Building a Mini Itx System w/ Lian Li PC-Q7 case

[budz]

During the 4th of July weekend I'll be building a mini itx system using a Lian Li PC-Q7 case, Zotac 630i mini itx mobo, & 4gb ddr2-800 ram which will be delivered sometime tomorrow evening via Fedex. I already have a Intel C2D E6400 cpu, a CM GeminII S cpu cooler w/Scythe S-Flex "G" fan, Seagate Sata 250gb hard drive & modular Antec 500 watt power supply. I waited almost a month for Newegg to restock the Lian Li PC-Q7 case. It'll be a challenge to build this tiny system. I'll post pictures once the build begins.

Lian Li PC-Q7 case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227&Tpk=lian%20li%20cases
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=319&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=63



Zotac 630i mini itx mobo,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500012

[ocgw]

Nice project, good luck w/ the build

Where is it going, den, bedroom? customer?

I want to build 1 simular for my bedroom, but w/ a vcr size case

ocgw

peace

[budz]

I haven't decided where it'll go yet. I decided to build it because I have spare computer hardware lying around. It could be hooked up to my 40 inch Sony LCD TV.

[ocgw]

I haven't decided where it'll go yet. I decided to build it because I have spare computer hardware lying around. It could be hooked up to my 40 inch Sony LCD TV.

Same here, I was thinking about building a MyMovies client machine for my bedroom w/ an old Asus AMD socket 939 ATX mobo, X2 4200+, 2GB of DDR500, and ATI 2600XT I have sitting in the basement doing nothing

all I need is a nice "cheap" htpc case

ps. old as dirt Sony 43" SD "table top" rear projector in the bedroom w/ ancient Pioneer DD receiver, sony budget speakers, and a pre-historic Cerwin-Vega 12" powered sub

did I mention the 12 year old Pioneer Laser Disc/CD/DVD player that I got for $800USD year end close-out down from $1200USD in the fall of 97' (still works, but w/ factory DVD's only)

I have a 12" Laser Disc of Michael Jacksons Greatest Music Videos, I wonder how much it would go for on e-bay?

ocgw

peace

[budz]

Here's a link on how it looks simple to assemble a mini itx system using the Lian Li PC-Q07 case. It'll be a challenge to build this system and I'll take my time with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvBy_ht55S8&feature=related

My Sony Laser Disc MDP600 died a long time ago but I still have my laserdiscs in the stereo cabinet. I was able to convert them to dvd a few years ago. You'd probably get a ton of bids on that Michael Jackson laser disc.

[ocgw]

Here's a link on how it looks simple to assemble a mini itx system using the Lian Li PC-Q07 case. It'll be a challenge to build this system and I'll take my time with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvBy_ht55S8&feature=related

My Sony Laser Disc MDP600 died a long time ago but I still have my laserdiscs in the stereo cabinet. I was able to convert them to dvd a few years ago. You'd probably get a ton of bids on that Michael Jackson laser disc.

You are gonna' need a shoehorn lol

I have the utmost faith in ya' budz

ocgw

peace

[budz]

I said I was gonna take my time in building this mini itx system and I literally took hours because the cpu cooler I wanted to use didn't fit. I first used a CM GeminII S which fit nicely but it turned out to be too wide, the height was no problem. Then I found a old 92mm CM Hyper fan that I thought would be perfect since it's low profile. Nope that didn't work either because of the heatpipes. The darn heatpipes were touching the caps on the mobo and it couldn't fit any other way because of the ram and nb heatsink. I finally went through my closet looking for the stock intel cpu cooler for the E6400 and ended up using it. I'm currently installing windows 7.

My thoughts on this Lian Li PC-Q7 case is I probably wouldn't wanna use another one again.
But as the saying goes never say never.....
I dunno why Lian Li wanted a full atx ps to be used. The damn thing hoovered over the entire cpu cooler. I ended up using a smaller ps that I had from a chenming matx case which provided better cooling. I'm lazy because I used zip ties to tidy up the left over ps cables. I forgot to take a picture of it before I closed up the case. I'll take one later.

I used (2) 10 inch sata w/right angle cables, (1) sata 250gb hd & (1) samsung sata dvdrw. I was going to use a pata benq 1655 but there's not much room for even a 10 inch ide cable that I purchased. It's a nice case on the outside but it is very tiny to work with. I am impressed though with the cooling of the case. I didn't think using the stock intel cpu cooler would do very much. I may buy the CoolerMaster Socket 775 CPU Cooler #D15-9HDSL-0L-GP from coolerguys.com.
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556089353.html

Here's some pictures and I'll post more later.

