Lian Li PC- Q7 itx case.

cyberkost said:
What you did with that grill on the bottom is very sexy. Did you use it just because you had it or b/c it has the round portion offset w.r.t. mounting plane? Why not black wire grill: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2636/fgc-02/120mm_Black_Fan_Grill.html ?
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Well, to be honest, I purchased a black wire grill. It was actually up to the wife.. I showed her what it would look like with the old Lian Li grill and the black wire grill. She said the Lian Li grill (so she was the deciding factor.. not me.. LOL). I even tried to paint it black and she said nope.. she liked the aluminum (she said it matched other bare aluminum parts inside the case). Ugh! ..Women! ..haha!
 
.. be careful! Somebody may just be looking over your shoulder as you type this ;)
 
cyberkost said:
.. be careful! Somebody may just be looking over your shoulder as you type this ;)
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Good advise! I will deny everything! ..haha.

Tomorrow, her new video card should arrive and hopefully, I will have a new mounting solution for her hard drive. I plan on mounting it near the front part of the case. When I get everything mounted up, if she has any room for a 120mm fan at the bottom of her case, I will throw one in there.. But, I doubt it. A dual slot video card will take up a lot of space in this PC-Q07 case. It's tricky enough that I have to "mod" her new MSI video card PCI bracket (I think I have a cool solution in mind). We shall see if it works!
 
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I think the 12mm thick Scythe should fit on the bottom ... but I don't think you really need it. Did you cut the vent so as to align (more or less) with the vid. card fan?

On HDD -- Jen had an interesting solution of how to mount one on the front panel, but it may have been PC-Q11 (which has a fan bracket there).

You can also do smth. like I did depending on what't in the 5.25" bay (I once had 4 HDDs in this case, w/o any mods .. ok, 2.5" HDDs):


The 5.25" thing which can take a slim DVD and a 3.5" HDD is called EX-553: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...ex=388&cl_index=2&sc_index=10&ss_index=17&g=f
 
cyberkost said:
I think the 12mm thick Scythe should fit on the bottom ... but I don't think you really need it. Did you cut the vent so as to align (more or less) with the vid. card fan?

On HDD -- Jen had an interesting solution of how to mount one on the front panel, but it may have been PC-Q11 (which has a fan bracket there).

You can also do smth. like I did depending on what't in the 5.25" bay (I once had 4 HDDs in this case, w/o any mods .. ok, 2.5" HDDs)

The 5.25" thing which can take a slim DVD and a 3.5" HDD is called EX-553: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...ex=388&cl_index=2&sc_index=10&ss_index=17&g=f
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Wow.. very impressive! The slimline optical / hdd mount would be the BEST solution for me but it would cost me roughly $37 dollars for the mount and $85 dollars to migrate to a slimline bluray drive. If I can't get everything to "play" nicely together, you can rest assured that I will be buying that mount and a new bluray optical drive! As for the PC-Q11, it does have a spot on the front for a 120mm fan (which would be totally awesome to have in the PC-Q07). Instead, I have to fabricate my own mounting solution (sucks but hey.. no sense in complaining about something that I can't change).. Well, technically, I CAN change it.. I'm a [H] modder! ..lol! ..and yeah, I tried to use my best judgement to cut the 120mm hole where it "should" align with the fan on the GTS 450. Key word here being "should" ...haha!
 
To tell the truth, I was not 100% satisfied with how slim ODD fits with EX-553 (hard to make it align / be completely horizontal, even with some replacement parts from Lian-Li), nor was I completely satisfied with how EX-553 fits into the case (gaps are too large to my taste) .. all-in-all, I'd say you'll probably be better off figuring your own mounting solution. (Hint: velcro works not just on SSDs ;) )
 
cyberkost said:
I think the 12mm thick Scythe should fit on the bottom ... but I don't think you really need it. Did you cut the vent so as to align (more or less) with the vid. card fan?

On HDD -- Jen had an interesting solution of how to mount one on the front panel, but it may have been PC-Q11 (which has a fan bracket there).

