SilverStone SUGO 14 Mini-ITX Chassis Review

The SilverStone SUGO 14 mini-ITX chassis was released in Q3 2020. It is a cube chassis for mini-ITX motherboards designed to have a compact layout but with high compatibility to high-end components. The SUGO 14 is available in black and white colors but SilverStone is considering other colors in of the chassis including Pink, Red, and Cyan. SilverStone sent us the white model to review.

The SilverStone SUGO 14 supports up to 3-slot graphics cards of up to 330mm in length. It also supports up to 240mm radiators on its multi-purpose bracket. The unique multi-purpose bracket offers up to six different configurations, supporting a wide range of devices including 5.25″ ODDs, 3.5″ drives, 2.5″ drives, case fans, and AIO radiators. The SUGO 14 also allows users to remove all four panels for easy access to the interior making installation and troubleshooting easy.

The SUGO 14 also features thoughtful designs including a GPU holder that supports heavy graphics cards when the chassis is placed on a vertical orientation, an M.2 slot cutout to easily access the M.2 slot in some mini-ITX motherboards, ATX power supply support, CPU cooler cutout, and the modular design that allow builders to either add more components or maximize open space for airflow.

To learn more about the SUGO 14 chassis, please visit the SilverStone website. Watch the SUGO 14 and SUGO 15 introduction video below.

Features

• Supports 3 slot full-length graphics cards with adjustable graphics card holder
• Compatible with Mini-DTX / Mini-ITX motherboard & ATX PSU
• Supports up to 240mm radiators
• Modular design with 4 removable panels (top, left, right, bottom)
• Different configurations support various storage components for 5.25″, 3.5″ and 2.5″
• Front I/O port includes: USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 1, combo audio x 1

Specifications

Model No.	SST-SG14W
Material	Plastic front panel, steel body
Motherboard	Mini-DTX, Mini-ITX
External Drive Bays	5.25″ x 1 (without radiator and 3.5″ x 1 installed)
Internal Drive Bays	3.5″ x 2 (without radiator and 5.25″ installed) / 2.5″ x 3
Rear Cooling	120mm / 140mm x 1 (120mm black fan x 1 included)
Side Cooling	120mm / 140mm x 2
Expansion slot	3
Front I/O port	USB 3.0 x 2 /  USB 2.0 x 1 / Combo Audio x 1
Power supply	Standard PS2(ATX)
Limitation of VGA card	Length: 330mm / Width: 148mm
Limitation of CPU cooler	Air cooler: 182mm (without top fan) / 240mm AIO water block: 55mm
Limitation of PSU	150mm
Net weight	8.48 kg
Dimension	247mm (W) x 215mm (H) x 368.1mm (D), 19.55 liters

Closer Look: Exterior

Here’s an actual photo of the SilverStone SUGO 14 White Edition. The gold trim does look good on white. The vent holes with their unique pattern also make the case look different. SilverStone offers builders two feet options and I used the taller rubber feet with 1-inch ground clearance for better cooling. Let us look at some of the details of the case closer below.

The chassis sports a textures LED-lit power button and the plush gold trim gold goes through the it.

The left side panel has a SilverStone logo on the upper-rear corner. Its simple and elegant-looking.

The front I/O has two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 ports, a combo HD audio port, and a small reset button. If you need a USB-C port, you would have to use a mini-ITX motherboard with a USB-C port. Depending on the orientation you prefer, the I/O panel can be located on the left side or on the top.

SilverStone uses large thumbscrews for the SUGO 14. It is the type that remains latched to the side panels when unfastened to the chassis. It’s a neat thumbscrew design that will save users from misplacing the thumbscrews.

The SilverStone SUGO 14 has three expansion slots allowing builders to install high-end graphics cards up to 3-slot thick. SilverStone uses three PCIe slot shields on the SUGO 14 White. One could argue it should also be white but then you’d also have the thumbscrew in black. The overall white and black color of the chassis is appealing. The black accents from the thumbscrews, PCI slot covers, and fan filters do provide good contrast. Personally, this color matching looks better than having everything in white.

The SUGO 14 White has a single 120mm fan pre-installed at the rear for exhaust. Notice that the 120mm fan mounting holes offer adjustability allowing builders to move the fan closer or further from the motherboard.

Closer Look: Interior

The image above shows the interior of the left side. There is a removable 120mm fan mount bracket that enables builders to install a taller CPU heatsink. You can also see the ATX power supply bay on the right. The SUGO 14 does support standard ATX PSUs.

On the right side of the SUGO 14 is another removable panel. This is the SUGO 14’s multi-purpose bracket. Removing the multi-purpose bracket is necessary to install components inside the chassis. The bracket supports 120mm fans and up to 240mm AIO radiators. I can also support hard drives and SSDs. A 5.25″ ODD bay is also attached to the bracket which can be removed to accommodate a 240mm radiator or two 120mm cooling fans. The multi-purpose bracket offers up to six configurations which you can see below.

Ultimately, there’s a 7th configuration with the entire multi-purpose bracket removed to make it lightweight and the interior spacious to allow air to move more freely.

The SUGO 14 comes with two sets of rubber case feet – tall 1-inch cube feet and smaller rounded rubber feet. The case also comes with a couple of cable ties, and two packs of screws.

