SilverStone Precision PS06 PC Case Review

Interior Thoughts On The PS06B-W, continued

Unlike the PCI area, the SST-PS06B-W utilizes a true tool-less system to secure external 5.25 bay devices. Sliding in optical drives in any of the five external bays was a piece of cake and the brackets secured them firmly in place. Screws can be added to both sides of the bay to make the installation semi-permanent. Below the five 5.25 external bays is a removable hard drive cage which can hold four storage devices, whether they are 3.5 hard drives or 2.5 notebook or SSD drives. The slit to the right of the cage contains the air filter for the 120mm front intake fan.

Removing the hard drive cage of the SST-PS06B-W is simple enough: remove two thumbscrews and pull the cage straight out. The hard drive trays are made of plastic and are easy enough to install on 3.5 drives. Each tray incorporates rubber grommets for anti-vibration purposes and installing a hard drive is a completely tool-less process. Pop off the two brackets on each side of a tray, insert the hard drive with the SATA data and power ports facing forward, and pop the brackets back into place ensuring that the pins are fully inserted into the drive. Its that easy.

Unfortunately, 2.5 storage drives do not have it that easy in the SST-PS06B-W. For enthusiasts without the benefit of 3.5 transfer brackets, installing 2.5 drives requires four tiny screws and a screwdriver. Doing so negates the use of the anti-vibration properties of the HDD tray, which makes this hard drive cage design a wash where tool-less installation is concerned. This is especially true considering that more and more enthusiasts are gravitating towards the insane performance speeds offered by SSDs.

With the hard drive cage removed, we can take a closer look at the 120mm front intake fan in the SST-PS06B-W. This is a standard 120mm, 12v fan that comes stock in many of Silverstones other chassis solutions.

Looking into the external 5.25 bays of the SST-PS06B-W, we can see that the tool-less brackets are used on only one side of the case. To further secure 5.25 devices, the provided screws in the accessory bundle can be used. One item of note is the length of the header cables for this chassis. The power and reset wires are a ridiculous 29 in length, easily reaching the far end of the case. The I/O and audio cables, as well as the hot swap bay wiring are considerably shorter at 19 in length.