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SilverStone SST-TJ04


Date
: 08/24/04 – 12:06:38 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Introduction

Manufacturer
: SilverStone Technologies

Price
: $110

SilverStone Technologies isn't one of the biggest companies around, however if you're browsing your favorite online retailer there is a good chance that you've seen some of their many products. They make some very innovative cases, have a large line of power supplies and tons of accessories to make your case look that much better.

Here are a few words from SilverStone Technologies:

What I am carrying today is the SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ04.

Page 2 : Package

When the case arrived at my house, it was packaged in the retail box; a big hunk of cardboard with some pictures on it. Nothing very special.

After cutting open the top, you see the case inside a plastic bag and sandwiched in some thick foam. The last thing you would want is some minor dings on the case due to mishandling!

Also inside the box is a very simple manual. It's a folded up piece of paper with instructions on how to install all the components. A very good idea to read through this as it will make your installation a lot easier.

Removing the paper bag reveals the shiny black finish.

For added protection, SilverStone placed a sheet of plastic over the front. This small extra ensures that the front panel is not scratched.

After opening up the case, I found a small cardboard box floating around.

Inside this little box are all the miscellaneous parts that you may need to install your system. I find this method a lot cleaner and far more organized compared to other companies that just tape everything down to the side panel.

Page 3 : Specifications

Our usual copy and paste from the manufacturer:

All in all, the words and numbers look pretty nice, but that doesn't tell half the story about a case.

Page 4 : Interior

There are a ton of things inside this case that need to be covered, and so I'll start with the body.
As stated in the specifications, this is a steel body. It is very rugged and can take a beating while you move it around during LAN parties. With a net weight of 9Kg, it sure doesn't feel like it weighs close to 20 lbs!

The most obvious flaw I find on this case is the lack of a removable motherboard tray. Seeing how I swap parts and cooling equipment on a weekly basis, I would like to be able to easily pull out my motherboard and work with it on the table. With a removable tray, I'm given a lot more freedom.
I should also note that on the motherboard tray, there are only 5 prefabricated screws. The 6th one is inside the bag of goodies and you must install it yourself. For my ATX motherboards, I had to install some special clip mount instead of the usual brass screw in. This is ever so slightly annoying, and why SilverStone did this is beyond my comprehension.

Moving away from the motherboard, we see that the seven expansion slots aren't exactly screwless removal. Although it would be extremely easy for me to pull them all out and pop in my own 7 thumbscrews. In the same picture, you can see the small rectangular grill that I think serves little purpose. It may look aesthetically pleasing but they could of considered adding some 60mm fan mounts there to make use of the airflow.

Going along the base to the other end of the case we run into this mysterious rack. You will find plenty of space underneath to store all your excess cables. This is also the place where you would mount the drive bay full of hard drives.

The 4 internal drive bay cage can be removed by taking out two screws. One attached to the bottom rack and the other attached to the floppy drive cage. Once those screws are out, you just pull the drive cage out.

The drive cage features a screwless installation. The process is theoretically easy to complete, but it does require a little bit of effort. You must first slide the vertical lever to open, and then push the horizontal lever to open. If both levers are not pushed all the way across then you will not be able to install the drive. Once they are pushed to the end, slide in the drive and lock the drive in place. To lock the drive, first slide the horizontal lever to lock and then the vertical lever to lock. Once completed, the drive will not budge.

Above this drive cage is the floppy drive cage. To install any device, you must first remove the drive cover. There is one screw close to the front of the cage to do this. Unscrew it, pop out the cover and lock the drive into place using the same procedures as for the internal drive bay.

Directly above the floppy drive cage, is the external 5.25" drive cage. The process is no different than for the floppy drive cage. Removing the cover requires a little bit more work. You must remove the single screw holding the cover down, and then unlock the cover by squeezing a lever inside and finally pull it out. Install the drive of your choice and lock it down using the same procedures as before.

Across from this drive cage is the power supply mount. There is no huge stand for the power supply to rest on. Instead, there are little edges that will go along the entire base of the power supply. This is much better as the usually big base often covers part of the power supply fan.

You'll notice there isn't a speakers attached to the bottom of the case. Instead, SilverStone has opted for a very small speaker, about 1cm in diameter! No worries about finding a spot for this. The cable is so short that it won't wander very far from the motherboard pins.

This wraps up the inside, lets look outside now.

Page 5 : Exterior

This case has a very beautiful black finish. If I had some black bay drives, it would be an amazing match.

The one side panel features the screwless removal. Using two thumbscrews and two latches, the side panel is held into place. The latches also have locks on them preventing any unauthorized access; a very good idea if you have little kids running around the place near your expensive machine.

The other panel is connected to the top panel forming an L-Shaped panel. This one requires a fair bit of unscrewing to get out. There are 4 screws to take out on the back, and another 2 to remove from the inside support beam. What's lacking from this cover is a form of exhaust. It would be nice to have another 80mm or 120mm fan on the top to vent out all the heat.