Build and Installation

Installing components inside the SilverStone SUGO 14 is easy with all the side panels, top panel, and bottom panel removed.

I started by installing the AIO radiator on the multi-purpose bracket. You have to remove the 5.25″ ODD bay to fit the 240mm radiator on the bracket. The fans mounted should be pushing air upwards from this angle. On a vertical chassis orientation, the AIO’s 240mm radiator will be on top of the case.

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Then, I installed the power supply on the chassis. The SUGO 14 supports ATX PSUs but I went with the SilverStone SX750 SFX PSU to give more space for cable management. It required an ATX to SFX adapter which you might need to buy separately if your SFX PSU doesn’t include one.

Now we can install the motherboard along with the PSU cables. I have pre-applied thermal grease on the processor and mounted the AIO’s mounting hardware at this point.

At this point, before installing the AIO cooler’s water block and it gets tighter inside the chassis, I went ahead and installed the 2.5″ SSD on the 2.5″ drive mount inside the chassis. There are two more 2.5″ drive mounts located in front of the chassis wherein you need to remove the front panel to gain access.

Above is a photo of the AIO water block and the 2.5″ SSD installed. The AIO’s tubes routes to the front end of the chassis. At this point of the build, one must ensure the tubes and cables do not interfere with the fan blades.

Here’s from another angle. With compact SFF cases, it’s a huge plus to use SFX PSUs even if the chassis supports ATX PSUs just to give extra room for cable management and airflow. At this point, what’s left is the installation of the graphics card.

The SilverStone SUGO 14 SFF chassis can support graphics cards of up to 330mm in length. The ASUS DUAL Radeon RX 580 graphics card fits just fine with plenty of room for the GPU to breathe. Take note that the side panel that goes on this side has ventilation holes allowing the graphics card to pull air through it.

On the image above, you can see there is plenty of room for larger, thicker, and longer graphics cards. The graphics card I used barely reached the case’s built-in GPU holder. The GPU holder would serve its purpose for thicker graphics cards when the chassis used in a vertical orientation.

The SilverStone SUGO 14 cube chassis placed on a horizontal orientation would mean that the AIO’s radiator is on the side. Users can easily shift orientations by moving the rubber feet.

Well, the SUGO 14 has a third orientation option which is to have it standing upright with the rear I/O at the bottom. The included 1-inch rubber feet do give enough space to run cables and with the help of accessories like 90° HDMI cables and adapters and 90° power cords or if your desk has a routing hole you can perfectly align the rear I/O with. This is one orientation you can try using if you really want to minimize the case’s footprint and maximize desk space.

Conclusion

I have used and reviewed several mini-ITX cases at this point. Some of which have a similar size and layout to the SUGO 14. This is by far the most aesthetically appealing SFF cube case under US$100. SFF cases tend to be very hard to work with and limit the builder in what hardware to use. The SUGO 14 may not be the smallest SFF cube chassis you can get today but it offers an outstanding balance of hardware support, cooling potential, and flexibility making it a very versatile mini-ITX chassis for a wide range of users. Let us discuss the cooling, aesthetics, acoustics, filtering, and cable management of the chassis below.

Cooling (Good)
The SilverStone SUGO 14 with its aesthetic mesh side panels offers good cooling for your hardware. It can support up to four 120mm cooling fans – one at the rear, two at the multi-purpose bracket, and another one on the bracket. It offers support for all-in-one liquid coolers, allowing the case to support high-performance Intel or AMD processors.

Aesthetics (Good)
SFF Cube cases may look the same but what SilverStone did with the SUGO 14 made it unique from the others. The aesthetic ventilation holes on the side panels and top panel look unordinary and the plush gold trim on the front panel looks great. Aside from black and white color options, SilverStone is already planning to release other colors of the SUGO 14 including red and cyan.

Acoustics (Average)
The SUGO 14 is basically littered with ventilation holes except for the front and bottom panels. There are no noise-reduction features as well other than the fan filters. So depending on the hardware you install, the chassis barely suppress the noise produced from the inside.

Filtering (Good)
Both side panels of the SUGO 14 where builders can put fans and where the graphics card would breathe air from has magnetic fan filters. These are easily removable making cleaning and maintenance easy.

Cable Management (Average)
Cable management is usually a luxury with mini-ITX cases. Well, the SUGO 14 doesn’t give builders the luxury to use fancy extension cables which aren’t ideal anyway since there’s no tempered glass panel that would allow you to take a peek inside. However, the case does offer enough space to allow easy cable management. Even the tubes of the AIO cooler were very manageable.

With an MSRP of US$99, the SilverStone SUGO 14 mini-ITX chassis is a flexible SFF case that can cater to various applications from gaming machines to HTPCs and others. The multiple configuration options allow builders to either use high-performance cooling or have more storage drives or a good balance of both. Its ODD bay support allows the SUGO 14 to be used as a multimedia PC or a compact workstation, the SUGO 14 offers a lot of options for an SFF chassis. The white model in particular fits minimalists that desire a pure white and clean workspace. The SUGO 14 is perfect for users looking for a simple and versatile mini-ITX chassis that’s easy to work with for under $100.

United States
Amazon

United Kingdom
Scan Computers / Overclockers UK

Australia
PC Case Gear / Scorptec Computers