Silverstone SUGO SG09 Small Form Factor Chassis Review

It has to be fairly clear by this point that I absolutely loved the SG09, no doubt about it. The performance that could be packed into this tiny chassis is simply incredible and no matter how many components I can think about stuffing inside this chassis I still feel like there is some space left over that could fit something else, it’s the chassis equivalent of the Tardis. OK so maybe Tardis is a little over the top but given this chassis is much smaller than many of the popular Mini-ITX chassis’ on the market, the fact that this chassis can handle Micro-ATX, four expansion cards, or even an SLI graphics card configuration, has a colossal amount of fan space, full size PSU support, six hard drive bays and large CPU cooler support, without a doubt makes it the best balance of compact size and component compatibility I’ve seen in a chassis so far.

There is just one aspect of the SG09 that I didn’t like, it’s not exactly ugly but style is such a subjective quality and maybe I’m alone in my opinion of how it looks, but the attention to detail of the interior, how the components fit each compartment, the cooling and everything is fantastic and I feel its let down by a slightly cheaper looking front panel plastic grill and no ODD eject button. I will forgive a little of this minor infraction though as the front panel fan grill does also double as a removable dust filter and what it lacks in style it makes up in functionality and easy maintenance. No eject on the ODD could be a problem for some, but you can eject a disc from within your OS, on the other hand I don’t use optical discs more than twice a year any more so it’s hardly an inconvenience.

What SilverStone have achieved with the SG09 is simply brilliant, it’s small enough to pick up and put under your arm, something that is handy for those that love LAN gaming events or just need to be mobile with their rig. Having that compact size can be vital to many people, not just gamers but also people who have a very limited amount of desk and office space, every bit of space saved can be vital to a good work area for some people. The HTPC market is also keen on compact and discrete systems and while the SG09 may not look as discrete as others in the Silver Stone range it does have the ability to pack a very powerful system, with the rise in popularity of using game control pads with PC games, even more so since the introduction of Steam’s The Big Picture mode as people build their very own “Steam Box” for their big screen TV’s.

The SG09 is a fairly expensive chassis but not overly so and you can expect to see a little change from £100 at the most popular retailers, but the level of detail and quality that has been put into the chassis design is worth every penny of the asking price. What we have is a rock solid performer from the SG09 and the old saying that good things really can come in small packages rings true. It may not be for everyone in terms of design, but there is a big market for little systems and I expect the SG09 is going to prove very popular in that area.