You can also do smth. like I did depending on what't in the 5.25" bay (I once had 4 HDDs in this case, w/o any mods .. ok, 2.5" HDDs):


The 5.25" thing which can take a slim DVD and a 3.5" HDD is called EX-553: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...ex=388&cl_index=2&sc_index=10&ss_index=17&g=f
Click to expand...

i had one 3.5 mounted in this case up and down under the optical drive . although that was a little bit warm for my liking probably due to my 560 ti and 2500k cpu.

current solution is 3 laptop drives above the optical drive bay. two of those is samsung 1 tb and one is a ssd thats plenty of storage for my needs.

i also did cut a 120mm hole at bottom of case same as you with a 12 mm thick scythe fan to help with cooling this 560 ti

Jen
 
cyberkost said:
To tell the truth, I was not 100% satisfied with how slim ODD fits with EX-553 (hard to make it align / be completely horizontal, even with some replacement parts from Lian-Li), nor was I completely satisfied with how EX-553 fits into the case (gaps are too large to my taste) .. all-in-all, I'd say you'll probably be better off figuring your own mounting solution. (Hint: velcro works not just on SSDs ;) )
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Well, if my solution doesn't work, then I have no other recourse. It will have to be your solution. As for your velcro advise, you and I must think alike. I have some 3M permanent industrial double sided adhesive tape PLUS I have some Hammerhead Omni-stick metal bonding adhesive / glue (permanently bonds metal to metal). I just finished positioning the HDD where I want it and used the 3M adhesive on the back side of the PC-Q07 factory HDD mounts. All I did was remove the mounts from its' factory location and reposition the mounts in a reversed configuration on the inside front part of the PC-Q07 case. Once I was satisfied with the bond of the adhesive tape, I removed the HDD and used the Hammerhead metal bonding adhesive around the edges of the HDD bracket, where there edges just about come in contact with the Lian Li case. I used some non stick blue tape and masked the edges off. I applied the Hammerhead adhesive and then, just like if you were painting something, I removed the blue tape after I applied the glue / adhesive. This process left a "clean" glue / adhesive edge. I HIGHLY doubt the HDD will EVER fall down.. I don't usually like using tape or adhesives but in this instance, I think it was a really good solution. I am going to let it dry over night and tomorrow, I will snap some pictures of it. That way you can see what it looks like.

Jen said:
i had one 3.5 mounted in this case up and down under the optical drive . although that was a little bit warm for my liking probably due to my 560 ti and 2500k cpu.

current solution is 3 laptop drives above the optical drive bay. two of those is samsung 1 tb and one is a ssd thats plenty of storage for my needs.

i also did cut a 120mm hole at bottom of case same as you with a 12 mm thick scythe fan to help with cooling this 560 ti

Jen
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First off.. HOLY MOLY. A 2500K would get a little warm in this case you would think. Which GTX 560ti did you find that would FIT in this PC-Q07? Every one I looked at was TOO LONG! Secondly, what are your temps like? I have several 12mm Scythe fans in a few of my other builds so I am very familiar with those fans. I am curious if I need one for a GTS 450? A GTX 560ti.. yeah, that's probably a really good idea.. A GTS 450.. ehhhhhh? The fact that you have (3) laptop HDD's in your PC-Q07 is just awesome! Pictures?
 
That is very clean. I dont want to butcher my case so I would like to ask if you used standard drilling tip and do you think that regular multitool with circle attachment would do the job?
 
huguberhart said:
That is very clean. I dont want to butcher my case so I would like to ask if you used standard drilling tip and do you think that regular multitool with circle attachment would do the job?
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In my opinion, I really like the multi tool with the circular attachment. It takes ALL of the guess work out of it and leaves you a PERFECT round hole. The only thing you really have to do is be patient while you are pushing it around in a circle. If you push too fast, you run the risk of snapping off the router bit. The tool is not meant for extreme heavy duty use (but for some reason, people seem to think so). Cutting holes for this tool is a snap. I purhased this tool as part of a 3 piece kit. The whole kit set me back about $70 bux. Since I do A LOT of case modding, it will pay for itself just after a few uses. The tool is capable of a lot more but honestly, I don't see me using it for anything else (much less cutting drywall, cutting tile, routing a piece of wood, etc).

