SilverStone Grandia GD07 Review: Centering and Serving Your Media
by Dustin Sklavos on April 29, 2012 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- HTPC
- SilverStone
Noise and Thermal Testing
As the SilverStone GD07 is the first case we've tested using our revised Mini-ITX testbed, it's the only case we have Mini-ITX results for. This will change soon, though; we have two more Mini-ITX cases lined up for May. The GD07 is an ATX case being tested using our Mini-ITX testbed for reasons explained previously, but the fan speed percentages should at least give us a good idea of how much thermal headroom the GD07 actually has.
Testing for the GD07 was done with an ambient temperature floating around 24C. Note that ambient temperatures are not consistent between case tests; this is why we display our results in delta-over-ambient instead of as strict thermal readings like we used to. Ambient temperatures for case testing will generally range between 21C and 24C, and the GD07 was tested at the latter end of that spectrum.
Without having to drive the IGP, the CPU doesn't have to work quite as hard, but thermals are generally reasonable. The heatsink itself has a rated cap of 95 watts, so it's not being pushed all that hard either. In fact...
You'll notice we still have plenty of headroom on both the processor and the graphics card. The Zotac GeForce GTS 450 Eco sports a single-slot cooler and no external power lead, but that cooler doesn't seem to have to work particularly hard, even under OC Scanner load.
Finally, the GD07's acoustics are actually quite good, at least with this combination of parts. The heatsink we use is specced to be able to get fairly loud, but without having to work very hard we're left largely with the fan noise of the fans included with the GD07 itself. These fans are a major improvement over what was found in the GD04, which really required a dedicated fan controller to be appropriate for use as a media center. A fan controller could no doubt serve the GD07 almost as well, but at least here the noise isn't onerous to begin with.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
37 Comments
View All Comments
Chaitanya - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
Silverstone certainly makes some good enclosures.seanleeforever - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
nice case indeed. i have the GD05 and it sure shows the craftsmanship.However, i found the this review uses ITX MB in a ATX Case to be... interesting yet pointless. who in their right mind would use ITX MB in this case?
and for CPU coolers, you are just not exploring all the options (or even tried). allow me to copy and paste part of my reviews for GD05 (i have it config with 16G RAM +i7-2700+ SLI GTX 560TI)
...CPU cooler: cooler Master Vortex Plus. VERY IMPORTANT. this is the ONLY after market product that will fit EXTREMELY tightly in this case while giving you the option to have a disk drive. and with powerful setup, you know you need a cooler to replace stock intel cooler (as they are absolutely crap)....
bear in mind, you WILL BE able to fit CM s524 in GD07 since it is a bigger case and you won't run in the problem of having the disk drive blocking additional CPU cooler clearance.
seanleeforever - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
buy "you", i meant Dustin.Samus - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
FT01 owner 3+ years. Amazing case, doubt I'll ever replace it.After owning a number of Antec and CoolerMaster cases and replacing them every time I upgrade the motherboard, that has yet to happen with the SilverStone.
My only complaint is the proprietary 180mm fan's that were included with the case (sleeve bearing) both failed after 2 years and although 120mm fans can be installed in their place, I opted for replacement FM181 Silverstone 180mm fans, which are very expensive $25/ea.
Dustin Sklavos - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
Did you just not actually read the review?seanleeforever - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
yes Dustin, i did read the review. i don't any post comments before finishing reading. great review by the way.i understand where you are coming from: to have a standardized test bed, something to compare with. and since the ATX test bed uses H212 that is a bit to tall, you were forced to use ITX board.
However... the fact remains that, for folks who plan to use ITX board or mini ITX, the are not going to get ATX case.... is there value to measure the noise/thermal of mini ITX in a full ATX case? maybe,but it probably makes as much useful data as measuring how much towing power does a Ferrari California have (i.e. no one cares). i think it would be much more useful should you use the ATX testbed with stock cooler because that is much more likely situation.
on to the product itself. i see some of the problem with GD05 still reminds: unable to mount water cooling solution. also, could you comment on how many type of screws does this case have? the GD05 they had like 5 or 6 type of screws when it really should be 2 or 3.
anirudhs - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
The config you have is a gaming PC rather than a media center/server. This case is not intended for your config. A CoolerMaster HAF912 at $60 will be more suited.mepenete - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
It looks like a great case overall, but for me the price tag is a bit much considering its just for an HTPC.Origin32 - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
And just last week I ordered an Aerocool M40 because there wasn't a better case to put my HTPC/Home Server in. And that thing only has room for 3 or 4 harddisks, and then you have to get a little creative already. FMLcjs150 - Monday, April 30, 2012 - link
I think you got it right, very good choice for people who use the media centre as a 24/7 server as well, but otherwise wholly unconvincedAs a straight media centre it is way too big.
Obviously everyone has slightly different views but here are mine:
1. Blu ray drive is a must - should be vibration dampened. Do not mind if full sized or slim line, slot or tray.
2. SSD + 2.5" HD is enough for me - I have a big NAS to download stored content to. Maybe 2xSSD would even better.
3. One expansion slot is enough, 2 would be nice, 3 is unnecessary, 4 is overkill. For a media centre what would you put in the expansion slots? IGP should be good enough now, but some would prefer a discrete GPU, sound card is an obvious choice, may be a TV tuner but that is it.
4. Silence is golden. 30db is already too loud because you can hear it during quiet sections on movie playback. Obviously not a problem if media centre is in different room.
5. Heat has to be controlled - obviously this causes an issue with the silence is golden concept!