Silverstone GD04? Release?

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:21 am

SST Guy,

Great, thanks! Really looking forward to this one. Between the GD04 and GD05, you guys have hit the nail on the head.

SST Guy · Post by **SST Guy** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:50 pm

For those of you in the US, the silver color version of GD04 has arrived as well.

phelin · Post by **phelin** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:17 am

No chance of a version with either an IR receiver (with possibility to turn the power on) or an LCD/VFD with an integrated one?

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:45 pm

Very cool, GD05 now up on the website.
http://silverstonetek.com/products/p_co ... 5&area=usa

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:55 pm

Here are some pictures of my GD04 build for those interested:
http://www.minhembio.com/Weiman/259911/

Comments are in Swedish though

In one of the pictures you can see how I suspended a third 3.5" HDD in front of the PSU.

SST Guy · Post by **SST Guy** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:26 pm

phelin wrote:No chance of a version with either an IR receiver (with possibility to turn the power on) or an LCD/VFD with an integrated one?

GD04/GD05's main body was designed with room to accommodate front panel displays so adding LCD/VFD is not a problem. However, I am not sure if you will see them implemented in our retail cases any time soon.

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:10 pm

I actually want to see a review of this case as a gaming system with a 5870 or similar card.

the cooling setup looks like it could handle it. however, after looking at the pictures some more, there really isn't a fan that is blowing air to or from directly to the VGA card, as the fans beside the CPU socket would be blocked by a low profile cooler, and the PSU is directly beside the other end of the GPU.

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:03 am

aztec wrote:the cooling setup looks like it could handle it. however, after looking at the pictures some more, there really isn't a fan that is blowing air to or from directly to the VGA card, as the fans beside the CPU socket would be blocked by a low profile cooler, and the PSU is directly beside the other end of the GPU.

Actually I think the left side fan would blow directly towards the intake fan of a 5870 or similar card, if your PSU isn't too deep and you can keep cables out of the way.

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:08 pm

Weiman wrote:Here are some pictures of my GD04 build for those interested:
http://www.minhembio.com/Weiman/259911/

Comments are in Swedish though In one of the pictures you can see how I suspended a third 3.5" HDD in front of the PSU.

Hi Weiman,

What PSU did you use in your build? The manual says the depth limit for modular PSUs is 160mm (including one that I'm considering), but most PSUs are 140mm deep. I'm wondering if a 160mm deep PSU would fit should I also find the need to suspend a 3.5" HDD below the cage.

EDIT: Duh! I finally read the "Swedish" comments - except the component model numbers are not in Swedish.

Looks like you're using a Seasonic SS-300FT, which is 140mm. So looking at your photos, and examining the connector position on the suspended 3.5" drive, there's probably no more room for a PSU that's 2cm longer.

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:03 pm

tsanga wrote: EDIT: Duh! I finally read the "Swedish" comments - except the component model numbers are not in Swedish. Looks like you're using a Seasonic SS-300FT, which is 140mm. So looking at your photos, and examining the connector position on the suspended 3.5" drive, there's probably no more room for a PSU that's 2cm longer.

Hi tsanga, correct on all counts

Even with angled connectors for SATA and power it was a tight fit, so I think a longer PSU would have made it impossible. (In that case I would probably have replaced the 500GB drive with a 2.5", they are quite cheap these days..)

piaf · Post by **piaf** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:45 pm

Looking to the GD04 I just fill it could be a "perfect" case but it fails a bit on the DVD area.

In order to have a decent cooling while a "near silent" solution I want to have a large HS. So the stock ones fall a bit short.

Also the NT01 are not aligned with the side fans. So for decent cooling I would need to add the two vents on the rear to get the air in the right direction. That of course means more noise.

I know Silverstone wanted to keep the options for any standard PSU but with a thin PSU it would have been possible to fit the DVD on the left side, leaving the room for the large HS on the right.

With this, I would be able to replace my Fusion with something shorter that would fit much better in my room.

Maybe I can cut my mini ninja and model it to the DVD

mingus · Post by **mingus** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:30 pm

aztec wrote:i was thinking (hoping) this cooler would work

http://www.nexustek.nl/NXS-LOW-7000_sil ... Cooler.htm

Will this work with the GD04? Says 70mm max, this is 70.3mm.

my CPU is quad core, so the passive one might not work.

thx

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:02 pm

if you do NOT use the OD on a regular basis.....why even install it? I would save the space, and get a beefier cooler for example.

I myself haven't burned anything in a while, and doing so less and less.

Install OS - USB flash drive
mkv movie - WD media player and USB flash drive
Games - Steam and DLC

My buddy just got this case, and he ordered a couple of round Vandal power/reset switches (22mm/16mm). Anxious to see how that turns out.

really nice case, and reviews have been promising!

