Internal Design

The Lian-Li PC-Q25'south innards are equally simplistic, merely again, this isn't a bad affair 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: information technology gets a separate motherboard tray instead of forcing the correct console to pull double duty. This allows you to easily remove the correct side door without having to dismantle one-half the organization first. The tray itself is fairly basic and supports Mini-ITX likewise every bit Mini-DTX motherboards.

The case floor has a removable adapter capable of supporting an additional three 2.five" or three.5" drives. However, keep in mind that information technology's non possible to install 3.5" drives in the lesser of the PC-Q25 when using a dual-slot libation. Many high-end graphics cards will also make it difficult or even impossible to install 2.5" drives.

All the same, there are five hot-swappable iii.5" hard drive trophy. These have a tool-free design that require yous to install a pair of mounts to each drive, assuasive yous to slip them into place. This system works extremely well, though we did feel on outcome.

While the PC-Q25 is congenital to back up standard ATX power supplies, well-nigh ATX PSUs actually exceed the design specifications. The spec calls for dimensions of 6 x iii.5 10 5.5" (150 x 86 ten 140mm) -- the length (final figure) beingness cardinal here.

We first tried to install OCZ's modular ZX 850w which measures 6 ten iii.five ten half dozen.8" (150 x 86 x 175mm). That'south 25% longer than the original spec and it fabricated the ZX 850w far too long to install.

Next we tried the Thermaltake Thoughpower XT 575w which was the lowest wattage and shortest ability supply we had on manus, measuring 14% shorter than the ZX 850w at half dozen.3 ten 3.iv x five.ix" (160 x 86 x 150mm).

Nevertheless, the Thermaltake unit required some physical persuasion to fit within the PC-Q25 and its modular cables pressed against the iii.5" hot-swap bay, bending information technology slightly and making it more difficult to piece of 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 trouble. Given that the ability supply sits nearly directly higher up the CPU socket, you'll have a tough time finding an aftermarket cooler suitable for the task. Every bit such, we stuck with the standard Intel box cooler.

Gamers typically want extreme graphics while HTPC users want plenty of storage, and the PC-Q25 serves both. It can accommodate dual-slot cards measuring 12.half-dozen" (320mm) long, which is plenty room for the dual-GPU Radeon Hard disk drive 6990.

Naturally, cramming such a powerful graphics card into such a confined space is going to raise concerns over oestrus. 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 pinnacle-mounted fan. This is in addition to the power supply and most graphics cards, as both should characteristic their own external exhaust.

Overall, the Lian-Li PC-Q25'due south internal blueprint left us pleased. Its greatest drawbacks stalk from the fact that it'south so small, simply there'south nothing that tin can't be resolved by careful planning (again, aim for a PSU that measures 5.v"/140mm long).