SilverStone Sugo SG06 Case Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

SilverStone Sugo SG06, together with its brother SG05, is one of the smallest computer cases we’ve ever seen and yet it supports video cards up to 9” (22.8 cm) in length, making it a terrific case for building a very small but powerful PC. To shrink its size SilverStone decided to use a small SFX power supply, which comes with the product, and support only a slim optical drive, i.e., an optical drive originally targeted to laptops. The main difference between SG06 and SG05 is the material used on the front panel. On SG06 the front panel is made of aluminum, while on SG05 it is made of plastic. Let’s see what you can expect from SG06.

We have already reviewed SilverStone Sugo SG05, so we will be able to give a detailed comparison between the two.

The first thing that you will notice about this case is its tiny size, only 8 21/32” x 7” x 11 ¼” (22 cm x 17.7 cm x 28.6 cm) (W x H x D). SG06 is 3/8” (1 cm) longer than SG05 because of the thicker front panel. All other dimensions are the same. SG06, however, is a little bit heavier than SG05 because of the thick aluminum front panel, weighting 8.2 lbs (3.72 Kg) against 7.8 lbs (3.52 Kg) on SG05.

SG06 is available in two colors, black or silver. We reviewed the black version.

Figure 1: SilverStone Sugo SG06 case.

Figure 2: SilverStone Sugo SG06 case.

The aluminum front panel definitely improved the looks from SG06 in comparison with SG05, making SG06 to have a more professional and sober looks. On SG05 we have the air intake from the fan on the front panel, which may not please users more concerned with aesthetics, especially when using this case to build an HTPC (home theater PC).

Like SG05 the new SG06 has two USB ports and the traditional microphone and headphone jacks on the front panel. On SG06 the two USB ports are too close to each other, preventing you from install two “fat” USB devices at the same time. This problem does not happen with SG05, where the two ports are located far away from each other.

SG06 has a 120 mm fan attached to its front panel. This fan rotates at 1,200 rpm and it uses a three-pin connector, so you can install it on your motherboard to monitor its speed. This fan uses "golf blades", which according to the manufacturer provide lower noise levels, being an improvement over SG05, which uses a 120 mm fan with regular blades. It has a washable dust filter, but in order to access this filter you need to remove the front panel. It would be nice if this case had a system to remove this filter without the need to remove this panel. The top and the two side panels are meshed to improve the airflow.

Figure 3: Dust filter.

As mentioned this case only supports a slim optical drive. This allowed the case to be smaller but on the other hand it increases the final cost of your computer, as slim drives are more expensive. The good news is that SilverStone has a slim DVD burner (called SOD01) and a slim Blu-Ray player supporting DVD/CD burning (called TOB02) for this case.

In Figure 4, you can see the rear panel. It has two expansion slots and both come with a meshed slot cover, which helps improving the airflow inside the PC. There are also two meshes above the slots with the same goal. This case comes with a FSP300-60GHS SFX12V power supply and we posted a separated review for it. It proved to be a good product.

Figure 4: Rear panel.

One difference between SG06 and SG05 is the presence of a reset button on the rear panel from SG06, which on SG05 is located on the front panel.

Figure 5: Reset button.

[nextpage title=”Inside Sugo SG06″]

In Figure 6, you can see how SilverStone Sugo SG06 looks like right after we remove its top cover. On the rear part we have the small power supply and on the front part we have a tray containing the slim optical drive bay.

Figure 6: Inside Sugo SG06.

On Figures 7 and 8 you can have a better view from inside the case with the power supply and the drive bays still installed. Because of its reduced size this case only supports mini-ITX and mini-DTX power supplies. You can have CPU coolers up to 3 5/64” (78 mm) tall and this case supports video cards up to 9” (22.8 cm) in length. But you have to pay attention because the power supply that comes with SG06 has only one auxiliary power connector for video cards, so if you want to install a high-end video card that requires two auxiliary power connectors you will need to use an adapter to covert the peripheral power plugs into a second video card power connector – making sure that your video card is not longer than 9” (22.8 cm), of course.

Figure 7: View from the left side.

Figure 8: View from the right side.

[nextpage title=”The Disk Drive Bays”]

This case has one external bay for slim optical drives, one internal 3.5” bay for hard disk drives and one internal 2.5” bay for hard disk drive or SSD units.

Figure 9: The optical drive bay.

The 3.5” and the 2.5”bay are located below the optical driv
e bay. The 3.5” bay goes on the bottom and the 2.5” bay goes between the optical drive bay and the 3.5” bay.

Figure 10: The 3.5” and 2.5” bays.

SG06 comes with an adapter to allow the connection of parallel ATA slim optical drives, converting the 50-pin connector available on such units into a 40-pin parallel ATA connector and into floppy disk drive power connector.

Figure 11: Adaptor for parallel ATA slim optical drives.

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

SilverStone Sugo SG06 case main specs include:

• Style: small form factor (SFF)
• Application: Mini-ITX and mini-DTX.
• Material: Zinc-coated steel (SECC) with aluminum front panel.
• Power supply required: FSP300-60GHS
• Available colors: Black and silver.
• Side panel: Meshed.
• Dimensions: 8 21/32” x 7” x 11 ¼” (22 cm x 17.7 cm x 28.6 cm) (W x H x D)
• Net Weight: 8.2 lbs (3.72 Kg)
• Gross Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.41 Kg)
• Bays: One bay for slim optical drive, one internal 3.5” and one internal 2.5” bay.
• Expansion slots: Two
• Fans: One 120 mm on the front (1,200 rpm, 19 dBA).
• More Information: https://www.silverstonetek.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 130.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

SilverStone Sugo SG06 is a small case targeted to users that want to build a small yet powerful computer and want a case with an aluminum front panel. Here is a summary of what we found about this product.

Strong Points

• One of the smallest cases on the market today.
• 2.5” hard disk drive bay.
• Dust filter.
• Good power supply.
• Aluminum front panel gives it a more professional looks.
• Quieter fan.

Weak Points

• No anti-vibration mechanisms for the hard disk drives.
• No screwless mechanisms for holding daughterboards or hard disk drives.
• No eSATA port.
• The two USB ports are too close to each other, preventing you from installing two “fat” USB devices at the same time.
• The use of a slim optical drive increases the final cost of the computer.
• Could have come with thumbscrews.
• 30% more expensive than SG05.

Like SG05, SG06 is a good product for users looking for a case for building a small yet powerful PC and want a better-looking case. Since it supports rather long video cards, you can still install a pretty decent video card on it, so reduced size does not mean reduced performance. The only problem with SG06 when compared to SG05 is its price, being 30% more expensive. If you think paying USD 30 more to have the same case with an aluminum front panel is worthwhile, then go for it. In our opinion, SilverStone SG05 provides a better cost/benefit than SG06 for the average user because of its lower price. SG05 and SG06 are good products, but their adoption will be restricted by the offer of slim optical drives and mini-ITX/mini-DTX motherboards.