Pocket Rocket: Lian Li Mini-Q PC-Q08 Mini-ITX Case

Value
The Lian Li PC-Q08 case isn't necessarily a cheap case currently selling for $109.99 in black and silver on Newegg and $119.99 in red. This price is admittedly not cheap until you realize that it is a Lian Li and Lian Li's are notorious for being expensive and generally appreciated for their quality.
When it comes to this case, we feel that Lian Li has really put a lot of thought into this case and it is probably the best case for the money when you consider how expensive other Mini-ITX cases are out there. Many of the competing cases also don't have the same feature set as the PC-Q08 which is yet another reason why its value is really quite good. Yes, many of the competition's cases (mostly Silverstone) do come with power supplies, but the lack of customization is inherent when you consider that you're limited by the PSU they provide you with.

Conclusion
There isn't really much to building inside of this case other than the fact that you've basically got to disassemble nearly everything initially in order to make your life easier as you progress in your build. The end result isn't necessarily beautiful inside, but it is cool, quiet, fast and extremely small. The only obstacle that we encountered in our build was that our CPU cooler's radiator and fan combination rubbed against the PSU as we slid it in which meant that we had to do a little wiggling in order to get it installed correctly.
Overall, though, this case really does live up to the Lian Li name and doesn't really seem overpriced for what it delivers. Lian Li's innovative thinking and design have really shown that they understand their market and that if someone is going to go out and build themselves a custom gaming machine they want to have it fully customized, including the PSU. Because of Lian Li's design decisions and quality we are happy to award them our Innovation award for giving us the ability to fit huge performance into a tiny little package.