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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karasaj - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Thanks for the review! Fitting a 117mm HSF seems so strange, when 120mm could have accommodated for so many more.I've been trying to decide lately on a new build that I need to be portable. I'm aiming to fit something like a GTX 660 or smaller in it, and trying to decide between a Silverstone Sugo SG05 or the Fractal Design Node 304. Any opinions?
Also, it would be awesome if you could review the Arc Midi R2! It seems to be getting great reviews everywhere. Any plans to do so?
vanwazltoff - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link
i would go with the node 304, i bought one and with a bit of patience you can have a really clean cable management job inside of oneGrok42 - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Great review, I almost purchased this case for my last build but it was hard to find good reviews for it or any of the other mITX cases I was looking at. Your review has me wondering if I should have used this case for the i7 3770k, GeForce 660 TI, 840 Pro SSD, 16GB workstation. I am happy with the Lian Li Q25B I picked but it's a good 30% bigger than the SG08. The larger space plus having no external bays is used to support a normal but short ATX PSU and 10 internal drive bays. I don't need all that drive space but I think I would still pick the Q25B because it doesn't have any external bays which makes for a much nicer build all around.CloudFire - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
I'm still waiting on Corsair to enter the mini-itx market. I really dig the Bitfenix Prodigy case but I can't really stand the handles (aesthetically wise) but the case itself is genius. Corsair, if you're reading this, please make a case somewhere between the size of this SG08 and the Prodigy, while having the build/quality look of your 300R, I would hop on that so fast.Gigaplex - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
I'm actually impressed the reset button is on the back. It's a button that shouldn't be used often, and I'm routinely accidentally hitting the reset button on my Prodigy when reaching for the power button.Gigaplex - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Not sure why my comment ended up as a reply to this post...DanNeely - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
A recessed reset button avoids the accidental press problem while keeping the button readily accessible when needed and avoiding cable routing/snarl problems.rburnham - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
I run into the same problem with the Prodigy. I feel like it's a good case, but not great. A revision would be great.lever_age - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
I think it's worth a mention that Silverstone somewhat recently released the SG05-LITE in white and black. It's SG05, but they don't include the SFX power supply, and it sells for $40 (!) on Newegg. I don't know of any other differences.SG08 certainly knows how to build upon the SG05's performance, but at that cost...
mcnabney - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
Yeah, $40 case, $160 power supply. But the rubes need fleecing...