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SilverStone Grandia GD07 Review: Centering and Serving Your Media

 by Dustin Sklavos on April 29, 2012 1:00 AM EST
37 Comments | Add A Comment
37 Comments

In and Around the SilverStone GD07

Where I think SilverStone made a major improvement for the better is in ease of assembly and disassembly with the GD07, and that much should be evident when you really examine the enclosure. The GD04 was and is an attractive piece of kit, but servicing it can be an absolute nightmare.

The GD07 maintains the same attractive steel and aluminum finish its predecessors have; the brushed aluminum front door is as minimalistic as it gets, with just a SilverStone logo, the keyhole, and a power button. Unlock it and you'll find that the hinges are both smooth and sturdy, but the inside surface is a matte black plastic. It matches the drive bay shields, but feels unusually cheap for a SilverStone case. Thankfully the interior face should spend most of its life hidden behind the door.

On the sides you'll see three vents; on the left is the vent for the power supply's fan while the right features two 120mm vents, one of which is occupied by a 120mm intake fan by default. SilverStone actually spent a lot of time figuring out exactly the right pattern for the fan grates to minimize air turbulence and keep things quiet; I had a chance to see several of the different designs they tested along with the results, and you'd be amazed at just how much work really went into something like this. Of course, behind both vents is a fan filter.

Move around to the back and you'll see a fairly logical layout that's essentially what you'd expect: the motherboard is oriented to the bottom of the enclosure and aligned to the left, while the power supply is mounted on its side on the right, with the bottom intake fan being served by a vent on the right side of the enclosure. SilverStone also includes an eighth expansion slot above the primary seven. Space is essentially maximized here, though; I don't think they really could've made this case any smaller and still allowed for a full ATX system.

Opening the enclosure, you'll find things are a lot simpler inside. There's a removable drive cage secured by six screws along with a pair of handles for lifting it out of the enclosure, and then beneath the cage are two bottom-mounted 120mm intake fans. This is much, much simpler than the GD04's layout was, but that's a side benefit of the increased size of the case: more space to work in.

Gallery: SilverStone Grandia GD07 Glamour

I'm used to SilverStone enclosures being puzzles where once you understand the logic of how they were designed, everything locks into place. Indeed, even the GD07 comes with a piece of paper telling you it isn't like a typical enclosure and strongly urging you to read the manual. The funny thing is, this really is one of the simpler designs I've seen from SilverStone. Overall it's a nice and attractive design, but I do have some qualms with the build quality, which does feel a hair chintzier than some of the other SilverStone cases I've tested.

Introducing the SilverStone GD07 Assembling the SilverStone GD07
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  • 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. FML

  • cjs150 - 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 unconvinced

    As 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!
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