Silverstone SG13 ITX case review

[da na]

Recently completed my first ITX build in the Silverstone SG13 case and thought I should write a review, as it really is a great case. I've worked on many before but this was my first ITX experience and honestly I'm glad it was this case - made it quite easy. I only have a few minor complaints.

Let's start with build quality. It's almost 100% aluminium, with only part of the front panel vent and of course rubber feet not being metal. Gives it a surprisingly heavy and sturdy feel for such a small case. Mounts are quite sturdy. 

For anyone looking to build in this case, Put the PSU in last. Do front fan/AIO, motherboard, add-in cards, cables, then PSU in that order or it literally won't fit. Learned the hard way. It of course is quite tight.

Up here is the HDDs - it can either fit two laptop HDDs, or one full size 3.5". Has SATA cutouts for the 2.5" and at the end where part of the motor is exposed, is where the 3.5" SATA drive's connectors would be, gives easy access. Beware this doesn't work with non full height 3.5" disks (ones that are a little bit shorter in height), because of how the mounting works they will not screw in since the hole spacing on the side is different.  You can really see how tight SATA cables are with the PSU, make sure it will all fit. 90 degree bent sata cables won't work since they face up and intersect with the top of the case, disallowing it from closing, since drives are mounted upside down.

There is another laptop HDD mount at the bottom that screws in on the bottom.

You may start to see why I recommend cables and PSU last. Quite difficult to put in that disk for example with cables under it.

Of course if you're using an SFX PSU, which it supports with their SFX to ATX adapter (purchased separately for about $15), it'll be less tight. However since it uses ATX PSUs that saves a bit of cost on the user end and also allows for more powerful hardware. It supports NVIDIA founders edition cards in length, according to Silverstone, and I believe it - there's ample room for a GPU. My GTX 980 fit fine, although my HD 5870, one of the longest GPUs out there, didn't by a few cm.

Blower cards have access to front airflow since the mesh front panel is quite open and 2-fan GPUs will work since the side is ventilated. 

There is a dust filter on the front 120/140mm fan that is removable in addition to the integrated panel filter. 

Next to the fan you get some good room for storing extra PSU cables. They send a small clip with the case that adheres to the side of the case to make this a bit easier. The twist tie that secures the screw bag to the case when you receive it is also helpful in bundling wires together. I had many spare MOLEX from this PSU but any modern one won't have this issue. 

There's a lot of clearance for a CPU fan, an AM2 stock cooler fit between the bottom of the case and PSU (which is about the height of new Ryzen coolers, the lower tiers, IIRC). I'm using a super low power Atom CPU and very quiet fan so I can't speak for, say, a Ryzen 5-level CPU but it keeps quite cool. The PSU is held in by that small bracket in the above picture in addition to four screws on the back.

Took me a while to figure out but those extra holes on the back in the PSU area are so you can mount an ATX PSU fan up or down. Fan down is much quieter and your PSU will be cleaner but fan up gives better airflow.

 

 

 

TL;DR/conclusion

Good build quality, not too expensive at around $60. However it didn't come with instructions (though they are on Silverstone's website) so for a first time ITX builder that was a bit difficult. Whole build only took me 40 min or so, again quite easy. 

[Skiiwee29]

Its a great ITX case. its what I use for my HTPC, though mines the closed off front without the mesh. I have a R5 2600 in it with a Strix B450-I motherboard and use a Silverstone SFX 450w unit. I have a Corsair H60 on it for a cooler and works wonderful. 

[aisle9]

Interesting. I have been looking at replacing my Tu-150 with something a little less micro-tower and a little more backpack, so if I find a cooling solution I like, this could be the winner.

 

That looks like a 120mm fan in your case. Does it not support 140mm?

[da na]

2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Interesting. I have been looking at replacing my Tu-150 with something a little less micro-tower and a little more backpack, so if I find a cooling solution I like, this could be the winner.

 

That looks like a 120mm fan in your case. Does it not support 140mm?

It does support 140 in the front but we're talking a 15w Atom CPU, and I already had this 120mm fan. This is just being used as a NAS system so it doesn't need much airflow on the CPU. Could have gone without it but since HDDs are by the front of the case a fan there seemed best. 

[aisle9]

2 hours ago, Mel0nMan said:

It does support 140 in the front but we're talking a 15w Atom CPU, and I already had this 120mm fan. This is just being used as a NAS system so it doesn't need much airflow on the CPU. Could have gone without it but since HDDs are by the front of the case a fan there seemed best. 

...

You mean you didn't see this as a golden opportunity to run a 15W Atom under a high-end 140mm AIO? Overclock that baby to 1.2GHz on all cores!

 

Seriously though, so the front supports either a 140mm fan or a 120mm fan and a 2.5" drive?

[da na]

5 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

...

You mean you didn't see this as a golden opportunity to run a 15W Atom under a high-end 140mm AIO? Overclock that baby to 1.2GHz on all cores!

