Silverstone Grandia GD02-MT Case
Testing the Case
Published: 16th November 2008 | Source: Silverstone | Price: £289.99 |
Testing the Case
We tested the case for it's cooling ability and for the levels of noise generated by the supplied cooling solution. To measure temperatures, I used Sisoft Sandra Engineer's Edition, and without any proper noise metering gadgets I had to rely on my ears to gauge noise levels. I recorded the CPU, motherboard and auxillary temperatures, and set fan speeds using the QFan feature within the motherboard's BIOS. I also noted the noise output at the different speeds too.
The range of fan speeds available with QFan were as follows:
- Silent
- Optimal
- Performance
The components used to build the PC were as follows:
- Asus P57NA-VM Socket 775 - Nvidia nForce 730i Chipset
- Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 with stock air cooler run at default clock of 2.2GHz
- Geil Ultra DDR2-800 2x1GB at stock settings
- Hitachi SATA II 150Gb HD
- Powercolor ATI HD4850 with stock air cooler, run at stock speeds
- Thermaltake Toughpower 750w Modular PSU
- Windows Vista 64 SP1
The results were taken from Sisioft Sandra Engineers Edtion. As you can see from the results, the cooling supplied by Silverstone is adequate, but there would be little room for overclocking.
Noise output of the case fans
The noise generated by the two 80mm fans was not as bad as I originally feared. As one of the important neccessities of a HTPC is quiet operation,a noisy HTPC can ruin the experience of watching a movie or the TV. I did have some concerns over Silverstone's choice of fan size. Larger fans generate less noise and 80mm fans can be quite whiny sometimes.
The noise generated with the fan speed set to silent within the BIOS made the noise generated difficult to distinguish from the hard drive and CPU fan noise, so it would be very acceptable when the PC is in use within the lounge.
With the fan speeds set to optimal, the noise was barely any different from when they were set to silent.
At performance speed setting, the fans were very noticeable. At this level they would definitely prove a distraction when the PC was being used for media purposes.
All in all, the cooling abilty and noise output were acceptable. A HTPC doesn't have to have very powerful (and hot running) components to be able to function well, and in that respect the case will be more than adequate for cooling and noise levels.
Let's now move on to our final conclusions, on the next page.
Most Recent Comments
Nice review there, Similar to what ive got atm, the thermaltake DH104...
I found the LCD to be a real dissapointment, took me ages for it to actually find my media, and then I had to use the desktop app to get at it as the LCD didnt find it :S
Anyway, nice one once again stuart!
I found the LCD to be a real dissapointment, took me ages for it to actually find my media, and then I had to use the desktop app to get at it as the LCD didnt find it :S
Anyway, nice one once again stuart!
Thanks mate.
Great review. Dont see enough of these reviews about.
Fair comment with the construction points and limitations.
Personally I think the prices of these scare people. They look good, have some nice gimmicks, but when all the screws are taken out - it's a pc case. For the same price u can get one of those oversized LL server eatx thingies.
Fair comment with the construction points and limitations.
Personally I think the prices of these scare people. They look good, have some nice gimmicks, but when all the screws are taken out - it's a pc case. For the same price u can get one of those oversized LL server eatx thingies.
Great review as always Stuart, and I'm inclined to agree with Rast's comments above. A thoroughly enjoyable read though
Thanks alot fellas, glad you liked the review. I was concerned over the price too, till I found out the price of small LCD's alone. I was shocked to hear how much they retail for (around £150ish). Considering this, I don't think that the price for the case was unfair. As Rast mentioned though, the LCD's are quite gimmicky and the novelty would soon wear off.
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Originally Posted by name='stuartpb'
Thanks alot fellas, glad you liked the review. I was concerned over the price too, till I found out the price of small LCD's alone. I was shocked to hear how much they retail for (around £150ish). Considering this, I don't think that the price for the case was unfair. As Rast mentioned though, the LCD's are quite gimmicky and the novelty would soon wear off.
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It seems crazy they cost so much, I looked into it a while ago, you can get a reasonable desktop LCD for the same cost.
A good gimmick would be for the lcd to display what something like vlc or mediaplayer displays, like the scope/equalizer/album info etc etc - or equally an itunes output, that'd be something apple would jump on (for their pc-itunes ofc 
)
(this is where u step in and say they do)
)(this is where u step in and say they do
)They do
It has a graphic equaliser function, with the track name etc. when playing music. I don't think it shows the album art though or works with iTunes.
It has a graphic equaliser function, with the track name etc. when playing music. I don't think it shows the album art though or works with iTunes.
Yeah it's their "own thing" type of equalizer aint it. I reckon some1 should be bold and map exactly what the players display.
Good review, but I think you should change the load/idle temp graphs so they both scale in x from 0 to 70, as at first glance I thought you were getting lower load temps! I dunno whether I could be fussed with an LCD tbh, does add a bit of wow factor to the case though.
"Take, for example, the very limited space between the PSU and the hard drive when installed. I cannot understand why Sliverstone did not pick up on this when the case was still in the design stage."
Don't you think a 750 watt ps is overkill? 400 should be more than enough for a htpc and you can find a smaller size ps that won't have the space issues. IMHO Thanks for the review the build is helpful b/c I am about to use a simular case if not the same.
Don't you think a 750 watt ps is overkill? 400 should be more than enough for a htpc and you can find a smaller size ps that won't have the space issues. IMHO Thanks for the review the build is helpful b/c I am about to use a simular case if not the same.
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