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
Conclusion: Still a Strong Contender
Having put the SilverStone Sugo SG05 through it's paces, I can see why our SilverStone rep was so interested in having us take a look at it, especially on the heels of our other Mini-ITX reviews. The SG05 has been around for a little while, but you can argue that it's still among the best at what it does. The next smallest case we've reviewed is the Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced, a case which supports larger components and also has a cheaper sticker price. Both of these things make it an appealing alternative, at least at first, but what happens when we break things down?
First of all, once you factor in the price of a power supply (because remember, the SG05 includes one and the Elite 120 Advanced does not), the difference drops to about $20. Also consider that given the size of these enclosures, there's no real benefit to getting a power supply that supports more than 450W since using components that are going to need as much or more than that means generating more heat than the Elite 120 Advanced is probably capable of handling. Really the major benefits of the Elite 120 Advanced are the full size optical drive bay and the increased capacity for storage; if those things are important to you, then your decision is made, but keep in mind a slimline blu-ray reader/DVD writer combo drive can be had for not much more than a full size one if you're willing to chance eBay.
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The fact is, the SG05 offers incredibly compelling performance and a solid value for the money. I think there are still a few quirks with the design (the drive caddies probably need an overhaul), but it holds up remarkably well for a three year old, incrementally-updated enclosure. Just like SilverStone's enormous FT02, sometimes a design is so right on the first try that not a whole lot really needs to be done to improve it. That seems to be true here, and at less than $120 for a complete enclosure (with quality power supply), it's hard not to recommend it. If you're looking to do a Mini-ITX build and want something smaller than the BitFenix Prodigy, shortlist the SG05.
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doctormonroe - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
Silverstone have already released a SFF PSU that is 80 Plus Gold certified:http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=342
Jackattak - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
By the gods that's one hot little number, and modular to boot! I looked it up on Newegg and they're selling it for $99USD right meow!http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17...
fr500 - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
The 450w power supply does get noisy. It's a very interesting case, my build is a few years old now and still going strong but it's been considerably modified over the years.I bought the original with the 300w PSU, had an i5 760 and a GTS250 back then. When I wanted to upgrade GPU the ST450-SF wasn't out so I went for a modular ATX PSU. A corsair H50 and a GTX570HD
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Pictures/Photos/DS...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Pictures/Photos/DS...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Pictures/Photos/DS...
Still going strong, cool and quiet behind my TV (CPU idles at 27c and gets to 50 under load)
fr500 - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
Had to give up the 3.5" bay for the H50 and the optical & 2.5" bay for the PSU, then I fitted 500GB laptop HDD and a 60GB SSD to the botton on the case and problem solved.DanNeely - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Silverstone has several other variants of the Sugo case with 600W PSUs. Using one of them should kill the PSU noise since anything smaller than a dual GPU card is unlikely to put enough load on it to ramp the fans above idle.fr500 - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Mine is not noisy :) it has an ATX PSU as you can see in the picturesImSpartacus - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
"The great thing about reviewing these Mini-ITX cases is that oftentimes there just isn't a whole lot to them,"Lol! I love hearing little reviewer-centric quips like that.
...so I guess this means you have time to do even MORE reviews, eh?
philipma1957 - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
The coolermaster has some good points, but it needed endless mods. I pull the cheesy face plate off it and mounted an aluminum grill, It added air but the case needs custom cables to allow for proper airflow. So if you want a nice machine with the cooker master be prepared to break out a lot of tools. I am still playing with it.When I am done It will have an;
i7 3770k
a 256gb msata ssd
a full size samsung blu ray
a full size seasonic psu
a geforce gtx 670
all noctua fans .
It will be nice when I am done but it is not worth the effort.
My guess is this silverstone is better by far in terms of ease of assembly
owned66 - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
i built one a while agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXOl7TKVwLM
Daniel Egger - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
Actually there's a *very* good reason to go with what you consider an unworthy 300W PSU: Better power efficiency at low power usage. Since it is almost impossible to cram equipment for 300W max consumption into such a case and even that is much more likely to run at <20% power utilisation rather than 80% it simply does not make any sense to have >300W PSU in a mini-ITX case.