SST Guy needs to send a sample to SPCR!

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:28 am

Well this is an HTPC case and I think most people still would want a DVD or Bluray drive in their home theater. I haven't burned anything in years, but I do watch the occasional DVD.

Sunrise · Post by **Sunrise** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 6:32 pm

piaf wrote:In order to have a decent cooling while a "near silent" solution I want to have a large HS. So the stock ones fall a bit short.

A Big Shuriken is probably your best bet.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article964-page7.html

If you don't have an internal DVD drive there are a lot more options.

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:34 pm

SST Guy wrote:
tsanga wrote:I read that GD05 is the same case with a plastic front. Any idea when that will be released?
My guess is that you will start seeing GD05 in retail either late this week or next week in US.

Other regions should follow in about two weeks.

Still anxiously waiting.

SST Guy · Post by **SST Guy** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 7:40 pm

tsanga wrote:Still anxiously waiting.

tsanga, call our US office directly, they have the GD05 in stock since last week!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php?area=

For those of you in Europe, the GD05 is scheduled to arrive this week so they should be available soon as well.

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:53 am

SST Guy wrote:tsanga, call our US office directly, they have the GD05 in stock since last week!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php?area=

For those of you in Europe, the GD05 is scheduled to arrive this week so they should be available soon as well.

Thanks for checking!

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:03 am

Weiman wrote:Well this is an HTPC case and I think most people still would want a DVD or Bluray drive in their home theater. I haven't burned anything in years, but I do watch the occasional DVD.

X2... although i could see people who are serious about home theatre wanting something like that oppo desktop blu-ray player... however:

1) dvd drive should have been put on the other side... designing the system around a stock cpu cooler really limits the applications that this box can be used for, which in turn limits the sales opportunities for silverstone... note to sstguy: there is this concept called "htpc gaming"
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=145

2) looks like the air filters are behind the fan?? so the fan gets loaded with dust, and you can't run a vacuum across the filters from the outside? you have to pull the lid to clean the filters? hope i'm wrong about that :-/ because it looks like a major hassle, especially if you have the box squeezed into a rack or cabinet.

EDIT: i checked the gd04 out at frys today, it looks like the dust screens can be taken apart and sandwiched inbetween the case and fan, which should alleviate #2... i wonder if silverstone sells the dust filters seperately?

hands-on, this looks like a nice case, there can't be too many htpc cases with a positive air pressure design.

takotako · Post by **takotako** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:30 pm

I rebuilt my HTPC using the SST-GD04B last night and overall I'm quite pleased with the reduction in depth.

The system is based around a Core i5 750 and Sapphire's Vapor-X 5750. The Core i5 750 is passively cooled with a Ninja Mini rev. B. The provided case fans are far too loud for me though, they spin 1000 rpm or so at 100%. I'm using Speedfan to control them, they're cooling the system just fine at 350-500 RPM.

Naturally with the Ninja Mini in there I couldn't install an optical drive. Not having a proper plug for the drive hole is a little disappointing, but it's easy enough to fashion one using the included drive cover. I just taped the driver cover into position with black electrical tape.

I have some questions about the case:

1. Anyone know the electrical specifications of the fans? I was running out of time last night and didn't want to pull one out to look.

2. Is there a power LED? I double checked that the power LED was plugged in correctly, and I think I'll triple check this weekend, but I only see one LED on the front and it blinks when the hard drive is being accessed.

3. I noticed the "PRESENCE" pin/wire was missing on the HD CONNECTOR. Is that normal?

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:59 am

SST Guy wrote:
tsanga wrote:Still anxiously waiting.
tsanga, call our US office directly, they have the GD05 in stock since last week!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php?area=

For those of you in Europe, the GD05 is scheduled to arrive this week so they should be available soon as well.

US office says stock was shipped to Fry's more than a week ago. But Fry's says no idea where the shipment is. Hope it's not lost in holiday shipping shuffle....

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:57 pm

I like the short depth, but I have to admit I don't like the faceplate much. Rather than the usb/sound ports, I would rather have a 3.5" drive bay with a fold down front plate so I could put in the ports I want. For me, the LC17 is about the best faceplate Silverstone makes, even though the second 5 1/4" drive bay was unnecessary for me, and it is too deep.

My media server is caseless. All I want is an optical drive, 2x3.5" HDD, a mini-ITX board, and high enough to get my Big Shuriken in. Bonus would be front USB and eSATA. GD04/05 are probably the best choice right now.

