Reviewed by Barry Little - June 29, 2007

Manufacturer: SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.

Model: SST-TJ09B-W (black, with window)

Price: $259 at Directron.com

The SilverStone name is one that is associated with cutting-edge design and technical excellence among the enthusiast community. Their legendary Temjin-line of tower cases have won countless awards, and serve as the foundation for elite rigs sold by some of the world's top specialty system builders. Today we’re going to take a look at their current masterpiece—the SilverStone Temjin TJ09.

About SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2003, SilverStone is an established leader in its field, with an elite team of engineers; we started our quest of providing products that create inspirations.  We have since expanded the lines of products as well as types of products we produce, giving our customers a wide selection of choices.

With distribution centers in different areas of the globe, SilverStone products can be seen all over the world, not just for computer users but also for home entertainment use.  Providing leisure with integration of advanced technologies that is functional and making them enjoyable to use.

Here at SilverStone Technology, we continue to pride ourselves in providing the highest level of standards in designing and manufacturing computer enclosures, power supplies, and accessories. Our pursuit for the first class aesthetic appeal is relentless; our teams of devoted engineers are constantly searching for the best technologies that suit end-users with different needs and will make our products as technologically sound as they are beautiful.

SilverStone Technology’s philosophy is based on our recognition that merely having innovative expertise within the industry is not enough. Our objective is to ensure that our expertise is delivered to all products with consistency, in response to user’s needs, and with maximum user satisfaction.  SilverStone Technology thrives on challenges of rapid technological advancements and creating aesthetic standard for the industry.

There's more to investing in a premium tower case for your best-of-breed components than grabbing the first thing you see with a high price tag. The case must offer above-average cooling, accessibility and solid construction. It should be roomy enough to work in and designed to reduce cable clutter and promote good airflow, while supporting today's full-length EPS 12V high powered and hi-performance power supplies, and video cards like the GeForce 8800 GTX. While aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder, being stylish and having amenities like a removable motherboard tray and a design that's as tool-free as possible, is definitely a plus. With that in mind, let's see how the SilverStone Temjin TJ09 stacks up.

There are four models of the TJ09:

▪ SST-TJ09B (black)

▪ SST-TJ09S (silver)

▪ SST-TJ09B-W (black, with window)

▪ SST-TJ09S-W (silver, with window)

The model in this review is the SST-TJ09B-W.

Packaging

What separates inexpensive “budget” and run-of-the-mill cases from their more expensive counterparts, is not just the quality and features of the case itself—but the quality of the packaging as well. The heavy-duty cardboard used for the TJ09's box is thicker and stiffer than what what's normally used by some case manufacturers. The glossy finish enhances the box's artwork and repels moisture. The seams are secured with a double row of heavy-duty staples. In addition, a thick piece of cardboard was taped to the top and bottom of the box and secured with a nylon strap—to eliminate any possibility of the flaps coming loose from the tape splitting or wearing off during the rigors of shipping.

The clean, minimalist styling and detail of the box provides everything you need to know about the TJ09. Billed as “The perfect remake of a vintage vision, enhanced by the latest in thermodynamics,” you note that the TJ09 was also selected as the case for Maximum PC's Dream Machine 2006—certainly no small honor. And the impressive list of features leaves no doubt. This newest addition to the renowned Temjin line of SilverStone cases isn't for the LAN Party crowd (especially when you consider its size), or for those into the latest fads and gimmicks of case design aimed at gamers. It's a case for those who prefer classic, tried-and-true design enhanced with the latest in cooling and convenience, and believe that form and function are not mutually exclusive.

Once you get past the box's above-average outer defenses and turn it on its side to slide the case out, you'll find the TJ09 secured between two thick cardboard and Styrofoam protectors, and sealed inside a heavy plastic bag. You'll find the box that contains all the hardware for installing your components sitting on the top protector, rather than being taped, wedged or wire-tied somewhere inside the case where it could come loose, scuffing and scratching up the interior of the case—particularly the side panel window if so equipped—or just dumping the contents everywhere. Since that little problem has been avoided, all that's left is to peel the protective film from the side panel window to complete your unpacking chores.

When you shell out big bucks for a premium case, your expectation that it will arrive at your doorstep well-protected and unscathed will be higher than usual. SilverStone does not disappoint.

The Case

With a 5.0mm thick front panel, and a 2.0mm thick body, the SilverStone TJ09 is one of the most solidly-built, full-sized aluminum tower cases on the market. Yet the case remains surprisingly light—only 11kg (24 lbs.) for its size. The anodizing on the black model has a satin gloss finish that really brings out the brushed aluminum—as well as dust and fingerprints too, unfortunately—so you'll want to keep a tack cloth or towel handy to keep the case looking good. There are four 5.25” and a single 3.5” drive bay exposed. Beneath the 3.5” drive bay, you'll find the Reset button, HDD Activity LED, the Power LED and Power button—all of whom are labeled except for the Power LED (which would have been redundant and confusing). The Power and Reset buttons have a solid, reassuring feel when pressed, and work smoothly without binding (a problem with early-production Temjin TJ03 cases). The LEDs are an eye pleasing blue, bright enough to see under any lighting conditions without being too bright and distracting. A large SilverStone badge graces the front panel near the bottom. Should you ever need to remove the front panel, it's secured to the case's frame with six countersunk, black anodized hex-head screws. Naturally, the edges of the front panel have been rounded and machined smooth to prevent any cuts.

