SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

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Lawrence Lee
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SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Lawrence Lee » Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:55 pm


Belmonte
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Belmonte » Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:30 am

I bought this case recently. I'm used to Antec build quality, so when I got this case it seemed flimsy to me. But I made some modifications and now I'm happy with it. This is what I did:
I sticked vinyl tiles to the side panels to make them heavier. The panels are really thin, they can be bent easily.
I replaced the stock fans with 2 Scythe SY1225SL12M (one intake, one outtake), softmounted. They spin at around 700 rpm.
I replaced the hard drive cage with a Sharkoon no-vibe fixer III. The downside of this is that I only can have 1 harddisk. I have a SSD in one of the 5.25" slots, and I have no need for more disks.

On a possitive note, this case is really user friendly. Routing the cables was easy, and it looks clean. On top of that, for me this case is not as pretty as the Fractal Design Mini, or the Lian Li V354, but I'm not sure hard disks can be suspended in those.

Abula
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Abula » Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:51 am

While i dont own the PS07, i do own a TJ08-E, from the review,
It's impossible to talk about the SilverStone Precision PS07 without comparing it to the Temjin TJ08-E. The Temjin is superior in both thermal and acoustic performance thanks to its larger, better sounding stock fan, and its more direct intake vent.
In my experience, the TJ08-E frontal fan is noisy at full rpm, even at low settings (by the switch it comes with), 900rpm is very noticeble, droping it below 600rpm is where it starts to become tolerable, but to be very quiet you need to drop them around 300rpm. Personally i dont think the FM181 is a good fan, but thats just my personal experience with 1 TJ08-E, i would prefer twin 120mm as there are much more options out there to swap.

bozar
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by bozar » Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:54 am

Disappointing performance, the vents must be ridiculously restrictive. Two strong 120 mm fans shouldn't perform this badly. Up for modding?

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by rpsgc » Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:41 pm

Regarding the front fans, I think you should add a note in the review because while the case you tested (PS07W) has 1200rpm fans, the regular version (PS07B) has 950rpm fans.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by kuzzia » Fri Jul 06, 2012 2:21 pm

Abula wrote:i would prefer twin 120mm as there are much more options out there to swap.
This is probably the main reason I wouldn't recommend the Temjin TJ08-E. If one doesn't find the 180 mm fan quiet enough, even when undervolted, then you're scre...

On a side note, I would install a rear exhaust fan to remove the heat coming from the CPU. I wouldn't put my hard drive in the hard drive bay because it doesn't cope well with vibration. So if I were to buy the PS07, I would place the fan of the CPU cooler as a push-fan, where it belongs. These two things would make the thermal performance more acceptable than the results in the review.

Luke M
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Luke M » Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:39 pm

kuzzia wrote:
Abula wrote:i would prefer twin 120mm as there are much more options out there to swap.
This is probably the main reason I wouldn't recommend the Temjin TJ08-E. If one doesn't find the 180 mm fan quiet enough, even when undervolted, then you're scre...
You can replace the 180mm fan with a 140mm. Or remove it and add a 120mm rear fan.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:34 am

Despite the shortcomings (some of which can probably be alleviated or even corrected with modding), I'm glad to see another small case join the ranks - especially one with an alternative, i.e. non-black, colour scheme.

Olaf van der Spek
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:25 am

Belmonte wrote: I replaced the stock fans with 2 Scythe SY1225SL12M (one intake, one outtake), softmounted. They spin at around 700 rpm.
Wouldn't two intakes make more sense?
Last edited by Olaf van der Spek on Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:32 am

but the hard drive cage is still a mess.
Why didn't you remove it and mount the HDD in the bottom bay or in one of the 5.25" bays?

Silverstone should drop the HDD cage, drop one 5.25" bay and use 140mm fans.

Belmonte
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Belmonte » Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:06 am

Olaf van der Spek wrote:
Belmonte wrote: I replaced the stock fans with 2 Scythe SY1225SL12M (one intake, one outtake), softmounted. They spin at around 700 rpm.
Wouldn't two intakes make more sense?

Why would you do that? The Idea for me was creating an air flow from the front to the back. I also have a top-down heatsink (Noctua NH-C12P SE14), so to me it looked like a good idea having a fan at the back as an exhaust.

Olaf van der Spek
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:58 am

Belmonte wrote:Why would you do that? The Idea for me was creating an air flow from the front to the back. I also have a top-down heatsink (Noctua NH-C12P SE14), so to me it looked like a good idea having a fan at the back as an exhaust.
AFAIK fans in series move less air than fans in parallel. And air that's taken in will be exhausted anyway.

notquitequiet
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by notquitequiet » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:22 am

I just bought one of these too. Very flimsy feeling from the factory compared to Antec cases. I put some sound insulation in mine and doubled the weight (feels like it). I'm still buying the components to put in there, but some other truths that people are saying. It uses a lot of screws, some of the screw holes are stripped from the factory, it is flimsy metal and the hard drive cage is a mess. The power and reset buttons feel nice. I had to say something nice about it. Shopping for a mATX case will make you think about designing your own...

