Here's the review I promised you guys a while back. I've had this case for some time. I was waiting for the Silverstone DA750 PSU to arrive so I could use it in this review. Unfortunately there's been some delays in shipment so I'll just go ahead with a review of the SG03 1st. Here it is, specially for you guys in LYN. This is the 1st SG03 in Malaysia and this review is just for you guys. Enjoy.


Here's the SG03 fresh from the factory. The unit I received is silver in color.








Take a look at the specifications list. If you have the time, take out your measuring tape n try to measure out the dimensions of the SG03. That will give you a really good idea of just how timy the case is.









I've taken a picture of a normal sized ATX case next to the SG03 so you can make a size comparison. It's incredibly small and you can see that in this picture.







Here's some pictures of the exterior.












A better view of the side panel. Look at that big huge mesh panel. That will come in real handy for ventilating hot hardware. You never know, some crazy fella may decide to cram in a couple of 8800GTX SLi in the case.



This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 01:18 PM

Here's a view of the back. There's lots of ventilation here. Look at all the ventilation holes.









There's even an optional PCI slot right above the motherboard. You can use this for extra peripherals like a PCI fan controller, CCFL switch, or if you're more concerned about keeping the hardware cool, you can even use a PCI slot exhaust fan. If you look carefully, in the middle between the I/O plate n the side mount PSU, there's also an optional mount for the Silverstone FX121 cross flow fan to exhaust even more hot air out of the case.









Take a look at the PCI slot covers, they're all perforated too.








Here's the power switch on top of the case. The top plate that the switch is mounted to is made of really nice and thick aluminum plate. In fact the whole front face is nice and solid. All made of thick aluminum plates.








Here's the front with the flaps open on both sides. This reveals the extra USB, Firewire, earphone, mic plugs. The floppy slot is just below that. Those who dont use floppies can mount a multi card reader. The mesh plate on the front is the cover for the intake fans. This case is designed to accept 2x120mm intake fans. Only a single 120mm fan is given with the case though.










Take note of how thick the flaps are. Great construction there. Gives it a nice solid feel. The flaps are held on by magnets when closed.



This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 01:59 AM

Let's move on to the front intake now. After opening the front flaps, just press in the plastic tabs on the right and the whole intake panel comes right off. Brilliant bit of design there. This will be perfect for cleaning purposes as we can just remove the whole thing for cleaning. Here's the front intake panel.








This is the reverse side where the intake fan is. The case comes with 1 fan installed in the middle.









The front intake has a nice nylon netting inside to act as a dust filter.










Now let's see how it looks like if I mount 2x120mm fans on it. It's a very easy process. All I had to do was lift the mesh off n it looks like this.








Just remove the 4 screws holding the fan down, mount 2x120mm fans on it and what you get is this.












Pop the mesh back on and it's done. 2x120mm intake fans on a SFF case!

This is how the case looks like with 2x120mm fan intake. Most normal sized ATX cases dont even come with a 120mm intake let alone 2x120mm intakes. Temperatures should be ok even with an uber 1337 rig inside.










Let's take a look at the internals now. This is how it looks like from the side. The big huge support bar on the side holds the floppy drive vertically. It also supports the PSU so it doesn't droop.








The plate is held on by 3 screws only.







Reverse view of the plate.








All we have to do is pop off this slot cover.








Then install the floppy n this is how it looks like.

Here's the HDD mounting. It's rather unique. It sits at the bottom of the case and looks like a heatsink.








The HDD plates removed.







Check out the nice construction of the HDD plates.









Mounting the HDD is easy. Just pop in the rails like this.








Slide the HDD in.










This is how the mounted HDDs look like in the case.







After installing the HDDs, I noticed something. There's actually no physical contact between the HDDs and the nice aluminum plates. So the nice looking heatsink plate does nothing for cooling the HDDs. I'll try using some thermal pads later when I get down to building this rig. I'll try and get the HDDs to contact the plates using thermal pads to make full use of the heatsink fins on the HDD plates.







This case coems with a unique side panel mounting system too. It's really nice and I haven't seen this on other cases. It's a really nice system that uses studs. Look at the holes at the top of the case. The bottom is the same.









Here's the reverse side of the side panel.









A closer look at the stud on the side panel. This stud slots into the bigger side of the holes on the case and it just slides into the smaller part to lock the panel in.



This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 03:22 AM

The last thing I installed for this review is the PSU. This is not a normal small sized ATX PSU. It's a 600W PSU that's much longer than normal PSUs. In fact, the Silverstone DA750 that's going into the case when it arrives should be even longer than this. As you can see, big PSUs are not a problem. It can take any monster PSU, even the big huge kilowatters. notice the cable clutter? Not to worry, I'll be using a DA750 which is modular and I'll remove all unused wires so it'll look much much better.




Here's the case with a 600W PSU inside.