I see many modders using a standard drill with a standard drill bit, drilling a lot of holes in the shape of a 120mm circle. There is nothing wrong with this method except you can expect to be putting in a whole lot of time and effort. In fact, that's probably how a lot of people start out "modding". They use the tools that they have at their disposal and they use a little bit of imagination. For me, I'm not that patient.. haha. 90 seconds to cut a 120mm hole.. about 90 seconds to debur the edge (by using a hand file) or about 30 seconds to debur the edge if you have a hand held rotary tool laying around with the proper attachment. Bill from MNPCTECH even has a small video of an electricians punch that seems to do a quick and easy 120mm hole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX3YbhRrOvM ..This is a quick and easy solution but unless you already have the parts, it will probably set you back about $500 dollars or so.. :eek:

A hole saw attachment for a drill is another option but it's been my experience that if you don't have a really steady hand, you can get some pretty ugly results. I've had great 120mm hole results and I've had some not so great 120mm holes as a result of using a hole saw. I wasn't very consistent with this method. Typically, this is a very inexpensive solution. It will probably set you back around $15 - $20 dollars.
 
As promised.. I took some pictures of my progress. The HDD mount came out really well.. I'm pleased with its' location and how it physically mounts up. The top of the HDD where the connections are is a little tight but that's OK. That helped me route a lot of unnecessary wires out of the way. I ended up cutting off a lot of the factory Lian Li PWR / LED / HDD / RESET wires. Just too much wire for my taste. I sleeved the wires and they came out pretty good. I am still waiting on my MSI GTS 450 to arrive but everything else is pretty much done! If anyone else is interested, let me know if you have any questions as to how this little mod was done. It is pretty straight forward and not really hard at all.


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Here you can see the motherboard mounted up and I have no clearance issues with the HDD..

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Finally, you can see where I tried to guess where the MSI GPU fan might be sitting. It's probably not EXACT but it should be darn close. When the MSI video card arrives, I'll snap a few pictures to see how it all comes together (plus I will be modding the dual PCI bracket on the MSI card).. Rolls Eyes!

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[QUOTE}
First off.. HOLY MOLY. A 2500K would get a little warm in this case you would think. Which GTX 560ti did you find that would FIT in this PC-Q07? Every one I looked at was TOO LONG! Secondly, what are your temps like? I have several 12mm Scythe fans in a few of my other builds so I am very familiar with those fans. I am curious if I need one for a GTS 450? A GTX 560ti.. yeah, that's probably a really good idea.. A GTS 450.. ehhhhhh? The fact that you have (3) laptop HDD's in your PC-Q07 is just awesome! Pictures?[/QUOTE]

Palit 560 ti does fit this case if you remove the usb connector.

i dont have any current pictures of case after i was done with modifications i was in to much hurry to have machine back on my desk

the way i mounted the 3.5 drive was making a bracket that used the same screw holes as the optical drive thus not reuseing the bracket as you did. with this tight of case when i did have hard drive mounted in same location as you i had temps up to 57c after gaming. this was to warm for my liking is reason i used laptop drives above my optical burner. the new location is very good for hard drives


Jen
 
Thanks for the heads up on the USB connector interfering with the Palit GTX 560ti card. I guess there is no market for a non standard length (or even a low profile) Nvidia midrange gpu. The lower tier FERMI cards such as a GT 430, GT 440, GT 510GT 520, GT 530, GT 545 are just about all that people have to chose from (minus a GTS 450's and you're GTX 560ti).
 
Sorry it took me a bit to get these pictures posted.. I was able to transplant an old single slot PCI bracket from the GT 440 card that she had to her new MSI GTS 450 that had a dual slot PCI bracket. I also couldn't stand it so I added a low profile Scythe 120mm fan. The fan shroud of the graphics card and the backside of the 120mm fan are touching but everything fits (and trust me.. it BARELY fits)!

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The last photo almost begs taking the fan and shroud off the 450 and putting a regular 120mm fan (as opposed to a slim one) at the bottom of the case: one fewer fan + more air onto the video card, no?
 
cyberkost said:
The last photo almost begs taking the fan and shroud off the 450 and putting a regular 120mm fan (as opposed to a slim one) at the bottom of the case: one fewer fan + more air onto the video card, no?
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Yeah.. I'm sure it could be done but since everything "plays" well together like it is, I will just leave well enough alone. After gaming for about 3 hours on Alice: Madness Returns, GPU-Z reported a max temp of 67 degrees. I'm totally OK with that temp after a 3 hour gaming binge on this m-ITX setup. Needless to say, the wife LOVED her new GPU, her redesigned pc-q07 and a few video games that I downloaded for her. At least I know everything can fit (and just like the way Jen did it, if I need some extra space for some 2.5 HDD's above the bluray player, I should be able to add them with minimal headache).
 
