Gadgetory

the competition within small form-factor enclosures is getting pretty tight and it's quite challenging to design a case that can utilize the space in the most efficient manner without too many compromises on the hardware and the Super Series from silverstone has gained its recognition in doing exactly that offering small form-factor computing to be used for HT pcs or mobile systems so the new ASG o 9 is really pushing the boundaries with an extremely high space efficiency that lets you build a high-end system so let's check out how this $99 small form-factor stacks up and starting off with the front panel we have a brushed aluminum look that is actually plastic which allows this luxury aesthetic without you having to pay the premium now the design may look neutral and utilitarian but it is far from a good-looking case next up is a slim optical drive mount which includes a mounting bracket to secure the optical drive along with the adhesive rubber pads to reduce vibration and there's just enough room for the cables in the back but like with everything else with this case things are going to be pretty tight and moving to the front we have a dust filter that is easy removal and it's actually meant to be used for your power supply then we have all the connections are also located in the front with your power and reset buttons 2 USB 3 ports and your audio jacks and silverstone includes a USB 2 adapter which is an added bonus on the side we have ventilation holes for your power supply to breathe and a full strip of airflow options for your graphics cards which includes a built in dust filter that also can be removed and accessed from the side and here we have the mounting holes for 80 and 92 millimeter fans for the left two slots and 120 or 92 millimeter fan for the right slot now this array of cooling is specifically designed for your graphics cards and especially would be useful if you are running dual GPUs now on the other side we have more ventilation for an optional 80 millimeter fan along with the little outdent that helps with the cable management at the back we have an exhaust fan our area power supply plug fan speed adjustments for the top fan with low or high setting and four PCI expansion slots with additional venting and the top house is a similar filter is on the side also easily removable for cleaning and it covers and included 180 millimeter intake fan now this fan is a cooling powerhouse Silverstone's own air penetrator it directs airflow in the well controlled manner towards all of your internals and also included that these transfer brackets for installing a 140 millimeter fan for the top but you are probably best with sticking to the 180 millimeter air penetrator and so getting inside the case does require you to dip into your toolbox for a handy screwdriver now that's because the outer shell is separated into the side fan panel and the main top panel now the bottom is completely flat and Silverstone includes adhesive rubber feet that will add some stability to the case and also give the user a chance to mount the case either horizontally or vertically depending on your situation and notice there is no ventilation holes at the bottom so your second GPU may get choked and that's the main reason there are three side fans so getting inside the case we get an additional 120 millimeter exhaust your motherboard area with support for micro ATX motherboards this is very impressive for a case this size and really opens up your options in terms of building high-end system the power supply is located and the rather unconventional spot in the front with the cables facing the back panel then we have all this room dedicated specifically for your graphics cards and check this out we have thirteen point three inches of clearance and went for expansion slots dual card support makes the SGO nine very appealing also CPU coolers up to 165 millimeters are supported which means most high end towers are accommodated despite its small stature and to further help with cooling an optional 80 millimeter intake fan can be installed at the back and to avoid any unwanted noise from the fan Silverstone includes an adhesive foam to be attached between the fan and the side panel now let's show you how space-efficient this case really is starting with the power supply first we have the bracket that allows you to install the power supply either facing the inside or the outside and working with our longer unit measured at 180 millimeters in length we have no problems fitting such a powerhouse inside this tiny ah see and once you connected the power supply on the inside you're good to go of course if you are working with longer units modular cables would be ideal so the back to 3.5 inch drives can be mounted onto this bracket with the connections facing the bottom and since cooling is very limited at the back we would recommend staying away from high speed drives but you can also mount for SSDs at the bottom with these brackets however you will have to remove them first in order to secure the SSDs and due to such limited space one of the SSDs must be upside down in order for the connections to have clearance moving on there is a cutout right underneath the power supply to route your cables but unfortunately no zip tie notches to secure the cables so let's wire this thing up and see how it handles with cable management now again modular power supplies are highly recommended just to avoid any unused cables taking up unnecessary space and you can route the main cables through the top as well and use the bottom portion of the chassis to concentrate all of the rest of the clutter and with everything routed it is actually quite impressive however you do have to spend some time tucking away the cables and making sure things are properly connected and also their assembly requires very specific building sequence and the manual really was a savior with great deal of information on how everything should be installed properly one thing popped out with the accessories is this molex to three fan connections cable and Silverstone recognizes that you might not have enough fan headers on your motherboard to connect all the possible fans in this case so it's a useful thing to include for those wanting to utilize all the available fans inside the chassis and so when it was time to mount the panels back onto the case there seemed to be interference with the right fan and the PCI cables coming from your GPU you might encounter this issue depending on your PCI cables but slightly pushing in the panel and tightening it with screws we got it to fit and the fan has a pre-installed grille to prevent the cables from hitting the fan blades now the same issue arose when trying to put on the top panel it really is a challenge especially with all the cables coming from your power supply but nonetheless it snug fit for both side panels and you have yourself a high-end system in the absolutely tiny package and for those frequent LAN events Silverstone offers a travel bag that can be purchased separately that fits the SGO nine and many other cases in the zubur series so arriving to an event with a gaming machine inside the gym bag is doing it in style and this type of portability is very appealing and for those just needing the small stature due to space limitations this chassis does it all of course except water cooling so this new addition to the sugah line is one engineering masterpiece you'd never expect to fit this much into a 23 litre enclosure and that's the beauty of the SGO 9 it's small form-factor does not limit your options for high-end system with micro ATX support dual graphics cards with up to thirteen point three inches of clearance 165 millimeters for your CPU tower with power supplies in lengths of 180 millimetres are all taken care of and your default cooling options are also quite impressive with three included air penetrators and some three extra fan mounting options to avoid overheating and then total of six drives can be installed inside the chassis and again it all comes down to small stature without any hardware compromises and lastly routing all the cables does require a specific assembly sequence so make sure to spend some quality time with cable management now in the critic aside the only thing I can mention is I would have liked to see ventilation holes along with a dust filter at the very bottom of the case this would be useful for dual graphics cards as the second card will practically be choked by the bottom panel but the default cooling should suffice for even dual GPUs so the SGO nine really surpassed our expectations and could set a new standard for small form-factor enclosures it's functional space efficient and most importantly welcomes enthusiast hardware so at $99 this is one damn good and damn good value case alright I hope you guys enjoyed the review and we'll see you in the next one