SilverStone DS380 Review

SilverStone DS380 Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone
UK price (as reviewed): £116.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $159.99 {ex TAX)

If there's one case company that's not afraid to try something new in the pursuit of better designs it's SilverStone. We've seen some radical shifts in cooling arrangements as well as general case design and many cases have topped our cooling charts too. Today, though, we're looking at something that brings something other than advanced cooling to the table.

The DS380 is SilverStone's take on a combination of a NAS enclosure and mini-ITX gaming case. It's fairly unassuming on the outside, with a pain black powder-coated exterior. There's only a power button externally - no other buttons or switches and even this is an extension, as the main front panel is hidden behind a lockable front door.


SilverStone has taken the interesting approach of using externally-fitted dust filters for all the fan mounts. Thankfully, these fit very well indeed and look as if they're part of the case with a similar colour and finish, though this has probably added to the cost of the case. The front logo is detached out of the box and the strip can be fitted if you so wish, although we found it didn't quite sit completely flush.


Construction is primarily of steel, so this small case weighs in at a hefty 7kg. It's very well-made, but in an old-fashioned sort of way. If you like those typical steel cases that could probably survive a drop off the Empire State Building then you'll like the DS380 but it's not a modern case, if you know what we mean.


The showpiece of the DS380 is its hot-swap drive mounts, which occupies the majority of the interior, yet there's also room for sizable graphics cards too. There are eight SATA/SAS-compatible drive mounts that are both 2.5in and 3.5in compatible. However, there's no 5.25in bay as a result - this is a case that's been built to maximise the number of drive bays and we're pretty sure that eight 3.5in mounts is more than any other mini-ITX case out there too.

The front door is equipped with a lock with two keys provided, and reveals the main front panel with power and reset buttons, two USB 3 ports plus minijacks. The hot swap drive mounts are easily accessible from here without removing the side panel so they're easy to reach but secure behind the front door.


The rear of the case reveals its fairly humble construction - bare grey steel and a black exterior, although interestingly you can see that SilverStone has opted to mount the mini-ITX motherboard on its head too. More on the interior over the page.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 260 x 369 x 195 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 7kg
  
• Front panel Power, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays8 x internal 3.5in/2.5in, 4 x 2.5in
  
• Form factor(s) Mini-ITX
  
• Cooling 1 x 120mm rear fan mount (fan included), 2 x 120mm side fan mounts (fans included),
  
• CPU cooler clearance 57mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 279mm with 111mm width restriction
  
• Extras Hot swap drive bays, removable dust filters