LIAN LI PC-Q11A Silver Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case

Pros: This is real machined aluminum not sheet metal! Quality Box, Fits full size ATX PSU, Ample internal space, mostly well designed. Good ventilation. USB 3 front connectors. The easily removable drive tray on botton works well to remove all drives at once and has rubber shims and special screws to secure drives for quite operation.

Cons: Large fan is a little bit noisy. way too many small screws for side covers but I can see this is necessary because the side covers are machined aluminum and are structural to the case integrity thus the many small screws. Stupid DVD install/removal process. Could be a 1 screw process instead of removing mainboard and 4 more screws.

Pros: I would most definitely buy this again! Built this for one of my customers, it was a custom performance machine build using ITX. Worked out perfectly!

Nice solid aluminum finish. Yes the entire tower is aluminum! Well built!

Plenty of ventilation, plenty of room when comparing to many other ITX cases. Space for dual drives, ROM. Front panel lights are just right, not too bright or too dim.

Standard size PSU can fit the case fine. Has a really nice look to the case!

Cons: No 3.5" bay, in case you wanted to mount a controller or a card reader, etc. Just the one 5.25 bay.

Motherboard mounts onto the right side panel. Installing the motherboard is tricky, but what I did was put the case on its left side, then set the right side panel with motherboard already mounted on it with it a bit forward (toward the front of case), lined up the ports in the rear I/O panel and slid it back into place, then secured the screws.

Be sure to install ALL the drives prior to installing the motherboard. Yes, removal of the ROM will require removing the motherboard, but it really isn't that bad.

You must install the PSU last, and be sure to use the backing plate that has thumbscrews holding it to the case. Tips below.

Take precautions to protect your case from scratches or damage during your build. Soft towel or something to lay the panels on, etc. They can be bent, scratched, etc.

Only tighten the screws till they are snug. DO NOT over tighten! You will strip out the softer aluminum!

Other Thoughts: Ok. PSU. Once you installed the drives (first), the motherboard,CPU,RAM (second) Drive cables, case connections (third) you are ready for the PSU install.

You need to remove the aluminum backing plate secured to the case with thumb screws. Now, here is the trick. Install that plate onto your PSU. Do NOT tighten the screws all the way. Leave them loose enough so that the plate can be adjusted and moved around on the PSU.

Assuming you are using a modular PSU (again, highly recommend), you can install this with the fan facing the motherboard, or facing out toward the side of the case. Either way will work.

Before you slide it in, poke any hard wired connectors through like the 20+4 and 4 or 4+4 etc, through the PSU opening. HOOK UP all the PSU connectors you are going to use! Tie up any excess wiring. Then you slide the PSU in and it WILL be a tight fit. If the fan shroud or fan itself sticks out from its mounted location it may prevent you from sliding it into the case.

Also be sure to keep tabs on your wiring as it goes in (so they don't hit the CPU fan or get pinched, etc) and bolt it in with the thumb screws. Tighten the 4 screws on the PSU's mounting bracket that we left loose earlier AFTER that. This was so we can align the bracket for the thumbscrews first! You won't ever have to take the bracket back off the PSU, unless replacing the PSU with a different one. Install the left side cover and you should be done.

Now, I had also replaced the included 140mm fan with a BitFenix one, because I wanted to red LED look to compliment the case, and it was quieter. Do this FIRST, if you chose to do change it. This case was bundled with:

Asus P8H77-I ITX 1155, Intel i5 3450, 16GB DDR3 1600, Dual 500GB WD Blue drives (RAID 1), LG DVDRW, OCZ 550W Fatal1ty Modular PSU, 140MM BitFenix Red LED fan, Windows 7 HP64.

Pros: Purchased at a discount, making it a good value. Lian-li build quality. Room for long, dual-height graphics card, making for a good ITX gaming tower. Fits two 2.5" drives plus two 3.5" drives. Once built, just sits there and looks nice.

Cons: Can be a pain to work with. Removing optical drive requires removing both side panels (with motherboard attached). Larger than I would like, likely due to accommodations for full size PSU, two 3.5" HDs, and large graphics card.

