For what it is worth, I just built a gaming pc using this case.
It has a 2600K overclocked to 4.0
EVGA GTX580 superclock
Intel 510 120gb SSD
Seasonic 750w gold psu Intake to the top.
Prolomatech megahalems cooler 160mm tall coolers are not a problem.
Noctua 120mm cpu fan.
It turns out to be very quiet, even under load.
I used one of the low speed adapters for the cpu fan, and also the 180mm fan.
The cpu fan is 1000 rpm, and the 180mm fan is at 685 rpm.
The cpu idles at 35c, and under load is in the 40's. So, there was no need for an added rear exhaust fan.
I thought the side panels were a bit thin, and transmitted some of the fan noise, particularly the gpu fan which is at 1500 rpm.
The gpu fan runs at idle at 42%, and I have as yet been unable to implement the 30% fan setting.
To fix the side panels, I applied some of the Silverstone SST-SF01 noise absorption material.
My perception is, that this was very effective. In time, I might apply some to the top panel.
For now, all I need is a 120gb ssd. In time, it might go to 160 or 256gb, or, even a hard drive addition.All in all a very easy build.
I removed both the hard drive cages. If I ever need a hard drive, the lower external space will do.

The H80 fits but tight fit whilst the H60 fits easily. I have two cases, one with a H80 and one with a H60.
I found the H60s pump noisier than H80 pump in this case unless you reduce pump speed.
Not sure of Pump reliablity at slightly reduced speed. Had no effect on cooling.
There is a whole forum dedicated to his case.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1068487/silv ... wners-club

For the hard drive cage - is there a good way to brace or reinforce it to reduce rattling?

I dont have the case yet but im thinking of putting some thin foam between the bottom harddrive and the harddrive cage. That way vibration from the cage wont go to the case. Not sure if it will work considering the cage might still rattle but if it does its probably something Silverstone would steal for rev2.

Also for the front fan there are at least 4-5 people who have changed it to Phobya 180mm 700rpm LED fan and cut out the LED wires.

As an update, the 2600K is now a 3570K @4.3.
It seems to actually run cooler.

The 120gb Intel 510 SSD is now a 180gb SSD. Changed only because I needed more room.

The GTX580 is now a GTX680. It runs cooler and quieter.

There is no noise issue from this setup. At the side of the desk, about 1meter away, I can't notice any noise.
If I really listen, I can hear a slight hum. But, once you start down the quiet road, you will never find the end.

This should be written in big letters in on the front page as a warning to new site visitors.

Hi everyone,

I recently bought this case and wanted to share my experience.

I was originally using an antec p180b (5 years running strong). There were many modifications made to the p180b due to getting into water cooling. However, now I use an external radiator cage setup so I no longer needed a large case for the rads. Initially, I was looking at different cases and was considering the antec P280 or the new antec solo, but eventually I settled on this tj08 for the following reasons

1. inverted ATX design
2. Small dimensions for a micro atx case
3. Low weight (so much lighter than the p180b)

The inverted ATX design stood out for me b/c since I water cool my VGA and CPU, I need to put after market heatsinks on the VGA card for VRMs and RAM chips. However, the VRMs are so small that the heat sinks had trouble staying adhered to the VRMs, but now with the inverted ATX design the video card is facing up (instead of down), so I don't have to worry about the heatsinks falling off the VRMs.

The case overall does a poorer job of silencing component noise compared to the p180b. This is understandable b/c

1. It does not have a front door blocking the intake like the p180b did, which mutes a lot of noise from inside and from the intake fan
2. the PSU fan is oriented at the top of the case

I think I might revert the PSU fan orientation so that it's facing down. I think this should be possible, although I might have to drill new holes to hold the PSU in place. Since the 2 biggest heat generators inside my case are water cooled, I dont have to worry too much about the interior case temps spinning up the PSU.