[ocgw]

Very impressive budz

You didn't waste any time lol

ocgw

peace

[budz]

Here's more pictures!
As you can see the case is very tight and cable management is a must. I'll have to cable sleeve the ps cables and chop off the ones I don't need. If I used the full atx antec modular ps it would have covered the entire top of the cpu cooler where airflow would be entirely blocked. I actually installed the antex ps since it has modular cables but I wanted at least some airflow from the stock intel cpu cooler.

[ocgw]

budz you are giving me some ideas lol

ocgw

peace

[budz]

Lots have changed since I last posted. I ended up buying a Intel E5200 cpu and a Zerotherm low profile cpu cooler. I now have better cpu temps that I'm satisfied with. I'll post pictures later. I really can't see how Lian Li really thought using a full atx psu would be ideal when it comes to airflow in the case. Needless to say the other alternative I had was to use a 150 watt pico psu. This Lian Li case definitely has potential only if you mod it.

EDIT: Gotta love newegg they just gave me a $10.00 credit on the Lian Li case since I noticed they dropped the price today.
Now that's what I call good customer service!

[ocgw]

Lots have changed since I last posted. I ended up buying a Intel E5200 cpu and a Zerotherm low profile cpu cooler. I now have better cpu temps that I'm satisfied with. I'll post pictures later. I really can't see how Lian Li really thought using a full atx psu would be ideal when it comes to airflow in the case. Needless to say the other alternative I had was to use a 150 watt pico psu. This Lian Li case definitely has potential only if you mod it.

EDIT: Gotta love newegg they just gave me a $10.00 credit on the Lian Li case since I noticed they dropped the price today.
Now that's what I call good customer service!

Did you consider down clocking and undervolting the E6400 you had in there?

Newegg does have great customer service

good show budz

ocgw

peace

[budz]

That Zotac mobo doesn't have much options in the bios. I was disgusted with not being able to use the cpu cooler that I wanted. I really didn't wanna spend more money but in the end that was the best solution. I even pulled my Wolfdale E8400 cpu from another computer to test the cpu temps which turned out fine. The problem of the cpu cooler being too tall and the modular ps being too wide got me So I decided to just buy a low profile cpu cooler like the Zerotherm & the Wolfdale E5200 which I'm using now.

You really gotta do your research before building a mini itx system. Some cases like this Lian Li have no fans. If I'd gotten the Silverstone G05 ( 120mm and 80mm fans) I would have gotten away with using the E6400 cpu & maybe the CM GeminII S cpu cooler. But I didn't wanna spend money to buy a slim optical drive for the Silverstone case. But I ended up spending more anyway!

[ocgw]

That Zotac mobo doesn't have much options in the bios. I was disgusted with not being able to use the cpu cooler that I wanted. I really didn't wanna spend more money but in the end that was the best solution. I even pulled my Wolfdale E8400 cpu from another computer to test the cpu temps which turned out fine. The problem of the cpu cooler being too tall and the modular ps being too wide got me So I decided to just buy a low profile cpu cooler like the Zerotherm & the Wolfdale E5200 which I'm using now.

You really gotta do your research before building a mini itx system. Some cases like this Lian Li have no fans. If I'd gotten the Silverstone G05 ( 120mm and 80mm fans) I would have gotten away with using the E6400 cpu & maybe the CM GeminII S cpu cooler. But I didn't wanna spend money to buy a slim optical drive for the Silverstone case. But I ended up spending more anyway!

I am not even going to attempt what you did, I got "big hands" lol

ocgw

peace

[Video Head]

Nice Budz!

I have built a couple of mATX systems and a mini is probably the next thing. I am thinking this could be a good NAS box. If you don't mind me asking, what was your build cost? It looks like you used a 2.5" HD. Would a 3.5" fit in the drive area? How possible to fit a (or another) 3.5" HD in the optical bay? Are tempratures an issue for non-intensive operations?

Thanks for sharing your build!

[ocgw]

Nice Budz!

I have built a couple of mATX systems and a mini is probably the next thing. I am thinking this could be a good NAS box. If you don't mind me asking, what was your build cost? It looks like you used a 2.5" HD. Would a 3.5" fit in the drive area? How possible to fit a (or another) 3.5" HD in the optical bay? Are tempratures an issue for non-intensive operations?

