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SilverStone SG01


Date
: 01/25/06 – 01:02:01 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: SilverStone Technology

Price
: N/A

SilverStone is a common name here at Overclockers Online and one we certainly love to see in our labs. Whether we're looking at one of their cases or one of their new power supplies, quality is often a name associated with their products.

In our latest review, we get a chance to sample the only chassis in SilverStone's new SUGO series. This soon to be expanding family will carry the small form factor enclosures without being bundled with a motherboard. This allows
you
to purchase the motherboard you want to put inside. So, let's see what the SUGO
SG01
has in store for us!

Page 2 : Package

The SG01 arrived in its retail package, SilverStone is so confident about their packaging that they don't even bother with a second box!

SilverStone leaves no surprises for you; proudly displayed on the box is the chassis with a few features on the left.

It's great to see that there is no proprietary power supply required with the SG01. You can simply pick up your favorite ATX PSU and pop it in. You also don't need PCI risers as full size expansion slots fit and you can install a total of 4 drives with this frame.

SilverStone has a very large image of the case. There are no surprises inside the box here!

On one side of the box we see a number of special features and specifications printed. We will elaborate further on these later in the review.

Taking a look at another side of the box, it's exactly the same as our first picture except we have the black painted model instead of the silver.

The last side of the box has an introduction to the chassis. Since UPS has so kindly attached their labels here, I'll reprint the words on the next page as they can also be found on SilverStone's website.

On the top of the box, and the last picture for this page, we have both cases situated side by side.

Let's move on to the specifications before we tear open the box…

Page 3 : Specifications

We'll start this page off with the specifications printed on the SG01 product page.

Here are the features printed on the box:

It should be noted that SilverStone has made several compatibility notices:

• CPU cooler cannot exceed 78mm in height
• The combined depth of power supply and optical drive cannot exceed 355mm

  This is what SilverStone has to say about the SG01:

  Creating a small form factor (SFF) enclosure without a proprietary motherboard or power supply is a challenge that few companies want to face. For SilverStone, this intriguing challenge was welcomed with open arms and our engineers created yet another segment-defining design that will become the standard for years to come. The SG01's immaculate aluminum interior offers incredible amount of space for nearly all standard ATX components in a foot print that is only a few inches larger than typical SFF systems. With its carefully arranged cooling configuration and the ability to accommodate a wide array of Micro ATX motherboards, ATX power supplies, and even two double width graphics cards, the SG01 will ensure greater upgrade possibility than ever before.
  They also recommend the use of the NT03 and the FX121.

  I had specially requested the FX121 be packaged in with the SG01 for our review. So I will also make those specifications available for you:

  
  

  On paper, the SG01 looks impressive and the FX121 should add some cooling without too much noise. It's time we dig into the box and look at things firsthand.

  
  Page 4 : Package Contents
  

  Cracking open the box the only thing we see are a bag containing the manual, the case and a lot of foam padding.

  

  You can see why SilverStone doesn't require any additional packaging when they ship the SG01; there is at least 1.5" of foam centering the chassis away from the sides of the box.

  

  Tucked in the side of the box is the FX121 I requested. When you purchase the SG01 at your favourite store you
  will not
  get the FX121 without paying more money.

  

  Inside our first bag with the manual is also a zip-locked bag full of screws. There are enough screws here to mount your motherboard and all your devices.

  

  The manual is rather brief but contains enough information to get you started if you've never put together your own PC. A recent article compared the cost of buying a custom SFF machine by Shuttle to the cost of building your own, and the custom machine will save close to 1000 dollars over the Shuttle PC.

  Printed on the back of the FX121 package are the features and specifications. Please refer to the previous page of this review to get a better image of what those features and specifications are.

  

  Opening up the box reveals the FX121 securely packaged in a cardboard frame.

  

  Bundled with the fan is a 3-pin to 4-pin molex converter, a few screws for mounting and two rubber pads to dampen the vibration between the fan and the frame.

  

  Here's a closer look at the model of the fan:

  

  Since it is a cross blower and not an axial fan, we can expect the fins to be positioned differently.

  
  

  There's not much more to this fan, all that will be left is checking out how well it performs. We'll see all that in the next few pages, but first let's get back to removing the case and getting a better look at the components it holds.

  Lifting the SG01 out of the case, we need to remove the foam pads and remove the case from the bag. This should be more than enough protection to make sure your case arrives free of any damage.

  

  Flip to the next page where we take a look at the external components that make up this chassis.

