Silverstone entered the case market with only a few products last year. Since last year, Silverstone has increased their product line significantly and what’s even more important to us, as consumers, is that Silverstone listens to what consumers want and work accordingly on their next product revisions. If you recall, we analyzed Silverstone’s SST-LC01 case last year, which was impressive, but it lacked the physical impressiveness that one would want in a HTPC case.

Silverstone, since then, has released quite a few models based on the "SST" line. Today we will be taking a look at the second model, SST-LC02, of the "SST" line. The first thing you will notice is the complete overhaul of the case design and the color-scheme. We will further break down these details as we proceed through the analysis. Let’s begin…

Accessories:

The user’s manual is very thorough and detailed. It explains the functionality of the riser cards and the proprietary design that you will have to get used to. Silverstone has done an impressive job with outlining and explaining the features of the SST-LC02 case.

We will examine the functionality of the riser cards and how they work later in this analysis.

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Specifications:

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Card Risers: Silverstone Improves Functionality

Displayed below is the information we received from Silverstone regarding the workings of their riser cards. What you will notice throughout this evaluation is that working with this case is not all that easy. It is not a matter of simply installing the components; instead the installation process requires some specialized components and free time.

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Product Analysis:

One of the first things that Silverstone did with this case is they reduced the height. This makes the case look stylish and it can easily be placed near the rest of the Home Entertainment System. As stated previously, Silverstone used a light color scheme to add a delicate appeal to the case. The SST-LC02 model is available in both black and silver.

The front panel of the case consists of a slim CD-Rom drive bay and the power button. This is where the "special components needed" part comes in. In order to make the design sleek, Silverstone had to compromise somewhere. As it would look odd to have a standard 5.25" drive bay in the front, the company decided to use a notebook-like design by using a slim CD-Rom. The tough part for you is to get a hold of a slim drive at a resonable price. A quick search on Pricewatch revealed the prices to be upwards of $50.00 at minimum.

The power button is accompanied by two LED lights. The presentation of the area around the power button and the LED lights is all well and good, but it is missing a reset button. It is understandable that Silverstone might have tried to given this case a more professional and a strictly HTPC look, but they must keep in mind that many users will choose this case for other purposes, especially when Silverstone lists this case to be compatible with a standard ATX motherboard.

You will also notice the ventilation holes that are right beside the ports. The same amount of ventilation holes are located on the right side as well. Besides these ventilation holes on the opposite sides, that’s all the air circulation this system will get. Silverstone could’ve used the top panel for ventilation purposes, but in order to keep the case attractive, they did not do so. We will get more into the cooling section further in this analysis.

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Product Analysis Continued:

The back panel contains two expansion slots, a standard I/O shield, and a power plug for the power supply. Notice the poor cooling; heat can only exit the case via the little openings on the side panels. Another thing the SST-LC02 lacks is the screwless design. While it is not the most important feature, it is recommended to flow with the rest of the market.

As you remove the top panel of the SST-LC02 case, you will encounter the drive plate. At the top left corner is where the slim CD-Rom drive will go while the bottom right corner will hold the one hard disk drive. As you can see, there is only one 3.5" hidden drive bay for the hard disk drive. Yet again, unless you are willing to invest in a larger sized hard drive, the space will cause an issue.

Above shown is a diagram that illustrates the basic functionality of the drive plate and how it fits in the case.

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Product Analysis Continued:

Once we removed the top plate, the rest of the case layout is pretty self-explanitory. The power supply is located on the left with the wires meeting in the center from both sides.

The power supply unit that is pre-installed in this case uses a special design, which means you can’t install a replacement to increase the power throughput. Thankfully, the power supply has its own fan, but it doesn’t necesarily means that it won’t add to the already circulating heat inside the case. The next thing that makes this case inappropriate for standard ATX systems is the power; 220W. If you recall our Zalman 400W power supply unit analysis, you will notice that we were skeptical about recommending it. The simple
reason is the increased wattage being used by today’s microprocessors, video cards, and other critical components. 

The next cuprit to adding more heat in the case is the barrage of wires from the I/O ports and the power supply. Even a small amount of wires can cause wire management and heat issues in this particular case.

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Final Words…

Let’s take a step-by-step look at what we found throughout this analysis. We highly appreciate the physical attractiveness; including the color-scheme and the small and compact design of the case. The accessories included are also valuable to the overall package.

Now let’s bring heat dissipation into play; since Silverstone recommends this case for standard ATX motherboards and standard components, it was obvious to improve the design for more air flow. The standard system can include Intel’s Prescott microprocessor and video cards that need special cooling; not to mention the heat from the hard disk drive and the motherboard itself (North and South Bridge). It is not possible to add system fans to try to improve cooling. Basically, a hefty heatsink on the Prescott processor will circulate the heat throughout the case. It is definite that a standard ATX system will not be suitable for this case. It is also possible that a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC may not work in this case as well. Those of you who are thinking about overclocking your systems can take the SST-LCO2 case completely out of the equation.

After taking out the possibilities of the standard ATX system and even a standard Micro-ATX system, all we are left with is VIA’s Mini-ATX solutions. The use of C3 microprocessor combined with a fairly cool motherboard may work quite well in this enviornment. Another thing to keep in mind is that the standard ATX motherboard may be tough to fit inside this case.

The power supply unit is not strong enough, power wise, to keep a stable standard ATX system. It is far too mediocre to be able to support the latest generation of microprocessors and graphics adapters; not to mention the plethora of wires that are homed in this case. It will too difficult for users to properly manage the wires to try to improve heat dissipation.

The riser cards were certainly appreciated, but it does mean that those of you with a dual-slot video card will have problems with this case; in terms of both cooling and placement.

The SST-LC02 case retails around $150.00. The price is much too high for a HTPC case and not to mention the fact that standard ATX cases from Thermaltake and Cooler Master can easily be purchased for a much lower price. $150.00 won’t be the final price for many users; keep in mind that if you don’t have a slim CD-Rom drive or a bigger sized hard drive for storage, you will be investing in them as well. The SST-LC02 may end up costing much more than one can expect.

Enthusiasts/Overclockers with a standard ATX system or a Small Form Factor system may want to look somewhere other than Silverstone’s SST-LC02 model. However, if you own one of VIA’s Mini solutions, you may want to give this case some thought assuming that price is off no essence to you.