SilverStone PS08: A Decent, Ultra Low-Cost Micro-ATX Case

With being in the process of assembling a new automated test farm for Phoronix Test Suite / OpenBenchmarking.org / Phoromatic test purposes, when it came to finding new computer cases I ended up finding a decent choice with SilverStone. While SilverStone is known for their very expensive and high-end cases, the Precision PS08 is less luxurious but sells at a very nice price.

For the initial R&D on the new Phoronix Test Suite 5.0 features (also see about easily running benchmarks from your phone) plus new improvements to OpenBenchmarking.org and Phoromatic, five new systems were assembled for the purposes of running automated Linux benchmarks on a daily (and in some times, per-commit) basis of some high profile open-source projects. For four of those systems (well, three were shown in this article due to another still being constructed) are featuring the SilverStone Precision PS08 chassis (and the fifth is a mini-ITX so I went with using a different case). While these PS08 enclosures were bought, so far they have been working well, so I figured I would write a short review for anyone else that may be after a very cost effective enclosure.

My requirements for the chassis were to basically be low-cost, decent build quality, and accommodate at least micro ATX motherboards. The requirements weren't too specific since I was ordering extra parts and there's always a plethora of extra hardware at Phoronix. Ideally, I would have liked to go with a rackmount style chassis given the number of additional systems that will eventually be added, but I couldn't find any rackmount style enclosures for such a low cost. In the end I settled for the SilverStone Precision PS08 over its decent build quality and specifications, it's small enough that I will run out of electrical capacity before running out of physical space in the room where this new test farm is being assembled, and most importantly its price was a bargain. The PS08 ran for $35 USD and for the price I couldn't find a better chassis.

I also went with the Precision PS08 over having great experiences with their cases and other products. While we don't review many ATX enclosures these days on Phoronix, I am always happy to look at new SilverStone cases since they tend to be cutting-edge, innovative, and a pleasure to use. With the PS08 buying four of these cases cost about as much as one of their higher-end cases (especially from their Raven and Temjin lines), I didn't expect too much out of this SilverStone case, but I was quite content with the purchase.