SilverStone Sugo SG08 Mini-ITX Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on May 13, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- SilverStone
Noise and Thermal Testing
I've mentioned before that when testing cases, I usually have a decent idea of how things are going to work out. That's a little less obvious with the SilverStone Sugo SG08. I think it's reasonable to expect that the CPU is going to run unbelievably cool with the 180mm fan bearing down on it, but the GPU has no active airflow outside of its own cooler. Smaller enclosures oftentimes also use the actual bulk of the video card to cordon off individual cooling regions, and that may very well happen here.
The Sugo SG08 was tested with the fan at both its low and high settings, and I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I say the high setting is largely unnecessary.
Ambient temperatures during testing hovered around 23C.
Exactly like I said, the CPU thermals are pretty tough to beat. This was never going to be an issue with the SG08. It's worth noting that a small pocket of heat can build around the drive cage, though; there's no active airflow in that region either, just ventilation. For the most part I doubt that could ever become a serious issue; external hard drives are basically sold shipping in heat coffins and still work reasonably well.
Like I said, basically no reason to run the SG08's fan at high speed, at least in our stock configuration. At low, the SG08 isn't inaudible, but it's very pleasantly quiet.
Adding a low power GeForce to the equation does actually change things a little bit, though.
Low fan speed means sacrificing roughly a degree or two for much quieter acoustics, so that's not really a big deal. We do start to see at least a little separation in our results, and the extra heat generated from the video card starts to leak back into that storage pocket.
Our normally quiet GTS 450 Eco makes its presence a bit more readily known. Noise levels are still low, but one of the sacrifices made with the SG08 is that there's virtually nothing between you and the cooling fan on the graphics card.
At this point I'm actually kind of amused by the cooling system in the SG08. Virtually nothing doing on the GPU side, leading to some high but still workable temperatures, while the CPU still runs a beefy seven degrees cooler than our previous reigning champion, the BitFenix Prodigy.
Despite the high GPU temperatures, the SG08 is still one of the quietest Mini-ITX cases when the fan is set to low. That low setting seems to be just plain ideal, even oddly producing slightly better temperatures on the graphics card.
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gandergray - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
The NCase M1 looks like it is well designed. It may become a top choice for enthusiasts who are building small form factor performance oriented computers.Mr Perfect - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Any idea if the included PSU is Haswell compatible?Also, side note here, but didn't there used to be a post title box?
karasaj - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
I would be astounded if it wasn't.DanNeely - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
A lot of current PSUs aren't. Haswell is bringing ultra low power sleep states from mobile computing to the desktop. This potentially drops 12V current draw to levels much lower than was possible with current chips, and a lot of PSUs have minimum loads higher than what it can drop to (to make things more fun; this number isn't normally published). The expectation is that most LGA1150 mobos will ship with the deep sleep states disabled in UEFI.rburnham - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
This is a pretty neat little case. I am using a Bitfenix Prodigy case, and the one problem I ran into with that is the same one that is mentioned here regarding video card fan noise. In both cases, the fan points outward, with air being pushed through the holes in the side panel. My Radeon 6850 in the Prodigy is louder at full load than I prefer.I love the idea of a mini ITX setup. I plan to build on mini ITX boards going forward. I have yet to find the perfect case, but the Prodigy is pretty good and the SG08 seems like a great candidate.
KLC - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
This isn't a PC case, with all of the ventilation it's more like a PC doily. I'm still looking for the best case for my next build which will be mini ITX. It will be Haswell and will run integrated graphics so I have no need for a big, long shoebox that can fit a monster GPU. It could have an optical disk but doesn't have to. It will have an OS SSD and be connected to a home server for storage. I want something small and quiet. Still looking.jtd871 - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
KLC,You should check out Thin-Mini-ITX or NUC (both Intel "standards") builds for what you describe. As lots of Haswell SKUs will be soldered onto the mobo, I suspect Intel will produce a variety of 'embedded'-style products to keep their "standards" going.
However, given Intel's penchant for squeezing every last $ out of their processors, you may be better served by going with one of these very small form factors on low-TDP Ivy Bridge.
KLC - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
NUC is intriguing, but like you said, Intel is squeezing its customers hard on that one. I forgot to add a third qualification, it needs to accept standard sized parts so I can purchase anything on the open market. You're right, I may end up with an Ivy Bridge CPU after looking at what Haswell offers.lordmocha - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
This is my case! I have an Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe, Asus Direct CU II 660, 2.5" SSD, 2.5" HDD, Corsair H60 Cooler with 2 Noctua 120mm.The case is dead silent with the nocuta fans and the direct cu ii. The cable management can be annoying and buying a modular psu to replace it is nice but then you'll have a wasted psu..
I think the M1 Ncase looks great and plan to migrate to that when it comes out - support their kickstarter guys cause what they are managing to do is awesome!
lopri - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Excellent review very clear writing. Thank you for valuable evaluation I was looking to give another shot at mini ITX build.