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:29 pm

i just saw a gd05 at the san marcos ca frys... it was $20 cheaper than the gd04b.

the insides of both look very similar, i've been trying to figure out what the major differences are??

i haven't built one yet, but these look to be very nice cases for the money.

tsanga wrote:
SST Guy wrote:
tsanga wrote:Still anxiously waiting.
tsanga, call our US office directly, they have the GD05 in stock since last week!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/contactus.php?area=

For those of you in Europe, the GD05 is scheduled to arrive this week so they should be available soon as well.
US office says stock was shipped to Fry's more than a week ago. But Fry's says no idea where the shipment is. Hope it's not lost in holiday shipping shuffle....

tsanga · Post by **tsanga** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:28 am

Thanks for the heads up. Apparently nobody at the Fry's call center knows that the shipment arrived and was sent to stores. Obviously, there's no inventory to support online orders.

Fry's inventory system is all confused and nobody that works there knows what's going on. Still no online source to buy it, since I don't live where there's a brick & mortar Fry's store.

Plissken · Post by **Plissken** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:36 pm

Can anyone confirm that the Shuriken will fit under the optical drive in the GD04? I'm about to build an HTPC and I like this case, however it seems Silverstone missed the mark. Why force the use of the noisy stock CPU cooler in a case that appears to be designed for silence? Clearly the optical drive bay should have been on the PSU side.
Other than the Antec Fusion, is this the only case good for a quiet build that uses 120mm fans? Requirements are micro-ATX, horizontal/desktop, black.

Thanks

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:14 pm

Plissken wrote:Can anyone confirm that the Shuriken will fit under the optical drive in the GD04? I'm about to build an HTPC and I like this case, however it seems Silverstone missed the mark. Why force the use of the noisy stock CPU cooler in a case that appears to be designed for silence? Clearly the optical drive bay should have been on the PSU side.

Totally agreed.

The Shuriken does fit -- it's about the only one. Maybe some of the old Zalman 7000/7700 might fit... but need to check height.

The other option might be to use a notebook optical drive, which is slimmer and much shorter. But the mounting would have to be finessed, and the GD4 is much better suited for this. Maybe we can persuade Silverstone to come up w/ an adapter system for a notebook optical drive for this case. Still it is not an ideal solution because the notebook optical drives are much more expensive than desktop ones.

A better solution would be for Silverstone to release another version with the optical drive bay on the left. Keep in mind that only the shortest SATA optical drives and PSUs would fit, due to the space constraints, the PSU being just behind.

Plissken · Post by **Plissken** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:10 pm

MikeC wrote:The Shuriken does fit -- it's about the only one. Maybe some of the old Zalman 7000/7700 might fit... but need to check height.

Thanks Mike.

MikeC wrote:only the shortest SATA optical drives and PSUs would fit, due to the space constraints, the PSU being just behind.

It seems they should have made the case a little deeper to allow a standard PSU and optical drive to fit in the same compartment. My AV receiver is quite a bit deeper than the GD04. I guess there's no such thing as a perfect HTPC case - for me, anyway.

I didn't know Antec had discontinued the Fusion lineup. I was hoping they would make one without the big, ugly, useless knob. It looks like they are now focusing on the micro HTPC market. There isn't much choice for a uATX HTPC case w/ 120mm fan: GD04/05, or... roll your own

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:42 pm

Antec has not discontinued the Fusion cases, afaik.

For Antec HTPC cases w/o knobs, there are at least 3:
MicroFusion Remote 350, and NSK1480, which are the same under the facia. The latter was reviewed, it's decent, and I'm using it as my htpc case. A Zalman 7000 fits in there w/ room behind the optical drive, as it's substantially deeper than the GD4/5. The NSK2480 is the simpler version of the original Fusion -- again reviewed, and quite good.

takotako · Post by **takotako** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:09 pm

takotako wrote:1. Anyone know the electrical specifications of the fans?

Answered some of my own questions. The included fans are rated 0.26A @ 12 volts.

2. Is there a power LED?

Hadn't really noticed before, but finally did last night. The power and hard drive activity LED are the same. For the power portion, the LED blinks about every 3 seconds or so, then also when there is drive activity.

All in all a very satisfying case.

n0estoy · Post by **n0estoy** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 7:54 am

Just picked up the GD05 as a potential replacement for the nsk2480. The size difference is worth it for me. I've managed to find a silent cpu cooler that works for the case (as an alternative to the silverstone solution). The scythe samurai zz that was recently released caught my eye, and as hoped (with the cpu fan removed) fits under the dvd drive cage. I'm running an e5200 and on idle cpu temp on the hotter core is 42C. I ran prime95 overnight and the temp seemed to top out at 56C. Not an ideal solution as far as heatsink fin orientation, but the nt01 is no different in this regard.

edit: ambient temps around 70F