SilverStone Sugo SG03

Inside the Sugo

Not only is the case made with the same unyielding build quality synonymous with Silverstone cases, but it appears that the company has mastered the technology used by Dr Who’s TARDIS. The Sugo may be no larger than a double Jack Daniel's and Coke, but the amount of PC kit you can fit inside this case is impressive.

The Sugo can house two hard disks, one external 3.5in device, one external 5.25in device, an ATX PSU and two double-slot, 10.5in-long graphics cards. While Silverstone is correct in claiming that you can install a pair of ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2s in the SG03, we’d heartily recommend opting for a much larger case for such a hot graphics set up.


The vertical mounting of the PSU means that you’ll need to use a low-profile CPU cooler which – along with the tiny size of the Sugo – may limit your overclocking headroom though to be fair, there probably aren't many people on the market looking for a case this size with a view of breaking any benchmarking records.

Although the stock AMD or Intel cooler will fit, as ever we recommend fitting an aftermarket model. For our test kit cooler, we opted for a Zalman 8800 which sits far enough away from the PSU to benefit from the through-flow provided by the intake fan.

The bracket that runs opposite the motherboard tray acts as the external 3.5in device mount and also a support for your PSU. Between this bracket and the one underneath the 5.25in bay, you can rest assured that your power supply is snugly secure should you frequently be carting your pint-sized PC around.

The case dismantles in a comprehensive fashion which is just as well considering the amount of space you don’t have to work with when building. In addition to the side panel opening up and the fascia being removable, the bottom of the case also detaches in two parts. These two bottom panels are made from very thick, ridged aluminium, which act as heatsinks for your installed hard disks.

In addition to being bays and heatsinks for your hard disks, they two bottom panels are also each have one rubber foot running their length to hold your Sugo firmly in place on a desk. Coupled with airflow from the front of the case blowing over the top of the hard disks, the Sugo provides adequate cooling for your hard disks
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One thing that has undoubtedly been canned in the design of the Sugo is cable management features. It’s clear that SilverStone has done everything it can to keep the size of the case to a minimum and having empty cavities cunningly positioned around the interior clearly didn't fit with the game plan.

For this reason, you’ll not only want a PSU with an intake fan that takes advantage of the mesh on the side panel, but also a modular one. Keeping messy cables to a minimum and good airflow to a maximum is especially crucial with such a small case. SilverStone has taken heed of this and made the front panel audio, LED and reset switch all detachable should you not want to bother with the mess. The only font panel feature that’s hardwired to the case, is the more essential power button header.