SilverStone Sugo Series SG08

It’s been a while since a Sugo series case has landed in our lab for testing. The last one to be reviewed was the SG07 back in August 2010. That model earned a 9 verdict for it’s sturdy construction, good looks and many great features. While the SG07 set the bar for small form factor enclosures, SilverStone’s latest SG08 takes everything we loved about the previous model and adds some improvements. The new case sports two USB 3.0 ports, something SilverStone has included with all recent product lines. The front panel has a fresh new design, made from 10mm thick aluminum. The SG08 includes the features from the previous model like the ST60F-SG 600W custom power supply, the AP181 Air Penetrator fan, removable fan filter and positive pressure design.

Since we haven’t tested a SFF case in a while, we thought this review would be a great opportunity to change out our testbed parts. We have updated all of our components to build an ultra compact gaming system that can handle most games with ease while barely taking up any space on our cluttered desk. To find out how the SG08 did, check out the full review after the jump.

Specifications

Packaging

The SG08 comes in attractive retail friendly packaging. The case is well protected and arrived in perfect condition. Accessories include:

• Bag of case screws
• PSU power cable
• USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter
• Wire ties
• Video card air duct
• User manual

Exterior

The outside of the SG08 is a radical departure from the previous models in the Sugo series. Here we have a picture of the previous SG07 for comparison. While the older model looks nice, the new SG08 is much sturdier and will blend in better with high end home entertainment devices. The thick slab of aluminum on the front of the SG08 is super heavy, in a good way. The front USB ports have been upgraded to USB 3.0, with a 19pin motherboard header to plug straight into compatible boards. The body of the SG08 hasn’t changed much, not that it needed to. The top of the case still has a vent for the giant AP181 Air Penetrator fan. The sides are vented as well, the right side has vents for the PSU exhaust and the left for the video card intake.

The back of the case has the I/O cutout, fan speed switch, reset button, and PSU extension plug. The two rear slot covers are vented for better airflow. The bottom has a filtered vent for the PSU intake fan and a GPU vent divider to prevent video card exhaust from entering back into the PSU. Besides the front panel redesign and upgrade to USB 3.0, the SG08 sticks with the features that made the SG07 model so popular.

The SG07 model has a plastic front panel with aluminum accents

New solid aluminum design matches home theater components better

Large vent for the AP181 fan

Right side venting for the PSU

Left side venting for the GPU

Fan speed switch, reset button and PSU power plug

Removable filter for the PSU intake

Interior

The inside of the SG08 is familiar as well. The outside cover removes in one piece and is very sturdy. Again we have the filtered AP181 Air Penetrator fan that pulls cool air from outside of the case and blows it directly onto the motherboard. The positive pressure design forces warm air out through the sides and back of the case. The custom 600W power supply can handle any video card you can fit into the SG08. The cables have been reduced to make it easier to route them through the interior. While the PSU can be replaced if desired, modular ones aren’t recommended if a video card will be installed as the cables would get in the way of properly mounting the card.

The hard drive cage can support one 3.5″ drive and two 2.5″ drives.  This is plenty for a small gaming PC, but not for a media server where mass storage is needed. The drive cage has rubber sound dampening grommets for the 3.5″ drive and also where the cage connects to the case.

The Build

We recently updated our testbed components and this is our first review using the new parts. Our goal was to build a fast gaming system using the updated Z68 chipset on a Mini-ITX motherboard. We were interested in a PC that was fast, but fit into a smaller chassis to make it more portable.

Parts Used:

Case – SilverStone SG08 – $199
PSU – SilverStone SST-ST60F-SG custom 600W – Included
CPU –Intel Core i3 2100 – $114
Motherboard – ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT – $120
Memory – Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 8GB – $60
GPU – EVGA GTX 570 – $330
Hard Drive – Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB (WD5002AALX)- $60
DVD Drive – SilverStone Slim SOD02 – $70
OS – Windows 7 Professional OEM – $140
Total: $1093

The build went extremely well. Building in a small form factor case has it’s challenges as there is usually a specific order that the parts should be installed depending on the case you are using. We always recommend reading the manual to see the preferred method before beginning a build. The SG08 does get a bit cramped with cables in front of the video card, but if you spend the time to tie them up really good they are manageable. We decided to go with the stock CPU fan for our Core i3 2100. A larger one could be installed, but because we went with tall memory, the cables could not be tied at that location and were routed close to the CPU fan.

We also could not connect the SG08′s USB 3.0 cable directly to the board because our board doesn’t have the header. We used the included USB 2.0 adapter so that we could still use the front ports on the case, but at the slower connection. We did notice that the USB 3.0 cable on the SG08 is really long. This cable had to be bundled up and tied out of the way, but the extra cable took up room that could have been used for the PSU cables. For the optical drive, we used the SilverStone SOD02 slot load DVD drive. While it functions properly, this style drive is not right for this case. The opening in the front panel is designed larger for tray load drives, so a gap was visible above our slot load drive when installed. Our large GTX 570 graphics card fit with ease, though routing cables can be a task with longer cards installed. The AP181 fan and optical drive tray should be left off until the card is installed and the power cables are plugged in.

The rest of the parts for our build

Z68 chipset on a Mini-ITX makes it possible to get our game on

Single 3.5" drive installed with room for two 2.5" drives underneath

Lots of room to work until the PSU cables are installed

This board has a lot of options

The cable routing begins. Try to stay clear of the CPU fan

AP181 fan filter

Though not perfect, the cables routing is complete

Big power in a tiny case

Finished build

Adjustable VGA fan duct for the side panel

Slot load drives are too small for the SG08 front panel

Testing

Thermal tests were run using CPUID Hardware Monitor ver. 1.1.8. Prime 95 was used to max out each CPU core for load tests. Furmark 1.9.2 was used to stress the GPU for testing. Ambient room temperature was 76 Degrees Fahrenheit. GPU tests were run after manually setting the fan speed to 85% using EVGA Precision version 2.1.1. We ran tests using the stock case fan for the SG08 on both low and high speed settings. Our Intel Core i3 2100 was running at stock speeds with SpeedStep disabled.

The temps were really good across the board, the GPU temps were very close to the PS07 case that we tested this card in recently. The fact that this hardware can run at temps comparable to a tower case says something about the design of the SG08. The high fan speed only dropped temps by 1-2 degrees and will add a bit of noise to the system. While not a significant amount of noise, the low fan speed for the AP181 fan is sufficient cooling for the majority of situations.

The included 600W power supply performed as well as the one that we tested in the SG07 review. Voltages were well within tolerance and we had power to spare even when the system was at full load. The SG08 PSU has two 6 plus 2 pin PCI-E power cables. Our GTX 570 uses dual 6 pin connectors. The VGA duct that was mounted on the side panel was a good fit after we lined it up with our graphics card. Temps were within 1-2 degrees of the same card installed in a tower style case. The ability to pull cool air in straight into the graphics card really helped keep it cool during load testing.

Conclusion

The SG08 is another fine case from SilverStone. We do have a few recommendations for future models to make building easier. The length of the USB 3.0 cable seems excessive. The space available to hide extra cables could be increased by making this a little shorter. The AP181 fan filter, while a great feature, needs to be outside of the top cover so it can be cleaned without having to take the whole cover off. These are minor problems of course, the case deserves some serious consideration if you are in the market for a small form factor enclosure. With the SG08, we were able to get the performance of a large tower machine into a tiny, portable system without sacrificing temperatures in the process. The MSRP for the SG08 is $199. If you prefer the front panel styling of the SG07 instead, SilverStone told us that the MSRP for that model has dropped to $179.