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SilverStone GD04 HTPC Case Review
Author: Jim Manis
Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009
A Closer Look
Included with the SilverStone GD04 is a decent manual with a complete step by step to walk you through the build. The accessories also include the previously mentioned drive bay cover plate. The cover helps to unify the case design by hiding the drive cover and smoothing the front. The plate simply attaches to the front of the drive tray with the included 3M tape. Please note the case is not compatible with full length drives, meaning drives in which the door is the full width of the front bezel.
The insides are finished in the standard SECC galvanized grey color with the removable brackets obscuring the view from above. Built in are the three 120mm golf ball dimpled fans each with a mesh filter on each. There is also a matching air inlet below the PSU area mounted on the outside to make cleaning easier.
The base and two sides are formed from a single .8mm piece of SECC steel with front and rear panels solidly attached, forming a very solid structure.
The base and two sides are formed from a single .8mm piece of SECC steel with front and rear panels solidly attached, forming a very solid structure.
The case is only a petite 13" deep but can house expansion cards up to 11" in length which is large enough according to Silverstones specs to house either a HD4870X2 or any of the GTX2xx series video cards including the 295. The PSU area allows a PSU up to 180mm in depth with a 120mm cooling fan. If a longer PSU is needed you can opt for an 80mm fan which allows a 220mm PSU length.
The CPU area is not as roomy however, should you choose to use an optical drive your maximum cooler height will be limited to 70mm from the motherboard. This proves to be the biggest shortcoming in this chassis. Without an optical drive you can use up to a 120mm tall cooler before running into the top of the case.
It should be noted here that SilverStone also markets a cooler seemingly made for this case with 5 heatpipes and mounting for two 60mm fans that would work perfectly with two 80mm fans exhausting in the panel above the I/O area. The model number is NT01E if you are interested.
We used the stock Intel cooler for the purposes of this build.
The CPU area is not as roomy however, should you choose to use an optical drive your maximum cooler height will be limited to 70mm from the motherboard. This proves to be the biggest shortcoming in this chassis. Without an optical drive you can use up to a 120mm tall cooler before running into the top of the case.
It should be noted here that SilverStone also markets a cooler seemingly made for this case with 5 heatpipes and mounting for two 60mm fans that would work perfectly with two 80mm fans exhausting in the panel above the I/O area. The model number is NT01E if you are interested.
We used the stock Intel cooler for the purposes of this build.
