SilverStone Grandia GD04 Case Review :: System Build

• SilverStone Grandia GD04B case
• WD 36GB Raptor SATA HDD
• SilverStone Strider 1000W PSU
• 16x Lite-on DVD-RW drive
• ATI Radeon HD 3850 video card
• EVGA 112-CK-NF77 motherboard
• 2GB Corsair DDR2 CM2X1024-8500C5D DDR2 memory
• ThermoLab Micro Silencer Cooler
• Intel E8500 CPU

System build

Motherboard

PSU mounted

DVD-RW in bracket

The system build is an easy but important step especially in determining how easy a system is to work with. The components I chose are full computer components and not an Atom motherboard that many Micro-ATX cases would use due to the limited Power Supply capability. I chose a SilverStone 1000W PSU to complement the case and show the potential of using a full PSU.

HDD installation

Front of HDD

Optical drive

HDD mounted

The first step is to open the case and remove the ODD and HDD brackets. This gives you access to install the PSU into place. If the PSU is longer than 160mm remove the 120mm left case fan to install it first. Otherwise, simply mount it into position as a normal PSU install. Note you can install the PSU either orientation by using different mounting holes.

The next step is installing the Motherboard. Make sure the orientation of the I/O is correct, screw in the standoffs and mount the board with the included screws. The e-7150/630i motherboard from EVGA fit easily without problems into the case. This particular board has a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, a PCIe x1 slot and 2 PCI slots. The ThermoLab cooler is typical of the LGA-775 coolers, but realize that there is a limitation of a maximum 70mm height cooler if an optical drive is installed and 120mm if no optical drive is installed.

Front

Right view

Left view

Rear

Installing the HDD is easy. Simply mount the HDD or SDD onto the HDD bracket using screws. The screws are used to isolate the HDD from the bracket to maximize the vibration pad’s effectiveness. This helps prevent data loss as vibration is one of the leading causes of HDD data loss. There is room for two HDDs on this case. The optical drive installation is also simple as mounting the drive and screwing it into place, mounting the optical drive door using the adhesive. At this point you should connect all of the wires from the PSU to the motherboard, install the add-in cards and do wire management. Putting the HDD bracket back, then the center brace then the optical drive bracket, connect all of the wires for those devices and you are done.