SilverStone SG05-LITE: Building A Low-Cost, Linux, Mini-ITX System
The Sugo SG05-LITE is a decent Mini-ITX/DTX enclosure from SilverStone that is very low-cost yet decent build quality and design. Here's a look at the SilverStone Sugo SG05-LITE and some other Linux-friendly system components for those thinking about doing a low-cost Linux-based mini-ITX system.
Back in 2009 on Phoronix we reviewed the Sugo SG05 and it was a great case. The SG05-LITE chassis is very similar to the SG05 as a version that ships without an SFX power supply. Without shipping an SFX PSU the price is obviously cheaper plus the user can choose what they want. With recently having been assembling many new systems for the new Phoronix Test Suite / OpenBenchmarking.org / Phoromatic test farm, one of these systems was a mini-ITX deployment. In this article I'm sharing my opinion on some of the selected components for this mini-ITX Linux system that was built around the SG05-LITE.
The SilverStone Sugo SG05-LITE is a very decent chassis for Mini-ITX and Mini-DTX systems. The price of this SilverStone case was just $39 USD, which is good for being from the well-respected company. The SG05-LITE allows for large CPU coolers (up to 82mm height), a 120mm fan for effective cooling, support for PCI Express cards up to ten inches in length, one slim optical drive bay, one 3.5-inch drive bay, one 2.5-inch drive bay, and USB 3.0 connectivity. The body of the case is made of steel while the front panel is of plastic. The overall dimensions are 222 x 176 x 276 mm with a weight of 2.3 kilograms for the chassis. Overall, it's a very decent case and I'm pleased with the SG05-LITE. While I wasn't affected by the issue, some would likely prefer more drive bay possibilities than just a single 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drive if being used for an HTPC or SOHO file server, but I was able to get by with one drive.
The SFX power supply used for this mini-ITX build was a SilverStone SST-ST30SF power supply. This 300 Watt power supply has active PFC, a single 6-pin PCI Express connector, a single +12V rail with 22 Amps, and 80 PLUS bronze efficiency. The power supply cost about $70 USD and served my needs fine for this Linux system build.