  
  Page 5 : External View
  

  The frame of the case is made of aluminum and since it is about one-third the size of your typical case, the SG01 is incredibly light – I have textbooks heavier than this case! From our 3/4 view below, you can see SilverStone has not left out any features. The side panel has punched out holes to allow for airflow, and there is also a punched out area for a 60mm fan.

  

  It looks like the paint on the top edge of the case bubbled a bit.

  The front bezel has a curved top and is made solely of brushed aluminum.

  

  To the bottom right of the bezel are the power button, power LED, reset LED and reset button. Both buttons push easily and are of a comfortable size.

  

  SilverStone leaves little else to ask for from a front access panel; you have a headphone port, a microphone port, four USB ports and a FireWire port. The only thing one could possibly ask for is a cover to prevent dust from getting into the ports if they are not used.

  

  Just above the access panel are the two 5.25" drive bays. Each drive bay is slightly intented from the case, but trimmed off with a polished edge.

  

  Apart from the punched out ventilation zone on the top of the chassis, there isn't much to talk about there.

  

  Both sides of the chassis have large rectangular ventilation zones to let air flow in and out of the case.

  

  The back side of the case is just as busy as the front.

  

  As mentioned earlier, the chassis allows for a standard ATX PSU to fit inside. To the right of the ATX PSU is a 60mm fan and below the fan are four expansion slots, typical for all uATX cases.

  

  Directly below the ATX PSU is another hole punched area that you can either leave unoccupied or fill with the FX121. Last but not least is the rear IO panel. Because every motherboard comes packaged with its own IO cover, SilverStone has decided to leave a stock template out.

  

  On the underside of the case are four circular feet.

  

  Each foot has a rubber base to absorb any vibration caused by the case or around the case.

  

  It's time to pull out the trusty Philips screwdriver and get inside…

  
  Page 6 : Internal View
  

  The shell of the case is held together by a few screws at the back, and removing them allows you to slide the one piece cover off.

  

  Once again the stock cables are far too long for this case. I'd really wish manufacturers would get the appropriate cable lengths so it's easier to manage.

  Apart from the 60mm exhaust fan, SilverStone has included an 80mm fan to cool your hard drives.

  
  

  If you want to add a third fan, one can be placed above the expansion slots of your motherboard to vent out the hot air.

  

  Here's a picture of the exhaust fan. You can see that SilverStone cares about your fingers and has installed grills on the exposed blades.

  

  To help with the cable organization, there's a little clip that secures the chassis' LEDs and button wires.

  

  If your motherboard does not support FireWire or does not have additional USB ports for you to use, the front module is removable and so you can reduce the number of cables inside the case.

  

  As expected, the hard drive bracket supports two drives and both are cooled by an 80mm fan.

  

  SilverStone allows for two 5.25" drives.

  

  The frame has been notched so you can get easy access to the screws secured to the front panel.

  

  Since the days of the floppy drive are practically over, you do not get an external 3.5" drive bay. Those with a need for one will have to resort to an external USB solution.

  To the rear of the chassis is a support frame for your power supply. This is crucial since the last thing you want is a 5lb power supply crashing down onto your processor!

  

  In order to gain access to the expansion slots you will need to remove three tiny screws and pull out the 60mm fan.

  
  

  Removing the grills from the 60mm fan gives us an unobstructed view of the make; another Everflow fan. The model number is
  F126025SL
  . This 60mm fan's specifications can be found on this page.

  

  It operates at 3600RPM pushing 18CFM of air at 23.4 dBa. The starting voltage is 7V, which means most fan controllers will allow you to run this fan at the lowest speed if you so desire.

  To gain access to the 80mm fan we'll need to remove the hard drive cage. You will actually need to remove the hard drive cage to install the hard drives, so pay attention. The first step is to remove the two screws holding the front end of the drive cage to the frame. You then need to pull the cage forward and lift up to lift it over two knobs on the base of the case.

  

  The drive cage is now free.

  

  Peering into the drive cage, we can see another Everflow fan. This time the model number is
  F128025SL
  and appears to be unlisted on the Everflow website. Other sources say it is a 2050RPM fan that pushes 32CFm at 21 dBa.

  We'll continue with the installation of my hardware on the next page.

  
  Page 7 : Installation
  

  The first thing we'll do is install the ECS RS-480 rear IO panel. Since there isn't a stock one to remove, just pop in your new one and you're set!

  

  The next step is to lay in the motherboard and mount it to the preinstalled studs.