At the front of the case is a beautifully brushed front bezel. It features large, clearly labeled buttons so you don't hit the wrong one. It also features the usual power and HDD LEDs. Beneath this is a cover hiding the FireWire ports, 4 USB Powers, MIC and Speaker ports. There is no handle to pull the cover down, all you need to do is push it and it will release itself.

To take out the front bezel, I counted 9 screws to remove: 3 on the top and 3 on either side. What's interesting is that the top three screws don't actually connect to the front bezel. They hold down a little piece that actually clips on the top. It's an interesting little design that makes me wonder why they chose it. I would've thought it would be easier to just make one big piece.

Attached to the bezel are all the plugs that you need to connect to the motherboard. They provide ample amounts of slack in case your switches need to be plugged in by the expansion slots. I would have liked these cables to be cut in half so it doesn't make the case as cluttered. The extremely small labeling far from the end of the cable will give some people a hard time when it comes to installation.

Those connectors lead to your LEDs, switches, internal speakers or one of many features tucked away for easy access – 4 USB, FireWire, Speaker, MIC.

Cooling the system are two 120mm fans that are 25mm in depth. EverFlow manufactures these fans. In case you forgot, SilverStone states that these are 2000 RPM fans at 21 dBa. There is no indication of their CFM.

On the underside of the front bezel is a small air vent. It probably wont do much seeing how big the fan is, but it's better than nothing.

Beneath the case are 4 aluminum foot stands with a rubber base to reduce the vibration and prevent scratching any surface it rests on. A small touch to make the case that much better than the competitors.

*update*
SilverStone brought this to my attention and I think everyone should know about it.
On the front panel of this case, I missed the fact that the design, although simple, is quite different than most other cases. The front panel is much thicker than other cases and its edge is very shiny. It's also carries a unique design with it. There are some contours on the case that gives it a different feel.

Here is what SilverStone had to say:

Page 6 : Installation

Here's a breakdown of the system:
Abit NF7-S rev 2.0
AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ @ 200*12
Ultra Products 2*512 MB PC3200 Dual Channel Kit
HIS ATi 9550 VIVO Stock
Asetek KT03A-L30 WaterCooling
10 GB ATA 100 5400 RPM Hard Drive (My Maxtor is on its last leg….SATA time!)
LiteON SOHW 1213S

To sum up the installation procedure, I would say it wasn't terribly hard. I started by removing the back IO cover. A little push and it was out. The next thing I did was install that last screw mount so I could install my ABit NF7-S motherboard. With the case completely bare, this was no problem at all.

Unscrewing and screwing in the video card took about a minute or two and posed no difficulties.

The most time consuming part was installing all the drives. I decided to install 1 DVD Writer, a floppy drive and a single hard drive. This process itself took close to 15 minutes mainly because I kept on fiddling with the levers and trying to push the drive in when the levers were pushed all the way to open.

There were no sharp edges anywhere on the case. Not a drop of blood was lost and I'm proud to say no humans were hurt in this review!

Installing the power supply was a breeze, I only had to balance the unit while I screwed it in. Typically, I find myself balancing the unit and supporting its weight until it has been screwed in. Not with this design.

The largest problem I had was with the spacing between the 120mm fan and the side panel. I would've liked another 4 or 5 millimeters so I could install my watercooling radiator. The fan shroud is just big enough that it sticks out and I can't close the case. I tried removing the fan and installing the radiator on the outside, however a new problem occurs. The 120mm fan and radiator now blocks the handle and edge of the side panels back. I thought about installing the radiator by the front 120mm fan, however when school rolls around I'll need to keep that drive cage so I can install a few more hard drives. It looks like this case is a no go for 120mm radiators unless I cut out my own hole in the top of the case. Until then, there's no water cooling in this bad boy.

*Update #2*
As I said I would, I installed a new system into this case. It now sports an Epox 8KHAL motherboard with an Athlon XP 1700+ at stock frequencies and voltages. The CPU was cooled using the Thermaltake Polo 735 with the lowest fan rotation. The video card is a MSI Ti 4200 and I've put in the 2*512MB giga
ram
. The operating system was installed on a 40GB ATA 133 Maxtor hard drive using a Sony CD-RW and Toshiba DVD readers.
For temperature comparisons, on idle the cpu sat at 42C with the case at 32. At full load, the cpu ran at 45C with the case also at 32C. When I removed the 2 120mm fans, the idle temperature rose to 49C and the case rose to 41. At full load without the fans, the cpu peaked 52C while the case remained at 41. The room temperature was consistent at 23C.

Page 7 : Conclusion

All in all, I'm quite pleased with this case. There are very few details that would make this case better. Things like a 6th motherboard mount will be forgotten once you've installed it the first time. And although the screwless drive installation maybe a hassle, with time and practise it'll be much faster than finding your screw driver.

I really like the two 120mm fans as it adds a greater degree of cooling to the system. As well, the black finish looks marvelous on anyone's desk. In due time, I will install a different system and it'll just shine with the 19" HP LCD monitor.

Advantages

2*120mm fans
Lots of accessories in the front cover
Sleek design
Hassle free power supply installation

Disadvantages

No removable motherboard tray
Can't install 120mm radiator

I would like to take this opportunity to thank SilverStone for the evaluation unit.