Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
While the most recent case I reviewed, the Cooler Master MasterBox NR200, is a direct competitor to the SilverStone SUGO 14, there are some notable differences between the two to differentiate them from each other. Our SilverStone SUGO 14 today comes in white, but the SUGO 14 is also available in black. Both of the colors have a slight gold accent on the front. The rest of the steel panels are glossy but, thankfully, are not fingerprint magnets. The front is a plastic panel, although I wish SilverStone made this out of steel. Overall, the styling is not exactly minimalist like the MasterBox NR200 was, but rather it looks very SilverStone-like in its ordinary appearances and build.
In terms of dimensions, the SilverStone SUGO 14 measures 368.1mm in length, 247mm in width, and 215 mm in height. This is slightly smaller in all dimensions compared to the aforementioned NR200. However, these measurements do not include the feet, which you can attach after the fact. Thus, the SUGO 14 has a larger volume capacity of 19.55L. In terms of mass, the SUGO 14 weighs in at 4.89kg, which is only slightly heavier than the NR200. Even so, this is generally an expected mass for the SUGO 14's size.
From this vantage point, you can get a better view of the front and left-side panels on the SilverStone SUGO 14. On the plastic front, there is a gold accent line that intersects with the circular power button. The power button is surrounded by a white ring translucent diffuser, which covers the power status LEDs. A second orange LED can be found to the left of the power button and this is used to indicate hard drive activity. On the far side of this front panel is a plastic cut out. This lets users actually install a 5.25" drive such as a Blu-ray or DVD drive. While internal optical drives are becoming as rare as the Gros Michel banana, they still have their place on small form factor builds, especially since these builds are often used in the home theater. You will need to pop out this plastic panel and slot in another one with a large cut out for the drive. On the left panel, we have a side with many perforations for airflow. This area is filtered by a plastic mesh, as we will see later in our review.
At the top, you can get a better picture of the other I/O. As mentioned previously, the power button is located on the front of the case, away from this grouping. From left to right on the photo, we have a small circular reset button, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, USB 2.0 port, and a combination audio jack for both headphone and microphone. It is a bit of a strange thing to see a USB 2.0 port on the front panel, and I wish this was swapped out for a USB Type-C connection. It is true that there are only a handful of mini ITX boards with the internal header support for the new connector, but I think this will only become more common. I also would have liked to see an audio splitter included with the SUGO 14, even if they are relatively inexpensive to buy separately. From this shot, you can also get a better picture of the design of the perforations on the top panel. SilverStone has employed a neat design with the holes smoothly transitioning in size of their holes. I am not sure about the purpose of this, other than creating a neat looking effect.
Flipping the case to the other side, you can get a better idea of the back and only solid side panel. At the back, everything is pretty standard for a mini ITX box. The rectangular hole is used for inputs and outputs on the motherboard, and we have rail slots and a honeycomb opening for the exhaust fan at the back. Underneath, we have three expansion slots. While most mini ITX or mini DTX cases have only a single PCI Express slot, graphics cards are becoming large enough to utilize all three expansion slots. Rather than limit users to only dual-slot design cards, I am happy to see manufacturers like SilverStone take this into regard to accommodate for these chunkier cards. Finally, we have a standard AC power plug for the internally mounted power supply, which we will take a look at on the next page. From this back edge, you can also see that all of the panels are held on with captive thumbscrews, and thus are easily removable.
You might be wondering where the feet are on this case, and I will tell you there are none, at least not out of the box. SilverStone instead included two sets of four rubber risers with different heights, which should let you choose how you want to orient your case. You could place it with the solid side panel down, which will have the expansion ports on the front facing upward. Alternatively, you can also place it on its side for a slimmer width. This does mean one of your side panels with air holes will be facing downward, so you should use the taller rubber risers on this side panel.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
