Lian Li PC-Q37 Announced: Two-Stage Mini-ITX Chassis with Tempered Glass
by Anton Shilov on November 2, 2016 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- Lian Li
- SFX
On Tuesday Lian Li introduced its PC-Q37 mini-ITX chassis designed for performance and modding enthusiasts based around small-form factor systems. The miniature PC case can accommodate high-end hardware and has two windows to show off custom liquid cooling and lighting effects.
The Lian Li PC-Q37 chassis uses a two-compartment design that allows maximizing cooling and storage capabilities of the system. One of the chambers houses the power supply along with HDDs and/or SSDs, whereas another chamber accommodates the motherboard, graphics card, memory and cooling. In total, the PC-Q37 can fit in three storage devices into a special rack featuring rubber vibration-dampening pads. The case is compatible only with mini-ITX motehrboards but can easily house a high-performance video card that up to 320 mm long (which is slightly longer than contemporary dual-GPU graphics boards) as well as a fairly powerful SFX PSU that is up to 220 mm long and capable of handling high-end hardware.
As for cooling, the Lian Li PC-Q37 supports two 120-mm optional air intake fans on the bottom (or one 140-mm fan), two optional 120-mm exhaust fans on the top as well as two optional 80-mm exhaust fans on the back panel (or you can attach a fourth 2.5” storage device). To protect against dust, the case uses special filters that can be easily removed and cleaned up. The CPU cooler cannot be higher than 130 mm (including fan), but there is plenty of space on top of the chassis to install a radiator of a closed-loop liquid cooling system.
| Lian Li PC-Q37 | ||
| Motherboard Size | Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | External | - |
| Internal | Chamber 1: 1 × 2.5" (only if no 80-mm fans are installed) Chamber 2: 2 × 3.5" and 1 × 2.5" |
|
| Cooling | Front | - |
| Rear | 2 × 80 mm | |
| Top | 2 × 120 mm | |
| HDD/Side | - | |
| Bottom | 2 × 120 mm/1 × 140 mm | |
| Radiator Support | Front | - |
| Rear | - | |
| Top | 2 × 120 mm | |
| Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| I/O Port | 2 × USB 3.0, 1 × Headphone, 1 × Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | SFX | |
| Dimensions | W: 237 mm × H: 345 mm × D: 346 mm | |
| Colors | Grey | |
| Features | Glass front and side panels | |
| Price | $229 | |
On the I/O front, everything is fairly typical for an SFF PC case: the PC-Q37 has two USB 3.0 Type-A as well as two 3.5 mm audio jacks on the front panel.
The Lian Li PC-Q37 should be available shortly at Newegg.com for $229, the company has announced. The price of the chassis is relatively high, but since this is one of a few SFF PC cases designed for performance and modding enthusiasts, its MSRP is not surprising.
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Source: Lian Li
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Ninhalem - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why would someone buy this for $220+ when you can get the CaseLabs Bullet series in ITX for roughly $180 with handles?jardows2 - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
Because the Bullet BH2 case doesn't look as good, it doesn't have tempered glass, and I'm sure there's a whole host of other reasons why someone would prefer this over the Bullet BH2. Also looks like there's an 8-9 week wait to get one, while the Lian-Li will have immediate availability "soon."JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
You can buy CaseLabs cases (including the BH2) on Amazon, it's just if you buy from CaseLabs directly your order is custom made for you. The ones available on Amazon are the common configurations.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HHGH6S8
As far as looks go, I like the BH2, better, but this is just down to opinions.
I was never into plexiglass or acrylic sidepanels, and I'm still not into the whole tempered glass thing, either. The entire idea of tempered glass is that it's protective and functional at the same time. For cases made of aluminum, it doesn't make much sense since the glass adds a lot of unnecessary weight, the tempered glass offers no more protection than a typical steel sidepanel (someone wants to rob you of memory sticks at a LAN party? Just undo the sidepanel thumbscrews, swipe the sticks, and put the side panel back on), and the tempered glass sidepanels (especially in this configuration where it's mounted only by 4 knurled thumbscrews) leaves gaps around the edges of the case. It's not flush like how a steel sidepanel just inserts into a hinged recess into the case's side.
If the point is just to have maximum clarity to the insides of the PC, why not just get plexiglas?
I just think the whole tempered glass thing is just the new marketing meme to try to get gullible consumers to buy something much more expensive that doesn't functionally make sense to have in a PC.
Hxx - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
glass gives it a more premium look. that is subjective. I personally like it although i think that they may take away from the functionality of the case especially if situation in front of the case where you would otherwise install a rad or something. Its been "thing" this year (along with RBG everything) but i've seen it in premium cases for awhile now...just now it started to trickle down to lower end cases and its more widespread.JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
Tempered glass, the hot new meme for cases. Caselabs Bullet has the option for small acrylic/plexiglas windows.I don't quite like how many cases are implementing tempered glass doors with the 4 knurled thumbscrews inserted through the glass to affix in place. These knurled thumbscrews just stick out and look out of place on something that should 'ideally' just be flush to the sidepanel, and such.
wbwb - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
The amount of unused space at the front of the case is as obscene as the price.peterfares - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
Couldn't they stick the power supply in front of the motherboard in that empty space and not have the case be so huge for a mini itx?jwcalla - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
Somebody out there please make a small mini-ITX case.watzupken - Friday, November 11, 2016 - link
It looks really neat. However the price is off the charts for a case.just4U - Monday, November 14, 2016 - link
Late to the party on this one...Lian-Li. Some friendly advice I've given before... Take your PC-60 Design, Squish it down, widen it out add the window.. (make sure it's a removable mb tray) sell tons... and call it a day.