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SilverStone Sugo SG08 Mini-ITX Case Review

 by Dustin Sklavos on May 13, 2013 12:01 AM EST
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50 Comments

In and Around the SilverStone Sugo SG08

If you review computer hardware for long enough, your relationship with aluminum becomes a fairly complicated one. Review cases and you start learning all kinds of crazy things about building materials, eventually developing your own preferences. I'm pleased to say that this is one thing SilverStone continues to do very, very right.

There isn't anything especially outlandish about using a brushed aluminum fascia with an SECC steel chassis and shroud, but SilverStone opts to use thick material in the construction of the Sugo SG08. The front fascia is 10mm aluminum while the external shroud is exactly the right thickness of steel to be flexible enough during reassembly without being chintzy or overly fiddly. SilverStone's aesthetic with the SG08 is tame and effective, with a completely flat, unventilated front followed by a veritable mountain of ventilation on the top and sides. Interestingly, there's virtually no ventilation on the rear of the case; I suspect this is a deliberate choice to channel air as directly down to the CPU as possible.

Instead of thumbscrews, the SG08 has three standard screws that hold the single piece shroud in place. Remove that, and you're left looking at one of SilverStone's classic puzzle boxes.

While the interior of the SG08 is fairly intimidating at first, there's always a logic to SilverStone's designs. Like a good sandwich, a "stacking order" must be adhered to. At the top of the case are the intake fan bracket and the slimline optical drive tray. Remove those and you have access to the motherboard tray itself and the storage drive cage. Remove the drive cage and you're left with the preinstalled power supply. It should come as no surprise that interior real estate is at an absolute premium, yet what's perplexing is that SilverStone opted to install the reset button on the back of the case. Leaving it in the front where it typically resides, even recessed, would've been much more ideal, as you now have front panel headers crossing essentially the entirety of the interior.

Gallery: SilverStone Sugo SG08

There aren't really a lot of surprises when it comes to the Sugo SG08. I like the aesthetic overall; it's simple but effective and won't look out of place. It's easy to be intimidated by the internal layout and you can tell almost immediately that closing up is going to be a pain, but when you get down to an enclosure this size, a lot of sacrifices are going to be made. Could the design of the SG08 be simpler? Probably, but how much so I'm not really certain.

Introducing the SilverStone Sugo SG08 Assembling the SilverStone Sugo SG08
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  • karasaj - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    Thanks for the review! Fitting a 117mm HSF seems so strange, when 120mm could have accommodated for so many more.

    I've been trying to decide lately on a new build that I need to be portable. I'm aiming to fit something like a GTX 660 or smaller in it, and trying to decide between a Silverstone Sugo SG05 or the Fractal Design Node 304. Any opinions?

    Also, it would be awesome if you could review the Arc Midi R2! It seems to be getting great reviews everywhere. Any plans to do so?

  • vanwazltoff - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link

    i would go with the node 304, i bought one and with a bit of patience you can have a really clean cable management job inside of one

  • Grok42 - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    Great review, I almost purchased this case for my last build but it was hard to find good reviews for it or any of the other mITX cases I was looking at. Your review has me wondering if I should have used this case for the i7 3770k, GeForce 660 TI, 840 Pro SSD, 16GB workstation. I am happy with the Lian Li Q25B I picked but it's a good 30% bigger than the SG08. The larger space plus having no external bays is used to support a normal but short ATX PSU and 10 internal drive bays. I don't need all that drive space but I think I would still pick the Q25B because it doesn't have any external bays which makes for a much nicer build all around.

  • CloudFire - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    I'm still waiting on Corsair to enter the mini-itx market. I really dig the Bitfenix Prodigy case but I can't really stand the handles (aesthetically wise) but the case itself is genius. Corsair, if you're reading this, please make a case somewhere between the size of this SG08 and the Prodigy, while having the build/quality look of your 300R, I would hop on that so fast.

  • Gigaplex - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    I'm actually impressed the reset button is on the back. It's a button that shouldn't be used often, and I'm routinely accidentally hitting the reset button on my Prodigy when reaching for the power button.

  • Gigaplex - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    Not sure why my comment ended up as a reply to this post...

  • DanNeely - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    A recessed reset button avoids the accidental press problem while keeping the button readily accessible when needed and avoiding cable routing/snarl problems.

  • rburnham - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    I run into the same problem with the Prodigy. I feel like it's a good case, but not great. A revision would be great.

  • lever_age - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    I think it's worth a mention that Silverstone somewhat recently released the SG05-LITE in white and black. It's SG05, but they don't include the SFX power supply, and it sells for $40 (!) on Newegg. I don't know of any other differences.

    SG08 certainly knows how to build upon the SG05's performance, but at that cost...

  • mcnabney - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link

    Yeah, $40 case, $160 power supply. But the rubes need fleecing...
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