 

Seriously though, so the front supports either a 140mm fan or a 120mm fan and a 2.5" drive?

You could probably fit the 140 fan. If you look at my second pic the disk isn't screwed too close. I added the 120 mil to cool the 3 HDDs (Recycled drives, not in the best of shape and being hot doesn't help). A thin enough SSD could easily slip down in there under the 140 mounting holes, fan barely gets close to the hard drive. From my pictures the 140 mil mounts are up and left from the 120, sharing the hole closest to the HDD, so it doesn't expand down and right, towards the drive. I think you could fit both. 

And I've got the Atom OC'd 10%, I forgot what that actually is probably like a 200mhz overclock and it handles fine on air lol 

[OhioYJ]

I'm a big fan of the Silverstone cases for HTPCs, have a several of them. I started off with a couple ML03s. When it was time to upgrade them I decided I was done trying to find the small form factor GPUs and went to the SG12 which is the slightly larger version of this that will house MATX boards and more importantly will hold and optical drive (it is a HTPC / media PC afterall). 

[aisle9]

I’m envisioning this:

i7-8086k OR R5 5600X

GTX 1070 FE (move to 3050 or 3060 Ti eventually)

Air cooling, either Wraith Spire or something like the Silverstone Argon (lots of heat pipes, blue  fan)

Corsair SF600

2x M.2 NVMe, 2x SATA SSD, 1x 3.5” HDD

 

 How toast is a setup like that inside of the SG13 vs the Tu-150? I don’t care about overlocking tbh. It’s pointless in 2022 unless you’re really shooting the moon.

 

 I had the ML08B-H for a few days. Had to return it because it became a nuclear reactor with the 8086K in there.

[da na]

2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

I’m envisioning this:

i7-8086k OR R5 5600X

GTX 1070 FE (move to 3050 or 3060 Ti eventually)

Air cooling, either Wraith Spire or something like the Silverstone Argon (lots of heat pipes, blue  fan)

Corsair SF600

2x M.2 NVMe, 2x SATA SSD, 1x 3.5” HDD

 

 How toast is a setup like that inside of the SG13 vs the Tu-150? I don’t care about overlocking tbh. It’s pointless in 2022 unless you’re really shooting the moon.

 

 I had the ML08B-H for a few days. Had to return it because it became a nuclear reactor with the 8086K in there.

I mean it's an extremely ventilated case. My  980 SC (reference board)'s fan lined up with the side vents but it covered about 40% of the side of the fan, if the 1070 is any shorter it would work pretty well. I'd recommend the 5600x in terms of power consumption, would be great on a 140 AIO. I will warn you about the GPU though, my 980 literally scraped the front panel it was so long, and the 1070 uses the same shroud so should be the same length. You'll be better off with a dual fan or 1050-style 1 fan kind of cooler in terms of size.

Best fit for that case out of all cards I had was an Alienware OEM GTX 670. It's about 240 mm long, blower style. Short enough for the fan to align with the holes on the side but being a blower card still exhausted out the back not dumped air into the case.

(IF the 1070 has intakes on the back of the card like the 980 does that'll let it draw in a bit more from the front panel which will help) 

[porina]

Nice review, almost makes me want to try another build in one. Have two versions of this case still, currently unused. If you need cooling at all, make sure to get the mesh front one (like here) and not the solid front one. Blower GPUs work best in this case. IMO CPUs up to 100W actual load are fine with a 120mm slimline AIO, but I don't think it would be fun with any air cooler that fits.

[da na]

10 minutes ago, porina said:

Nice review, almost makes me want to try another build in one. Have two versions of this case still, currently unused. If you need cooling at all, make sure to get the mesh front one (like here) and not the solid front one. Blower GPUs work best in this case. IMO CPUs up to 100W actual load are fine with a 120mm slimline AIO, but I don't think it would be fun with any air cooler that fits.

Good to know about blower GPUs. I would have tested but my only ITX board is PCI. 

[porina]

3 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

Good to know about blower GPUs. I would have tested but my only ITX board is PCI. 

I can't remember the details as it was a long time since I tinkered with this case, but I don't think there is enough airflow to cool a powerful GPU that vents into the case at a reasonable noise level. Blower GPU venting outside solves that.

 

Been thinking of moving bits around, and this seems like a good candidate for a 8086k + 980Ti build, if I can cool the CPU well enough. Might need a new cooler.

[da na]

1 hour ago, porina said:

I can't remember the details as it was a long time since I tinkered with this case, but I don't think there is enough airflow to cool a powerful GPU that vents into the case at a reasonable noise level. Blower GPU venting outside solves that.

 

Been thinking of moving bits around, and this seems like a good candidate for a 8086k + 980Ti build, if I can cool the CPU well enough. Might need a new cooler.

Again if the 980ti is 980 sized it should fit... might need to take out the dust filter