External Appearance – Sides and rear
Initial impressions of the left side panel are that it's a little over done. Silverstone has brought over the design from the TJ-09 case but it looks overbearing on such a small unit.
Some of the community commented in our CeBIT coverage that the possibility of replacing the grill with a real window looked fairly remote. However, doing that wouldn't be a good idea anyway – the grill serves a very important purpose but more on that later.
The panel on the right side is bare and we found that odd – with the layout that SilverStone has adopted, this panel is a prime candidate for a bit more ventilation.
The rear of the SG-03 is anything but orthodox. The PSU mounts on the left (the right as you look from the rear) and that helps explain how SilverStone manages to squeeze so much into such a small space.
The rear lacks any active ventilation. Instead of fans, there are pre-stamped holes for heat to escape. At the top is a spare PCI plate - an ideal candidate for a fan controller. In between the I/O area and the back of the PSU is an area that allows the SilverStone FX121 cross flow fan to be added.
Without such a fan, though, will the interior stay cool enough? Stay with us and we'll go into that when discussing the thermals.
