used as the mother board mounting tray. This is to save space inside of the cramped case. But if you think about it is a nice feature to be able to install all you hardware onto the panel (except for the video card) and then put into place.

Looking from this angle we can see all that it has to offer us. Coming off the front of the case is the wires for the on of switch and power light. Just below that we have our header for the audio connections and the cabling for the USB ports. Hanging down from the rear of the case we can see the power wires for the top case fan.

Did you notice the lack of any support brackets in the case? No, well go back and look. If you did do you want to know why, of course you do. Not that is really adds all that much strength bout the ROM and Hard Drive cages does connect to the top and to the bottom of the case. What the real strength feature is that the shell of the case is made of just two pieces of aluminum. Coming from where the front feet are located and bent all the way around to the rear feet is a single piece. A second piece is used and bent to connect the pieces together. The edges are bent over to give a place for the side panels to attach to but  this also acts as brace to eliminate any flex in the metal.

Even though this is a small case Lian Li did not skimp on giving you enough storage space for hard drives. You can install a total of six regular sized hard drive into the case, plus one 2.5 inch drive for a total of 7 storage drives. That is plenty of space for those that one to throw in a few Terabyte drives for movie and audio files.

Lian Li also made sure that each drive has rubber grommets to help stop any noise that might be coming from the mechanical drives.

Taking a look at the USB cable that come from the front panel we notice that they have the male plug on the end of them… uh how is this going to work? Right now most mother boards that do have USB 3 have them located on the back side along with all the other I/O ports. So all you have to do is run one or both cable out the back of the case and plug them in. A I/O cover (pictured below) has been specially made just for this reason and is included with the accessories. Now let says that you do not have any USB 3.0 ports but you do have some 2.0 header pins on your mother board, well you are in luck. Lian Li has included an adapter that plugs on the cable that allows you to now connect the USB ports to the mother board (pictured below coming out of the cover plate).

A nicely added feature is a secure I/O card stop. By loosing up a thumb screw and sliding it you can install what ever card you may to then slide the stop back, tighten the thumb screw and you should have no worries about the screws coming loose, but if they to the stop will not allow the card to come out.

Now if you remember back at the beginning we showed you a all the stuff that comes with the case and in that image was this particular bracket. This item is one of the reasons many people like Lian Li case as they try to think of everything. What is bracket does is replace the lower section of the hard drive mounting cage with a cut away section… why?

For the simple fact that they know that gamers want to use the latest and greatest video cards available and that the more powerful ones are what we call full-size cards. Shown in the image above is a Sapphire HD 6950 sitting in place inside the Lian Li Mini Q case with plenty of space to spare.