SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ01

Introduction:

SilverStoneTek is a relative newcomer to the computer world, at least to my eyes. If they had started hitting the market with run-of-the-mill steel gargoyle cases or python cases, or some other all flash case, we probably wouldn't be talking about them now. instead though, they decided to flood the market with high quality machined aluminum designs. Being a fan of anything "machined" (as much as the next geek), I decided to see what all the fuss is about. I've read the reviews, seen the pics, yadda yadda yadda, about this case and company. I just had to see for myself. Like they say, "don't believe everything you read"...Nothing could be closer to the truth with this case. I've seen the great aluminum hype and I'm still scratching my head...

The Temjin Case

Let's start with the obligatory shipping box pics....

They Have Their Own Crest?

Ok. Who's The Bird?

Guess what...It shipped in a cardboard box, just like the rest of them. Somehow this box survived the UPS dropkick challenge on it's way from Directron to me and arrived in very good condition. Now let's open`er up and take a look at this "must have-gotta have-oh it's so purdy" case....

...Not impressed. Upon first inspection I was like "hmm, it's ok looking". I certainly wasn't blown away by it's plain black/silver look. Not to mention the "feel" of it. It just didn't feel right. It felt kinda front heavy or something. I dunno.

Anyway, about 10 seconds later, I would experience an event that would plague me for hours to come.....the front door swinging wildly open while I was lifting the case! The first time it happened it was a novelty, kinda like "doh! I better make sure that's latched". However , there is NO latching mechanism. No "click". No "thump". No NOTHING!@! The thick machined aluminum ( and quite heavy ) front door is simply held to the case by an incredibly weak magnet system about the size of a small screw head. That's it! Why? Is the computer buying public so weak that they cannot detach a latched door from the front of the chassis? More on this PITA later....

Back to the case itself...what others have noted as "design excellence" and other meaningless terms, to me, was just plain. I can get over that though, as long as the rest of the case can make up for it's lackluster looks. It gets worse though....that's the bad part. Simply spinning the case around for a glance at its "rear-end" I'm horrified to see a fan grill "stamp" on the back, in the shape of a fan no less. As for rear exhaust cooling, it certainly don't get much worse than this. Kinda startling for a case heralded as a "Toppest Ventilation Performance"...LMAO ( yes, I said that correctly... "toppest"...read their site )

Moving on, the supposed "mirror finish" to the paint job was pretty decent. It was no better than that of my Antec 1080AMG though (which was excellent). After handling the case for a bit now, I actually think the antecs finish is much more durable.

Now, on to the useless metal screen, classified as a filter I believe, inside the front door (which just swung wildly open again!). I say useless filter because there is a full inch of space between that filter and the actual chassis. Meaning there's also a full inch between that supposed filter and the actual fans. That's not gonna filter much, that's for sure. There's also some slits carved into the front door itself ( which just missed my nose by flinging open seemingly unprovoked!). Those won't be needed for airflow, and you'll see why shorter...

Fan Filter isn't close enough to Fan

The front/side ports are neat, if you need them, or feel like hooking up ten thousand wires to your motherboard to make them work.

So, yes the front door (which just knocked over my beverage!@) and inside are very nice high quality aluminum. However, its been seen and done by other companies. I'm still not impressed yet. I'm hoping the inside will have something to offer me for the $89 asking price of this "engineering marvel" of a case....let's proceed.

At this point, I'm afraid to open it up and see what the front fans have to offer the consumer in the cooling department. If the rear fan is any indication, we're in trouble. But, for the good of the buying public, I'm forced to dive in....