SilverStone Sugo SG02-F

Back in 2005 we had looked at the SilverStone Sugo SG01, which was a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC chassis and unlike any other micro ATX case we had ever reviewed. The case went on to receive our approval, but there were a few minor flaws with its design -- not to mention its $190 USD price tag. However, those flaws were addressed in a second revision to the SG01, which resulted in the SG01 Evolution windowed-edition chassis winning the Phoronix Editor's Choice Award. SilverStone didn't just sit around and triumph over the success of the SG01 Evolution, but they went on to further enrich the Sugo series. Last year SilverStone released the Sugo SG03, which was an extremely innovative chassis that was largely redesigned since the SG01, but it too was a success and won our top award. An SG04 model will soon be shipping that takes the SG03 design one-step further, but between the SG01 and SG03 is the SG02. The Sugo SG02 hasn't been available to North American customers, but SilverStone has released the SG02-F, which is available globally and is the focus of what we are looking at today.

The Sugo SG02-F is described as their most affordable case yet and it offers an improved layout over the original SG01. Unlike the revolutionary differences between the SG01 and SG03, the SG02-F is just an evolution of the SG01 design with expanded support for graphics cards and is composed of a steel body. Thanks to these design improvements, this SFF case is capable of handling long graphics cards such as the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 and GeForce 8800 Ultra. The SG02-F is quite similar to the original SG02 except for turning from aluminum to steel construction and some other enhancements. With a price tag under $80 USD, does this case still deliver on the features and exceptional build quality we have become to know and love from this high-end manufacturer or have they cut too many corners to achieve this pricing?

Features:

- SECC steel construction
- SFF chassis
- Enhanced cooling layout
- 2 x 5.25" drive bays
- 2 x 3.5" drive bays
- Micro ATX motherboard compatibility
- ATX PSU compatibility
- Extended-length expansion cards supported
- 3 x 80mm fans supported
- 4.1 kilograms
- 270 x 212 x 393 mm

Contents:

The Sugo SG02-F arrived in similar packaging to other SilverStone products and even though it sells for significantly less than their other cases, the SG02-F was still packaged well and had arrived safely. Protecting the chassis was Styrofoam blocks on two of the ends. Found inside the case itself was the SST-SG02-F user manual and mounting hardware. The Sugo SG02 is available in SST-SG02B-F and SST-SG02W-F models, with the difference being the white and black exteriors. We are looking at the white model in this review.