Silverstone Grandia Series GD06 HTPC Case Review

The main bulk of the chassis is made up of steel and a plastic front panel with a thick brushed aluminium door in the middle keeping everything hidden away, this is a bit unconventional in comparison to other HTPC case designs but following the crowd is not a design point that will set a case apart from the crowd.

The top of the case possesses no real looks about it, after all you’ll most likely be looking at the front more than anything or stacking the chassis inline with other home entertainment devices, there is a small grill towards the rear for dispersing some heat out of the chassis.

The right hand end has grills for two pre-installed 120mm fans.

The left hand side has another grill for a fan towards the front of the case whilst a small long grill is at the rear above where the power supply will sit.

The rear of the case is compact yet still functional with a large grill to the left above the I/O panel where two more 80mm fans can be mounted and four full height expansion bays slot neatly into the middle.  A further expansion bay is mounted horizontally above the PSU area for mounting expansion brackets or fan controllers for example.

On the underside of the chassis we can see the two large round feet towards the front and two rubber feet towards the rear.  Beneath the PSU bay is a grill allowing ventilation from below.

Something that sets the GD06 apart from its siblings is the locking front cover that stops access to the front I/O panel and drive bays.

With the front door unlocked, the aluminium panel drops down giving access to the front of the chassis and the I/O behind.

On the right hand side we can see the single optical drive bay with its brushed metal effect cover and below this, the front I/O comprising of two USB3.0 ports – one each either side of the audio jacks. Next to this is the reset button.

To the left is a unique feature on the GD06, a pair of quick access hard drive bays. Both of these are simply opened by a quick release toggle on the front and the sprung doors swing open releasing the drives inside.

At the back of the drive bays are the SATA power and data connections. These push into the drive when closed and on opening, the drives are pulled out of the caddy for removal.

Underneath the front panel is the power button with the power LED around it.  Part of me does wonder why this was left out from the cover whereas everything else is able to be locked away.  None the less its subtle and blends in with the design.