The SilverStone SUGO 16 is a cute, almost cube-shaped chassis. With its all-steel construction, it also feels nice out of the box. On top of that, SilverStone has given it a little bit of extra flair by shaping the air vents in a unique fashion. At first sight, this can be a fun little case for scenarios where size matters over the ability to install the biggest GPU, for example. On top of that, the SUGO 16 also manages to be fairly flexible in the components you choose, which is something many ITX cases that are even larger than the 13 liters of this one may not provide. You may go for an SFX PSU or a compact ATX one within the SUGO 16, and if you do happen to splurge on SFX, you may be able to save some money by installing a 120 or even 140 mm tall air cooler within the case.

Speaking of cooling, the SilverStone SUGO 16 seems to really be built for air-cooling. As the GPU and PSU will block both vents and command the intake areas for themselves, it really does need other ways to circulate cool air though the interior, which is possible with front and back fan placements as it would create a wind funnel. Especially when using an air cooler does the rear position not present any compromises in terms of expandability and should really be equipped with a 120 mm exhaust fan. Doing so in the front is also something you should really consider, but as this is the only place that can hold 3.5" spinning rust for affordable high-density storage, that is a compromise you may want to ponder.

With that cooling, and especially when installing an upper mid-range GPU and ATX PSU, the SUGO 16 does become quite the hot box with our hardware for testing, unfortunately. The heat of the CPU, SSD, and chipset has nowhere to go and natural upward convection is blocked by the GPU pulling air in through the top. The heat source underneath the GPU effectively cancels out the benefit of the graphics card having access to that fresh external air.

Interestingly enough, most of that thermal bottleneck could be eliminated by making the case design rotatable. If the floor of the SUGO 16 were the exact same vented panel as the top, a user could be instructed to simply move the I/O ports and stick the feet on the right one. By having the GPU pull in hot air through the bottom, the CPU would have room above it to breath. At the very least SilverStone could have allowed for the ability to install active cooling in the ceiling for those not employing a dedicated GPU.

From a design and size perspective, the SilverStone SUGO 16 could be a really interesting budget ITX case for those not wanting to splurge on an AIO or SFX PSU and with no need for a large GPU. But even for those scenarios, the user has to pick between the more affordable ATX form factor in combination with the costlier AIO or a more expensive SFX unit just to be able to employ a tall, budget air cooler. The result of all that is that the SUGO 16 doesn't really manage to excel in any build scenario as it either fails to provide the capabilities for those on a budget or does not enable potent hardware in an SFF chassis.