SilverStone Grandia GD05 SFF HTPC Chassis

Product Summary & Final Conclusions:

The SilverStone GD05B chassis makes a great foundation for a very capable HTPC. With the ability to hold a full size video card you could not only use it as a HTPC, but as a gaming machine as well. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love gaming on their wall mounted 1080P LCD with their home theater for audio? I know I do, and this case will let me do that while keeping my system cool and still looking good enough to sit in my entertainment center. The case does need tools to do anything with it, but on the flip side of that you shouldn’t need to change much once you have it working. It’s not like the enthusiast cases for people that are constantly tinkering and changing hardware. Cable management can be tricky in this case too if you’re using a discrete video card as well, but again if it’s something you put together once and leave it alone it not an issue. Overall I think Silverstone designed a very high quality case with many types of users in mind.

• Pros:
  • Full size video card support
  • Shallow case depth
  • Brushed Aluminum is both lightweight and looks good
  • Silent fans with honeycomb grills that allow for good airflow
• Cons:
  • Tricky cable management
  • Non-tool free design