SilverStone Sugo SG05: The Mini-ITX Standard Bearer
by Dustin Sklavos on August 19, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- SilverStone
- Mini ITX
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- HTPC
Noise and Thermal Testing, IGP
I'll admit I had some reservations about the cooling potential of the SilverStone Sugo SG05. While the 120mm intake fan more or less has a straight shot to the back of the case, the power supply comes installed facing downward (meaning the intake potentially competes with the CPU's heatsink), and the inevitable cable spaghetti may interfere with getting that air to the processor. As it turns out, I didn't have a whole lot to worry about.
Noise and thermal testing for the SG05 was done with ambient temperatures between 25C and 26C; it's pretty hot in California right now, and I can't exactly run the air conditioner during testing (just before and after).
The SSD is essentially passively cooled by being next to a giant vent, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. Meanwhile the airflow of the SG05 is able to produce excellent thermal results for the CPU; Cooler Master's Elite 120 may have a 120mm intake fan as well, but that fan is blocked by both the front ventilation design and the drive cage behind it. The SG05's intake has much less interference.
Fan speed is also quite good; the SG05 has a reasonable amount of headroom. Keep in mind that the only two cases beating it in thermal performance are both a good amount larger; in terms of volume the Prodigy is nearly three times the size of the SG05.
That copious size has another benefit for BitFenix's enclosure, though: it keeps the noise down. The SG05 runs pretty quietly, though, and an enterprising user could probably get noise levels lower by using a quieter intake fan as well as more aggressive fan control on the CPU's heatsink/fan unit. In fact, the cooler we use for testing has a switch on it for exactly that purpose.
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cjs150 - Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - link
That is one beautiful creation. Not convinced by the reservoir location or the carbon fibre but still beautiful.Just shows Water cooling and mini itx go together.
geniekid - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
In my opinion (yours may vary), not being able to use a power supply of my choice is a deal breaker. Maybe one day the standard size of components like power supplies and graphics cards will go down to where I'm comfortable with Mini-ITX, but until then, micro ATX is the lowest I'm willing to go for a gaming rig. HTPC...okay, you got me there :)Zap - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
You can easily swap out the PSU. It is a standard "SFX" size that you can find replacements for at Newegg and other popular retailers.Besides the two Silverstone PSUs, FSP (who makes them for Silverstone) makes these PSUs in 300/400/450 wattages. Heck, Seasonic makes them in 300/350W. Silverstone has a new one that is 450W (maybe made by Enhance) but fully modular and 80Plus Gold!!! I used to own an Enermax 320W. SPI (Sparkle, part of FSP) has 300/350W versions. Some of these companies such as SPI/FSP also make lower wattage units down to 180W, but AFAIK those are older and less efficient designs.
There are also a bunch of lesser quality units on the market from companies like SilenX, Ultra, Apex, Athena Power, etc. but I wouldn't normally use them.
LostBeacon - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
I've owned the USB 2.0 variant for 2 years and the 450W PSU is very quiet, same for the front 120 mm fan. I would deinitely recommend for a SFF PC build. I am using a Sandy Bridge corei3 with a 60 GB SSD, a 500 GB HDD, and a slim ODD.JohnMD1022 - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
20-30 sec per photo, with Photoshop Elements or similar would make a world of difference.I used version 2.0 and adjusted the Brightness/Contrast.
See the difference:
http://www.picpaste.com/Large__2_of_14__575px-dNTn...
hasseb64 - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
- Remove external bay- Add a 250W GOLD PSU
- Add 1 or 2 [2,5"-3.5] internals
And we have a winner!
Sm0kes - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Thanks for the great review! I actually just pulled the trigger on a SB08 in hopes that it does a better job with noise / temps (and aesthetics). It'll be interesting to see how it compares with a Z77 + 3750k + 660Ti.Also, I wanted to echo the comment about creating a SFF forum section that is separate from laptops. It would be nice to try and get some more discussion going around these types of builds without being buried.
Nuschwander420 - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - link
Can be had for about $20.Also a complete system based on this chassis can be had for $420- way beyond. This is the smallest possible system that can support a dual slot GPU! Look up the PICS for the SG05-bb on Xoxide.com or on google and you will find it next to a 12oz pop can. Small! I can't wait to build this pc with a Corsair H60 watercooler,GtX 660 ti,Core i7 3770k,Asrock z77 mini itx, and 16 gb of Corsair Vengence Ram.
HardwareDufus - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - link
Think I just found my next case.... I'll tweak the drive caddy a bit to sling another 2.5drive under the other one..HardwareDufus - Saturday, November 24, 2012 - link
Heres' what I have:SG05BB case...
I7-3770k CPU
Asus P8z77i-Deluxe motherboard
OCZ Vertex4 Sata3(6G) 256GB SSD (2.5")
Seagate Hybrid HD (4GB SSD w/ 500GB 7200) (2.5")
I really like this case.. I'll harp on two things that could use work..but other than that...fine case!
wish harddive mounting were more flexible... lot of extra work and wasted space to use two 2.5 drives...like I have in my setup.... I will get out a dremel and rivit gone..and rework this someday... for now.. I put the SSD in the native 2.5" space... then I used the adapter that came with the SSD to mount the 2.5" HD in the 3.5" space... again cumbersome, time consuming and a waste of steel and space.
The front 120mm fan is louder than I would expect at slow speeds.. I will yank this for a quieter model.
Again.. I like this case... I'm at 4.225Ghz on all 4 cores of the I7, 1250Mhz on the built in HD4000 IGP and at DDR2400 (1200Mhz) on the 16GB of memory. Stock cooling... stock intel hsf and stock silverstone case fan...