SilverStone Technology Grandia 11 Compact ATX Home Theater PC (HTPC) case with 240mm Radiator Support, SST-GD11B

I was looking for a PC case of a horizontal/desktop type to fit PC shelf in my home office desk, and came across this case. Key requirement for me (other than horizontal case style) was ultra-low noise level since this PC is right on the side of my work desk, any noise would be annoying and may be picked up by the speakerphone during calls.Previously I was using Dell mini-tower (lying horizontally on a side), but fan noise was noticeable, also I needed to upgrade that machine due to its age.This case works pretty well for my purposes - it is practically silent (when equipped with Noctua fans), it looks good, and it also has plenty of space for a regular-size motherboard with full-length graphics card etc.The case design is well thought-through - it provides excellent access to installed components and super-easy to open, at the same time the case is solid and there is absolutely no rattle. Venting design is excellent, with two 120mm fans inside front panel behind mesh, with space for three 120mm fans on sides and two 80mm fan slots at the back. Only two fans are installed (on the front panel) and I did not need to install any additional fans - cooling is already good enough. Factory supplied 120mm fans are OK, but with Noctua ultra-low noise fans you can make the case silent even under load.USB ports (including USB-C) on the front panel are helpful, and overall the case looks pretty good. Certainly would recommend.

I bought this case a few months ago and it's FANTASTIC. Looks absolutely gorgeous in my rack and is such a massive upgrade from my 10+ year old nMedia HTPC case my old 5th gen intel system was built in.This case is great, it supports 240mm AIO, full size GPU, has surprising space for HDDs and looks and runs perfectly with i9 14900k and nzxt kraken AIO. my media PC has never looked and been this powerful in my whole life. I can play AAA demanding games, transcode media for plex server, run all of my server utilities (DNS, reverse proxy, etc), and it cools pretty much as well as my Corsair Vengeance i7500 gaming rig.

I was able to make this case work, but it took a lot of work and I wish a few things were different. First, by allowing space for a HDD next to the PSU you will definitely lose the 7th PCIe slot if you install a fan. The space for the fan in front left (when facing the case) can accommodate a 80mm or 120mm fan but the space in the back left is only for 120mm which bumps up against the motherboard headers of my MB. I can use a slim 120x15 fan to give a little more space, but not enough. Really, 1mm would have been enough to not interfere with the headers and make the PCIe usable. Also, note that the GPU limit is exact. I have a Gigabyte Gaming OC RTX 4080 and it is 342mm long and would not fit. I wound up taking off the back plate and fans to give enough clearance. Had to strap a couple of Noctua fans to it to keep it from melting. Also, the height of the card is below the limit, but with the 12VHP cable plugged in it would not fit without seriously bending the cable, which you should not do. I found a low profile 90 degree adapter from Corsair that gave me the room I needed. Even after all that I am happy with it, but if there were more options for a HTPC that could give just a bit more room, then I would probably look at that, but until then I will stick with this.

I was on the fence about buying the GD09 due to its internal layout having only one intake fan on the GPU side with the other two intake fans for the CPU. So glad I waited as this GD11 ticks all the right boxes for me when it comes to cooling! Fully meshed front for a 240mm radiator and two intake fans dedicated to the GPU, with exhaust fans in the back by the CPU side. I did a test fit with the Cooler Master ML360R for giggles as shown on my photo, and the radiator definitely fits lengthwise but you lose 1 fan as the left front side of the case is sealed as well as eat into the GPU space. I have 2 M.2 SSDs and one 2.5" SSD with no 3.5" hdd or 5.25" drives so I didn't need the front hdd tray. This was good for my use case as unfortunately due to the Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 240mm AIO's thicker 38mm radiator the center support bracket has a lip that does not allow it to slot over the thicker radiator and the hdd tray would be left unsupported and/or not able to be installed. You could honestly easily cut the center support bracket's lip back with a rotary or similar type tool if you really needed the hdd/drive tray in place. I actually prefer it off since the front intake fans are able to have unhindered airflow from the front to the rear of the case. I'm running a Push-Pull fan setup with the Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 240mm AIO and there is still space between the innermost fan and the ATX motherboard, but an E-ATX or wider motherboard may require 90 degree connectors for the power and other peripheral connectors so the wires and connectors don't get overtly stressed.So far loving the case and temps have been great, not exceeding 70c with my 2070 Super and 60c with my 3900x using all Arctic P12 PWM intake fans and Noctua Redux exhaust fans. Definitely interested to see how it fairs once I upgrade to either a 3080 TI or 4080 and a 5900x for full 4k couch gaming. The only "con" I can give is that the metal seems a bit thin when it's not loaded up, particularly the top removable panel. But then again once you load it up with parts it's solid and honestly I won't be moving it around much from its spot in the media cabinet.