SilverStone Precision PS07: Temjin For Less?
by Dustin Sklavos on January 3, 2012 12:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- MicroATX
- Mini-Tower
Conclusion: Is It Worth the Difference?
With the SilverStone Precision PS07, I'm having a difficult time determining whether or not it's worth saving the $20 over their already awesome Temjin TJ08-E. The TJ08-E already ranks as one of my favorite enclosures of the year and probably my favorite Micro-ATX enclosure, so why wouldn't I heartily endorse making that same great internal design more readily available by producing a less expensive version?
Thermally and acoustically, SilverStone's design is fantastic. Airflow is brilliantly handled, and I've actually assembled the TJ08-E with a tower cooler in a build for a friend. The results there were just as impressive, with the overclocked i5-2500K running coolly and quietly. If it has a flaw, it's probably GPU cooling. Thermals on the GTX 580 just weren't that good, but a more reasonable card (like a GeForce GTX 560 Ti or AMD Radeon HD 6870) would probably be right at home. Either way, this is definitely a capable mATX enclosure.
The problem is that I'm just not sure the PS07 is worth the savings. Keeping stray cables out of the 120mm fans is a minor problem, but the fans themselves actually feel a lot cheaper, and over testing one developed a minor rattle. If you're comfortable replacing the fans the PS07 is probably great, but the problem there is that your end cost starts getting close enough to the Temjin that there's not much point in the initial savings unless you already have the fans.
Ultimately, my problem is SilverStone's problem. In a vacuum the Precision PS07 is a fantastic case, absolutely worthy of consideration for your next Micro-ATX build. Yet the Temjin TJ08-E it's based on is still around, and while the Temjin is $20 extra, it also features a fan controller for the single 180mm intake fan, a classier aluminum bezel, and an improved noise character. It's up to you to decide whether you think the PS07 is worth the savings; I don't think so, but I wouldn't fault anyone who did.
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DanielW - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
If you spend the money and time, two 120mm fans can be significantly quieter than the air penetrator.JMS3072 - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
What are your thoughts on getting the PS07, and then spending a bit more to upgrade the fans to quiet models?ezorb - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I wish Noctua would make a 180mm fan, I would buy 3 for my FT02, I think that the 180 size is perfect, but the Silverstone is too loud and unreliable I have had 2 fail on me.SunLord - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I can't even hear the 180mm fans in my FT02 the 6870 in it masks all the noise in my case save the dvd drive.. I did notice a few weeks ago frozencpu has a non-silverstone 180mmx25mm fanSamus - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I agree, the 180mm fans in my FT01 are amazingly quiet for moving over 150CFM of air each. Unfortunately the factory-included models both broke after a few years (the motor separated from the housing because of the startup-torque) and forced me to replace them with newer models that hopefully have a corrected design. $30/ea for basic 180mm fans is not what I'd call cheap.Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I have tested a few 180mm fans, and the best one I've seen is this :http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p11...
Really nice and silent.
I also bought the Silverstone (just for testing) . and it was a bit worse.
For the long term I have no clue as I haven't been running those full-time.
Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
Oh and . the case showed here is a piece of crap that's overpriced . you don't get vga cooling and it's just overall worse than an Antec one hundred that costs much less.antef - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
Hi all,I haven't read the whole article yet, but I just wanted to post since I JUST bought this case and assembled a system in it over the weekend. I chose it because I wanted a nice mATX case, and was afraid the Temjin would be a little too loud with the large fan and open front grille. With the shipping cost on Newegg, I actually paid the same thing the Temjin would've cost with free shipping, but I don't mind because I wanted this case with the 2 front 120mm fans instead.
It's a GREAT case, very high quality all around, and the manual explained things well. I did have a hard time routing some cables. It was a tight fit behind the motherboard, and certain cables like the main motherboard power wouldn't fit at all with the hard drive cage in place due to the sleeving and not a lot of flexibility so I just removed the cage. It's not the cleanest cable job in the world but it's fine. But I think it's a good, really nice looking case.
Regarding acoustics, it's not really too loud, but not whisper quiet either. I don't know if the Temjin would've been any quieter on the low fan speed setting. I added one Scythe Slipstream 120mm fan in the rear. I'm not sure yet if I want to replace the front fans with anything quieter. I could buy two and end up hearing pretty much the same thing. Or maybe I don't even need two front fans at all? My hard drive is also pretty audible, but I don't hear it much because my primary is an SSD. I was considering hard drive suspension somewhere, but maybe this is just as quiet as this drive's going to get.
Anyway, if anyone has any questions about this case, feel free to ask.
Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
if you wanted silence you should've taken a sonata.However. slipstreams around 1k rpm are silent enough, and a green drive would be silent (WD caviar green or samsung spinpoint ecogreen).
GL -
Next time, buy antec 100 or Sonata .. this case is a piece of crap (never had to remove a hdd cage, and you have no Gfx Fan (helps with the noise).
antef - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I wanted mATX, and a small one at that, not an mATX only in name that's actually just as large as an ATX mid-tower. The cases you listed are too big.