The SPCR review of the tj08 mentions hard drive cage vibration. I was definitely concerned about this, but fortunately, I don't notice any unusual noise generated by the vibrations from the HDD cage. I'm not using the farthest bottom 3.5" external bay. I have 2 HDDs (WD Green 3TB and WD Black 1TB) and 1 SSD (with 3.5" bracket adapter) in the cage. There are 4 bays total in the cage. So perhaps with the majority of the bays filled in the drive cage, this reduces the vibration possibly. I'm pleasantly surprised that there's no perceived HDD vibration noise - any HDD noise I hear is just from the platters spinning. I even tried to place my hand against the side panels, but the noise characteristics don't change.

The 2 biggest sources of noise w/ this case design is

1. the PSU being top oriented (which probably can be easily remedied with reorientation of the PSU fan to face down)
2. the HDD cage is in front of the case, but there is no door to shield the noise escaping from the front of the case

I'm not sure what I can do about the HDD cage. I guess I'll just have to get quieter drives or maybe I could relocate the WD 1 TB black to the far lowest 3.5" bay. This way the noise from that HDD wont escape as much possibly.

Overall though, I'm glad I made the purchase.

-----
edit: I have an enermax 425w PSU. I bought it specifically b/c of its low noise qualities, but even so, having the PSU fan face up creates enough noise for me to want to change the orientation.

I am going to install my system tonight. Can someone tell me if there is a benefit to having a exhaust fan? Im asking for experience, not theory.

I did not install an exhaust fan. I found no need to.

Thank you for the reply, i decided not to as well. However i realised Noctua fans arent that good and one of them is probably broken. I have had some of them for 4+ years as well so i guess it was bound to happen.

/the swede

Question: Would it better to install a 140mm instead of a 180mm fan? Considering the better competition in the 140mm space (thou not as good as the 120mm space) it could be that the best 140mm fans are better then the best available 180mm fan when thinking of the noise/cooling levels.

Hopefully maybe MikeC can answer this one?

If it's really the 180mm fan that makes you hesitate, take a look at the PS07. Nearly identical to the TJ08, but you have 2 x 120mm fans in the front. And they did away with the external 3.5" bay.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=314

My take is that it is the supplied 180mm fan that makes this a great case.
It offers plenty of cooling even when undervolted and on the low switch setting.

Regardless, I would try it out first.

I already have the TJ08-E. Its just that its not quiet with the stock 180m fan. I have bought a replacement fan which i am going to try out but if a good 140m fan is going to give better cooling for less noise then i might have to change again. I will try and change my 180m fan tomorrow evening and see if it helps.

Edit: Replaced the stock 180mm with Phobyas 180mm LED fan and cut out the LEDs. It cools the same as the AP but is definitly less audible. Definitly worth changing front fans on the TJ08-E.

Hi. I have started buying components for a new build to replace my Antec Solo rig that I have been running for ages. I bought a Define Mini but it's to similar in size and design to my old solo to get me excited about moving to matx so I have been looking at getting a TJ08-E.

I have read many reviews and opinions and almost all agree that is a great and cleverly designed case with only one problem. 'It makes a lot of noise.' How can a case get a good review here if it is noisy? I can believe that it not the quietest case as it has no sound deadening material, no HDD suspension, no door to muffle HDD noise and it has a big hole in the top. The Silverstone website says that the case was designed for fitting power components in a small space not for making a quite rig.

I understand that the case deserves a good review as it looks to have a lot of great features, but if it's noisy then its surely no use to SPCR readers. I trusted the reviews here the last time I bought components and did not regret it, but I am sceptical this time.

How does this case compare to the solo or define mini with all there special design features to keep them quiet? If it is comparable then all these special design features must not work very well Sorry.. bit of a rant..

lemons -- Our awards are not always based on pure performance issues, there's always a degree of personal opinion, and some weighing of the relative strengths and weakness of a case. This case straight off the shelf, like most, is not going to be quiet enough for a die-hard SPCR silencer. But its potential for cool/quiet is high, and better than other cases of its size that we have reviewed.

