A Closer Look - Outside

The SilverStone Sugo 14 is not meant to attract a lot of attention. Its only splash of color is a golden line down the front of the chassis, visually broken into two parts by the power button. You may place the case with that line running horizontally and the 5.25" bay upright, or vertically, which puts the optical drive level horizontally. In this review, we will treat the case with the golden strip horizontally, while reviewing the chassis in its alternate setup from time to time.


Looking at the front, it is made out of plastic, as a smooth surface lacking any texture. While that is fine, it also attracts fingerprints a little easier than, say, a brushed surface. I would have preferred a bit more depth through texture, just to distract slightly from the material, but that is a purely subjective opinion. The external drive bay is subtle enough not to stick out if not used. Looking at the rear, the setup is pretty traditional for an SFF ITX enclosure when placed like this. If you were to flip it, the layout represents that of a classic ATX enclosure for all but the seven or more expansion slots.


Both sides of the SilverStone Sugo 14 are perforated, which also turns out to be a design element, as the size of the holes changes from top to bottom. Each of these metal panels may be taken off individually and comes with a magnetically attached mesh dust filter on the interior.


In the rear is a 120 mm fan set to push hot air out the back of the chassis. SilverStone included multiple mounting holes to allow for a 140 mm unit instead, or a 120 mm AIO in place of the current fan. To the right of it are three expansion slots, so you will run into no issues with the installation of any GPU, no matter how thick. This is where most ITX cases tend to offer the length, but not the width to keep dimensions to a minimum.


That you may flip the case over on its side becomes ever so slightly apparent on top, as there is a SilverStone logo on this panel that looks somewhat out of place. A vent allows for airflow through the top, which is quite useful with active cooling in the ceiling of the chassis. The SilverStone Sugo 14 comes with two USB 3.0, a single legacy USB 2.0, and a combo audio port alongside the usual reset button on the edge of the front panel—the IO will be accessible no matter how the enclosure is placed.