Installation:

Optical

Inside view

HDD in its cage

    Since I'm dealing with three products from the same company to create a SFF system, I will be combining my installation sequences. As with any building, we need to start with the foundation, and that is the SG01-Evoloution enclosure. Let's start with the optical drive. Two screws hold the front 5.25" cover plate in place, so remove the screws and then slide in the optical. Next up is the hard drive cage. This cage is held in place with a thumbscrew. Loosen the thumbscrew and slide out the hard drive cage, install the hard drive, but do not reinstall the cage back into the enclosure just yet.

Cooler back plate

Studs

Thumbscrew springs

Mobo installed

    Next up is the motherboard installation, but before we install the motherboard, let's install the RAM, CPU, and the NT06-Lite CPU cooler while they are still out of the enclosure. The extra room outside the enclosure will make installing these items much easier. I'm not going over the install of the CPU or RAM; instead I will discuss the CPU cooler installation.

    The NT06-Lite includes mounting brackets that can be used on Intel socket 478, LGA775, and AMD socket 754/939/940/AM2 compatible CPU's. Choose the appropriate bracket and follow the instruction manual carefully. The CPU plastic retention bracket must be removed for either Intel or AMD installation. The orientation of the NT06-Lite cooler can be placed in several different directions, and it's a good idea to dry fit the cooler to the motherboard before using the thermal compound.  

PSU fan over cooler

Close fit

PSU wire truck

Rear view

    Once all the motherboard components have been installed, it's time to toss in the motherboard and mount it up in the SG01 Evolution. With the motherboard installed, it's now time to throw in a graphics card. Just about any high graphics card will work. With the 80mm fan preinstalled to blow air across the cards, things will be kept cool without the need of aftermarket GPU coolers. Now it's time to grab the hard drive cage. If we would have installed the cage first, the motherboard wouldn't have fit; we needed just a little bit of wiggle room. So now that the motherboard is installed, place the hard drive cage back in its location and secure in place.

    Last, but not least, it's time to install the Element ST50EF-PLUS SC power supply. The power supply mounts to the back of the enclosure, and with the shorter cables and minimal amount of connections, the clutter factor is cut way down. I personally like to route extra wire out of the way and secure them to something within the enclosure, especially enclosures with large windows. The Element ST50EF-PLUS SC power supply's shortened cables really help keep the interior looking clean.

Finished side view

Closeup of vents

3/4 side view

    If you are wondering how the NT06-Lite keeps itself cool, the answer is quite simple and rather ingenious. Remember the 120mm fan on the power supply? Yup, that's right... the power supply fan sits right over the NT06-Lite. The two 80mm intake fans draw fresh air into the enclosure, and the power supply fan pulls this air through the fins of the cooler, into the power supply, and out through the back of the case.

Testing:

• ASrock ALiveNF6G-DVI

• AMD Athlon 64 (AM2) 3500+

• ASUS EAX1950Pro Graphics Card

• 2GB DDR2 RAM

• Element ST50EF-PLUS SE power supply

    Seasonic Power Angel will be used to read the efficiency of the power supply under load. With my system setup, there is no way I'm going to get near the max wattage rating of this PSU, so we shall see the PFC rating under a normal system.

Power Supply Results:

    For CPU cooler testing, BurnInTest Ver4.0 was used, running a total of three tests in a sequence of ON for one hour at 100% CPU load, then OFF for 30 minutes to cool. The temps are collected and an average temperature is calculated.

CPU Cooler Results:

Conclusion:

    I'm going to start off the conclusion with saying: I LOVE THIS CASE! I don't know what it is about the SG01 Evolution , but I think it's a sweet looking SFF enclosure. The all aluminum construction keeps the enclosure super light, and it just looks plain sexy with the windows on the sides.

    The ingenious design in the way the Element ST50EF-PLUS SC power supply works in conjunction with the NT06-Lite CPU cooler is fantastic. This design setup eliminates the need for an additional 120mm fan, which cuts down on the noise factor, something we all know by now that I LOVE!

    The combination of these three products really help eliminate the hassle of creating a small form factor system. The system I created could easily be used as a HTPC or PVR in my entertainment system, and would hardly be noticed as the footprint is really small. Since the entire setup is so light, the other option would be to use it as a portable LAN box, just add some cool lighting to the interior and you are all set.

    Honestly, the possibilities are endless with what someone can do. The SG01 Evolution, Element ST50EF-PLUS SC, and the NT06-Lite from SilverStone is the easy ticket to a small form factor setup. Anyone interested in creating a system like this should really head on over to their website, as they have many other high quality and unique products. I would to thank SilverStone for sending these items out to VH for review.