Enclosures Linux Reviews & Articles

There have been 89 Linux hardware reviews and benchmark articles on Phoronix for enclosures. Separately, check out our news section for related product news.

If you are looking for a 5U rack-mountable chassis for a high-end server or workstation, the SilverStone RM51 launched a few months ago as their latest offering in the high-end server enclosure space.

For those looking at setting up a water-cooled rackmount server either for running high-end hardware like the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO hardware or just wanting a minimal noise environment for your studio or other environment, the SilverStone RM42-502 is a 4U rackmount chassis that can handle SSI-EEB motherboards and still provide enough room for supporting up to 240mm liquid cooling radiators. We've been testing out the SilverStone RM42-502 to great success for the past month in conjunction with the SilverStone IceGem 240P AIO water cooling setup.

Over the years at Phoronix we have easily close to forty if not more Rosewill 2U and 4U sever cases... Rosewill's server cases have been among the best value enclosures when not needing any extra features like hot-swap bays, etc. For under $100 USD, their Rosewill 4U cases have been a favorite due to the cost yet good quality, fan filter, etc. A new revision out this summer is the Rosewill RSV-4310 that appears to have replaced the likes of the RSV-R4000. The RSV-4310 4U enclosure does bring some nice minor updates to the base enclosure we've come to know and appreciate though is more costly.

SilverStone recently sent over their CS381 chassis that has proven to be quite a versatile micro-ATX enclosure that can accommodate up to twelve hard drives (eight of which are hot-swappable) all while coming in at just 400 x 225 x 316mm. The SilverStone CS381 could work quite well as a Linux HTPC / DIY Steam Linux gaming living room PC or SOHO file server system with its compact size while offering immense storage potential. Here's more on the SilverStone CS381 and our build with using a Ryzen 5 3400G that is playing well under Linux with an ASUS B450 motherboard.

While we have tested dozens of SilverStone computer cases over the years at Phoronix, they have generally been phenomenal desktop cases, but not until now have we had a chance to see what innovations the company can drive into server/workstation-focused 4U enclosures. In this article is a look at the SilverStone Case Storage Series CS350.

The SilverStone Petit PT13 is the case manufacturer's smallest mini-ITX chassis with a volume of just 1.4 liters. I picked up the PT13 recently for housing the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 and it's been working out well.

In needing to make more room for Ryzen/Epyc/ThreadRipper and Core-X Series, the StarTech 12U rack was the latest investment. This 12U rack can, fortunately, fit quite comfortable under my custom-made desk.

It's been over two years since last testing out any ATX desktop/tower cases due to using rackmount cases for nearly all of the test systems these days, but for a new Linux VR testing area (will be covered in a separate article this weekend), I went with a conventional ATX PC chassis. The case I went with was the SilverStone Redline RL06 and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their new budget cases.

Earlier this year I tested the CompuLab Airtop as a completely fanless, high-performance PC. Many Linux users were interested in the Airtop and its innovative design. The only downsides with the Airtop is that it's very expensive to ordinary consumers and you don't have free rein over what components you wish to install. Fortunately, more standards-compliant fanless cases have been coming to the market -- including some that support fanless CPU cooling. One of the newer contenders in that space is the Streacom FC5 Alpha, which is a fanless aluminum case I've been using the past month and could work out well for a SteamOS Linux gaming living room PC or HTPC.

If you are very tight on space, Inteset Technologies sells a computer case that is rackmount compatible where you're able to fit two complete systems within a 1U slot.

If you are looking for an open-frame, four-post rack cabinet that's the perfect size for some home server/media equipment and doesn't run floor-to-ceiling, the StarTech.com 25U 4POSTRACK25U is a great fit. After having had great success with my 48U StarTech.com racks, I turned to the 25U rack for something smaller that can fit and look more normal outside of the server room.

With the transformation of a basement into a large Linux server room (50+ computers), I previously wrote about the sub-$50 4U ATX server case and 2U micro-ATX server case commonly used for housing the many Linux systems in this lab running continuous performance benchmarks. For the EATX systems, here's the server chassis I've gone with and experienced great results out of this EATX/SSI rackmount chassis that can be found online for as little as $80 USD.

Yesterday I wrote a bit about the 2U server chassis I've been using that cost just $69 USD a piece. Meanwhile for fitting standard ATX motherboards and larger full-size graphics cards, there's a 4U chassis I've bought several of thus far that retails for just over $50.

For those in need of a 2U server chassis to handle micro-ATX/mini-ITX motherboards, the Rosewill RSV-Z2600 rackmount server chassis is the best deal I've found thus far and am happy with them after purchasing several for use in the new server farm.

In the process of building our new open-source, Linux benchmarking test farm the server racks I settled for are the StarTech.com 42U rack cabinets. I've bought three of these StarTech.com 42U (4POSTRACK42) racks in the past few weeks and have been happy with their quality for low-price and it includes casters, levelers, and cable management hooks.

