SilverStone Precision PS09 Review

Performance Analysis

The thermal results for the PS09 are undoubtedly disappointing, even if they were somewhat expected. With a delta T of 69°C, the PS09 runs our CPU 10°C hotter than any other case we've seen – the only exception to this is the In-Win 901 without any case fans at all. Acting as an exhaust, the PSU was able to prevent our overclocked CPU from throttling, but only just, and the PSU itself became very hot too.


Its the GPU results that are most troubling, however, as the delta T of 77°C is 12°C higher than anything we've seen before, this time including the 901 without fans. What little air the front 120mm intake fan manages to pull in is mostly aimed above the graphics card, and this coupled with the lack of ventilation beneath the card means that its fan has basically no access to cool air. Even with it spinning at 70 percent, the temperature of the GPU core became so hot that the card began to throttle within the 15 minute test. This means that if you leave your card's fan setting on auto, it will eventually turn into a mini wind tunnel in its attempts to keep cool. This therefore completely negates SilverStone's attempts to keep the case quiet, and still may not be enough to prevent throttling.

Conclusion

At £32, it would be wrong to expect too much of the PS09. It's easy to focus on what it's missing, but in reality its basic feature set is still quite impressive with the price tag in mind – in particular the dual USB 3 ports, removable dust filters and SSD mount. Except for the poor cable management it's also easy to work with and the build quality is likewise adequate, so it works as an effective means of housing a modern system on a tight budget.


Unfortunately, housing hardware isn't the only job of a case, as the ability to keep said hardware cool is crucial. The CPU and GPU (and even arguably the PSU) both suffer by being situated inside the PS09, as there simply isn't enough airflow reaching the components. The GPU cooling is of most concern, as in all likelihood your card will either heat up to the point where its fans have to spin very fast and loud to keep things under control, and in the worst case scenario they won't be able to cope at all and your clock speeds and thus frame rates will plunge. With little option to improve this situation, we cannot recommend the PS09 for any system using a discrete graphics card.

There is, however, an argument for using it for a budget APU build, which is a likely scenario for a case in this price range. A decent low-profile cooler and an additional low-noise 92mm exhaust fan should be enough to keep things running cool and quietly, leaving you with a discrete system easily capable of handling basic office tasks.