Lian Li has announced its latest mini-ITX chassis, the PC-Q35, with the promise of all-in-one watercooling support and room for a plethora of storage devices.
Designed, the company claims, with the needs of homebrew NAS builders in mind, the PC-Q35 offers scads of storage potential in a surprisingly compact chassis. Measuring 210mm wide by 305mm height and with a depth of 456mm, the PC-Q35 supports mini-ITX and mini-DTX motherboard formats - but it's not the motherboard mounts the company is looking to highlight.
The biggest selling point of the compact case is its support for a surprising amount of hardware in a very compact footprint. As well as the motherboard, an ATX power supply up to 200mm in length and graphics cards of up to 300mm in length, the case can hold a total of seven hard drives split across five 3.5" drives and two 2.5" drives. To do this, Lian Li has turned to an interesting method of mounting: the supplied drive cage, which includes a front-facing 120mm intake fan, mounts four 3.5" drives in the traditional manner while a 2.5" drive is installed vertically on the exterior sides of the case. The seventh and final drive, a 3.5" unit, is installed on the floor of the case.
The rear of the case includes two expansion slots for PCI Express cards, while the front features a solid aluminium and lockable door which covers five ventilated covers and the power switch. The right side panel features two USB 3.0 ports and the usual HD audio connectors, and the bottom includes a washable air filter and rubber-based aluminium feet. There's also room for two externally-accessible 5.25" drives, which can be increased to five with the removal of the 3.5/2.5" drive bay.
Interestingly, there's no rear ventilation on the case - aside from whatever the PSU might offer - with Lian Li instead opting for a single 120mm extraction fan in the lid of the case. This, the company claims, provides enough space to be replaced with a 120mm all-in-one sealed loop watercooling system - although, sadly, there's no room for a larger 240mm radiator without some serious modification.
The Lian Li PC-Q35 is available in black and white brushed aluminium finishes, with a manufacturers' suggested retail price of £108 excluding PSU. More information is available on the company's
product page.
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