SilverStone diversifies cases

I had the opportunity to meet with my friends over at SilverStone today in order to get a look at what's coming up for the company's 2007 case lineup. As is SilverStone's tradition, there was quite a bit to show...but this time, things were a little different. The company has always been known for its popular Temjin and Lascala series, but in an effort to stay true to the brands it has created, it has finally split its products into a few new names.

First up is the fantastic "Crown" line, which is meant to supersede the Lascala line in home theatre setups. Since it's designed to be the premium line, all models will be pure aluminum with several features. The first model, the CW02, is pictured below, and will be available for sale in March for a retail price of between $300 and $400 USD.

The first thing visible is the considerable increase in size over the Lascala series - however, this is far from an unwelcome addition. The added heft provides plenty of room for some of the newest hardware, cooling solutions, and even some easier cable routing. Of particular note is the move toward silence - the hard drives are finally grommeted, and Tony mentioned to me that fan contact points may be silenced with grommets as well by release.

Also in the media centre line-up is the new Milo series, which debuted last month. This line is meant to cater to setups that house mobile processors, and are slim-line cases. A new model was featured today that is a bit of an aesthetic change from its ML01 launch, having a silvery exterior and a mirror-like black fascia. Each Milo will include PCI and PCI-E riser cards, certainly a nice inclusion for those building low profile systems. A new cooler was also released for these setups, named the NT-07.

One line was actually added to at the show. The popular mATX Sugo line of cases has received a new model called the SG-03. This all-aluminum bad boy has roughly the same dimensions as the popular SG-01, but is designed a bit like a tower. It comes installed with two 120mm fans in front (with room for a radiator, Tony hinted) and just enough height to fit a standard ATX PSU and the company's excellent NT-06 cooler.

There will also be a new line of desktop cases meant for the middle segment of the market ($100-150) - the first product of this line-up, the KT-01, is pictured below. The company is also looking into a new release of the pictured Crown model, but with the watercooling built in - Imagine a hybrid between the pictured computer and the passive [eurl=]Tundra[/eurl] watercooling setup.

We're looking forward to getting these in our labs - bit-tech has been offered the first crack at the new Crown line-up. Will they perform? We're willing to bet, but we'll be checking them out in detail soon just to be sure. In the meantime, tell us your thoughts on the new lineup in our forums.