A pint-sized portable case from Silverstone – with a handle!
We're usually about the biggest stuff here at Atomic, whether that be the biggest heatsink, benchmark score or even case. SilverStone's gear is usually pretty big too - many of the company's cases make some cars look puny - but this one has been downsized more than pair of pants from a survivor of the Subway diet.
To get a handle on the situation, we wrestled one of the SG04 cases (gallery here) from a SilverStone rep (also known as asking politely for one), and took quite a lot of time taking photos, which you can see in the gallery link at the top. Even without those though, the dimensions of the case are probably the most noticeable and important feature. It's only compatible with mATX or ITX boards, but we've heard through the grapevine that mATX X58 boards will be hitting the shelves very soon, so you won't have to compromise on performance.
Starting at the fascia of the case, it's constructed from finely brushed and anodised black aluminium, with two grooves either side providing an intake of cool air, and an only-very-slightly mushy power button. There's a single 5.25in bay here, with a stealthed eject button. Alternatively there's a bay cover included in the package that will fill this void if you're not using it.
The left-hand side of the fascia is a stealthed and hinged piece of aluminium, which swings out and opens to reveal a reset button, two USB, Firewire and mic/audio ports. There's also a 3.5in drive bay here that can be used for a Fan Controller, card reader or anything really (though Floppy drives aren't really all that useful any more). In a pinch it can also be used to hold a HDD.
The left-hand sidepanel has a meshed window surrounded by a plastic baffle that allows in some nice airflow but won't cut down on system noise at all. Opposite this is the other panel, which is plain, and both panels are made of brushed aluminium. Up on top of the case is a thick aluminium handle with bevelled holes drilled through it (we guess for a looks/weight reduction/cost saving thing) - this handle is sturdy enough to lift the entire case and hardware without worrying about it breaking.
Around the back of the case there are four PCI slots in the usual mATX location, with plenty of ventilation around them. Just above those is the I/O area, as well as a sidewards-mounted PSU stand. At the very top of the back there is, strangely, another PCI bracket whose purpose seems just to be giving you an area for a fan controller or similar; at least it provides some more airflow.
After taking the sidepanels off by unscrewing the thumbscrews and simply pulling them off (they're a little stiff the first few times, but eventually work free) there seems to be a bracket in the way - but why? It's actually where the PSU will rest when installed, and doubles as the mounting area for the external 3.5in bay. Three screws come out, and the bracket pulls away to give access to the tiny space inside.
There's a single 120mm fan at the front for cooling (and space for another), while two HDDs can be installed in the floor of the case, which unscrews and pulls down to get them in. The mobo is installed first with heatsink attached, then the drives installed and cabled, and finally you plug in the PSU and then attach it to the case - this isn't a case for inexperienced builders.
It is, however, a great little case for either a LANing rig, or even just a full-fledged PC, but watch the clearance for the CPU heatsink - 82mm is the height limit. You can also fit in graphics cards up to 10.5in, so grab those GTX280s and get going!
Issue: 107 | December, 2009