Silverstone Kublai KL04 Mid-Tower Chassis Review
Andy Ruffell / 12 years ago
An odd design concept that you will notice at first is the location of the side fan. It’s actually located on the opposite side to what you’d expect, which is no problem, but may be a bit of a take from the norm to some consumers. The side panel is made from steel and includes space for two 120mm fans, situated by the hard drive bays.
The side panel comes inclusive of a plastic, mesh-like panel which is easily removable and reveals the included 120mm fan, with space for a further 120mm fan beneath. The location of these fan mountings is perfect for the storage enthusiasts who will require sufficient cooling to their drives.
Flipping the case around, the other side just has a solid black panel with no distinguishing fan mounts of windowed properties. It is worth noting that a windowed side panel version can be purchased if you require, which seems to be the trend at the moment for modders and watercooling enthusiasts.
Taking a look at the top of the chassis, we find a similar plastic mesh-like panel providing ventilation to the top-most part of the case. While this can be quite stiff to start with, once removed a few times, things become a lot easier. By removing this panel it will provide access to some of the cooling aspects of the case.
We can see a 120mm fan comes included in the front location, but room for another 120mm or 140mm fan is available. If you decide that air cooling isn’t for you, you can utilise this space for sufficient watercooling in the form of a 240mm radiator.
The front of the case from the offset seems to give off a military feel, at least in my eyes and shows that build quality looks tough and durable, at least from the initial styling. There are a total of four 5.25″ drive bays, of which a reducer bracket comes supplied for smaller devices, such as card readers. Below, we find a simple black plastic design which simply includes a power button and reset button and of course, the patented Silverstone logo presented towards the bottom.
Moving back towards the top of the case, we find a small dug-out panel which a few front panel connectors. There are the usual headphone and microphone 3.5mm jack sockets and also two USB 3.0 connectors, which an adapter comes included if your board doesn’t have the required native USB 3.0 header.
Moving towards the back of the case, we find an all black design with a lot of ventilation. Starting at the top, we find two holes ready for watercooling tubes to be passed through, with a rear exhaust quiet 120mm fan included by Silverstone. Beneath there are a total of eight expansion card slots which all include ventilated panels to provide the best airflow, with further aspects of the case being ventilated to the side. As per usual, the power supply is installed into the bottom of the case to conform to the latest standards.
The last major aspect of the exterior is the bottom, which we find four rubber feet to allow for extra ventilation to be passed around and under the case, and of course anti-vibration functionality. Speaking of ventilation, we can see two large removable dust filters. These are situated under the power supply area and just next to it where you have some options for extra airflow inside the case.