Hello folks,

this is Phenom. from the German PCMasters-community!
I'd like to introduce my newest Q07 build with an interestig way of cpu cooling. ;)
(usage: office-stuff, internet, photoshop)

To begin with the hardware:

CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 (2x 3,3GHz, stock voltage, HT/SMT enabled)
CPU cooler: Scythe Samurai ZZ w/o fan
Mainboard: ASRock H61M-ITX
RAM: 2x 2GB Corsair ValueSelect DDR3-1333 CL9 1,5V
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 2000
PSU: Cougar A 300 (19A @ 12V; OCP, SCP, OVP, UVP, OPP; efficiency up to 89%, (average 84%)
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint M8 (2,5"; 5400rpm; 500GB)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS
Case: Lian Li PC-Q07R
OS: Windows 7 HomePremium 64-Bit System Builder

​
And here are the first pics:





The cooler's height is ~ 69mm so it fits very well with the case.
(the Q07 allows coolers up to ~ 72 or 73mm)
The temperatures are quite good as well. See for yourself:



And here is finally the complete system:



Hope you like it! :)
(I do since it's a highly silent and nonetheless powerful system)
 
We ever figure out the best GPU that can be modded into this case?
I just purchased the red version from no-control. Im going to try and make a secondary friend/guest gaming rig.
 
{NG}Fidel said:
We ever figure out the best GPU that can be modded into this case?
I just purchased the red version from no-control. Im going to try and make a secondary friend/guest gaming rig.
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Don't use a galaxy GTX460, FWIW ;)

I was under the impression that the galaxy version was one of the stubbier ones (Gainward, PNY, Palit all seem to be the shorter PCB). I have 3 Galaxy 460s that are sitting idle, now. I guess I'll put one into a PC-Q11 and a Q25.. :( :confused::confused:
 
If you remove the cooler, the chip is placed in taht way so no other custom cooling can be installed. Other than coolers that are below rated TDP of this card. I have now Setsugen 2 with Palit/Gainward/POV GTX 560 Ti PCB design where the chip is closer to the outputs. The heatpipes are almost toutching the front. One time i fired up a game and forgot to set rpms of the fan to high. The case was very hot. The system still runs but it is not designed for this kind of graphics card. Still I would like to see someone install it in his case :)
It would be cool if there was custom closed water cooling kit for gfx with 92 mm radiator.
 
The power connector on my video card makes it so it wont fit!
Is their any way to take a power connector like the one in office martinez picture and bend the connector and the metal pins out so it can be plugged in?
My card is 7 inches long but the power connector fucks me over.
 
cyberkost said:
Sell those 460 and get a 670 -- there are some with ultra short PCBs: http://www.techpowerup.com/165537/NVIDIA-s-GeForce-GTX-670-Short-PCB-Pictured-Up-Close.html No?
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I would do that, but this is a more budget oriented build for my girlfriend to play some starcraft2. Don't want to drop several hundred bucks, even though that card looks awesome. Might have to stick with a 5670 until i can hunt down a good deal on something faster.

{NG}Fidel said:
The power connector on my video card makes it so it wont fit!
Is their any way to take a power connector like the one in office martinez picture and bend the connector and the metal pins out so it can be plugged in?
My card is 7 inches long but the power connector fucks me over.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you could most likely find a straight pcie molex connector on Digikey or mouser and swap it out. I'd use a heat gun instead of a soldering iron, though, unless you want to cut each individual pin.
 
Sounds complex but im willing to try. Anything to get this card in this case.
 
The card fried. I put it in with the pci-e connector tightly plugged in stressing the card a bit. Although it wasnt bad enough that I thought it would die. I turned out to be wrong... Ugh.
RMA is already in progress. What rotten luck.
 
I finally have all the parts for q07 system. Which way should the PS fan be positioned during installation and why?