This is only my second mATX build and I'm looking forward to having a computer ON my desk again. My P183 is huge compared to this and has to be on the floor.

tim851
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by tim851 » Sun Jul 08, 2012 12:48 pm

notquitequiet wrote:I just bought one of these too. Very flimsy feeling from the factory compared to Antec cases. I put some sound insulation in mine and doubled the weight (feels like it).
And that might be the reason. I appreciate a light case that is more easily carryable.

I don't know what you people do with your PC cases - are they are supporting structures of your house? Are you hoping they'll protect cover in a firefight?

I've used real cheap ass mini towers from eBay (20 Euros incl. PSU (didn't use that though)) which had sidepanels less sturdy than cardboard. Never been a problem, nobody has complained about holes or dents yet. And you need to decouple the hard disk anyway, if you're going for SPCR silence. If you do that properly, it's not a problem.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:25 pm

Regarding build quality and sturdyness: the middle-ground "quiet" (between "regular noisy" and "SPCR silent") is nice to have too. Relatively speaking, it takes the least effort, since all you need is a sturdy, well-insulated case and okay parts. Rubber grommets usually provide enough decoupling for "quiet" levels of operation if the case has enough mass and rigidity.

I liked light cases for LAN parties. Isn't there a Lian Li with a handle for that?

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Pappnaas » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:05 pm

Olaf van der Spek wrote:
Belmonte wrote:Why would you do that? The Idea for me was creating an air flow from the front to the back. I also have a top-down heatsink (Noctua NH-C12P SE14), so to me it looked like a good idea having a fan at the back as an exhaust.
AFAIK fans in series move less air than fans in parallel. And air that's taken in will be exhausted anyway.
Yes. But using intake fans only doesn't guide the air to all places i want to.

Exhaust fans are mainly used to steer the stream of fresh air to places where i want the air to cool. Having a clear airstream path prevents you also from creating air shortcut loopholes, i. e. the back fan just pushes fresh air aroung the corner because there's a mesh top opening mere inches away. Old school you tried to create a suitable airstream inside your case by using exhaust fans. In the cases of old you often were forced to cut a hole in the bottom of the case because the intakes hadn't enough area.

And old school you wouldn't want any intake fans, because air flows freely in and is forced to exhaust through my well placed fans + you spare a potential source of noise.

KadazanPL
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by KadazanPL » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:12 am

Does anyone else think that this case looks a bit retro? :) A bit like those beige boxes we used to have in the 90s.

Olaf van der Spek
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:23 am

Pappnaas wrote: Exhaust fans are mainly used to steer the stream of fresh air to places where i want the air to cool. Having a clear airstream path prevents you also from creating air shortcut loopholes, i. e. the back fan just pushes fresh air aroung the corner because there's a mesh top opening mere inches away.
That's the disadvantage of unused vents.
And old school you wouldn't want any intake fans, because air flows freely in and is forced to exhaust through my well placed fans + you spare a potential source of noise.
Doesn't that work the other way around too?
Assuming you've got properly placed exhaust vents, air flows out freely too.

Pappnaas
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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Pappnaas » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:52 am

Try yourself. Giva a case with a 120 intake and 120 exhaust fan. Switch exhaust fan on, load cpu or whatever and measure temps. Note them down.

Switch exhaust fan off, intake on and load cpu again.

You'll probably discover that in order to run the same temps, the intakes have to be run at much higher rpm, if even able to reach matching temps. Thats probably the reason why most other electrical devices have exhaust fans instead of intake fans.

So yes, i think it would work the same, but noisewise it used to make no sense back then. Shoukd be the same today, imho.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:50 pm

You're focusing on just CPU. What about GPU? They often produce more heat and I'm not sure how they'd benefit from exhaust fans (near the CPU).

Silverstone's Raven is a case with just intakes and it seems to work pretty well. It's not cheap though.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Pappnaas » Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:34 am

Olaf van der Spek wrote:You're focusing on just CPU. What about GPU? They often produce more heat and I'm not sure how they'd benefit from exhaust fans (near the CPU).

Silverstone's Raven is a case with just intakes and it seems to work pretty well. It's not cheap though.
The Silverstone is a positive pressure case. Different principle of cooling.

GPUs running to hot normaly cool down if you increase the usable volume of cooler air e.g. opening a slot cover or adding side fans etc.