  

  All the screws are provided for you by SilverStone, so you don't need to worry about looking for your own.

  Next is the video card. I'll be using the PowerColor Bravo X700 since it is quiet yet powerful enough for multimedia and to do some light gaming. This is where I ran into my first issue. The Bravo X700 has a massive heatsink for passive cooling and a small fan on top of the card, so this made it rather bulky. Upon installation, I found the fan got in the way of the PSU bracket.

  

  By removing the fan, I was back in business.

  

  This really won't be a problem with most modern graphics cards as few cards have heatsinks this massive.

  With the motherboard and video card in place, I popped in my AMD Opteron 146 CAB2E processor and my OCZ PC4800 Platinum Elite Edition memory.

  

  When it came time to mount the cooler, I selected the Thermaltake Golden Orb II. It's a very wide cooler, but it did not come in contact with the edge of the case. When securing the heatsink, the middle beam that supports the PSU and an extra 60mm fan could get in the way of the screw driver. This isn't a problem though, because SilverStone makes the entire thing removable.

  

  You can see that I've already installed an optical drive. That went in without a hitch.

  To install the hard drives you must first remove the hard drive cage. After that, simply slide in the drives and secure them with the provided screws.

  

  One great thing about this drive cage is that is centers the drives so air flows between the circuit boards of both drives.

  

  The final component I installed was the Antec NeoHE power supply. A modular power supply is ideal in these cases as it'll allow you to remove the unnecessary cables, reducing clutter and improving airflow.

  

  If you don't have two 5.25" devices installed, the extra bay will be an excellent place to cram the unwanted cables. :)

  

  If you decide to purchase the FX121, you need to install it before installing the power supply, or at least I recommend doing that as it'll give you a bit more space to work with. The only thing you need to remember with the FX121 is to attach the rubber spacer before screwing it onto the chassis.

  

  With everything in place, it's time to boot into Windows and run some tests.

  
  Page 8 : Testing
  

  For testing purposes, the system specifications are as follows:

  ECS RS480-M
  AMD Opteron 146 CAB2E 0546 200*10 VCore 1.4V
  Thermaltake Golden Orb II cooler
  OCZ PC4800 2*512MB Platinum Elite Edition
  PowerColor X700 Bravo
  Samsung 40 GB SATA2 7200 RPM Hard Drive
  Seagate 400 GB SATA2 7200 RPM Hard Drive
  Plextor PX-740A
  Antec NeoHE

  Chassis

  SilverStone SG01 panel installed w/ stock 80mm and 60mm fan

  Additional Cooling

  FX121 Cooler

  To ensure maximum heat output from the CPU, I will be running Prime 2004 for 3 hrs before reading the load temperature from SpeedFan. After the recording, I shut down Prime 2004 and let the system idle for 3 hrs before recording the idle temperatures. Two rounds of temperatures were taken: one without the FX121 and one with the FX121. Throughout the testing, the room temperature was 20 degrees Celsius.
  
  Temperature in Celsius; lower is better.
  
  Temperature in Celsius; lower is better.
  As you can see, the system runs very hot with one of AMD's hottest processors on the market. This is pretty much expected with SFF cases. With the FX121 installed, a lot of the hot air can be vented out, dropping the load temperature by 5 degrees. The 80mm fan was definitely assisting in keeping the hard drive cool, neither exceeded ~30C while I was installing software applications and moving files over for the school year.

  The whole system was not particularly noisy; it's a bearable amount since the fans are rated in the low 20 dBa zone. The loudest component was a toss up between the Golden Orb II and the FX121. Both the 60mm and the 80mm fans did not contribute much to the noise level.

  
  Page 9 : Conclusion
  

  In a market once dominated by Shuttle there are now many companies that will assist you in making your own small form factor system. By building your own custom small form factor PC with your own components, you'll save your self a fair bit of money compared to buying a SFF built by third parties.

  The thermal performance of the SG01 is as expected; your PC will likely run hotter while operating in a cube case when compared to a tower case. The option to add an additional 60mm fan and the FX121 can certainly improve thermal performance and allow you to squeeze a tiny bit more performance out of the machine. SilverStone has made another sleek case with the SG01, and all of us here at Overclockers Online look forward to how they will build upon the SUGO family.

  Advantages

• Allows you to build a custom uATX PC
• Looks great
• Allows for additional cooling

  Disadvantages

• Can get cramped!
• Can run hot

  Overclockers Online would like to thank SilverStone for making this review possible.