Other Thoughts: A good case overall, with minor flaws in design that can be worked-around. Mind came with an internal USB3 connector and USB2 adapter, not the external adapter shown in the images here. Get a PSU with shorter cables, if you can (mine are much longer than needed.

Pros: - Classy looking.
- Great HDD/SSD mount plate. Two SSDs and two HDDs can be mounted on it while taking very little space at the bottom of the case. Clever design puts SSDs underneath and HDDs that need more cooling on top, open to air flow. HDDs are mounted on rubber washers.
- Sturdy. My other Lian-Li case, the Micro ATX one, has paper-thin side covers, but this one has good, think sidewalls.

Cons: These are not major at all:
- A fan is a little more audible than I expected from 140mm fan.
- Cable connecting case's USB 3.0 ports to the motherboard is way too thick and inflexible. You can safely run 10 KVolt through the cable like that.

Other Thoughts: It makes sense to get modular power supply unit for this case as thick power cable bundles quickly fill in all the space close to CPU.

Pros: what a Case, tiny tiny and yet an airflow without match , just fitted and Intel i5 3450S witha EVGA GTX670, and nothingt goes above 60C, video card is kind of tricky to install but believe it this is the longest card u can fit

Cons: maybe they coul have made it at least 1 inch shorter but no biggy

Other Thoughts: my favorite cpu case ever

Mobo: intel Dh77df mini itx H77
cpu: intel i5 3450S Ivy Bridge
Mem: Gskill DDR3 1600 9-9-9-25 sniper
SSD: intel 310 80gb OS
HDD: hitachi 500gb Storage
VGA: EVGA gtx670
PSU: Pc power & cooling Mark lll 600Watts Modular
optical: bluray lite on

Pros: - Light, alumnium design (very well done, keeps weight down)
- Mini-ITX compatible with Mini-DTX (2+ slot CPU)
- Mainboard tray is nice, makes it very easy to mount and re-insert (well done)
- Can take most 2+ slot GPUs, up to around 9.5" long (excellent)
- Can easily take 83mm+ tall aftermarket CPU cooler (excellent)
- Takes full size ATX power supply (no power issues, excellent)
- Full 5.25" optical drive bay (nice option, or for any 5.25" option, good cable room)
- (2) 3.5" hard drives + (2) 2.5" hard drives with removable tray (nice approach, works very well, with vibration standoffs for 3.5")
- Hard drive weight is at the bottom (ideal), vents near top of them for cooling (good, although see GPU note)

Cons: - Price over $100 when not on-sale (alumnium partly responsible)
- While very compact in depth, width and height are on-par with a full MicroATX (could have easily been an optional 4 slot MicroATX, by using the HD area, with another 1" depth for a 8" deep 9.6" wide MicroATX board)
- Should have flipped MB orientation, GPU still "facing down" (vents help, but pushing hot hair on hard drives)
- The largely "tool-less" design has eight (8) screws per side panel, not ideal, and both panels must come off for some mounting (like 5.25" drive)
- Although fan has filter, the air still is not pulled from a cut-out, so positive pressure won't prevent dust (especially around GPU)

Other Thoughts: I have the Silverstone SG05b, which has better airflow/pressure design. However, the Silverstone SG05b has limited bays, it's own SFX and there's not enough room for 3.5" cabling. The Lian Li PC-Q11A has room for (2) 3.5" cabling, plus optical, plus full ATX PS.

My main complaint is the board layout design considerations.

First, Lian Li should have flipped the mainboard orientation. A desktop has cards "standing up," but ATX towers have the PCIe slot "facing down," trapping heat. Lian Li does "flipped ATX orientation" in its other cases, so why not with the PC-Q11A? You put the CPU lower, and the GPU can "face upwards" allow heat to rise off of the GPU. That's good for a 5-10C improvement.

Second, it's tall enough to be a MicroATX case, easily. They should have just made it a Mini-ITX/Mini-DTX/MicroATX (but only 8" deep x 9.6") by using the drive area as optional slots (while it could still have the extra drives if 1-2 slots of the 4 aren't use). Wasted option.