Thanks for sharing your build!

nice budz!, now when have I heard that before? lol

ocgw

peace

[Nelson37]

Why did you pick such a small case? Just looks, ability to hide it, small room?

I like a lot of space in my case for future add-ons, also think standard cases look fine. Working in confined cases like that I find extremely frustrating.

As for style factor, I am seriously considering building my next PC inside the cardboard box the last case shipped in, along with some finely-crafted Duck Tape and maybe a little Gorilla Glue.

[budz]

Nice Budz!

I have built a couple of mATX systems and a mini is probably the next thing. I am thinking this could be a good NAS box. If you don't mind me asking, what was your build cost? It looks like you used a 2.5" HD. Would a 3.5" fit in the drive area? How possible to fit a (or another) 3.5" HD in the optical bay? Are tempratures an issue for non-intensive operations?

Thanks for sharing your build!

Cost to build $360.00 for the Lian Li case, E5200 cpu, Zerotherm low profile heatsink fan, & 4gb GSKill ddr2-800 ram. because shipping to Hawaii is very expensive! We don't qualify for free shipping on Newegg.

That's a 3.5 sata seagate 250gb hard drive in the case. The case can fit a one 3.5 hd and one 2.5 hd. As far as the cpu temps it's fine since I'm using a Wolfdale 45nm E5200 cpu. I tried using a 65nm Conroe E6400 cpu but the cpu temps were high to my standards. I'm not doing any intensive operations on this system. I'm still stumped that Lian Li had this case using a full atx power supply which would be hovering over the cpu cooler. That blocks airflow which would increase cpu temps. I used a spare micro atx ps. I built it to use it for streaming movies from Netflix and I did like the challenge of building it.

I did learn something with this build the zotac mobo uses a Nvidia audio chipset drivers which don't allow audio when using a HDMI to DVI cable. It's a issue that Nvidia refuses to fix. I could have RMA'd the mobo but I didn't want to spend anymore money on this system. The easiest fix was to purchase another computer speaker system. Another mobo a Intel one I could have gotten isn't compatible with the E5200 cpu. So I figured I'll just wait until they come out with a better mobo some time in the future. Mini ITX systems are just getting popular so I'm sure there will be better newer components in the future.

Why did you pick such a small case? Just looks, ability to hide it, small room?
As for style factor, I am seriously considering building my next PC inside the cardboard box the last case shipped in, along with some finely-crafted Duck Tape and maybe a little Gorilla Glue.

I chose a small mini itx case because I wanted the challenge and I like the styling on this Lian Li case. It's my first Lian Li case. It's going to be sitting near a 32 inch LCD TV or my 40 inch LCD TV. I'm thinking of building a pc using a tech station or like you using a cardboard box. I've seen some nifty systems that don't use a case at overclock.net.

[ocgw]

Why did you pick such a small case? Just looks, ability to hide it, small room?

I like a lot of space in my case for future add-ons, also think standard cases look fine. Working in confined cases like that I find extremely frustrating.

As for style factor, I am seriously considering building my next PC inside the cardboard box the last case shipped in, along with some finely-crafted Duck Tape and maybe a little Gorilla Glue.

If I could afford to right now I would build a HTPC using 1 of those big silverstone cases that looks like a hi-end receiver

ocgw

peace

[redwudz]

If I could afford to right now I would build a HTPC using 1 of those big silverstone cases that looks like a hi-end receiver

This is my present HTPC in a Lian Li desktop case. It's about the same size as the audio amp that sits on top of it.



The internals. A bit more room than a Mini-ITX, but still crowded.



I just upgraded the MB. It uses a Phenom II 920 OC'd to 3.3Ghz. Works great for running my HD projector through HDMI.

Last years Mini-ITX project: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic349524.html#1837526

[Video Head]

nice budz!, now when have I heard that before? lol

High School?

[Video Head]

This is my present HTPC in a Lian Li desktop case. It's about the same size as the audio amp that sits on top of it.

Last years Mini-ITX project: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic349524.html#1837526

Hey redwudz,

How is the heat with an amp sitting on top of the HTPC?

[redwudz]

Sorry, I must have missed the last post here. It doesn't heat the HTPC that much, but it prevents any heat from radiating up from the HTPC. And the amp puts out quite a bit of heat that keeps the area behind both units warm. I did move both to the end of my entertainment center and it has a open end, so both units are running quite a bit cooler. The HTPC is 41C at idle. Since I don't use it for much more that BD playback, that's not a problem. At 100% CPU, it runs about 57C.