Of course, if I had doubts about the merits of a product or a review of that product, I would not make that buying decision. That's a formula for disappointment.

My case just developed a noise like a high-pitched fan whine. If you simply touch (and hold the touch) the case on top about 3-4 inches from the front, the noise disappears. The noise is actually diminished by touching the right area and then removing your finger.

I poked around the edges of the top and pulled the top and sides to tighten them but the noise persists.

Dropping a book weight on the area diminishes the noise.

I use the area above the optical drive (which is in the bottom slot) for cable storage. I guess that I could add a block of foam between the cables and the top to push up on the top. That might work.

Suggestions as to how to approach a permanent solution?

Sounds like you've already identified what to do -- it's the panel(s) vibrating in sympathy with... HDD? a fan or 2? Just wedging a rubber block or two, or a piece of wadded-up foam, between outer panel and some inner support structure should do the trick, but you could also try and identify the source & damp that as well -- or instead.

I think the surfaces of the case are thinner than they should be for quiet.
I solved the problem with a sheet of Silverstone SST-SF01 noise absorption material.
I only put it on the side panels, but there is no reason why it can't be applied everywhere.
Be careful with measuring the material an cutting it exactly as you want.
Once you peel off the cover to the sticky part, place it exactly where you want on the first try.
It sticks so well that it would be hard to remove and move it.
I found that the material was thin enough (just barely) so it did not interfere with replacing the side covers.
There is enough left over from the package to cover the underside of the top of the case.

The funny part is how this resonance came out of nowhere. I changed the video card to a Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti about 10 days ago. The problem was not there yesterday. It started today when I powered up the system.

There is no apparent resonance in the side panels. Touching them results in no change. It's only the center front part of the top panel. I'll add a block of dense acoustic foam tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for the responses.

But the side panels do transmit noise from the various fans.

Interesting cousin using 120mm fans isntead of 180 anda vailable in white for them as likes.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.p ... 14&area=en

You don't say?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/SilverSto ... ision_PS07
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=64675

Oh my I missed that. Mea Culpa!

I have one and am not liking 3 issues, 1) if an SSD is mounted to the bottom of the case floor, a 3.5" (card reader) casnnot be mounted on the bottom. 2). After assembling the system complete, I can properly thread the top cover screws on one side and the back, but the right side cannot be made to match up enough to start them in their holes. I'm thinking about RMA to amazon for an exchange due to this. 3) I must have a dodgy 180mm fan as on high it is more of a 'brrrrrrrr' noise which can be heard from 6-8ft away in a quiet room.

Otherwise I like it, I was going to go with a P280 for this build, I'll have to see about getting an exchanged one I guess.

One last, to clarify, a Corsair AX850 should have the fan FACING UP towards the fan grille? I thought it a bit odd that the manual stated as it did.

the heatsink fan air flow on page 4 of review was push, yes?

I’m building a new rig with the tj08-e and wondered what best configuration for my three hard drives and Prolimatech PRO-MGH-C Megahalems heat sink would be?

there’s no way my Noctua 120mm Fan is gonna fit on hard drive side of cooler and I already have a Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm fan as an out take. What would happen if everything blew inward. My video card is a Radeon HD 6450(small). If heatsink fan is directly adjacent to outtake fan won’t they work against each other?

What if rear case fan blows in? 180mm intake plus 120 mm intake on rear shooting straight into heat sink fan (no out take). Would that type of positive pressure be effective, all the heat hypothetically moving out the grills near vid card?

i ask because i can't test yet. my MOBO was RMAed...thank you

The 180mm fan has plenty of cool intake airflow, even on low, or undervolted.
And, that is without a 120mm fan installed in the rear.
You want to get any heat out of the case as soon as possible.
I suggest you simply mount the megahalems fan as pull, and send any heat towards the rear 120mm fan exit.
Install a rear exit 120mm fan if you wish, but it is probably not necessary.