SilverStone Sugo SG09 Case Review: Someone at SilverStone Loves Tetris
by Dustin Sklavos on October 20, 2012 6:35 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- MicroATX
Conclusion: Great Potential, But Needs Care
I've typically been of the opinion that for builders, Corsair cases are generally novice level while more experienced users can try their luck with SilverStone's more specialized enclosures. That continues to be true with the Sugo SG09, where it's clear to me that while the case is fine for a fairly general build, it needs a little more care to really shine.
Let's hit the positives first. The Sugo SG09 is able to cram a substantial amount of power in a very compact space, and not only that, it can do so without producing serious heat issues. I have reservations about the use of substantial amounts of mechanical storage in the space behind the motherboard tray (as well as reservations about even using a 3.5" drive in general), but for a couple of smaller drives the temperatures should be perfectly reasonable and well below drive spec. At the same time, the top intake fan, even at low speed, does an incredible job of keeping the CPU cool. Overclockers looking for a great case to work with may be surprised to hear me recommend the SG09, but there you have it. Graphics cooling performance is competitive at best, but I suspect the SG09 may benefit more from a graphics card with a blower style cooler.
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Of course, that gets into the SG09's essential "flaw." Building quibbles mentioned previously notwithstanding, the SG09 really needs you to cherry pick components to perform at its best. I think that makes it an excellent choice for boutiques looking to offer a distinctive build, but end users looking to build will have a slightly tougher time. Slot-loading slimline optical drives can be a pain to source for a reasonable price, and there's the added expense of having to use 2.5" drives as well. You'll also want to get a SilverStone modular PSU like the one I tested with here along with the shorter cable kit, and a fan controller is most definitely in order to get the most out of the SG09. As you can see, these things add up.
When all is said and done, though, I'm convinced you can put together a pretty awesome build with the SG09, and SilverStone has done a great job engineering this case for performance. I don't have the price tag on hand just yet (will update when I get it), but if it comes in at less than $100 it'll at least be competitive despite the allowances you should ideally make for it in your component selection. They seem to be pretty proud of the SG09 and it's easy to see why. Recommended.
Update: SilverStone let me know the SG09 is running $99, which is totally reasonable.
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lmcd - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
It's hitting $100 pretty much everywhere...lmcd - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
This looks like the perfect case for me: it's nice and compact but I don't have to deal with ITX.* Nice cooling for maybe even CF, and I don't mind noise since I tend to game loudly. As for fans, I'll make sure my nicely-sized mATX board has enough fan headers; shouldn't be too hard. One optical drive is perfect and I don't mind spending a bit extra on it later (might not get it initially though) and will use a cheap external in the meantime (note: a cheap external is around $30 and so the "unbearable" slim drive can easily be mitigated this way).*ITX boards with wireless built in tend to be expensive and late to the market, and I need a wireless card, but want discrete graphics. As such, ITX is a no-go for me.
extide - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
Check out the ASRock Z77 M-ITX board. It's pretty sweet IMHO and I am dying to do a build with one :)lmcd - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
I'm actually looking at this for my next build, which should be around the time of Haswell. And I'm interested in maybe even dual-GPU with this case (two 7850-equivalents).piroroadkill - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
Oh dear.If you need a premium microATX case, surely there's only one choice, the Fractal Design Define Mini..
Orvtrebor - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
I can't believe this is the final product....Hideous.
Someone on another forum that starts with an [H] drew an awesome modified version of this case when the prototype was first shown. Pretty sure it's in the SFF forum.
It is literally 10x better than this mess.
dave1_nyc - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
I forget the model, but several years ago there was one of the Sugo cases that I thought was so nice I was just looking for some reason to build in it, either in the all aluminum version or the steel-with-an-aluminum-front version.But honestly, could this thing *be* any uglier.
joos2000 - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
There are some rather obvious errors in your reasoning, at least to me.
First of all, if you are even remotely interested in building a small system, then you are obviously looking at putting the smallest components in there. Having a full height disc player more than doubles, probably triples the volume requirement in the box for what is, in most cases, a completely redundant device in a modern system. So all of a sudden, you go against your requirement of portability and minimalism so you can save a buck on an optical drive? How does that make any sense at all?
I wouldn't be all surprised if most of the builds based on this box will be without a DVD/BR all together. And yes, I am presuming that pretty much all of the builds based on this case will be LAN gaming systems since it is far, far to ugly to have next to your telly in the living room.
And when did PC games come delivered in blu-rays anyway? Pretty much all PC games come on DVD's still, so paying through the nose for a blu-ray player for a LAN box just doesn't make sense. At all.
That's my impression anyway and why I think Silverstone have made the right decision both in slimline form factor and skipping blu-ray's for their gaming systems.
EnzoFX - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
My thoughts exactly as summarized in my original comment =P.tzhu07 - Sunday, October 21, 2012 - link
Really tacky and plasticty looking. I'll definitely be sticking with Fractal Design cases.