Lian Li PC-Q25B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Great case and has huge potential for a multi-purpose small form factor yet high powered machine. I managed to stuff an i7-4790k with a Silverstone cooler, an ASUS Z87I- Deluxe motherboard, 16 GB of high speed RAM, five 6 TB hard drives in RAID 6 (Linux Software RAID - 18 TB usable) and two 1 TB SSD RAID 1 drives for dual boot Windows and Linux. I plan to also add a high end video card which will allow this machine to be a high performance gaming rig, a high performance research machine (overclocking stable at 4.7 ghz and likely can go even faster) and a Home Theater PC/NAS drive. Couldn't be happierUPDATE 07/25/2015:After a few months of running this box with Ubuntu 14.04 and using five 6TB HGST HDDs in Linux softraid 6, I began to notice that this machine was regularly restarting at random points. Reviews of server logs didn't seem to have any information, but it seemed to happen most frequently when under heavy load, downloading torrent data + streaming HD content and similar. I suspected it was due to heat and purchased two USB powered fans specifically designed to cool hot electronics - placing one fan on top of the top case vent, pulling air out and the other behind the case by the power supply also pulling air out. This seemed to reduce the number of times it was restarting dramatically, but not completely. As this suggested heat being the issue, I opened up the side panel opposite the motherboard so that the front portion was still attached but the rear was open 1-2 inches. The result was a complete end to restarts with the server having run for two weeks continuously and not having any restarts. While I did maximize this chassis with five 6 TB HDDs and two 1 TB SSDs, along with an Intel i7 4790k 4.0 GHZ Quad Core (and heavy duty cooler), it's absolutely clear that the fans and or ventilation ports are insufficient to cool this machine, even when supplemented with additional external fans. I'll probably attempt to cut out a portion of the panel by the HDD mounts and attach a filter screen so I don't have to leave it open to debris. But this is a significant shortcoming, so I've dropped my review by one star.

This is a very nice case for a quiet NAS build, and probably one of the nicest cases I've worked with so far. On the plus side, the removable motherboard tray and tool-less design with pop-off side panels make things easy if you like to tinker with the setup like I do. There's plenty of room for 3.5" and 2.5" drives, as well as a PCIe video card or SAS controller card. The drive mounting solution is brilliant and very easy to work with. Space is tight for a full-size PSU, but an SFX size unit fits very well. On the negative side, I had to replace the 120mm top fan due to a really obnoxious vibration, and the drive mounting backplane extends almost all the way to the left side panel, so there is no room for sound dampening material on that side. Also, the pop-off side panels are nice, but it'd be nice to be able to secure them with a screw or two to make sure they don't rattle or vibrate. Otherwise, airflow is good, and the 140mm fan is nice and quiet even at a full 12V.Note that there's plenty of room in the bottom of the case to stack 2.5" HDDs. I made some custom brackets out of 1/16" aluminum sheet to mount drives in sets of 2, with the bottom drive attached to the bottom of the case with the Lian Li rubber feet.Build details:Seasonic SS-300SFD 80 PlusIntel DQ67EP Motherboard with i5-2390tIBM BR10i 8x SAS/SATA controller3x WD200EARS 3.5" 2TB green drives4x WD5000BEVT 2.5" 500GB scorpio blue drives (left over from another NAS)1x 320GB 2.5" system drive

Case front fan crapped out and started clicking. “Ok no problem,” I thought. “Fans fail, I’ll just replace it.”Then I opened the case and realized this was no easy task. The design makes it almost impossible to replace without special tools.The fan is attached to a frame that is riveted on and cannot be removed, and the fan screws are inaccessible from inside the case. Even the smallest ratchet I have cannot fit into this thing. Now I have to order miniature sized ratchet to even begin.What were they thinking? Do they expect you to buy a whole new case just because a fan broke?

Great case, but why would a modern case not come with PWM fans? And the fans that are included are loud as heck. Too loud for the NAS that's going be in my desk, now I have order more fans, bringing the cost up. Would not have been too bad if they were quiet 3-pin fans, but they're not.

The good:This cabinet looks good, is small, light and can fit lots (7) of 3.5" HDDs , making it ideal for a cabinet file server. It is a little bit expensive, but I couldn't find anything in the same category (apart from other similar Lian-li, of course).The bad:HDD cage was bent. I assume the damage was done at the factory, since the cage "floats" inside the case and I don't an external impact will do it without damaging the case (which was in perfect shape). I unbent it and now it works fine.Also, the front fan was broken - all 4 supporting axis where cracked and separated from the fan outer body! I managed to put it together again with superglue.Conclusion: excellent concept, but the manufacturing/packaging/transporting process needs more attention.