Pros: 0. Looks very elegant and professional.
1. Takes full desktop parts.
2. No sharp corners to cut yourself while assembling.
3. I paid 70 + tax + free shipping for this case. Its pretty good value considering the fact that that it looks very good and is polished aluminium.
4. My case came with a USB 3.0 header to USB 2.0 header. This is very useful to me as my Asrock A75m-itx motherboard comes with only usb2.0 header on the motherboard.
5. Takes two 3.5" hard drives and two 2.5" drives. Very good for those who need more storage.
6. Takes a full size Blu-ray or DVD rom. I wish this case did not come with a disc reader slot. Its empty in my case. Wasted space. Could have made this case smaller if no bd rom space.

Cons: 0. Too many air vents. Two on the side pannel that take in air for the 140 mm fan are necessary. But there are two extra vents on the side panel, and one air vent on the top of the case ( to the back corner) and on the back side ( towards the upper corner). This is unnecessary. Just a lot more vents from where dust can enter.
1. Cramped for space. ( Well its a itx, I shouln't complain)
2. Cable management is a pain!
3. I had to remove the stickers on my CX-430 v2 PSU, as I found it hard to push the PSU into the slot.
4. If you ever have to change components or clean inside the case, you will have to remove the PSU.

Other Thoughts: This is my third itx build but my first with the PC-Q11 case. Overall, I am very happy. The cons are minor. If newegg let me give a 4.5 I would have given a 4.5 stars.

Pros: This case is great. I wanted to build a hackintosh and choose this case. I had no problem to build my computer, this case has plenty of room inside.I didn't had any problem with the power supply. The case is beautiful and is all brushed aluminium. Great purchase for the price. If you want to build a small computer and use an ITX motherboard this case is the best for this price.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Parts I used for this case:
ATX power supply non modular
Gigabyte hd61n-usb3 motherboard
Core I3 2125
No optical drive. I routed most of the cables in the optical drive cage.

Pros: Small/Compact. High quality craftsmanship/components.

Cons: layout could use some work. The case needs .5" to 1" more depth to accommodate the full ATX PSUs that it advertises. I grabbed a SILVERSTONE Strider Plus ST50F-P 500W because a previous reviewer mentioned success with it. Well it BARELY fits, and there's no place for the cords to run out. So even a modular ATX is a little too tight of a squeeze. The problem is that all cords need about an inch of space from where they plug into the PSU before they can be redirected. This case design seems to assume that you should bend a .75" bundle of cords 90 degrees the millimeter it comes out of the PSU.

Be weary about what PSU you try to squeeze in there.

SATA connectors to HDDs is silly. the drive tray requires 2.5" drives flipped upside down, requiring fancy weaving of the power connectors. This is a problem if you plan to fill the top of the tray with 3.5" drives in addition to one or two 2.5" drives.

Other Thoughts: People complain that the mb attaches to the side panel. Where else would it go? There are 8 tiny, flat head screws for each side of the case. I don't consider this a problem because I don't want thumb screws sticking out, but the fact that there's 8 of them is a minor deterrent to frequent opening and closing. This is an ITX case. The whole purpose of ITX is to be compact. This does the job, and it does so with the dependable craftsmanship I expect from Lian Li. There are, however, tradeoffs with accessability, and I think the extra security of 8 screws vs. 4 is a little bit much. The antivibration grommet system works fine. I'd just be concerned about replacing them when I inevitably lose one or more.

my setup:
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75
AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz Socket FM1 100W
G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
SILVERSTONE Strider Plus ST50F-P 500W
SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-120G-G25 2.5" 120GB SATA III

Pros: This case is very stylish and it makes great use of all of the space. The included 140mm fan not only cools down the case properly, but you can even put in 4 LEDs into the sides of the fan if your into lighting up your case.

Cons: The power supply slot is a bit tight. If the fan grille for the psu fan sticks out a few millimeters it will barely fit and scrape some paint off if you try to slide it in.

Another minor con I have is that it only comes with a optical drive insert instead of the standard blank so if you are like me and never use optical drives, it looks a bit ridiculous.

Other Thoughts: The latest version comes with the 20pin usb 3.0 header and a 20 pin to 10 pin usb 2.0 connector instead of the 2 usb male connectors.