SilverStone Precision PS09 Review

SilverStone Precision PS09 Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone
UK: £31.99 (inc VAT)
US: $49.99 (ex Tax)

When done right, budget cases can be very lucrative for companies, due to the sheer volume they can shift at lower price points. However, the quality of cheap cases has improved significantly in the last few years, so it's important that companies don't sacrifice too many features or too much quality when producing enclosures for the mass market. With that in mind, we present the SilverStone Precision PS09, a micro-ATX chassis from a company well known for quality high-end cases – hopefully the same holds true for this budget model.


At under 3.5kg the PS09 is a very light chassis, but there's only a little bit of flex to the side and roof panels – it's stronger than we were expecting and holds together well. It's not just a plain black box but it understandably doesn't have a very extravagant design either, and while the plastic front panel isn't lavish or exciting, SilverStone has kept the PS09 from becoming a plastic abomination. That said, the plastic feet combined with the case's low weight mean that the case has little grip on smoother surfaces.

The side panels are empty of fan mounts, as are the roof and bottom panels, which means you have limited cooling expansion options without some modifications of your own. The bottom of the case doesn't even have any mesh in the bottom as the PSU is mounted above the motherboard, not below it. The lack of ventilation due to the absence of mesh may severely limit the air available to GPUs.


The rear of the chassis plays host to a single fan mount, one of just three on the whole case. It's empty by default and is only able to take 80mm or 92mm fans, as the PS09 is too narrow to house anything larger here.

The two side panels have slightly extruded parts on them, as well as an indented section at the rear which is designed to give your fingers a place to grip the panels when you're removing them. However, we found that the panels were still quite difficult to remove – a simple handle on them would have been a better solution.


Finally, the front of the PS09 is where you'll find the optical drives and, beneath these, the external I/O connections, which include USB 3 – very pleasing for a £32 chassis. The power and reset buttons are positioned down the left and right hand sides of the front panel respectively, and beneath each of them is a small removable mesh section. They're backed by filtering material, which is good, but they're fiddly to remove and replace. They're also the only areas through which air can be drawn into the chassis by the front-mounted 120mm fan, so airflow is going to be very limited inside, even if you fill the secondary 80mm front intake mount.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 170 x 407 x 360 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 3.34kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays 2 x external 5.25in, 4 x internal 3.5in, 1 x internal 2.5in
  
• Form factor(s) Micro-ATX, mini-ITX
  
• Cooling 1 x 120mm and 1 x 80mm front fan mounts (120mm fan included), 1 x 92mm/80mm rear fan mount (fan not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 140mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 358mm
  
• Extras None