Contents
Conclusion
My overall impression of this case is still good. For decent office build, and considering that this machine will use only around ~80W, I think it is just fine for my purposes. But I do also have to take into consideration to whom they’re marketing this product to. Even though this is my first such small case that I’ve taken a detailed look at, I still found some flaws which I think more modern units wouldn’t have had. These may have seemed like only minor things four years ago, but now the competition is stronger and there is much more to select from. Firstly, the cooling is not that great for more powerful builds, and I would really not try to squeeze more than 300 W into the SG06 (or any similarly-shaped Sugo enclosure for that matter). And even then, not without carefully considering which components would be best suited for the cooling environment. Additionally, I believe that it would be prudent to replace the provided fan with something that is not only also silent, but can also move a reasonable amount of air. This one is silent, but it’s cooling capabilities aren’t exactly inspiring.
As for the overall cooling, as I stated, I suggest thinking carefully about it when you choose the components. For example, the motherboard I used had the RAM banks on left side (instead of the front side), which meant that at least with the cooler I used, most of the airflow was blocked. Some of those larger coolers with a fan that blows down on all the components including RAM may be a better choice in this case. Or perhaps a motherboard with RAM slots in a different position. And if you opt for a standard heatsink which blows the air to left or right side (most AMD boxes, at least the older ones), it gets complicated once you install a graphics card, as one of the sides gets blocked by the card, which then means that the CPU cooler can only blow hot air to the other side (where it ultimately exhausts through the top).
Also, without a graphics card installed, you can use some extra fans as you will have the space for them. But it will take some extra effort, as Silverstone didn’t provide any direct mounting positions. And with the front fan pushing air in, you basically have too much air pressure in the case, which can lead to the fresh intake air being pushed out through the perforations on the right side (as it is the least path of resistance). I think it would have been nice if Silverstone provided some kind of cover for those holes on the right side which you would then remove if you wanted to install a videocard. Much like how some other cases provide covers for top-mounted fan positions. Because a system with too much internal air pressure isn’t effective, because the fresh air will never reach the destined area where it needs to get to in order to cool the component.
That is why I dislike all these unnecessary holes everywhere. And the same is with a system that has too much negative pressure – as it then sucks i excessive dust from all the crevices. So basically, extra perforations are almost always bad in my opinion. This model takes the worst design elements from all other cases, as it is almost entirely open-frame cooled. This means that it can really only support a limited amount of power dissipation inside while keeping everything sufficiently cooled at a reasonable noise level. Sure, miniaturization is a good thing, but not at the expense of sacrificing component lifespan or the comfort of the user (with excessive noise). Still, even compared to those overpriced “gaming notebooks”, this framework can support an equivalent amount of processing power while maintaining a much longer lifespan, and it has lower noise and it should cost significantly less. And it still is relatively small.
I also noticed this poor paint quality. I am not sure if the paint was already scratched or I did it simply by removing that drive holder. This was for both Sugo SG06s I had. But the paint falls off this easily only after a short time? And this isn’t the only occurrence. there were some plastic-metal joints, that fell off in different places of the case. I mean, this case is not really that cheap, considering how small it is. For such price you can get much larger half-decent towers! Another stupid idea from Silverstone was to provide mostly those screws with the bumps on the underside of the head. They intended that you use these to mount both the PSU and the cover. I understand that it’s supposed to act as a sort of a grip, to grip into the metal and thus stay in place more firmly, but think of the effect that this can have on the paint if it’s screwed in and out a few times. Not to mention that I’ve personally not seen many cases where the ordinary ones that are flat on the underside came loose.
So all things considered, I still think these cases are good, but for the current price it is no bargain. For what they’re asking, they may be considered somewhat expensive for office use (where cases that cost half the price are often acceptable).
 Pros |
+ small with elegant, conservative appearance + optical drive position + support for long graphics cards |
 Cons |
− poor painting quality − strange drive bays with complicated instalation − front panel and dust filter mounting system − limited cooling capability − no SATA power adapter provided − not entirely cheap |
 Be aware of… |
/?\ scratching it using provided screws /?\ the need for SATA adapter (for slim optical drive) |
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