SilverStone Kublai KL03

Installation & Performance:

Seeing how well the Kublai KL03 can accommodate extended ATX motherboards, we had used a Tyan Thunder n3600M (S2932WG2NR-E) motherboard. This motherboard uses the NVIDIA nForce Professional 3600 Chipset and supports dual Socket F processors with full-support for AMD's Quad-Core Barcelona (Opteron 2200) processors. Installing this motherboard in the KL03 was tighter than having to install an EATX motherboard in the Temjin TJ09 or TJ10, but it worked out successfully and we were pleased. To install the motherboard, however, we had to remove the CP05 hot-swappable adapter from the hard drive cage. Once the motherboard is installed, the CP05 can be easily reinstalled, but we had left it off during our tests.

The other hardware we had installed included two of AMD's new Opteron 2356 2.3GHz Quad-Core processors, 4GB of Corsair DDR2 memory, Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000W, ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB, Lite-On SATA DVD burner, and Western Digital 160GB SATA2 hard drive. The Opteron coolers used were two Dynatron F558 heatsinks. Installing all of this hardware had worked out quite well and we ran into no problems at all aside from needing to remove the CP05 in order to install an EATX motherboard. Cable management with the KL03 wasn't as good as the TJ10, but once again this is the less-expensive model of the two. As we weren't going to use the dual 120mm side fans, we had also removed that metal arm from this case.

During operation this case was admirably quiet even with all of its ventilation holes. The two 120mm fans included with this case are very quiet. We also hadn't run into any thermal issues even when packing in eight processing cores and an ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card. The operating temperatures for both CPUs were always below 40°C.