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SilverStone GD04 HTPC Case Review
Author: Jim Manis
Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Assembly Notes
When assembling the system into the case you will notice several things. The first thing I noticed is that you may need to add in a standoff for the bottom part of your mATX motherboard near the Southbridge/ USB port area. The other standoffs are already permanently installed.
The PSU should go in first, and then do your cable management. SilverStone has made this task easier by relieving the case bottom to allow more room for cabling to be run under the board. Also handy are the extra long fan tails and front panel wires. Normally this would mean a lot of extra wire to hide but the flexibility is the better option in our opinion.
The PSU should go in first, and then do your cable management. SilverStone has made this task easier by relieving the case bottom to allow more room for cabling to be run under the board. Also handy are the extra long fan tails and front panel wires. Normally this would mean a lot of extra wire to hide but the flexibility is the better option in our opinion.
After installing the motherboard and PSU you can move on to the drives. The optical drive opening is very unique. The case mimics the drive opening you would find on a home DVD/Blue-Ray Player and as such it has a much smaller opening. This hides the body of the drive behind the front panel and the cover plate completes the ensemble.
When mounting the drive we found it easiest to mount the drive with the included screws and then place the drive holder into the case. Once it is in place try the front button. Since it is part of the case you need to get this alignment perfect or the button will not work. Loosen the screws and adjust until fit is right.
Once the button works we found that a small piece of foam tape was needed to get the proper drive to button spacing as by default the drive door extended too far past the case front, as seen in the above photo. All drives are not the same and we suspect this was more a matter of our drive being different and may not be the norm.
When mounting the drive we found it easiest to mount the drive with the included screws and then place the drive holder into the case. Once it is in place try the front button. Since it is part of the case you need to get this alignment perfect or the button will not work. Loosen the screws and adjust until fit is right.
Once the button works we found that a small piece of foam tape was needed to get the proper drive to button spacing as by default the drive door extended too far past the case front, as seen in the above photo. All drives are not the same and we suspect this was more a matter of our drive being different and may not be the norm.
As you can see in the above picture Crossfire or SLI are both possible in the GD04 though a single small card and possibly a tuner would be a more likely set-up. Being enthusiasts we just couldn't resist tossing in a set of 5770s 
. There is actually sufficient room, and a fan bringing fresh air in behind the PSU helps feed them with cool fresh air.
With the case done and placed in the entertainment center It really sells itself as a piece of high end audio/video equipment. The A/V theme is also carried thru to the front feet which resemble others used in Home Theater equipment, the rear feet are just simple rubber balls which are fine and cannot normally be seen.
. There is actually sufficient room, and a fan bringing fresh air in behind the PSU helps feed them with cool fresh air. With the case done and placed in the entertainment center It really sells itself as a piece of high end audio/video equipment. The A/V theme is also carried thru to the front feet which resemble others used in Home Theater equipment, the rear feet are just simple rubber balls which are fine and cannot normally be seen.
