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SilverStone SST-TJ06 Temjin 6


Date
: 10/26/04 – 02:32:20 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer:
SilverStone

Price:
NA

This case marks the third time I've had a SilverStone case in my possesion. Any of you who pay close attention to the machine specifications listed in previous reviews may notice that my main workstation resides in a SilverStone case.

Yes, SilverStone has certainly had a fast adoption by many of us since their start just over a year ago. This success can be attributed to their unique product styling, competitive pricing, and most of all – their innovations in about every product they design.

Today we're looking at a prime example of SilverStone's innovation in case technology, the
SilverStone Temjin 6
. By now, many of you have probably read an article or two about this particular case, and for good reason; the Temjin 6 sets out to deliver the improvements that the BTX form factor offers for cooling to an entrenched ATX population.

Page 2 : Package

Next to speakers from Logitech, the package from SilverStone has got to be the largest and heaviest I've ever recieved from a supplier. As you can see below, the box this case arrived in sported the scars and bruises of the courier service that brought it to me.

Opening the package revealed the large case inside protected in molded foam and surrounded in a plastic bag. Once removed, there was not a ding, dent, or scratch to be found on the TJ-06 that was inside. With only the case sitting in front of me, I opened it up to have a look at what I was dealing with.

What I found were the following tool-less drive rails, keys, the typical bag of miscellaneous screws, and finally a plastic wind tunnel extension for dual processor. All of these parts were inside a small cardboard box secured with masking tape to the interior of the chassis.

Also located within the chassis was a short manual that unfolded into a pictorial installation guide. The manual, while short, coverages everything most people would likely need.

Page 3 : Specifications

Gathered from SilverStone's manual and website are these specifications:

SilverStone has a very roomy and cool case judging strictly by their specifications. They provide three fans; two of which are 120 mm to cool the CPU and system memory, an 80 mm fan to cool the add-in cards, and an innovative new wind tunnel to isolate and propel the heat generated by the CPU and system memory out of the case. The case is made to look good with a front aluminum bezel, but also be affordable by making the rest of the body out of steel. With the ability to hold up to 13 drives, few will find the case lacking in terms of expansion.

Page 4 : Exterior

Honestly, this is one of the best looking cases I've seen. I've seen my share of cases and I am a huge fan of simple, sleek designs. SilverStone hits the nail on the head when it comes to my design preferences. The brushed aluminum bezel and the grill really looked great and gave this case a high class look.

Five aluminum 5.25" bay covers and two aluminum 3.5" bay covers adorn the front of the case. The upper left is where we find the SilverStone logo. Just below the 3.5" bays is where the power button, followed by the LED indicators, and finally the reset switch are located. Surrounding that area are the grill which allows air to flow into the case. Directly behind the grill are both a 120 mm and 80 mm fan acting as cool air intakes.

On the left edge of the case bezel are the front input/output ports. SilverStone gives us the convenience of bringing one IEEE 1394 FireWire, two USB 2.0, audio, and MIC jacks to the front of the case. The placement is such that things are kept sleek and simple.

The rear of the SST-TJ06 is quite different from most cases. Because it mimics the BTX design characteristics, we see that the motherboard is actaully mounted on the opposite side we're use to seeing it on. This puts the PCI slots closest to the power supply at the top of the case and leaves the input/output panel at the very bottom.

Next to the input/output panel is the 120 mm rear exhaust for removing heat over the CPU area. On the edge of the rear you can see the four sliding knobs that provide a tool-less means of opening the side panels. There is also a place for a lock so that you can keep the left (looking from the rear) side panel secure. Last, we can see that all the expansion bays have reusable slot covers.

Page 5 : Interior

Moving to the inside of the case, with the right side (relative to the front) open this is what it looks like right out of the package. You can see the small cardboard box I described earlier that holds the miscellaneous parts. Otherwise, the upper compartment is where the external 5.25" drive bays, internal 3.5" drive bays, and space for the power supply are located. Below that is the lower compartment where there are the external 3.5" bays, place for the motherboard, and the easily visible wind tunnel.

To actaully get to the external bays it requires that the front bezel be unlocked with the turn of a key. You can see exactly what this looks like when opened below. The metal shields, once removed from the bays, can also be reattached with the supplied screws. At the bottom of the case, you can see the 120 mm and 80 mm intake fans through their grills. The fan grills are very open requiring no modification to improve airflow.

SilverStone chose to use high quality Everflow fans for their cooling in this case. Below you can see the 80 mm fan and one of the 120 mm fans. These fans spin at 2200 rpm and a lowly 21 dBA providing quiet, but effective cooling.

Page 6 : Installation

Doing a system install is relatively simple. It's made even simpler when the case is designed to be mostly tool-less as is the SST-TJ06. In the following picture, you can see how these drive rails appear attached to a drive. SilverStone supplies enough rails to install into every bay in the case.

Installing the power supply is simple enough: unscrew the plate from the case, attach it to the power supply with four screws, slide the power supply into the case, and then screw the plate back into the case.

The hard drive is installed using tool-less drive rails and to hook up the cables I removed the adjacent side panel.

Without a motherboard tray, some may find installation more cramped. Fortunately, this is a rather large case and the motherboard you see below is a large, dual CPU motherboard with room to spare in the case. The position of the second CPU on this motherboard didn't require using the supplied extension to the wind tunnel.

With the system closed and turned on this is what she looks like. Both activity LEDs are blue.

System Specs:
AMD Athlon MP 1800+ Processor
512 GB Corsair PC3200 CAS 2.5 DDR RAM
Seagate 120 GB 7200 RPM 8 MB Hard Drive
Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P Motherboard
Raidmax RX-520XP 520W Power Supply
LiteON SOHW-1633S
Philips PSC724 Ultimate Edge

SilverStone SST-TJ06 Temjin 6

The case performed well with system temperatures at 31° C with the wind tunnel and at almost 34° C without it – clearly having an effect on the temperatures of the other peripherals in the system. Just a small drop in system temperature effects every component and could make a big difference when squeezing every last bit of performance out of a system while keeping things stable. What's more, noise levels remained low thanks to a quiet power supply and case fans. The only audible noise came from the DVD drive and the retail AMD HSF.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The
SilverStone SST-TJ06 Temjin 6
is a very impressive case. It provides lots of expansion and room to work as well as innovative cooling features such as their patented wind tunnel and thermal zones. The supplied case fans are both high quality and quiet. The tool-less aspects of the drive rails, side panels, and expansion bays is quick, intuitive to use, and convenient. I little to complain about with a case that is this good. The only thing that may seriously turn some people off is it's shear size – this is a massive case.

Quite simply, this case does a fine job of executing great form and function. I give it my recommendation because it's easy to use, looks great, has an innovative cooling design, and performs well. Thus, I'm happy to award the SST-TJ06 our Overclockers Online Power Award.

Advantages

Great looks
Lots of expansion
Great cooling design
Quiet operation

Disadvantages

No removable motherboard tray
May be too large for some
Not entirely tool-less

I'd like to thank the people at SilverStone for supplying this case for testing.