Outside:

Front	Left Side	Latch and Lock
Side 80mm fan hole	Tiers	Recessed squares
SHHHH	Power/HDD LED	Bezel Lock

    As always, we start up front with the bezel. When I first saw pictures of the case on different websites I wasn't too thrilled about how the bezel was shaped with the "stepped" look, but after seeing the case in person I must say those pictures didn't do the case justice. I felt that the stepped feature was over done when looking at the pictures, but in reality it isn't. So I will do my best to show the true features of the bezel when taking my pictures. As I said, the bezel door has that "stepped" front, and on each edge of the levels (3 in total) there is a clear strip of plastic with LED's behind it. This adds a dramatic effect to the front of the case when illuminated. Also, the bezel door is covered in tiny recessed squares, which are evenly spaced across the front. All of this is on just the bezel door... and there is even a barrel lock to keep the door securely locked.

Door open	External bay
Hinge and LED wires	Power/Reset switch

    So what is behind the bezel door? Well, not too much other than four external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays. We also have here the power and reset buttons, which are chrome plated. A case name plate is towards the bottom, and behind this area is a space for one 120mm intake fan.

    Onto the side panels: since this is a silent case, there are no windows here - just an 80mm fan hole on the left panel. On each of the panels there is a latching mechanism towards the top. Why the latch on the side of the panels? Well, the panels on this case don't slide off; rather, they fold down to the side. As this is on both of the side panels, this should make for an easy installation of the motherboard. Also, each of these latches have their own locks to add to the security. The rear of the case is the typical layout, with the exception of the expansion slot and I/O panel: these are attached to the side panel and fold out with the motherboard.

External connections	PSU hatch	Hatch open
Case stands	Stand installed	120mm floor opening

    Last, but not least, is the top of the case and yes, there is some action going on here. The top has two access panels, one of which is for some external connections. This access panel is spring loaded, and when pushed on it will unlatch to reveal two USB ports, one FireWire port, and MIC/Audio connections. There is also another door up on top of the case that is placed over the power supply. This hatch is intended to remove heat from a fan-less power supply. Lastly, on the outside portion of the case review is the feet. Yes.. case feet, or in this case, its stands: two stands, about an inch tall and the width of the case, are supplied. One stand is for up front and the other is for the back, and the bottoms of the stands are covered in a soft foam rubber. This is another creative addition to help reduce noise and vibration, as well as also raising the case to allow air intake from a 120mm fan that can be mounted to the floor of the case.

Inside:

Left panel open	Right panel open	Fan bracket	Acoustical foam
removable for access	Foam filled	Inside view of latch	Locking tabs

  With all that said about the outside of the case, you might think the inside would be rather boring. Well friends, that is so very far from the truth. The inside of the ST-11 PRO has some nice features and is loaded sound proofing material. Yes, I said sound proofing material. Starting with the left side panel, one of the first things noticed is this thick sound proofing material. The foam material is over 1/2" thick, and covers the entire panel except for the area that has the fan hole cut out. Since a fan wasn't included but the housing for one was, they packed this fan housing with foam. The right side panel is set up in the same way except there is no fan on this side of the case.

Tool-less clips	3.5" Internal bay
Front intake 5.25"internal bay	Vent over PSU

    As mentioned before, there are four external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays. The four 5.25" bays have tool-less clips for the drives. For the internal bays, there are three 5.25" ones. The three 5.25" and two 3.5" bays do not have any tool-less clips with them, so the old school screw driver method is needed here.

    The floor of the ST-11 PRO is also covered with sound proofing material, but the inside top is not covered. The same goes for the front bezel area, and the rear panel is too busy to cover up with anything.

Installation:

ready for takeoff	Mobo installed	Stands installed
Optical installed	View of tiers	Blue LED

    If you plan on installing the case stands, and I recommend you do so since no rubber feet are supplied, I suggest installing the stands first. This way you are not flipping the case around with all the hardware installed. Aside from installing the stands first, everything else here is super easy since each side panel folds down and away from the case. With the motherboard tray attached to the right side panel, installing the motherboard is a actual treat: no need to worry about dropping screws when the board is vertical. The tool-less clips are easy to use on the 5.25" bays. Just place the pins on the clip into the holes of the 5.25 device, and give a quarter turn to the locking knob to lock the clip and device into place. Since the external connection panel is mid mounted on the top of the case, the supplied cables will not have a problem reaching the intended pin headers. Overall, installation was a piece of cake, making me wish more cases had the fold down side panel on the motherboard tray side.

Conclusion:

    The main goal for QuietPC-USA is to supply the end user with hardware to reduce the noise that escapes from within a computer system. Well they supplied me with the SilentMaxx ST-11 PRO and at times like this, I wish I owned a decibel meter so I can show the noise results and not just say them, but times are rough and money is tight. I installed a full system consisting of two hard drives, one optical drive, motherboard, one 80mm exhaust fan and one 120mm intake fan. With all those components installed in a standard case, you get the typical hum from the components.

    Well, with the SilentMaxx ST-11 Pro, the hum was hardly noticed. What I heard was the power supply fan and the 80mm exhaust fan. The acoustical material does a very good job in absorbing the noise. Now, if you dump all the unwanted fans and go with a water cooling setup in this case, I'll bet you will be asking yourself if the computer is even powered up.

   The fold down panels makes installation of components a breeze, the options to add fans as you go is also nice. One gripe I have is the LED's on the front bezel YES they looks nice No I don't want them on all the time so a switch on the inside of the bezel door would of been ideal. Other than that, this case is absolutely terrific. As a matter of fact, I may add it to my own collection and throw a water cooling setup in it and replace the current case I'm using.

    I would like to thank the fine folks over at QuietPC-USA for supplying this case for review and maybe on the next case I will have a decibel meter for a more accurate reading.