LIAN LI PC-Q25B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Pros: The HD cage is great. I am using this case for a NAS box running freeNAS and was able to stick 6 HD in set up in a Raid-Z2 set up to use as a file server.

Also enough room for a regular PSU. The cable work can get a little tricky because things are still cramped especially running a full supply of HD.

Cons: Not really a problem for me, but obviously no optical drive slot. That may be an issue for some people, or in case I wanted to use this case in a more traditional build rather than a NAS box.

Other Thoughts: The screwless side doors are a neat feature. However, over time, I have concerns with if you get in there to clean out the dust regularly that whatever tension system these are held in by may begin to fail.

Pros: Hot-swap drive bays, sufficient space on back side to tuck cables, love the simplicity.

Cons: Top fan was vibrating against outer aluminum fan-grill. I had to take out the fan, tighten the screws and then replace it. Cable management can be a bit difficult without a modular power supply.

Other Thoughts: Not a "silent" case by any means, but still runs very quiet, even with the two fans plugged directly into 12V leads instead of controlling them through the BIOS (fans have both 12V and 3-pin mobo connector).

Pros: Holds eight (yes 8) hard drives
Lian Li quality materials
Quality fans
Lots of hardware included
ATX PSU support

Cons: Construction

Other Thoughts: So this is a great little case if you want to make an ITX HTPC with lots of storage or a small server.

You can cram eight (yes I said 8) hard drives into this little bugger. It is supposed to hold five 3.5 inch drives in the hot-swap bay and an additional three 2.5 inch or two 3.5 & one 2.5 inch on the bottom of the case.

Now I listed construction as a con because on the particular case I received there was a 2.5 inch drive mount plate in the middle of the hot swap bay (drive position 3). This mount was riveted in place and it was installed backwards. If you used the included rubber screw mounts, you'd have to slide your drive forward to lock it in place - away from the SATA and power connections. That wouldn't work at all.

It works for me because I just slid my SSD into position on top of the mount plate and called it a day but I've seen other pictures of this case without the mount plate riveted in place like that. Seems kind of pointless and even more so when it's installed backwards from the factory!

Aside from the above issue - this is not a bad little case for an HTPC. Nice minimalist look with no front ports or cd/dvd support. Working space inside is very limited. You need to mount your motherboard, pull your PSU cables through the psu hole and do all your connections THEN mount the PSU.

I used a non-modular corsair cx430 and had plenty of room to keep unused cables out of the way for optimal airflow but a larger PSU either won't fit (depth) or won't have room for unused, non-modular cables.

As with most Lian-Li cases the tolerances for openings are a little tight so you may scrape your PSU as you slide it in.

I can't say much for CPU heatsink clearance because I used a stock AMD heatsink & fan but i'd guesstimate you have about 3 inches of space to play with from your CPU to your PSU fan.

It looks like you could fit a dual slot graphics card in there but you'd lose a lot of space on the bottom - eliminating your bottom drive mounts as well as extra cable storage space. There is still however a bottom vent with a filter installed to aid with graphics card cooling.

Pros: I didn't know that cases could be this well organized inside. Looking back at my past computer builds I've never had one that resulted in the clean open interior and great airflow that I get in this case. So many harddrives can be crammed into this case and it still looks good inside. I can't say enough good things about it.

Cons: I wish the silver model was still available.

Pros: I just built a FreeNAS system using this case. This is by far the coolest case I've ever bought. Everything in it is sturdy and well thought out. It was designed with vibration control in mind. The fans are quiet and effective. The hot pluggable HDD bays are awesome and handy. Lian-Li just got a customer for life

Cons: none

Pros: The case hoses my NAS box, and has plenty of room for hard drives. I love that it does not force a CD/DVD drive on you as well. The fans come with screens to keep the insides as cleans as possible and the side panels come on/off extremely easy which is a plus.

Cons: The ONLY issue I currently have with the case is the stock fans could be quieter. My temperatures are great so they do the job, but I may end up swapping them out with something that runs a little quieter.

Other Thoughts: This is a great case and I would recommend it to anyone with similar build needs.

Pros: Lots of space. Has 5 bays with backplane for 3.5 drives. More space for drive at the bottom. Nicely made. Backplanes can use either 4 pin molex or SATA power. Only one power cord is required for every two drives. No tools required to open the case. Comes with slide rails for the drives. These are attached with thumbscrews.

Cons: Some of the edges on the side panels can be a bit sharp. Due to the location of the power supply make sure you choose your CPU heatsink carefully.

