SilverStone Primera PM01 Review

Performance Analysis

It's hard to argue with results like that. Even on a relatively warm day, the PM01 had no issue keeping both our GPU and CPU down to healthy temperatures, and it achieves the best out-of-box cooling results we've seen so far. The only case that does better is the Lian Li PC-D888, but it's not a fair comparison since its chart-topping results only came after we fitted it with eight fans, and 8Pack's monster is really designed for water-cooling anyway.

The CPU is mainly affected by exhaust airflow, and the 140mm rear fan coupled with the positive pressure designed instigated by the trio of front intakes clearly works well – the delta T result of 49°C is 5°C better than on an open bench. Even the GPU result is a touch better than the open bench one – your graphics card or graphics cards certainly won't struggle to receive cool air in this case.


With no fan control, a very porous front panel and four 140mm fans, the PM01 was never about silence. The chassis fans are clearly audible, and any loud hardware you have inside your case will be too. SilverStone hasn't gone completely over-the-top on noise to achieve its excellent performance, as the noise output is tolerable rather than excessive. The excellent airflow will also help to keep thermally controlled CPU and GPU fans spinning slower and thus quieter. Even so, some sort of fan control for idle periods certainly wouldn't go amiss and we reckon the case would achieve very good cooling even at lower fan speeds.

Conclusion

There aren't many elements to the PM01's design that we haven't seen before – the PSU cover, ODD-free design, Velcro cable ties and fan hub, for example, are all things that have been introduced or at least popularised by other manufacturers in recent years. That's not really a criticism, however, since this has always been how the case market has evolved, and we can't fault SilverStone for adopting successful features and design elements. Besides, this is by no means a replica of another case. Rather, SilverStone has taken the current trend in tower cases i.e. hiding the PSU and drives for an extremely clean interior, and made it its own by doing what it often does so well – implementing a high-airflow design to give the PM01 some of the best cooling performance available.

While the performance is impressive, there's more than just this that wins our favour here. SilverStone gives you plenty of options for storage – you can install up to nine drives, all hidden away. The cable routing system is also solid (though not perfect), as is the level of custom water-cooling support.


It's not all good news, however. We can't be too harsh on the glossy finish since it is mainly an aesthetic element, but it truly is overly susceptible to fingerprints and dust, which no-one likes. Disassembly, particularly the front and roof panels, is also more cumbersome than it should be, and the lack of a standoff tool and zip ties in the accessory bag also irked us. The controllable LED system is a nice touch, and it's implemented well, but honestly we'd rather have a way of dampening system noise – it's a real shame this couldn't be integrated along with the fan hub. Few people need such high performance 24/7, especially with today's components becoming more and more efficient.

With its four fans and strong feature set, the PM01 is a good value case at £90. It has all the trimmings necessary to support a high-end multi-GPU system, be it air-cooled or water-cooled. That said, there are just a few too many quirks we're not fond of for us to be able to recommend it outright, the main one being the lack of fan control. With its racy looks and relatively high noise output, the case may struggle in European markets where subtlety and low noise tend to be important factors. Nonetheless, we cannot deny SilverStone's highly effective airflow design, and that qualifies it for our Technical Achievement award. If you need a tower chassis that delivers maximum performance at reasonable noise levels and without breaking the bank, this is definitely the case for you.