SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum/0.8mm SECC Grandia GD05B Micro ATX HTPC Case

Comment:
Overall not a bad case. I honestly did expect a little more considering how much money this is. Definitely nothing special in terms of construction... you get a nice brushed aluminium front but standard "white metal" internals. Mine actually had a little rust in the motherboard tray area which I found a little surprising as this is supposed to be a high end HTPC case. It's also pretty large for an HTPC case, easily 2-3x the size of an average bluray player. I can't say I would buy it again but it does suit my purpose. Overall 3/5.

Comment:
This case looks excellent in an AV rack incredibly solid build and extremely superior cooling. Operating a phenom x4 965 in this case and not one problem with heating. Not a lot of space for CPU cooler but I am employing the Scythe Shuriken Rev.B without a difficulty. Would use this case once again for a construct I incredibly considerably like it.

Comment:
Built like a rock, this thing is solid craftsmanship. Fits right in with my Sony components in my household theater setup. Its a small heavy but I don't program on moving it anyplace.

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High excellent, nicely-built case, matching if not surpassing the best in engineering (parts that fit nicely) to ergonomics (good placement of key parts such as motherboard and energy supply). Good placement of fans (comes with three but room for an extra fan on the base) and are whisper quiet. Also case dimensions are ideal for any HTPC construct. Kudos to Silverstone for finding it correct. None actually, nevertheless note to Newegg.com, shipping could have been no cost! Shipping was f-a-s-t and service once again was superb!

Comment:
Purchased as part of an HTPC build.Included fans at default setups are not as quiet as they could be, but adjustments depending on the environment are almost always necessary. Will most likely replace the fans or lower the voltage shortly.Construction build is sturdy - black, nice finish on the front plate. Good feel to the buttons (power, reset).Lots of room inside the case for cable management, including in front of the power supply and under the internal 5.25 drive bay. Tabs scattered about the case in order assist in tying down cables. Research your choice for a CPU heatsink though, as you may experience clearance issues if a 5.25 drive is installed (a number of reviews online discuss this). Definitly go with a modular power supply. As with any mini or micro ATX build, plan your install and cable management...and make sure you have your zip-ties on-hand!

Comment:
- Noticeably shorter depth over comparable cases- 3x 120mm intake fans for effective cooling- Power/hdd light is combined in one and unobtrusive- Front face plate doesn't attempt to stealth the dvd drive - HDD installation was interesting as the two drives install perpendicular to every other and I had to acquire a sata extension cable to reach between them- Unique screw sorts are applied all through the case interior Heatsink size is restricted to 70mm if the dvd cage is installed. I opted to go with a fanless samurai zz which fit neatly, and appears to function nicely as a passive solution on best an E5200

Comment:
Very nice case, great for Mini ITX builds, quiet and elegant! Easy to fit in a GTX 280, mini ITX mobo, SDD HDD, 3.5 HDD, Standard ATX PSU, and a COOLit watercooling kit with a bit of modifications (not using the 1X5.25in Optical drive slot to make room for Watercooling Radiator and 2x 120cm fans push pull config) Cable management is easy and organized, GREAT CASE!

Comment:
This is my second Silverstone HTPC case and once again the quality of the case, box and accessories is excellent. At this price I couldn't find a better case that would still fit (barely) into my AV rack while providing enough room for a full ATX power supply, full size video card and quiet cooling.There is plenty of room for matx and itx boards and full size video cards though depending on cpu socket location, cpu cooler height and the length of your dvd drive you could run into trouble. For reference I have a Scythe Shuriken (little one) and although my dvd drive doesn't overhang the cooler it wouldn't matter if it did as the Shuriken is the perfect height to allow enough clearance. Also keeps temps down around 30-40C on a 65W Core 2 Duo and usually spins silently at 800-1200rpm. This is supposed to be a review of the Grandia GD05 though..With some of the included zip ties you can make a decent cable management effort. It may not be the pretties but it keeps the cables low and out of the way allowing plenty of airflow.Which brings me to the fans.. I've tried the included fans at 12V and 7V and neither is really silent enough for my ears.. I am a little surprised the SPCR review was so positive. It's my only complaint and the reason for one star deduction. Really only half a star as I pretty much expect to install higher quality fans in any case. At least with the GD05 you can use nice quiet 120mm fans. This review was modfied by poster @ 10-15-10 01:33 PM

Comment:
Mainly bought it for htpc and it serves its purpose. The case has a rubber foot in the center, I assume the box may have been dropped because the case was pushed up where the rubber foot was in the center. This caused the mobo to wobble, I was able to push it back out slightly, but had to use some washers for shims so my mobo wouldn't bend too much. The other gripe is the mobo standoffs, I think 6 are integrated into the case, so if they got damaged you would be beat.If silverstone took off that middle rubber foot to help prevent the mobo stand from getting pushed up(-1), and had stiffer bracing for the top (-1) and had all screw in standoffs (-1) they would have this case perfected.

Comment:
This is a really nice case from Silverstone. It is sturdy and classy. The only thing missing with this case is somekind of a cover over the DVD unit to hide it. The older version had it.

Comment:
Fantastic HTPC case. It's quite large, which also means that full height PCI cards can be installed. It's the only reasonably priced case I found that could hold three 120mm fans.

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I used this to transfer an HTPC which was housed in a standard horizontal desktop case. The build is based on Foxconn G41S-K motherboard that is only 17 cm wide with PCI-E slot at the edge, so no problems with cables. Most other components were leftovers from previous builds, except for the Blu-Ray drive. Works fine so far, with only one case fan engaged and the stock processor cooler (on top of E2180). Recommended.

Comment:
After doing a few weeks of research (more like a couple of months) i decided on the Grandia GD05 for my HTPC case. Every review I read said this was a solid unit, and that rings true (http://ksstudios.com/SilverStoneGD05.html) The pictures here or anywhere else do not do this unit justice, the front face is beautiful (yeah I said that about a PC case) Install was a breeze (HDD install is a bit tricky using a 2.5" drive) lots of room for cabling.My install (basic HTPC)Silverstone Grandia GD05 - HTPC CaseAsus M4A-785M mATX AM3/AM2+ - MotherboardAMD Athlon 64x2 5200+ Dual core Processor - CPUAntec Basiq BP550 Plus 550W Modular PSU - Power SupplyWD Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" HDD Sata 5400RPM - Hard DriveKingston Value RAM 2GB KVR800D2N5 – RAM This review was modfied by poster @ 02-17-10 10:29 AM