SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E: Devil in the Details
by Dustin Sklavos on February 10, 2012 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- mid-tower
In and Around the SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E
I recently sold some hardware to a builder who actually bemoaned how common the understated black monolith enclosures were becoming. To an extent you can see where he's coming from, but the sleek brushed aluminum fascia and silver trim of the SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E is pretty tough to complain about.
Where vendors like Fractal Design are increasingly eschewing external drive bays, SilverStone opts for a quartet of 5.25" bays each covered with a black brushed aluminum bay shield that nicely complements the face of the tower. Below them are the power button, power and HDD activity LEDs, and reset button; the power button is probably the stiffest one I've ever seen and requires a little bit of force to power on the machine. It's not a bad thing, just something I noticed during testing. Since the power and reset buttons are going to see fairly infrequent use, SilverStone opted to move the connectivity to the top of the enclosure instead of keeping it chained up with the switches.
The top of the TJ04-E is home to a recessed pair of USB 3.0 ports (using a motherboard header as pretty much all modern cases now do) as well as the audio jacks, and then in the back is a removable cover for the two fan mounts that conceals a removable, easy-to-clean fan filter. When we get to the rear of the case, it's business as usual, although SilverStone is kind enough to include an eighth expansion slot as is becoming de rigeur.
Your first hint that things might be a little different with SilverStone's new enclosure is the lack of ventilation in the left side panel; meanwhile, the right side panel features a 120x240mm vent (which includes the same type of removable cover and fan filter as the top.)
When you do open up the TJ04-E, you'll see why the vents are where they are and why there's no front intake ventilation: the TJ04-E takes in air from the right side and the top instead of the front. Cool outside air essentially runs through and is deflected by hard drives in the drive cage, as well as being pulled in from above to move through the CPU heatsink assembly and out the back of the case.
SilverStone uses a toolless design for securing the bay shields, but pretty much everything else inside the TJ04-E requires tools. The drive cage is secured by four screws, and drives are screwed in instead of placed on rails. There's also a smaller secondary cage at the bottom of the enclosure for six 2.5" drives, secured with four small screws. In the midst of all this SilverStone includes a 120mm fan mount, and while they don't include a fan installed, it seems clear to me that they intend for you to use it (at least if you're running multiple hard drives). Finally, there's a healthy amount of space behind the motherboard tray (particularly next to the power supply) for cables to be routed.
There are just enough tweaks in the TJ04-E's design to make one curious about how everything will play out in practice. Even the top fan mounts are actually shifted to the left side of the case to avoid having a 240mm radiator come in contact with memory, chipset, or VRM heatsinks. Yet like virtually all of SilverStone's designs, this isn't expected to be an easy build, so get your power screwdriver ready.
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cjs150 - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
This is the problem with Silverstone sometimes the execution of the idea has major flaws.I love my TJ07, perfect for watercooling but not all the screw holes are perfectly aligned and airflow is so bad it fried two sticks of RAM (non overclocked)
Sabresiberian - Saturday, February 11, 2012 - link
Why Silverstone is bad: interesting ideas that are poorly manufactured.I have one of their BTX cases (remember BTX, was supposed to be the new thing for all of like, a year? :D ). The BTX idea wasn't a problem, but they provided a cheap shroud to direct air flow over the CPU that 1) cracked very easily, and 2) wouldn't allow for even the stock CPU cooler I had at the time. Basically, if you didn't need the extra cooling for the CPU that the shroud made possible, you could use it, but if you did need it, you couldn't.
The screwless mounts for expansion cards were cheap, too. The case has some (minor) corrosion issues on the inside. I have an ancient Antec that has no corrosion on it at all.
No telling who actually made the PSU you get from them - it might be a good manufacturer, or it might be a mediocre one. Good thing about their PSUs is they tend to provide more connectors than others, but, again, manufacturing is another story.
Silverstone is the reason I tell people don't buy PSUs by brand, buy one you read a good, independent review of. I had a bad experience with one of their PSUs and more importantly with the service I got when I sent it in to be checked out before I used it. I read reviews of the thing after I bought it - and was shocked to find out that my favorite PSU company at the time produced such a mediocre product, and that the problem I had was discussed in reviews many months before I bought the one I did. Basically, they knew about it and didn't bother to fix it.
I liked them when they were first getting known, now, not so much. It's a shame, to me, because I do like companies that innovate. I can't really say they make bad products, and I might cut them some slack if I hadn't had a bad service experience on top of everything else, but I can't recommend them or remain silent when someone else does.
Risforrocket - Sunday, February 12, 2012 - link
Take a good look at the FT02 and the TJ10 and the TJ11. TJ11 is too expensive but if they made one with the same design (exactly) but did it for, say 300 or 350USD it would be perhaps the best case of all time.I have the FT02. It has two issues that I am aware of: It has only 5 3 1/2 drive bays and the 5 1/4 bay devices can't extend back behind the bays much at all, not enough room. These are limitations imposed by the dimensions of the case.
Silverstone is capable of producing a very nice case. You have to study it though before you buy. So true of so many things, alas.
I have also had a very good customer support experience with them.
zlandar - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
After my latest build with a Corsair 500R I'm not going back to cases with screws everywhere.Is it really too much to ask for nice amenities where the side panels are fitted with thumbscrews that are designed so they don't fall off when you unscrew the panel?
Drive bays that you can secure into place without screws?
Premounted screws for the motherboard for ATX boards?
Fan controller?
Gigantopithecus - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Try shipping a case that doesn't use screws to secure the hard drives.Death666Angel - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
I've had one case with toolless installation (an NZXT with 4 120mm fans in the side, forgot the name) and really don't like it. I don't switch peripherals often enough (every few months at most) and like the stability and standard of having screws. Having toolless stuff means a potential issue with non-standard use cases (5.25"/3.5" adapters) and can lead to less than optimal noise and security performances. On the plus side, it might save you a few minutes when setting everything up. For me, that's a no brainer in favor of screws! :DImpulses - Sunday, February 12, 2012 - link
Yeah, I think case reviewers place too much emphasis on tool-less designs... I can't blame them, I'd go nutty reviewing even half a dozen cases a year if they all used screws everywhere (and I'm pretty sure Dustin is going thru double or triple that amount of cases/year right now)...Realistically though, unless you're pretty hardcore I don't see most enthusiasts doing more than one or two hardware upgrades a year, if that. GPUs are the one thing I upgrade the most often, followed by drives, and those are generally easy swaps even with screws.
If I was upgrading mobos every year I'm not sure I'd even bother with an ATX case, I'd probably just use some sort of closet-bound rack...
Robalov - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
I don't believe this case should have reached the market in this form, and deserves another iteration of design. From the review, it looks all the changes made to the standard layout are uneccessary and return low/little benefit.It's too expensive to boot. Since I am not a 'fan' of silverstone, I would never consider buying this.
The TJ08 however would be 1st choise for that form factor, and will certainly (barring something better) be in my next project.
Death666Angel - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
This case is ATX while the TJ08(-E) are mATX. So different form factor. :-) But awesome case!Iketh - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
too many fans!!