Other Thoughts: No external bay for a CDROM. I don't require one so this isn't a con. Make sure you know how big this case is. For a Mini ITX it is rather large, but if you are buying it for the number of drives that it can hold, then the size won't be an issue.

Pros: I was surprised with how easily this build went together. The drive rail system is nice and simple.

The case has no optical drive slot, which is a plus for me since I stopped putting in optical drives 4 years ago. I know not everyone is on board with this practice, but I think more case manufacturers should embrace the decline of optical drives for some of their models. Without an optical drive, the case becomes much more versatile for interior design.

This thing fits 7(!) 3.5" drives. 2 are 'permanently' installed in the bottom (great for swap or OS drives) while the drive cage holds 5.

The case ventilates well. My temp logger shows a very even keeled internal temperature.

No HDD LED (I think this is nice).

This is the perfect budget fileserver case. It has a nice look, easy pop-off sides, and is fairly quiet. Cable management turns out pretty nice looking if you take the time to do it right.

Some have complained about the power supply not fitting well. I have a standard sized (not quite 6" deep) 460W ATX PSU, and everything fits just fine.

Cons: It might be nice to have a way to lock the case closed for some applications.

3.5" drives installed in the bottom are somewhat cramped for cable space. At a glance it doesn't look like it will work, but it does.

Other Thoughts: Build includes:
JetWay JNF99FL-525-LF Motherboard
Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) CT2KIT51264BF1339 Memory
Western Digital WD RE4 WD1003FBYX 1TB HDD x2
Spare 40GB WD SATA drive for swap (will never actually get used :D )
COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-I3 460W PSU

Pros: Great build quality. Super-easy access from both sides. Hot-swap drive bays are very nice. Most people won't need that many drives. Use Newegg item # N82E16817994083 for easy install of SSDs into the bays.

Cons: Overall none except that you are very limited in CPU coolers. See other comments below....

P.S. The only thing this case lacks is two USB 3.0 ports on the front. Then it would be the perfect case.

Other Thoughts: For an Ivy Bridge Core i7 the Intel stock cooler is more than good enough for cooling the CPU if you are NOT an overclocker. The Z77 chipset gets warmer than the CPU during a Prime 95 test. Not too hot to touch, but close. If you want to overclock then one of the only coolers you can use in this case is the Scythe SCBSK-2100 Big Shuriken 2 RevB. Scythe's parent company is having BK issues and supplies are getting slim. If you want to cool off the Z77 more then this NewEgg item should work (fan not needed): N82E16835999020.

Pros: Almost the only case on the market that doesn't insist on old legacy 5.25" external bays. This allows this small case to support as many hard drives as a lot of ATX cases. For this reason alone it's a must buy in my book. While most will use this case to build a small dense file NAS system, this case is perfect for a gaming rig like I built or anything else in between.

If you need more, this is one beautiful case with extremely clean lines with only the power button breaking the monolithic front panel. My biggest surprise was how much I like the looks and how quality and classy the power button is. It's strange to focus so much on the power button with I hardly ever use but EVERY electronic device including Apple should build buttons this well.

This case also has the best attachment system for the sides of the case I have ever seen. There are a series of small pins around the edges of the two side panels that snap nicely into catches mounted on the frame of the case. They remind me of really well done speaker covers on high end speakers.

Finally, in addition to holding an epic number of drives, it will also hold a full size video card with plenty of clearance. My Nvidia 660TI went in with tons of room all around with no effort.

Cons: Nothing I could justify taking an egg off for but nothing is perfect.

The overall complaint would be that the 3.5" drive bay is not removable. All my issues revolve around this one issue really. I'm sure this was a concession since the bays are hot swappable. I would have given up this feature in order to open the case up since I didn't need the bays.

The mounts on the bottom of the case are only usable if you are using an SSD drive or you are not putting a video card in. The problem is that even with an SSD and Video card, it's pretty tight and you'll probably want to mount the SSD in the main bay instead. Which brings up the other problem. A mount is provided for mounting the 2.5" SSD to the bottom of the middle divider in the bay but it can't use the hot swap ports and routing the cables through the ports in the back of the hot swap panel was almost not possible. Given how popular 2.5" drives are now and how much more popular they will become in the next few years, I would have liked to see better support and it felt like an afterthought in this case.

As others have noted, you do need to pick your PSU carefully. I used a very small one but even then I had to work the cables a good bit to get the case panels back on. Again, if the 3.5" bay was removable, almost any PSU would fit in this case with ease.

Other Thoughts: ASUS P8H77 Motherboard
Silverstone ST45SF-G PSU
Samsung 840 PRO 256MB SSD
Nvidia 660TI Video Card
Intel Core i7 3770 Processor