Inside, the GD09 is surprisingly spartan too and while we're used to all manner of drive mounts, displays or IR receivers in many other HTPC cases, there are only the bare essentials here. Despite its size, there's only room for a handful of drives and it's a bit of a mish-mash when it comes to their locations too; a single external 5.25in bay can alternatively house a 3.5in hard disk or two 2.5in SSDs with a further 3.5in/2.5in mount underneath and one 3.5in mount at the front of the case. In addition, there's another 2.5in mount in the base of the case in front of the PSU mount.
If that sounds as clear as mud, that's probably because there's a lot of ifs and buts, but assuming you'll be using the 5.25in bay this does still leave you with a maximum of two 3.5in mounts, with one of these being compatible with a 2.5in SSD, plus another of the latter in the floor. We're guessing an SSD plus two hard disks might be the most popular configuration; after all, a couple of terrabytes of storage space and an SSD for your OS is likely to satisfy a majority of HTPC users out there.
Even so, it's a slightly less elegant approach compared to many other examples we've seen and not just from SilverStone's competitors but we guess this is where the £50 price tag kicks in. Cooling on the other hand is on par with some of the most elaborate HTPC cases we've seen. With most TV cabinets being vertically challenged, the logical choice if for a side to side airflow with option for exhausts at the rear too and the GD09 is spot on here.
There are three side 120mm fan mounts with one intake occupied out of the box. The would-be fourth slot is home for the PSU but both it and the other three mounts sport dust filters. There are two 80mm fan mounts at the rear too, but we'd certainly suggest adding another 120mm fan as an exhaust, while there's plenty of room for half-height all-in-one liquid coolers too.
CPU coolers are limited in height to 138mm, which is ample for most of the larger low-profile coolers out there such as Noctua's NH-L12 and you'd obviously be left with oodles of room with anything smaller such as Phanteks' PH-TC90LS while you'd even be able to fit small tower coolers such as Arctic's Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2.
Perhaps the main trump card of the GD09 is the space for expansion devices. It can house 301mm-long graphics cards and with ATX motherboards also supported, there's scope for a seriously powerful rig here. Alternatively, you could fill the seven PCI expansion slots with TV capture cards, sound cards or anything else plus there's room for full size PSUs.
Click to enlarge
If that sounds as clear as mud, that's probably because there's a lot of ifs and buts, but assuming you'll be using the 5.25in bay this does still leave you with a maximum of two 3.5in mounts, with one of these being compatible with a 2.5in SSD, plus another of the latter in the floor. We're guessing an SSD plus two hard disks might be the most popular configuration; after all, a couple of terrabytes of storage space and an SSD for your OS is likely to satisfy a majority of HTPC users out there.
Click to enlarge
Even so, it's a slightly less elegant approach compared to many other examples we've seen and not just from SilverStone's competitors but we guess this is where the £50 price tag kicks in. Cooling on the other hand is on par with some of the most elaborate HTPC cases we've seen. With most TV cabinets being vertically challenged, the logical choice if for a side to side airflow with option for exhausts at the rear too and the GD09 is spot on here.
There are three side 120mm fan mounts with one intake occupied out of the box. The would-be fourth slot is home for the PSU but both it and the other three mounts sport dust filters. There are two 80mm fan mounts at the rear too, but we'd certainly suggest adding another 120mm fan as an exhaust, while there's plenty of room for half-height all-in-one liquid coolers too.
Click to enlarge
CPU coolers are limited in height to 138mm, which is ample for most of the larger low-profile coolers out there such as Noctua's NH-L12 and you'd obviously be left with oodles of room with anything smaller such as Phanteks' PH-TC90LS while you'd even be able to fit small tower coolers such as Arctic's Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2.
Perhaps the main trump card of the GD09 is the space for expansion devices. It can house 301mm-long graphics cards and with ATX motherboards also supported, there's scope for a seriously powerful rig here. Alternatively, you could fill the seven PCI expansion slots with TV capture cards, sound cards or anything else plus there's room for full size PSUs.
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