Silverstone GD04 HTPC case from the Grandia Series

Author: Jouni 'Jipa' Vasama Published: 30.10.2009 Manufacturer: Silverstone Product Group: System enclosures In English Suomeksi

GD04 - External looks

Right off the box one can easily see the difference in depth compared to the previous cases we've reviewed. From all the previous HTPC-cases we've seen only the GMC AVC-S7 comes even close, and even the tiny S7 is a tad longer. I think that this feature alone is enough for the GD04 to get the attention of many HTPC-buyers.

The front panel is made from a thick aluminum panel and has a nice brushed finish to it. Starting from the left there's a large Silverstone-logo, front panel connectors including two USBs, and the audio connectors. On the right end of the panel there's the single drive bay for a 5,25" optical drive, and large power- and reset buttons. There's also a small power led lurking next to the buttons.

The GD03 we reviewed just a while ago got some minus points for the poor cooling, especially on the hard drives. This time around Silverstone has gone all out with the cooling and the right side panel is almost entirely covered by the two 120 mm fans that suck cold air into the case.

There's also some cooling on the left side panel, but this time there's only a single 120 mm fan. There's also mounting holes for a 80 mm case fan, and swapping this fan for a smaller one might be needed when a very long power supply is used. Judging by these fans, the case relies on positive pressure for cooling.

Looking at the rear panel, there's lots of ventilation grills. Even without fans these holes will act as exhaust holes as there are three 120 mm fans pushing air into the case and other than the rear panel there's not much ventilation holes. It's a micro-ATX case so there's only four card slots on the normal place, and one additional above where the ATX powersupply will get installed. This additional one may come handy with all those additional USB-headers and such, that only use the card slots for mounting.

On the bottom there's one more 120 mm fan hole, which is located right under where the power supply gets mounted. Other than that there are just the usual set of two nice looking feet on the front corners of the case and three more soft rubber feet supporting the case elsewhere.

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