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Overall we are impressed with what the Lian Li PC-Q30 has to offer. The design of the chassis is very unusual and is sure to appeal to an audience who want to build an eye catching system for media playback duties. The streamlined, modern design ethic will fit beautifully into a living room or bedroom environment.
As we have come to expect from Lian Li the build quality and the engineering standards are exceptionally high and it is clear that no corners have been cut. All of the panel edges are smoothed and there are no sharp corners either.
The system installation process is simple, however the case does limit component choices so it is important to plan the selection quite carefully before investing in this case.
One of our main issues with the case from a component point of view are a lack of 3.5 inch drive bays, meaning you need to buy a slower 2.5 inch mechanical drive for storage duties. The other issue we have is that a user will be restricted to using an SFX power supply in the PC-Q30 … these aren't as readily available as standard ATX units.
The PC-Q30 isn't yet available for sale at any of the major etailers because it's only just released. We have been instructed by Lian Li that the MSRP is £93.90. This puts it directly in line with the Silverstone Fortress FT03-Mini which offers a similar combination of style and excellent build quality.
Pros
- Beautiful design.
- Very well put together.
- Lightweight construction.
Cons
- Limited component choices.
- SFX PSU isn't ideal.
KitGuru says: An interesting design from Lian Li that will make an excellent HTPC case.
Absolutely beautiful, but I would be concerned about the discrete graphics card space. what is the maximum room in there for a GPU?
This or Bitfenix Prodigy? decisions, decisions. what do you guys think?
Funky! I’ve just ordered one, I’ll see if it fits in the living room :)… The drawback is the ports backplate facing upward the chassis. When all is wired it will have an different look, a somewhat “techno-sculpture” : with phosphorescent Water cooling tubing it could get that ugly… Maybe I’ll try to put an aluminum cover on top, perpendicular to the front panel’s curvature at that point (parallel to the ports backplate), maybe also on the sides so as to somewhat enclose and hide the backport (which would also protect the ports and wire headers). Bah I’ll see, It ‘l be as it goes!