Cooling and Construction
Without an included power supply, the rear 60mm and the hard drive cage 80mm make up the only included active cooling parts of the SG01. As mentioned before, there is the option to add another 60mm at the top. But, we really must admit that we’re not wild about the idea of several smaller fans, as they still probably won’t provide nearly as much total air flow as a single large fan such as the X-QPack’s 120mm. They most certainly won’t be as quiet, either.
Speaking of the fans, the rear 60mm fan must be removed to get at the expansion card mounting screws, which although isn’t difficult, does require an additional step.
The main crossbar of the case is a bit bulkier and is secured by more screws, but in comparison to the X-QPack’s trio of crossbars, the SilverStone case doesn’t have quite as solid of a feel to it. The workmanship and quality of aluminum is awesome, however, and each part really seems to be made very well.
Another annoyance that we had with this unit, however, was the fit of the triple-side panel. Taking a closer look at this picture of the right side of the chassis, we can see that it’s not actually fitting right at all.
Without an included power supply, the rear 60mm and the hard drive cage 80mm make up the only included active cooling parts of the SG01. As mentioned before, there is the option to add another 60mm at the top. But, we really must admit that we’re not wild about the idea of several smaller fans, as they still probably won’t provide nearly as much total air flow as a single large fan such as the X-QPack’s 120mm. They most certainly won’t be as quiet, either.
Speaking of the fans, the rear 60mm fan must be removed to get at the expansion card mounting screws, which although isn’t difficult, does require an additional step.
Click to enlarge.
The main crossbar of the case is a bit bulkier and is secured by more screws, but in comparison to the X-QPack’s trio of crossbars, the SilverStone case doesn’t have quite as solid of a feel to it. The workmanship and quality of aluminum is awesome, however, and each part really seems to be made very well.
Another annoyance that we had with this unit, however, was the fit of the triple-side panel. Taking a closer look at this picture of the right side of the chassis, we can see that it’s not actually fitting right at all.
Click to enlarge.
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Tamale - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
exactly!cryptonomicon - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
reminds me of lian-lisegagenesis - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
But the final words say it all. Despite the nifty ideas like the hard drive cage with a fan (hard drives burning up would worry me most in a HTPC) and the ability to use a normal sized power supply... the noise would kill this off my list instantly. A noisy computer is one thing, but the whine from smaller fans really aggrivate me. I'll give them the fact its probably exceedingly difficult to put 120mm fans in a HTPC case, but I'll be damned if the thing is louder than my TT Armour.imaheadcase - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
Its a good thing actully that it uses a real power supply. The fail rate on Shuttle SFF power supply is VERY high, i currently have mine hooked up to a regular power supply (case cover off of course) because power supply failed.Just get a new PS you say? The cheapest one is about $60. a hundred more you can get a NEW SFF case/PS/Mobo. Its a vicious cycle. :(
Im just going to transfer CPU/RAM/Video card to a midtower case and be done with it.
just1ed - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - link
Hi imaheadcase,I'm interested to know how you modded a normal ATX to Shuttle's XPC PSU. They have some non standard heads. My XPC's PSU blew and I'm not interested in replacing it with another expensive PSU that might die in the near future.
BigSky - Friday, September 15, 2006 - link
I can't run a video card in my SS51G that requires an external power source. The wimpy 200W Shuttle PS can't do the job. I'm too cheap to spring for a new PS but have plenty of ATX PSs laying around and was thinking of doing what you did to power the Shuttle with an ATX PS. I see that the motherboard uses a 4 pin connector like the standard one for a peripheral vice the square 4 pin cable on most motherboards. Should I make an adapter from the ATX PS's square 4 pin to connector to the Shuttle MB 4 pin connector vice using one of the peripheral power leads? Seems this would be better from a power mgmt perspective. I don't understand if this ATX power lead is independent of the peripheral leads.bmartin1984@verizon.net
Thanks.
ProphetCHRIS - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
The problem of the manufacturers is just that they have to built these cases for "average" people. You can surely put own low-noise fans inside and it wont go off in flames. I have built once this kind of case with an old Lian Li. I put dampening material inside and only one fan. Sure it was a little warmer than normal cases but I operated it 24/7 for two years.I am sure this case has much potential with just a little help...
Tamale - Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - link
aye.. but should a $150 case need any help? ;)