We're finally starting to reach a state where case manufacturers are doing away with the seldom-used 5.25-inch drive bays! With computer enthusiasts not often needing optical drives these days in their desktops, SilverStone introduced the Raven RV05 this past summer that does away with all 5.25-inch drive bays (though there is a slim slot-loading optical drive bay slot if you really need it...). With Linux users especially being rarely reliant on optical drives given that most Linux distributions can be installed in a "live USB" manner and most software obtained over the Internet via distribution package repositories, the Raven RV05 we're looking at today should be efficient and attractive to many Linux users.

For those in need of an attractive yet modestly priced mini-ITX HTPC enclosure for a new AMD AM1 system or other mini-ITX Linux build, the Milo ML06 chassis from SilverStone is worth considering.

After spending $30~60 on an APU, and as low as $30 on a motherboard, you are probably looking for an ultra low-cost computer case / PSU to go with a new budget AMD AM1 build, right? If so, the Rosewill RS-MI-01 is a very cheap mini-ITX enclosure that also includes a 250 Watt power supply, but its $45 price tag may raise concerns over quality.

If you are looking for a very compact enclosure that can handle a mini-ITX motherboard and up to two 2.5-inch hard drives while measuring in at just 192 x 210 x 62 mm, the Mini-Box M350 might be the performance case for your needs.

When opening the box to the SilverStone Raven RVZ01 there is a disclaimer printed on the packaging in multiple languages about being a "unique product" and recommending users first reading the included manual. This statement isn't just some marketing verbage to build up hype or purchasing confidence in the product, but with being able to accommodate up to a 13-inch PCI Express graphics card and four drive bays within this petite mini-ITX chassis, it truly is a unique product. Today at Phoronix we're looking at SilverStone's Raven RVZ01 mini-ITX chassis, the SFX 450W ST45SF-G power supply, and SST-CP11 SATA cabling for building a great Linux HTPC or your own Steam Machine/Box Linux gaming system.

The Sugo SG05-LITE is a decent Mini-ITX/DTX enclosure from SilverStone that is very low-cost yet decent build quality and design. Here's a look at the SilverStone Sugo SG05-LITE and some other Linux-friendly system components for those thinking about doing a low-cost Linux-based mini-ITX system.

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.

When it comes to hardware reviews after reviewing CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs under Linux, one of my personal favorites is always looking at SilverStone's latest and greatest computer cases. While their enclosures have nothing to do with the operating system, so many of their designs are incredible and innovative that they're always fun checking out. The latest ATX enclosure I've had the honor of looking at is the SilverStone Fortress FT04.

In the past at Phoronix we have looked at the SilverStone Milo ML01, ML02, and ML03 HTPC enclosures, which all were nice and lived up to the prestigious SilverStone name we have come to expect over the years. When the opportunity arose to look at the Milo ML04 revision, of course I was very interested to see what the talented SilverStone designers envisioned to make a home theater PC chassis even better.

When it comes to Small Form Factor (SFF) computer cases, one of my favorite for the better part of the past decade has been the SilverStone Sugo series. SilverStone generally is always right on with delivering incredible computer enclosures, but their Sugo line-up in particular have been innovative, feature rich, fun to work with, and all around great when it comes to SFF/HTPC builds. Their latest addition to the Sugo family is the SG09, which I've been testing at Phoronix.

As mentioned in the behind the scenes tour of my office, over the years SilverStone has been one of my favorite computer case manufacturers with constantly putting out stunning, near-perfect designs, great features, and just wonderful products whether you're a gamer/enthusiast or just pride yourself on having a beautiful enclosure. The latest SilverStone case I have had a chance to test out is the Temjin TJ04-E Evolution. Is it another winner? Oh yes.

Way back in 2006 I tested out the SilverStone TJ08, which ended up being a very nice compact enclosure and right on-par with SilverStone's other beautiful Temjin cases. More than a half-decade has passed and now SilverStone is out with the TJ08-E, which evolves the chassis by providing improved cooling performance and other minor refinements.

It's that time of the summer again to look at another SilverStone chassis. This time up for review is the SilverStone Raven RV03, which is the successor to the previously reviewed Raven RV01 and Raven RV02. The third-generation Raven carries a lower introductory retail price, improved cooling over the RV02, greater storage capabilities, and support for fitting an SSI EEB Extended ATX motherboard.

Back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show one of the most interesting and innovative products I came across was not one of the many tablets or 3D monitors on display, but was actually a computer case. SilverStone Technology has been producing computer enclosures for years, yet they seem to always drive a new level of innovation into their products, and is why they're one of the few enclosure manufacturers to be featured on Phoronix. After being fascinated by their small form factor Sugo enclosures in the past, they introduced a SFF Fortress enclosure, which is easily one of the most unique micro-ATX enclosures.

With all attention this week being turned to finishing up Phoronix Test Suite 3.0-Iveland and OpenBenchmarking.org for its launch tomorrow during the Southern California Linux Expo, there is no major Linux article in the queue for today, but we are looking at what SilverStone describes as "the entry-level HTPC benchmark." This company that's very well known for their high-end enclosures is now dabbling with a HTPC enclosure that will not set you over your budget on a Home Theater PC build. This review also includes a look at the Strider Essential 400W (SST-ST40F-ES) power supply.