You'll probably stop admiring the clean, minimalist appearance of the front of the TJ09 long enough wonder where the usual intake grille and I/O ports went. You look on top of the case; just ahead of the large mesh grille is a small door that reminds you of the lid of an ashtray in a car. Flip the lid up to access the two USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks and the IEEE-1394 Firewire port. This is a nice feature that allows you hide the ports when not in use to maintain the overall clean look of the case. It's also the best compromise for convenience whether you sit the SilverStone TJ09 on a desk or on the floor, as opposed to having the ports mounted midway or near the bottom of the front of the case—or somewhere on the right-hand side, which makes access to the ports problematic with the case sitting under a desk. The pop-up I/O port door works with a firm “spring-and-lock” action that has a solid, reassuring feel. You won't have to worry about it coming loose, rattling or breaking after having the case for only a week.

The next thing your eyes are drawn to, is the primary innovation of the SilverStone TJ09, and the reason why there's no intake grille on the front of the case: a large duct with a countersunk, angled grille resides on each side of the case, in the lower front corner of the side panel. Peer through the section of the duct with the grille, and you'll see the hard drive gage with a plastic tray in the middle. You'll also notice that this half of the duct is sealed in the back, leaving the center of the duct open like a baffle. When you see a meshed screen inside the rear half of the duct, that's when it hits you.

PC cases traditionally pull air in through the front of the case, where the air passes over and provides cooling to the hard drives before cooling the rest of the components. Hard drives have grown in capacity and speed over the years, and that usually means more heat. The problem is, your are now relying on heated air to keep other hot components—particular the video card, a major source of heat—to keep things cool. SilverStone has ingeniously isolated the hard drive cage and allows air to passively cool the drives. Meanwhile unheated air is pulled into the case through the grille at the rear of the duct chamber. We'll see how once we open up the TJ09.

Underneath, the TJ09 rests on a set of durable aluminum and rubber feet like the ones found on high-end home entertainment cabinets. A rectangular-shaped ventilation grille is located behind the two front feet, while a square-shaped one sits partially between the rear feet. Out back, we see a few features that not only demonstrate SilverStone's engineering prowess and attention to detail, but makes the TJ09 stand out among its peers.

First, you'll notice that the power supply has been moved to the bottom of the case. Power supplies help exhaust some of the heat inside a case when mounted in the conventional top position—especially if it has a bottom-mounted fan. If you have a hi-performance system that cranks out a lot of heat, it also affects the power supply's operating temperature. Like most components, power supplies work best and last longest when they are kept as cool as possible. A power supply mounted at the bottom of the case has two obvious benefits. First, the power supply is directly out of the “line-of-fire” so to speak, of any heat rising to the top of the case, which makes for a cooler-running unit. Power supplies with bottom-mounted fans will also pull cooler air in through the grille at the bottom of the case near the rear feet. They can also be used to help pull some of the residual heat from video cards, if mounted upside down in the TJ09.

Rows of ventilation holes that aid in cooling take up most of the space that would normally be occupied by the power supply. The rest is taken up by a 120x25mm Model R121225SL SilverStone-branded Everflow fan with a three-pin motherboard connection that handles the exhaust chores and SilverStone rates at 1,200 RPM and 21 dBA. The wire fan grille made of chrome-plated steel may have zero sex-appeal in the Bling Department compared to fancier laser-cut models of pinup girls and cartoon characters. But it gets a ten-out-of-ten score for doing what it does best—protecting the fan blades from foreign objects, and providing maximum airflow with minimum turbulence (which also means less noise). SilverStone also does what most case manufacturers won't—shipping the TJ09 without the usual outdated and useless motherboard I/O shield. You'll also find another row of ventilation holes directly over the expansion slots—and a pair of pre-drilled holes with grommets to route tubing for an external water-cooling setup.

The TJ09 is equipped with a removable motherboard tray that makes motherboard installations and other upgrades fast and easy. Held in place by six thumbscrews, the handle for sliding it out is made directly into the tray, rather than a bolt on assembly. The tray slides in and out effortlessly on plastic-lined rails, and supports all of the industry standard motherboard form-factors from Micro-ATX all the way up to SSI. All of the edges of the tray are rounded to insure that you won't need to keep iodine and bandages close by. The holes drilled for the motherboard stand-offs are reinforced with steel inserts to help reduce the possibility of stripping the brass stand-offs when installing them. Chrome-plated steel reinforcement brackets strengthen the tray without blocking access to the expansion slot that is furthest away from the processor, on the motherboard. As a result, the TJ09's motherboard tray is more solid than the ones in competing products—and heavier. However, if you're going to use a larger, heavier aftermarket CPU cooler and a pair of GeForce 8800 GTX Ultra cards in SLI, the beefier tray is a plus.