Components
Silverstone SG03 (Black)
Intel E8400 D0
DFI Lan Party JR P45-T2RS
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz
Sapphire 4870 Vapor-X
Corsair HX620w Module PSU
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache (x2)
Samsung Lightscribe DVD Drive
NT06-E CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-P12 Vortex-Control 120mm Quiet Case Fan (x2)
First Impressions
Wow. This case looks amazing. Very well packaged and everyone at work agreed it looked like a very good case. When taking it out the box you realise how light this case really is. Overall the first impressions for this are very good.
The Build
Unfortunately, this is where things get a little bleak. This is the third fully PC I have built and second SFF (other one was Shuttle SN25P), but has been by far the hardest build. Taking the case apart is easy enough (although unfortunately not tool-less, and there are a few screws that are integral but if lost would be extremely hard to source and no spares have been supplied), and the instructions are basic but good enough. First thing you notice is how little space you have to work with, but it’s to be expected (although a motherboard tray would be nice).
So the first step is to install the motherboard; easy task right? Well no... After putting the spacers onto the case, it took three attempts to screw the motherboard down without one of them screwing loose underneath the motherboard (and thus forcing me to start again). The next thing I installed was the DVD drive, which thankfully was an easy task. The cooler, which is made by the same company who make the case (which I thought would make it an easy job) was next. The first annoying thing was the cooler didn’t fit. To be fair to Silverstone, the motherboard is probably to blame but still – annoying. So I had to modify the cooler and take the PSU support out before it would fit. Two of the four screws were easy enough to reach but the other two were difficult to get. After several minutes of finger tip tightening of the screws the cooler was in – phew!
The graphics card and ram went in pretty sweetly, as did the PSU (although the cable management was a royal pain in the behind – especially the DVD drive)! So the last bit of kit to go into the case was the hdds. Firstly, the slot that the hdd carriage slots into is very flimsy and while taking the carriage out I managed to twist it. The hdds had to be mounted upside down (even though the instructions didn’t state this) as the extra 3.5” drive plate (which is mounted sideways) doesn’t fit due to the sata cables.
Build Quality
Having spent a fair amount of time with the case I can say overall I was not impressed with the build quality. The aluminium is very thin and flimsy, when the black side panels are on, at the join with the front of the case you can see the silver aluminium chassis, the lack of tool-less build (and silly tiny screws)... It all makes the think the design was based around the philosophy of making something that fits together, rather than something that is easy to work with and with the system builder in mind.
Conclusion
Am I happy with my pc? Yeah I guess I would say so, now that its all built. Would I buy /recommend the same setup to anyone else? Hell no. After having both the Silverstone case and a Shuttle, I find the Shuttle slightly quieter (despite this new machine not having a CPU fan), overall smaller and much easier to fully assemble (as they have done most of it for you
). I have to say I was disappointed with the CPU cooler (again, felt poor quality / was bent on arrival etc) as well, so in future will be avoiding all of Silverstones products.
Hope this proves of use to someone
Silverstone SG03 (Black)
Intel E8400 D0
DFI Lan Party JR P45-T2RS
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz
Sapphire 4870 Vapor-X
Corsair HX620w Module PSU
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache (x2)
Samsung Lightscribe DVD Drive
NT06-E CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-P12 Vortex-Control 120mm Quiet Case Fan (x2)
First Impressions
Wow. This case looks amazing. Very well packaged and everyone at work agreed it looked like a very good case. When taking it out the box you realise how light this case really is. Overall the first impressions for this are very good.
The Build
Unfortunately, this is where things get a little bleak. This is the third fully PC I have built and second SFF (other one was Shuttle SN25P), but has been by far the hardest build. Taking the case apart is easy enough (although unfortunately not tool-less, and there are a few screws that are integral but if lost would be extremely hard to source and no spares have been supplied), and the instructions are basic but good enough. First thing you notice is how little space you have to work with, but it’s to be expected (although a motherboard tray would be nice).
So the first step is to install the motherboard; easy task right? Well no... After putting the spacers onto the case, it took three attempts to screw the motherboard down without one of them screwing loose underneath the motherboard (and thus forcing me to start again). The next thing I installed was the DVD drive, which thankfully was an easy task. The cooler, which is made by the same company who make the case (which I thought would make it an easy job) was next. The first annoying thing was the cooler didn’t fit. To be fair to Silverstone, the motherboard is probably to blame but still – annoying. So I had to modify the cooler and take the PSU support out before it would fit. Two of the four screws were easy enough to reach but the other two were difficult to get. After several minutes of finger tip tightening of the screws the cooler was in – phew!
The graphics card and ram went in pretty sweetly, as did the PSU (although the cable management was a royal pain in the behind – especially the DVD drive)! So the last bit of kit to go into the case was the hdds. Firstly, the slot that the hdd carriage slots into is very flimsy and while taking the carriage out I managed to twist it. The hdds had to be mounted upside down (even though the instructions didn’t state this) as the extra 3.5” drive plate (which is mounted sideways) doesn’t fit due to the sata cables.
Build Quality
Having spent a fair amount of time with the case I can say overall I was not impressed with the build quality. The aluminium is very thin and flimsy, when the black side panels are on, at the join with the front of the case you can see the silver aluminium chassis, the lack of tool-less build (and silly tiny screws)... It all makes the think the design was based around the philosophy of making something that fits together, rather than something that is easy to work with and with the system builder in mind.
Conclusion
Am I happy with my pc? Yeah I guess I would say so, now that its all built. Would I buy /recommend the same setup to anyone else? Hell no. After having both the Silverstone case and a Shuttle, I find the Shuttle slightly quieter (despite this new machine not having a CPU fan), overall smaller and much easier to fully assemble (as they have done most of it for you
). I have to say I was disappointed with the CPU cooler (again, felt poor quality / was bent on arrival etc) as well, so in future will be avoiding all of Silverstones products.Hope this proves of use to someone
