14 DAY TRIAL // Mini personal computers can come in a variety of sizes, and there are some unusually-shaped chassis out there in the world, and we don't just mean “cubic” ones. Silverstone has prepared a model that is unusual in how long it is, horizontally.
Normally, a computer case mounts the motherboard vertically, with the rest of the hardware installed on it afterwards.
Very small enclosures like HTPCs can feature a different design principle, with horizontal motherboards, but mostly because they only have space for mini-ITX platforms that often don't get an add-in video card.
The new case from Silverstone is too large to be used for HTPCs (home-theater personal computers), at least not in the generally accepted meaning of the term. However, it still uses a horizontal motherboard tray.
Which is to say, the bottom panel of the case doubles as a motherboard tray, with enough space for a micro-ATX platform. We can't say that such chassis are unheard of, but they are still rather rare.
Even the Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL, with support for two distinct systems, uses a vertical layout for the mini-ITX system, as it does for the ATX one. But we digress.
The Silverstone SG12 case
This product measures 270 x 212 x 393 mm / 10.62 x 8.34 x 15.47 inches, so you can already see how much shorter it is than other micro-ATX enclosures.
And yet there is enough space for not only the mainboard and its add-ons, but also one 5.25-inch full size drive bay, three 3.5-inch bays, nine 2.5-inch bays, and three fans (one 120 mm fan intake, two 80 mm fans for exhaust).
The designers even built the ATX PSU bay above the motherboard tray, although this could clash with tall heatsinks and coolers, so keep that in mind if it's a gaming mini PC you want to create. Although we suppose that if you somehow squeeze a liquid cooler in there, there won't be any problems.
Other features include two USB 3.0 ports on the front panel (next to the headphone and microphone jacks), a steel frame, aluminum panels, and a bright color stripe on the front.
Availability and pricing
We would love to inform you of them, but the one report that made it to the Internet concerning this product lacked this all too important information. Alas. We suppose we can only wait and see, now, as is so often the case. Hopefully this withholding of the price doesn't mean it's unnecessarily high.
