After releasing some interesting small form factor cases for home theater PCs (HTPCs) under their Sugo series, SilverStone is releasing a “big” HTPC case under their Grandia series, called GD04. Featuring an aluminum front panel and available in black or silver, let’s see if this case is a good buy for users willing to build a media center.

The overall size and appearance from GD04 makes it to look like a home theater receiver, thus perfectly matching your home theater equipment.

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Figure 1: SilverStone Grandia GD04.

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Figure 2: SilverStone Grandia GD04.

The front panel is made of aluminum and there is only one 5 ¼” external bay for you to install an optical drive. In Figure 3, you can see that this bay comes completely opened, but the case comes with an aluminum bezel for you to install on your optical drive, making the case to look “perfect” when an optical drive is installed and has its lid closed. The power and reset buttons got also a nice aluminum finishing. GD04 also has two USB ports (installed far away from each other and thus allowing you to install two “fat” USB devices at the same time) and the traditional audio jacks.

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Figure 3: Front panel.