Lian Li PC-Q21 Mini-ITX Tower Chassis Review
Introduction
Now for something a little different, and the pun was intended. We have had the pleasure of a Lian Li chassis before, the PC-V1000 and it was amazing. This was in the day when you still had beige boxes and desktop chassis, where are they now? There has been a significant increase in mITX chassis and Lian Li have designed and released several examples in their usual style, and very much like the Lian Li PC-V1000.
These days, PC components are reaching a certain maturity and whereas in yesteryear only office grade mITX motherboards were manufactured, so if you wanted something a bit special, and maybe run some games on a small system, you could only manage Solitaire.
Now with the fantastic range of mITX gaming focused little motherboards, small builds are a very viable proposition, and they will not make you blush at a LAN party. Today we are reviewing the Lian Li PC-Q21, a small and very good looking mITX chassis, and with the gaming focused mITX components out there, let’s review this little mITX contender and see if we can’t get a gaming rig out of it too.
| Chassis Type | Mini Tower Chassis |
| Manufacturer Number | PC-Q21 A/B |
| Material | Aluminium, plastic |
| Motherboards | Mini-ITX |
| Chassis Dimensions | 149mm/257mm/224mm (W x H x D) |
| 5.25” Drive Bays | 0 |
| 3.5” Drive Bays | 2 |
| 2.5” Drive Bays | 3 |
| Case Fan | NA |
| System Fan (Base) | 120mm x1(Optional) |
| 5.25" drive bay (External) | 1 Slim ODD (Slot-In) or 2.5" HDD x1 |
| Expansion Slot | 2 |
| PSU Type | SFX or SFX-L |
| Maximum Compatibility | VGA Card length: 170mm CPU cooler height: 60mm PSU length: 170mm |
Product Gallery
If you follow Lian Li, this is all very familiar and welcome, just reminds us of the excellent PC-V1000. It is a very clean and light chassis, you also get this in black, but the aluminium suits us just fine.