As to the gpu in PS08/PS07: Several reviews show higher than expected gpu temps, they blame it on the upside down mobo leaving not enough breathing room for active gpu coolers. Some guys have even build ducts to guide more air to the psu/gpu region, reporting that this helps with the gpu temps.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by jstyles » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:27 am

I purchased the black version of this case and it is one of my favorite cases. I think for its size, cost, noise level and ease of install it beats all the other ones referenced in this review.

Of course the black case I purchase for $70 with $10 fast rebate has slower fans, so that may make a difference.

I did not like the larger more expensive Lian Li PC-V354, which I returned because of vibration caused by the hard drive cage. It had lots of screws to attach everything, scratched easily and was a real pain to install in and noisier than this one.

I originally wanted a Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Tower, but for the cost and smaller size I am happy with my purchase.

As far as everyone mentioning Antec quality I guess it depends on which case from Antec you are purchasing. I think the build quality of this is one is much better than $70 Antec cases I have purchased recently.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by PartEleven » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:28 pm

I suspect the poor performance has to do with those intake fans. I think most golf ball blade fans don't really perform very well? It's important to note that other than the front bezel design, this case is exactly the same as the TJ08-E. Multiple times this SPCR review referenced how it's a deeper case, but that's misleading. It's only deeper because the front bezel is thicker. If you take off the bezels they are both the same case. The difference comes down to the 180mm vs 2x 120mm intake fans and the non-direct intake path of the PS07. For silencing purposes on systems with low power and heat output, this case is actually arguably better than the TJ08-E.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by MikeC » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:17 pm

Clarification regarding the review results:

1. The CPU cooler used in our standard mATX test platform has fairly tight fin spacing, and because of this, it performs considerably better with the fan blowing into it rather than sucking out.

2. The reason the fan was used in suck-out mode was because the HDD in the cage prevented the fan from being position in blow-through mode. The HDD could actually have been placed at the bottom of the cage, where it would not have interfered with the fan/cooler in standard mode. The reason this was not done was because Larry tested the TJ-08E this way, and he wanted to be able to compare the two systems set up the same way.

3. The bigger fan in the TJ-08E would have resulted in better cooling performance, but the difference was exacerbated by the reversed fan position.

In essence, the comparison between the two cases is somewhat unfair, despite Larry's efforts to keep things the same. The particulars of the test components gave the TJ-08E a bigger edge than would have been seen otherwise.

Further testing and an addendum for this review is being prepared now.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Artonox » Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:26 pm

It still makes one wonder whether the $20 saving is worth it, or whether one should save up and get the Temjin.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Pappnaas » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:48 pm

20$ seems to be a fair amount for having a different color. Maybe someday we will pay 30$ more for metallic blue or british racing green :)

And as Mike points out, if you could live w/o using the drive cage, the results can be different.

Bottom line: Not using the drive cage and putting the fan not in pull on the cpu cooler should turn up with no significant differences in perfomrance.

But i'll gladly wait till the numbers are available.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Luke M » Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:55 am

PartEleven wrote:It's important to note that other than the front bezel design, this case is exactly the same as the TJ08-E. Multiple times this SPCR review referenced how it's a deeper case, but that's misleading. It's only deeper because the front bezel is thicker.
There is more room for the optical drive+power supply. 399mm vs 382mm.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Tom P » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:49 am

Just adding two cents here. I own a PC07. I noticed in the review photos that the power supply was mounted with the fan aimed up, which is logical enough considering the vent on top of the case, but the PS07 owner's manual says that "if the power supply has a build-in (sic) 120mm fan or larger, we recommend installing the power supply with its fan facing down." As a once-every-couple-years home PC assembler, it was slightly disappointing that the cool little magnetized vent isn't functional when following this suggestion. I leave it to others more knowledgeable than I whether this affects cooling or noise.

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by toronado455 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:03 pm

Belmonte wrote:I sticked vinyl tiles to the side panels to make them heavier. The panels are really thin, they can be bent easily.
Do the side panels come with damping material attached at the factory, or just plain steel?

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Re: SilverStone Precision PS07: Budget MicroATX Tower

Post by Saros » Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:56 am

Tom P wrote:I leave it to others more knowledgeable than I whether this affects cooling or noise.
I am by no means an expert, but judging by the number of reviews saying that the GPU is hotter than it should be, wouldn't an upside-down PSU actually draw more air towards the GPU and help with the temps? In essence acting as a minor exhaust fan. This is assuming that the top vent is blocked off, of course.

Then again, if it is a silent type PSU (which, given that this is SPCR, it would be) then there wouldn't be much airflow :oops:

Also, I would think that a blower type / OEM heatsink on the GPU would benefit more than those blow down types.

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