Lian Li PC-Q12 Stands ''Tall'' In Your Living Room

[btarunr]

Lian Li showed off an innovative new case that looks to be designed for living rooms. Called the PC-Q12, the case seats a mini-ITX form-factor motherboard, with no expansion slots, that makes it look tall. It measures 88 x 365 x 280 mm (WxHxD), and is made almost entirely of aluminum. Surprisingly, it lacks an external drive bay, and the only storage bays it has are four internal 2.5-inch ones. It is ventilated by one top 80 mm exhaust fan. On its front-panel, it has two USB 3.0 ports.



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[Frick]

Looks good. Like that monolith from 2001. Would be nice with at least slot-in capabilities though.

 

[LDNL]

This would be such a dream if it had room for atleast a single slot gfx card

 

[Steevo]

APU means no need for graphics card. Problem solved.

 

[Cruise51]

Seems perfect for a FM1 build. Hope the price is competitive.

 

[Disparia]

What is this place, PC World? You want a half-height slot? CUT ONE!

However, I agree that they have the room there, why not give us the slot? Opens up possibilities such as APU Crossfire, or a TV Tuner.

 

[EnergyFX]

Slots are useful for more than just GFX...

Ceton Digital TV Tuner and Auzentech HDMI Audio come to mind.

 

[Steevo]

Slots are useful for more than just GFX...

Ceton Digital TV Tuner and Auzentech HDMI Audio come to mind.

All the APU boards I have seen support audio through HDMI, and since it never leaves the digital relm a soundcard is worthless.

A tuner would be nice, but we have USB, and honestly with modern On Demand and USB interfaces I have to ask again, who really needs it?

 

[EnergyFX]

All the APU boards I have seen support audio through HDMI, and since it never leaves the digital relm a soundcard is worthless.

A tuner would be nice, but we have USB, and honestly with modern On Demand and USB interfaces I have to ask again, who really needs it?

I have yet to see an APU offering that provides lossless HD audio via HDMI. It is always down converted (in most cases to SPDIF standard). If you're building an HTPC and want lossless HD audio from a high end reciever via HDMI then a pass through HDMI sound card is the best option available. Blu-ray any other way just doesn't sound as good.

Granted, I haven't delved too deep into the HD audio offerings since finishing my current HTPC about 2 years ago, but it's starting to show its age so I might need to get back up to speed here pretty soon.