SilverStone Grandia GD09 Review

SilverStone Grandia GD09 Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone
UKprice (as reviewed): £49.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $89.64 (ex Tax)

There's some pretty neat innovation happening in the HTPC case scene at the moment. there are plenty of new and interesting designs and some are even blurring the lines between gaming cases and HTPC cases such as SilverStone's recent Raven RVZ01. Here the company did the typical SilverStone thing, which was to feature a unique design and come out on top with cooling. Equally Lian Li is worth a mention here with its unique-looking PC-Q19, which could possibly have been inspired by certain PC mods.


You'll get no complaints from us there, and another area SilverStone has an advantage over Lian Li is cost. Both companies offer premium HTPC cases that cost well over £100, but SilverStone offers cases that are more affordable as well. The case we're looking at today is the Grandia GD09 and our first thoughts were that it looks pretty similar to other cases of this style. However to make our previous point about value, Lian Li's similar-looking all-aluminium PC-C50 retails for £150 while the mostly steel GD09 costs a far more reasonable £49.99.


Like the PC-C50, it's one of the larger HTPC cases out there. However, if you have space for it in your TV cabinet and the like, this extra space does offer some attractive advantages. For starters, it supports ATX motherboards so if you have a spare kicking around, which I'm guessing isn't unreasonable for most bit-tech readers, then you can keep the costs down by using old kit for your new HTPC.


There's also a fair amount of height here too for CPU coolers and the same goes for graphics cards and PSUs, which we'll talk more about over the page, so again, it's likely that you'll both be able to transplant older kit from your tower PC and take advantage of the extra cooling and lower noise offered by larger coolers or even all-in-one liquid coolers. There's more cooling on tap too with several large vents in the side panels, roof and rear of the case, many equipped with dust filters.


This sounds good for a £50 HTPC case, although in the flesh, it's perhaps a little bland compared to its more expensive siblings externally. It's mainly finished in black although there are no glossy sections to distract you from movie watching. If you want something elegant and perhaps a bit snazzy, the GD09 probably isn't it, but for a well-built, no-fuss, minimalist HTPC case it fits the bill nicely.


The underside is a little more interesting, with four screw holes providing a 2.5in mount for SSDs, while there are two types of case feet; the front uses the usual chrome-edged circular feet while the rear, which is angled down slightly, uses rubber domes. These add to the height of the case of course, which tops out at 17cm or 6.7in

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 440 x 358 x 170 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 4.2kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays 1 x external 5.25in (or 3.5in/ 2 x 2.5in), 2 x 3.5in (one compatible with 2.5in) 1 x 2.5in
  
• Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX
  
• Cooling 3 x 120mm side fan mounts (one fan included), 2 x rear 80mm fan mounts (fans not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 70mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 301mm
  
• Extras Removable dust filters