Review on 🖥️ SilverStone CS01-HS Premium Mini-ITX NAS Case with All Aluminum Exterior, 6x 2.5" Hot-Swap Bays - Black (SST-CS01B-HS) by Ralph Gerry

This is a very good NAS enclosure. With an Avoton or Xeon-D based board and (most likely) a SATA HBA, you can build a very competent NAS in this case. The overall aesthetics are excellent. The top-mounted drive cage allows for a front panel that is completely non-functional. except for the power button and an LED. The tastefully subtle Silverstone logo doesn't spoil the clean look. A cutout at the top of the back panel allows for discreet cable routing. The drive cages themselves are made of hard (and apparently very durable) plastic with a screwed on thick aluminum plate/knob that fits perfectly. My only (admittedly minor) criticism of the aesthetics is that Silverstone didn't include a black thumb screw head for the side panels and black screws for the drive bay. expected from Silverstone; that is, it is very good. (On the other hand, I'm looking at you SG03.) The front, rear, top rails, and chassis base are made of very thick aluminum; Side panels, top and bottom steel. The body is painted, not anodized. The case features a single 120mm intake fan on the bottom, which unfortunately isn't PWM. I replaced my fan with PWM. (Warning: It's almost impossible to access the fan screws when the motherboard is installed.) The thermal design should be reasonable for components you'll find even in a powerful NAS; but if you're funny enough to hit a powerful CPU and/or GPU in this case, expect trouble. A retractable, washable nylon mesh air filter is located under the fan. (The filter material is welded to its plastic frame, so unfortunately there is no easy way to change the filter material, and the frame does not allow for an extra layer of material to be refilled.) The use of thick aluminum ensures very quiet operation. Case. If you want to go crazy in search of silence, you could probably add some kind of sound deadening material to the inside of the steel panels. With a volume of 14.2 liters, this is not the most compact suitcase. But it is not so bad; and most of its volume is height, keeping the footprint fairly small. It makes much better use of its space than its sibling, the CS01 (which replaces the hot-swap tray with just two non-hot-swappable 3.5-inch drives). 2.5 inch drives. Even added up, my sophistication in this case isn't worth downgrading the star. This is a standout case for its particular niche.