Silverstone TJ08 Review

Published: 22nd September 2011 | Source: Silverstone | Price: £78 | Author: Tom Logan

Introduction

When we first saw the TJ08 the combined reaction was awesome finally a more traditional Silverstone to review! The once we had investigated further we found out that the motherboard tray was inverted and there was one of the glorious 180mm Air Penetrator fans in the front it felt more like the quirky SIlverstones we have grown to love over the past year or so. The TJ08 is completely different beast to the FT03 MATX case we reviewed not so long ago so lets have a look at the specifications before moving on to the full video review.

Specifications

Model No.	SST-TJ08-E(black)
	--
	--
	--
Material	Aluminum front panel, steel body
Motherboard	Micro ATX, Mini-DTX, Mini-ITX
Multimedia	--
Drive Bay	External	5.25" x 2
		3.5" x 1 (compatible with one 3.5” hard dirve)
	Internal	3.5" x 4 , 2.5” x1
Cooling System	Front	1 x 180mm AP181 intake fan, 700/1200rpm, 18/34dBA (backwards compatible with 140mm fan)
	Rear	1 x 120mm fan slot (option)
	Side	--
	Top	--
	Bottom	--
	Internal	--
Expansion Slot	4
Front I/O Port	USB3.0 x 2 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) Audio x 1 MIC x 1
Power Supply	1 x optional standard PS2 (ATX) up to 160mm
Operating system support	--
Expansion Card	Compatible up to 13.25” long*
Limitation of CPU cooler	165mm
Limitation of PSU	160mm (recommended), 180mm (maximum)
Net Weight	5.3 kg
Dimension	210mm(W) x 374mm(H) x 385mm(D)
Extra	support two Kensington locks

Video Review

Conclusion

So you are looking for a well made MATX case thats perfect for a tidy small footprint home PC or a classy looking LAN rig that will take the biggest graphics card and CPU cooler yet still remain cool calm and collected, is that the TJ08? I think its an outstanding yes to every point. Normally in a conclusion I would go over all of the features like the GPU and CPU heatsink supports, the 180mm dust filtered AND speed controllable Air Penetrator even maybe the removeable motherboard tray but I really dont think I need to go further with this chassis.

We did have a few minor niggles, one being the roof really needs to come off to fit the PSU and you can only use a 160mm maximum length PSU if you want to fit an optical drive, plus if you plan on using a large CPU cooler like the NH-D14 then you will have to put any mechanical hard drives into the optical bays aswell. It may have been nice to have seen an optional side panel window even if it did have to be a small one.

Over all though for £78 this case is an absolute cracker, if you listen to the minor niggles above and this is not going to effect what you want to do with the case its a no brainer really. Because of all this we felt we had no choice but to endorse the silverstone TJ08 with the OC3D Gold Award.

Thanks to Silverstone for the TJ08 on test today, you can discuss your thoughts on this chassis in the OC3D forums.

Most Recent Comments

22-09-2011, 06:21:33

tinytomlogan

Looking for a chassis to build a high powered MATX system in? Silverstone could have just what you are looking for in the TJ08

22-09-2011, 06:31:32

daniSAUR

Man I wish decent mATX cases weren't so expensive. But this is... NICE! Liking the USB3 front panel.

22-09-2011, 06:38:14

silenthill

[/size][size="3"]I don't know, looks very boxy to me or what you can say classic, I don't think it's my cup of tea

22-09-2011, 06:53:20

sheroo

So many rigs so little time...

Very nice.

22-09-2011, 07:27:46

dugdiamond

did someone say boxy?????

she is back you know!!! we luv boxxy

22-09-2011, 07:43:02

SieJoe

What a clever design, such a good use of space.

22-09-2011, 08:39:46

Azurite

I like this case. Maybe il use this chassis for my current cpu, and have it for lans and hollidays.

TTL high on caffein, made me rofl :-)

Good review.

22-09-2011, 08:51:43

silenthill

did someone say boxy?????

I should have said sexy just to make you happy

22-09-2011, 08:55:37

sheroo

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugdiamond

did someone say boxy?????

she is back you know!!! we luv boxxy

Hyper people that just talk too much just give me a headache, I prefer peace and quiet - definitely getting old...

22-09-2011, 09:52:23

Lollipop

I need one

22-09-2011, 10:04:46

yassarikhan786

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lollipop

I need one

I wan't one

22-09-2011, 11:48:19

jonowee

I don't know about the Gold award. That 3.5" drive cage is too close for comfort. Like the RV-02 with the internal width created with the use of 180mm fans, the 3.5" cage should have been rotated latitudinally so that the hard drives and required cables don't interfere with RAM and CPU heatsinks, it would also tidy up the cable management. The 3.5" drive cage seems like an afterthought unfortunately; this case is better limited to one 3.5" in the bottom and or with supplied 5.25"-3.5" adapters, and 2.5" SSD mount somewhere random.

22-09-2011, 13:00:11

Lollipop

Quote:

Originally Posted by yassarikhan786

I wan't one

No, you need one

22-09-2011, 13:24:46

Ya93sin

I might build a mATX PC, big case going to uni

At least you can't jack it without 2 men, the thing is 15kg lmao

22-09-2011, 15:19:15

CocaCola

Could definitely tell Tom had too much caffeine.

Brilliant case. I can definitely see myself using this case. Just a question though; the floor of the case has mounting holes for a SSD, so just above that, I wonder if you can fit a 3.5" drive there as well? That way you won't have to mount the 3.5" drive at the top. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

22-09-2011, 15:26:11

sheroo

Quote:

Originally Posted by CocaCola

Could definitely tell Tom had too much caffeine.

There was a 3.5 external bay at the bottom so in theory you should be able to get 2 ssd's in there with the right bracket.

22-09-2011, 17:53:04

CocaCola

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheroo

There was a 3.5 external bay at the bottom so in theory you should be able to get 2 ssd's in there with the right bracket.

Oh my bad. I just reviewed the video, and Tom was giving the example in the case of large heatsinks. A 3.5" drive wouldn't be able to fit with cables connected in the cages at all. So you'd definitely have to mount the 3.5" with a 5.25 to 3.5" adapter at the top optical bays.

27-09-2011, 10:32:27

murphy7801

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ya93sin

I might build a mATX PC, big case going to uni

At least you can't jack it without 2 men, the thing is 15kg lmao

That not partially heavy my pc 32kg and I can lift it ?

27-09-2011, 10:49:57

Ya93sin

Lift it down 15 flights of stairs can you?

27-09-2011, 16:55:24

Ravious

Nice review Tom!

27-09-2011, 17:52:19

CocaCola

I wonder how loud the fan is on the high setting? Would have been really neat if Tom were to turn the power on and just demonstrate for this case the fan settings/sound.

Silverstone TJ08 Review