Rear view with the PSU inside. From this picture we can see that there is ample space for a nice big CPU heatsink. The clearance from motherboard to the back of the PSU is about 8cm. I'm pretty sure my Thermalright XP120 can fit in there. Silverstone guarantees that the big huge Nitrogon06 fits though so we dont have to worry about fitting aftermarket heatsinks.







Conclusion

This case is absolutely awesome! I love it. I've always liked my cases to be as big as possible to accomodate my high end graphics cards n super overclocked CPU n RAMs. My rig runs at high overclock speeds for daily use and I needed a nice big case like the Silverstone TJ07 to make sure there's lots of ventilation to keep everything nice and cool. However, the SG03 is so well designed and has what seems to be excellent ventilation. It's altered my attitude towards using only big huge cases.

I like the SG03 so much, I will be using the SG03 in an upcoming new Worklog. I'll use the SG03 as the case for my second rig. It's going to be a monster rig on par with King Kong. Just that it'll all be installed in this super small case. Hence I will call the new Worklog based on the SG03 as "Diddy Kong". Diddy Kong will really put the SG03 through the ultimate ventilation test. It's gonna have some big, huge, super hot components inside. I will report on the case temperatures once Diddy Kong is up and running. Watch out for Diddy Kong. He's coming to rumble in the jungle called LYN soon.

This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 03:28 AM

interesting....i think this is the first case ive seen with a positive pressure setup. most cases out there are more towards negative.

yeah thats a very cool casing you have there uncle you might as well mod it to perfecto and one thing i'll be sure is this casing will be perfect to combine with your ATP3 THE BIG APPLE LIMITED EDITON HehE

Got some review here http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8438&page=1

woooaa
how much u bought it, uncle?

- limitation to install other than stock HSF
- PSU block everthing, cant view inside
- limitation to hav another ROM
- hard to install the CPU suppply rite...!!


- nice HDD slot
- should not b problem to play 8800 SLI( PSU cable will block..??)

just some comment...

hehehhe
waiting for more review..anyway another nice choice for mATX...

Our uncle Ian here does not need to buy them...look at his sig, proudly sponsored by SILVERSTONE

Btw, i just wonder if uncle could do the diddy kong fast. I really wonder how it looks like with some monster parts in it. The case looks so small, and with the Red Giant there, it looks as if there's not even space left for anything. Really curious...

This post has been edited by @meno: May 5 2007, 06:10 AM

hmm i had read the review of this case some where before and found that the case is really small for the given size. Due to that, cooler selection is limited, single slot for gc, vibration from Hdds and hard to manage cables but easily to hide with modular PSU since the entire PSU will cover the view inside the case.

Other than that, the appearance are brilliant, door are solid but a bit not practical since USB port and etc are hidden behind of it.

Anyway still looking forward for Uncle's another master piece of work that will drop our jaws with his special modding technique ... i'm really impatient to see which lucky King kong would be on show.....

thanks for the review Uncle.... horraaw !!!

Sweet but scar'ed by that fugly side vent. A pity

I'm sponsored by Silverstone.









There's not much limitation on CPU HSF. There's actually quite a lot of space there for anything up to about 8cm tall. My Thermalright XP120 shud b a nice fit. Silverstone's own Nitrogon 06 is also a perfect fit. Those 2 HSF r already considered monsters for a SFF case.







Well, I've already bought all the new parts I need for Diddy Kong. Just waiting for the DA750 PSU to arrive. The red PSU is there just to show how the case looks like with a PSU there. The DA750 is gonna b even bigger.







Hehe. I'll try n work sumthin out.

This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 11:42 AM

whoa uncle. its awesome!! freakin unique. i like the way of psu, hdd and floppy mounting. so uncle u just reviews this case or wanna do some mod? u`re sponsor by ss right?

YEAH!!! My guess was correct at the King Kong Part2 ....

wow~ nice m-atx there.

wanna ask, uncle ian, u said tat even the big kilowatt psu can fit in, how bout the ventilations? there seemed to be lots of tiny pigeon holes there, but the problem is, THE CABLES!!! just those cables tat u show with the 600w psu is already scaring me. be it 2x120mm fans, its stil scare the hell out of me. mayb its just coz u haven arrange them or fit the new modulars, but... still... very scary.

p/s: does the casing act as a heat transfer cage?

that's the problem with mATX case. too much visible cacing...
anyway, IMO, Cooler Master Centurion 540 has better ventilation

This is just the review. I will be building it into a monster rig in my new worklog. This SG03 will house my secondary rig. So that I always have 1 rig running while I mod the other.



Well, let's c what happens to the cables once the DA750 comes in.





U cannot compare the Centurion 540 to the SG03. The centurion is a much, much bigger case. If u wanna compare that size then it will be against the TJ08.

This post has been edited by ianho: May 5 2007, 04:00 PM