Silverstone ML05 Tiny ITX PC Case
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,585 words · ~7 min read
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Silverstone is one of those funny companies for me a lot of the time I look at their products and I go wow this
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is really welld designed and the build quality is fantastic but who the heck
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would want one and that's what the mll5 was to me at only 7 lers of internal
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volume it's one of the smallest cases on the market but when they sent me the
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sample I just couldn't figure out who they were targeting with it
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the CM Storm sf7 uses a massive 18 cm
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fan to cool your gaming notebook and it adds a four port USB hub click now to
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learn more starting with the outside the front of the case adopts a look that's a
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little bit different from the traditional Silverstone style subtle
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things like opting for diamond shaped power and reset buttons but it retains
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the classy look that I've come to expect from them you'll find a Silverstone logo
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and a Slimline Optical loading slot and that's about it on the right hand side
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regraded by front USB 3 and audio as well as two 80 mm fan mounts that I
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would recommend populating and using as intakes especially if you have a 3 and
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1/2 in hard drive installed I wish they were filtered but I guess I could buy
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something or DIY something with black panty hose if I really wanted the left
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side is blank and then moving around to a wide shot of the back we get the first
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hints about the internal layout the M5 uses an sfx power supply an mitx
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motherboard with a half height expansion card slot and and adds a full-sized
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horizontal PCI slot that I wish was oriented the other way to allow a PCIe
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extension cable to be used more easily if I wanted to install a full height
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card with decent ventilation out the top here as it is it could be used for
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add-ons like a PCI slot mounted fan controller for example though
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interestingly other than about an inch on the left of the motherboard here
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which we need for those optional 80 mm fans there is almost no Gap from
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component to opponent across the back it is amazing how little space has been
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wasted in every dimension on this case
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on the bottom we find four rubber feet that Silverstone makes you apply
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yourself which I thought was a bit janky but at least they're nice and grippy so
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the case won't go anywhere obviously this doesn't prove anything cuz I have a
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tablecloth on the table but whatever you get the point the top panel has
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ventilation holes for the optional 120 mm fan that can go on the 4in one
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mounting plate as well as another set of holes for the power supply to draw in
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fresh air and it's removed with three screws at the back
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which W that is one cramped interior now
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this is a fairly simple PC no graphics card or anything but frankly it was
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still pretty challenging to build in just because the inside of this case is
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so tight we'll start with the power supply I went with silverston 80 plus
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gold 450 W modular unit but I think to
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do it over again I would have actually gone with a a non-modular power supply
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because the clearance between the modular cables and the quad 2 and 1/2 in
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Drive cage here is really really tight and I was barely able to get the cage in
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a nice touch is the stamped instructions for Which Way connectors go on the cage
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so at least you won't have to do it twice when you realize everything's oriented the wrong way and actually for
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that matter the way that they key the cross brace so that it only goes in one
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way is another nice touch as well it's little things like this that make a
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builder's life less frustrating speaking of frustrating you would have to be some
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kind of a wizard to actually get four ssds in there data is okay especially if
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you use thin wire lowprofile cables like Silverstone CP 111s but unless you're
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using a custom power splitter it just doesn't seem realistic to get all four
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of those drives powered up moving over we could see that while there is a PCI
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slot here in the back and you could move the cables out of the way enough to get
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at it there's almost no room for cooling as it is and that would make things even
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more cramped I can't think of too many half height cards that I would recommend
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installing in this case but I guess at least you have the option which leads us
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to the next thing I wouldn't recommend installing the 4- in-one plate here can
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accept a 120 mm fan two 2 and 1/2 in
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drives a Slimline Optical or what we have in here a 3 and 1/2 in drive and
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while the first three options are just fine given how tight that 3 and 1/2 in
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Drive is in here here I just don't think I can recommend going that route I'm
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using a very lowprofile CPU Cooler and while load temperatures are still you
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know not like T Junction on my core I
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53450 I don't like the close proximity of the hard drive and the CPU which
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combined are going to be generating most of the heat that's being kicked out into
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the case as far as final thoughts go the
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manual is excellent as always and doubles as a build guide and the case
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construction is very very solid there's almost no flex to it and thick metal
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everywhere that makes the finished product feel more like a piece of equipment versus a PC but the finishing
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touches are not quite up to the same standard that I expect from Silverstone
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I mean it's just little things like the inclusion of silver screws instead of
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black ones on the outside and the fact that it comes no no uh no thumb screws
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instead of you know regular screwdriver screws on the back it only comes with
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two zip ties I mean it's not like there's much room for cable management
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inside anyway and these are very minor complaints especially when you consider
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the price it's just that I have very high expectations for Silverstone so I
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felt like I had to say those things so now that the build is done who is it for
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could I figure it out I mean with chomecast available for 35 bucks is
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there still room for htpcs I use one and the functionality is
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better but I don't pay for most of my computer hardware and I doubt I'd be
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willing to spend the money on a high-end machine like this if I did I guess the
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best use I can think for it would be um as a Steam OS gaming machine when Intel
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drops another generational Improvement or two on us in terms of onboard
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graphics performance or as an inhome streaming box using steam and playing
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games right now Intel's latest CPUs have
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great hardware h264 decoders and with a
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separate powerful rig elsewhere in the house you can actually get a great
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gaming experience on your TV even without a powerful media Cent PC um the
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6 2 and 1/2 in Drive compatibility is a
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weird one to me while we're talking about conclusions I mean I guess the
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pitch is that you could store your content locally by loading it up with 2
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and 1 half inch hard drives or something it's not something I'd recommend and
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honestly what I'd probably do is just take this cage Out jam an SSD into that
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corner and make your life a little bit easier Cable Management wise that way so
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advertised specs aside the case is so am
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amazingly small that you need to have reasonable expectations about what you
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can build in here if you're ready to use a Nas to expand it storage over the
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network and use a separate gaming rig to give it the horses it needs to play
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Modern games using steam in home streaming then I think you'll be very
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happy with your sexy new htpc if you want a little bit more power in the Box
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itself well obviously Silverstone has a wide variety of other cases that are
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much much larger that will allow you to achieve that as always guys price and
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