Revisiting the SilverStone Precision PS07 was definitely a worthwhile endeavor, even if the performance results don't immediately bear that out. There's some extrapolation that has to be done, and some dots that need connecting, but SilverStone's assertions that this case was still competitive and was in fact well acoustically engineered were both correct.

Where things get interesting is the way the micro-ATX market stratifies. Despite the fact that they're all hanging out in the same price neighborhood, the PS07, the Corsair Obsidian 350D, and the Fractal Design Define Mini all serve very different purposes. Of these three primary competitors, I think the Define Mini has the hardest time justifying itself, owing to Fractal Design's continuing struggles to achieve competitive thermal performance.

The PS07 and 350D may superficially look like they're competing with one another, but the 350D is a larger enclosure and is very clearly engineered more for water cooling. The PS07, in contrast, leverages a strong but specific air cooling design. This is the essential dichotomy that we're running into: SilverStone's airflow designs are typically excellent but you basically sacrifice any kind of liquid cooling outside of a 120mm CLC on the CPU. SilverStone will pay lip service to the idea of putting a custom liquid system in their cases, but it's obvious that it's an afterthought.

I'm tremendously bullish on the PS07 as an excellent mid-tower option for the majority of users. One micro-ATX board, one video card, stick an SSD and a hard drive in there and put a cheap tower cooler on the CPU: presto, an incredibly well rounded system.

So now that we have a more modern appraisal of both the PS07 and its eventually lineage in the Raven RV04 and Fortress FT04, an unfortunately unpleasant pattern does essentially emerge when we do a "State of the Union" in the case industry. In my estimation, there are three manufacturers that are driving things forward the way Antec used to in the days of old: Corsair, SilverStone, and NZXT. BitFenix is running fourth, but they don't really directly compete with these three because they've pretty much locked up the budget market.

SilverStone is continually demonstrating an expert understanding of designing air flow in their enclosures, but their designs still suffer from two fatal flaws: overcomplication, and a lack of forward thinking. They have the airflow thing down pat and continue to innovate there, but these cases are often needlessly complicated to work with. At the same time, they ignore the industry trends toward CLCs and away from 3.5" storage at their own peril.

Moving back from the macro to the micro, for more modest builds the Precision PS07 and its fancier sibling, the Temjin TJ08-E, continues to be one of the best options out there. The $79 price tag is totally reasonable, and if you choose your components intelligently (and inexpensively!) you can be left with a very quiet, solidly performing system.

Noise and Thermal Testing
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  • just4U - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link

    What about the Cooler Master N200?
  • antef - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link

    The N200 looks okay but still a bit unnecessarily deep.

    PS07: 8.27 " W x 14.73" H x 15.75" D
    Line-M: 7.29" W x 14.37" H x 15.74" D
    N200: 7.95" W x 14.9" H x 17.52" D

    The Line-M has the best dimensions here. The PS07 is slightly wider and taller but maintains the same short depth. The N200 is nearly 2" deeper. What's so nice about the Line-M/PS07 dimensions is that they keep it extremely compact but still have the space for a large video card and modest tower cooler if you want it.
  • HisDivineOrder - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link

    CLC is a fad that will die out just as soon as people realize it's ridiculous to put a water cooler on chips that increasingly cannot overclock reliably for reasons that are NOT at all about heat production and/or not about heat being reliably transferred by the heatspreader.

    At this point, CLC is the new "in-thing," but eventually there'll be a move back to standard heatsinks and fans. This reminds me of how "everyone" was making aluminum cases, then the market contracted down to only a couple of players. Because it was the fad for a while.
  • just4U - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link

    I've found that the Temjin (and I assume the PS07 since their very similar) both work well with modular Power Supplies that use cables that are ribboned rather than sleeved. That makes cable management so much easier.
  • bobbozzo - Sunday, September 22, 2013 - link

    Hi,
    Please also re-review the Antec P18x (p183 v3 is current, afaict) and p280 cases.

    Thanks!
  • bobbozzo - Sunday, September 22, 2013 - link

    http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/3085/Large%2...
    It looks like there might be a filter on the intake, but it's hard to tell for sure

    Please state in all reviews if there are dust filters, and if they're removable.

    thanks!
  • tonyou - Sunday, September 22, 2013 - link

    Yeah, that pictures shows the front removable filter for the PS07. There is also another removable filter on the top of the case for PSU intake.
  • Hrel - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    I looked and didn't find one; but you guys REALLY need a sound meter that goes below 30db. I'm not sure where to find it, but it's gotta exist somewhere.
  • lwatcdr - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    You would probably not only have to find a meter that goes below 30db but also a special room to measure in. Even wind outside or the ac turning on could swamp a sub 30db signal.

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