SilverstoneTek Aluminum Mini-ITX Computer Case with 2x USB 3.0 Front Ports SG06BB-LITE

Pros: It's small. Very elegant. It's well built. Airflow is well thought out.Cons: It's small. Be warned, you can't just order a bunch of components and expect to assemble it without problems. You don't realize how tight this box is until all of the components are inside. And I ordered the box first and studied it and then ordered my components and then found there was no way in hell they would fit without some modding and sacrifices, but on the whole I'm very happy with the final results.My concept was to build an intermediate system for gaming and general use that could be overclocked for fun as well as the ability to easily upgrade as prices drop. My budget was around a thousand. I came in a bit over bit over but not much and partly from ordering a few extras.I chose Ivy Bridge over Haswell because there didn't seem to be any great advantages to merit the higher prices and furthermore as I was looking for an intermediate system no need to pay up or deal with driver glitches. I chose an Intel Core i5-3570K coupled with an Asus P8Z77 mini-itx. As I was going to overclock water cooling seemed the only viable solution with such a small space and also for silence. I opted for a Corsair H60 as I had read other people had successfully installed it along with EVGA 9.5" gpu. GTX650-670 depending on the level of performance.I soon learned that there was no way to install the H60 in such a combination unless you gave up the drive tray along with the 3.5" drive underneath. Most successful installs had used 2.5" SSD which they velcroed to the side of the PSU. An SSD while fast was not an attractived option because of the high price in comparison to HDD's which are currently 1/4th the cost and have reliability issues. If those aren't issues then go SSD with this case. I soon realized that I would have to give up my Western Digital terabyte 3.5" inch drive but realized there is a perfectly good 750 Gig Sata III 2.5" drive which has proven to be surprisingly fast. Windows 7 boots up in signicantly less than half a minute. But I still needed the upper drive tray for the Silverstone DVD/Blu-Ray drive. This meant a horizontal install of the H60 was neccessairy but which clearly was not going to work with Evga 9.5" card. I was flummoxed until I found a solution from Konaboy12 to whom I'm very grateful in the Corsair forum using motorcycle rollerchain. Using 4 links of size #60 rollerchain which you can get cheaply on Amazon you can offset the radiator just enough so that there's room for the graphics card. I suppose another solution would have been to use a shorter card. I was even able to use a push/pull system with fan shrouds. I ditched the stock fan and paired two Corsair SP120 PWM quiet edition fans. I used the ¼" decorative plastic loops as fan shrouds to open up the dead space in the middle of the radiator. They run quietly and so far everything is very cool. I'll post pictures.I also used the Silverstone Tek 450 watt SFX small form factor modular PSU. The cables bump up against the tray and it's tight fit. The whole box is tight. My only real complaint is the HD Audio output should have been a bit longer or provided with an extender so that you can remove the front panel without completely disassembling your box to disconnect it. Hopefully I will be able to buy one somewhere. So far no luck. Any way, other than that, it's a challenging but fun box to build if you're trying to do anything major with it, but it's well worth it when you consider it's elegant small size.

Finding this case was somewhat tedious. I must've looked through hundreds of Mini-ITX cases before I found one that was good quality, nice looking, and most of all, affordable. When I finally received the case, it was love at first sight. The entire exterior is metal, aluminum in front and some sort of steel or alloy throughout the rest of the body. All the buttons are super high quality, and have nice "clicks" to them. No squishy, mushy, cheap buttons here. The case was generally easy to work with. Installing and changing components is quick and easy. In fact, getting the cage to align itself perfectly with the front plate is probably the most difficult part of working with this guy. No joke.The included 120mm case fan in front is basically silent. In fact, I've checked several times just to make sure it's working (it was). My CPU fan is much louder than the case fan. And it definitely keeps everything cool in there, which is great.I do have a few minor nit-picks though. First, this case is still pretty pricey. Second, the version that includes a PSU is even more pricey. Adding my own PSU ran me about $35, but opting for the built-in PSU SG06 case was way out of line. Regardless, it's just one more component you're forced to pony up for. Lastly, those little blue LED's in front that indicate power and HDD activity are very, very bright. I have the PC in my bedroom, which is 14x14feet, and those lights easily light up the room. I can even see the glow as i come up the stairs on the way to my room. Wow. Impressive. And annoying. A little electrical tape does wonders, or you could just opt to not attach the LED headers.Outside of those little issues, I've loved this case and generally wouldn't hesitate ordering it again. In fact, I'm contemplating building another Media Pc for my parents as a gift! This case would even match their entertainment center decor.

This case fits my needs perfectly. It is very compact, but well made. I have a 1 TB 3.5" hard drive, a 2.5" SSD, and a slim (notebook) blue ray drive. There are no other drive bays, but if push came to shove you could get a couple more 2.5" drive in the case. Airflow is very good with a very quite case fan. Be advised that you will need a SFX (Micro ATX) power supply. Additionally, you have to buy a slim optical drive, so your optical drive choices are limited. Still, it is a very good looking case that fits in my entertainment stand perfectly. I am very happy with this case.

Very impressive case. I'm using it to house my firewall. It has limited hard drive space however. You can cram no more than two: An SSD drive and a 2.5" drive, OR one 3.5" drive. I honestly bought it for the optical drive slot. I had a legacy optical drive I wanted to make use of.