SilverStone GD06 Review

The top panel of the chassis is held in place by three small screws, and features ventilation for airflow to be directed past your video card’s cooling fan by way of the previously mentioned positive pressure system. When removed, all the glory that is the GD06 is exposed for your viewing pleasure. Two of the major components within the chassis must be removed in order to start your system installation. Don’t get too huffy, its easy enough to do.

The bracket that holds your optical drive in place is held by 4 small screws and is somewhat optional. It is optional in the sense that the chassis can support the use of a CPU cooler that measures 70mm tall and the optional optical drive bracket can be left out to accommodate CPU coolers up to 120mm tall. The bottom of your optical drive bay is also the home of one 3.5 in HDD mounting options. The other removable bracket is the hard drive bracket. It takes up the most room inside the chassis and is also held in place by four screws. Once removed, system installation is a breeze.

The cabling options inside this chassis can either make for a super clean install that you may never be able to remove or a semi clean install that will allow you to upgrade without much fuss later on. The cable ties provided are the same old tired cable ties we are used to seeing. I am still waiting for a case maker to give us some Velcro style case ties instead, but until that happens, I will just keep ordering them from stores that specialize in home theater products and using them instead.

Once the setup is complete, your tidy HTPC will make an attractive and “cool” home theater addition. The cooling aspects of the GD06 will keep your system cool and quiet. SilverStone managed to create a chassis that fits well in an entertainment center and provides enough leg room to seat a full sized video card comfortably. The cosmic blue Power / Activity LED on the front gives you that cool techno feel while the aluminum elements of the chassis add a touch of elegance. Providing removable drive bays may not seem like something you would think is important right off the bat, but having used the chassis over the last few months, they have proven to be very useful. Overall, SilverStone has built a great HTPC chassis and having used it for the last few months, I can honestly say that you won’t regret it if you drop some cash, about $110.00 USD, on one.

If there were one thing, other than a complete aluminum build, that I could ask SilverStone for with the GD06… it would be another 5.25 inch bay. With an additional bay, I can keep my optical drive and add something like the Antec Veris Elite to polish off my home theater PC. With that, SilverStone still has managed to offer up a fantastic chassis that won’t break the bank.