Review: SilverStone Grandia GD10

by Parm Mann on 26 September 2014, 09:15

Tags: SilverstoneTek

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacjmf

Add to My Vault: x

Interior Layout and Thoughts

SilverStone Grandia GD10 Specification

Model SST-GD10B (black)
Material Aluminum door with plastic front panel, 0.8mm steel body
Motherboard Support SSI-CEB, ATX, Micro-ATX
Drive Bays External 5.25in x 1 (compatible with 3.5in x 1 or 2.5in x 2)
Internal 3.5in x 2 (one compatible with 2.5in), 2.5in x1
Cooling Rear Supports 2 x 80mm fans
Right Side Included 2 x 120mm intake fan, 900rpm, 18dBA
Left Side Included 1 x 120mm fan, 900rpm, 18dBA
Expansion Slots 7+1
Front I/O Ports USB 3.0 x 2
Audio x 1
Mic x 1
Power Supply Standard ATX (not included)
Clearances Heatsink 138mm
PSU 220mm (180mm recommended)
Graphics 310mm
Net Weight 4.8kg
Dimensions (W x H x D) 442mm x 171mm x 362mm
UK Price £69.95

There's support for Micro-ATX, ATX or SSI-CEB motherboards and a seven-plus-one expansion-slot configuration provisions for multiple graphics cards or, if need be, a TV tuner. Plenty of room for most core components, though it's interesting to see that SilverStone has cutback in regards to storage. A single 5.25in optical bay has remained, but there aren't a great number of drive-mounting opportunities. A single 2.5in drive can be fixed to the floor of the case, a single 3.5in drive can be attached inside the front, and there's room for either one 3.5in or two 2.5in drives on the underside of the removable 5.25in tray.

Plenty of options for most users, we feel, though given the size of the case you might have expected one or two additional bays. There should be no such shortage in the cooling department, however, as SilverStone equips the GD10 with three 120mm fans as default - two on the right side of the case, one on the left. We like the fact that all three, plus the PSU bay, are protected with plastic mesh filters that are easily removed for cleaning.

Certainly ample room for a high-end build. Our test components include an Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard, an overclocked Intel Core i5-3570K processor running at 4.4GHz, an Arctic Freezer 13 cooler, 8GB of G.Skill DDR3 memory, a SanDisk Extreme SSD and an EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW graphics card.

Such a specification would allow for excellent gaming potential on a full-HD TV, but the build process wasn't entirely trouble-free. Our normal PSU - a Corsair HX1000 - wouldn't fit without removing the pre-installed fan, so was substituted for a smaller CX430. And there are a few other component restrictions worth knowing about.

There's plenty of height for our Arctic Freezer 13 CPU cooler, but having it in place doesn't leave room for the optical-drive tray - we had to go without, so if you definitely want optical capabilities, you'll need to consider a thinner or shorter CPU cooler. Remember, also, that losing the optical tray would mean missing out on a drive bay, too.

Those are the few complications that may arise, yet other than that it's an easy chassis to work with. It feels roomy even when outfitted with an ATX board and a long graphics card, and cooling performance is more than sufficient. With the aforementioned components, the GD10 was able to keep CPU and GPU temperatures below 75ºC when running Prime95 or while gaming.

Summary

One of the challenges when designing a HTPC chassis is to choose which type of consumer you're hoping to lure. Some will prefer HTPCs that are incredibly small, some won't accept anything that isn't completely silent, while others will want a case that accepts their existing components without too much fuss.

It's the latter scenario that the Grandia GD10 has covered. Willing and able, the case can accommodate a full-size desktop motherboard, high-end graphics and sufficient cooling in a form factor designed to suit the living room.

SilverStone has the basics covered, but the price points of the GD09 and GD10 are telling. At £50 and £70, respectively, the new additions are positioned well below their predecessors - the GD08 still fetches over £100 - and the cost reduction is evident in parts. There are no tool-free mechanisms, the front-panel lock is crude and, though the default trio of fans do run quietly, there's no sound-dampening material to reduce overall noise output.

This isn't the HTPC case for everyone, however it does suit a specific purpose. Want to convert your existing desktop into a living-room-friendly format without breaking the bank? The latest Grandia has you covered, though it's the cheaper GD09, at £50, that would be our first pick.

SilverStone Grandia GD10

The Good
 
The Bad
Takes an ATX board with ease
Room for powerful graphics
Removable mesh filters
Good cooling performance
Pre-installed fans run quiet
 
Front-panel lock is very basic
£20 premium over the GD09
CPU cooler may foul 5.25in bay
No sound dampening
Big for a HTPC solution


HEXUS.where2buy*

The SilverStone Grandia GD10 HTPC chassis is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.



HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Looks like they turns a midi tower on its side and called it a HTPC case…
Infinite: +1

Personally I am part of the “I want it completely silent” group. Then again I do not use my HTPC for gaming.

The only component on my HTPC which produces noise is the optical drive - why do case makers not have dampening for this as they do for HDD
I still dont understand the need for such a cavernous case for an HTPC. I opted for a NUC in an akasa newton case, not a single moving part and small size, plays absolutely everything I chuck at it
When you start putting more than than one pci slot (for a TV tuner) then you've missed the HTPC market a little I think. No modern processor is incapable of handling HD media so a discrete GPU isn't really required. This is a mini gaming case, and not very mini at that. I agree with Infinite on the sideways midi case, and may I add, what an awesome profile picture, I'm a big fan.
d3fiant
I still dont understand the need for such a cavernous case for an HTPC. I opted for a NUC in an akasa newton case, not a single moving part and small size, plays absolutely everything I chuck at it

That sounds more like a media player than an HTPC, in which case a cheap Android tablet on an HDMI cable will work fine for less cost that just this case. If you want to run something like a MythTV server with a small raid array then there will be moving parts, and you might want plenty of room to make the cooling really quiet. I still wouldn't want a case that ugly though.

There are some people who don't just want to watch video, but want to watch in the highest quality possible in which case the shaders on a graphics card are going to be doing stuff like de-interlace and other post processing. Those people will want something like a 260X graphics card to get enough post processing grunt. Yeah, I can't be bothered with any of that either, or perhaps I just haven't had a good enough demonstration.