I'm going to have 550w PS along with a 500gb 2.5" 7200 and 2tb 3.5" WD green. I'll probably also add a Hauppauge 1850 TV Tuner. My CPU will be either the Intel core i3-2125 or i5-2500k using integrated graphics.

Will heat be a issue with using only PSU fan cooling with the i5?
 
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OK, I know I'm posting on an old thread but I thought this was interesting enough to add the follow up.
I followed officemartinez build with only a few mods and it did build a killer rig. The PC-Q07 case was being close out priced on Newegg for $30. How could I resist. We know these cases are a gateway drug. You buy the lovely but cheap case and then you just have to throw many hundreds at building the ultimate ITX unit. Well, I used the Gigabyte GA-Z77N-Wifi board with a i5-3570x cpu and a Samuel 17 cooler. A 120mm standard fan fit as a down blow on it. The Silverstone 430w psu comes in a SFF to save space and it's Bronze Plus rated. It was mounted backwards to blow onto the cpu also from another forum posters idea. I chewed a 120mm hole in the bottom and mounted a slim 120mm fan to pull air up into the video card. I got a MSI R770 to go in after cutting some of the plastic off the back of the 3.0 USB header (why is that so big anyway). Maybe it's only a 2.5 rated now...;-) I put a Silverstone black filter gate on the fan since I figure it's basically a Hoover now. Some Isolate 1.0in feet lifted the PC up about 5/8 inch to allow airflow along the bottom.
I put a 120GB SSD and a 750GB 2.5 drive above the BluRay burner - held with velcro and a 1TB 2.5 drive on the front panel inside with more velcro.
I then added another slim 120mm fan on the side panel for exhaust next to the PSU and offset to grab as much free space as possible.
The slower speed of the 2.5 drives is offset well by the speed of the 120GB SSD so I'm getting a Windows performance score of 7.5. Best I've personally ever had. It's held back by the video card which I suppose I could bump up if I get motivated.
This machine screams and is whisper quiet. Barely hear anything. My wife's laptop is louder with that dopey all-time running 30mm fan HP uses.
I could fit another HDD below the BluRay or put the 3.5 mount on the front like officemartinez if the mobo only had another SATA header. Why only 4 headers? It kills me.
Very happy though. I think this is close to the ultimate mini-tower machine.
I wish the BluRay rack used screws - I had to drill out the rivets and epoxy nuts on the back then use more mini-screws to hold it in so I could maneuver the drives in place.
The case is built to accept a single wide card. Would really be nice if it had the double wide option and a tiny bit more card space. Come on Lian-Li, shrink the USB 3.0 header about a 1/4 inch. I think I have less than 1/8 inch between the video card and the Samuel 17 and the slim fan on the bottom side. Whew!
While I'm at it, Lian-LI please build in the bottom fan space and put in the locations for the 2.5 drives!
Small complaints though all in all. It's a great machine and it runs cool and quiet
 
Finished my compact gaming PC project:

Intel Core i5-3470 @ Prolimatech Samuel 17 w/Lian Li 120mm standard case fan
Gigabyte GA-B75N
ASUS GeFoce GTX 760 DCMOC
2*4GB DDR3 Geil Black Dragon Series
128GB SSD + 750GB 2.5" HDD
Silverstone Strider ST55F-G PSU
PC-Q07B Case

The goal was to make a very compact PC with decent gaming hardware, not cool-looking but minimalistic and with effective cooling system. The case was modified to avoid hardware overheating. A slim 120mm fan (and a hole for it) was placed on the bottom surface to cool the graphics card and make good airflow in this area. SSD and HDD were moved to a gap between the top surface and 5.25" device. Another one 120mm slim fan blows air to the CPU zone through an airduct sucking it through holes in the bottom pannel. Plastic cover was removed from the graphics card cooler to increase its cooling efficiency and reduce noise. Had to remove two USB ports from the front pannel, the holes are to be covered with some small logo shield.

 
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Very nice eikei.. I still have my Lian Li PC-Q07B case.. It has a new home in my front living room as my HTPC. We get a lot of compliments on it! I can post some updated pictures this coming Sunday.

*EDIT* Saturday 12-07-2013 - My "setup" is not complete but these pictures should give you a good idea of what the final look with be.








 
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