SilverStone Primera PM01 Big Mid-Tower ATX Case Review
It's big enough to hold triple fan radiators on both the front and top, and it's half loaded with LED fans from the factory, but is SilverStone’s PM01 the best value in mainstream gaming cases?
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Hardware Installation, Evaluation, And Conclusion
The Primera PM01 includes a very basic manual, screws, standoffs, and two 3-pin, 2-conductor fan extension cables.
The PM01’s power LED lead is split to serve both standard and Asus motherboards. The HD Audio front-panel connector doesn’t have a legacy AC97 dongle, since most motherboards made the switch a couple years after AC97 was introduced.
What’s lacking in the manual is certainly present in our guide, How To Build A PC. The case is fit with only six of ATX’s nine standoffs installed, and after adding three from the installation kit, remaining parts are placed over the appropriate mounting holes and screwed down.
Even our big air cooler fits with room to spare: SilverStone rates the PM01 as having 180mm (7”) of CPU cooler space. The top-panel LED switch turns off the faux vent and fan lighting, as well as all 12 side-panel LEDs.
Most of our recently reviewed cases have had glass side panels, which take a long time to warm up and eventually raise the internal case temperature. A look through the past year in case reviews has revealed NZXT’s Noctis 450 as the PM01's most direct competitor, followed by the Bitfenix Pandora ATX. The low-budget Fractal Design Define-C and Cooler Master MasterBox 5 help to fill out the chart and keep budget buyers happy. All have been tested in our standardized configuration.
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Test Results
The Primera PM01 is actually the coolest mainstream gaming ATX case we’ve tested since introducing our Core i7-5930K configuration in 2015.
PM01 noise levels are nearly on par with the Noctis 450, even though the mesh front panel is essentially open and the test runs from a 45° angle to the front and side panels. Internal component fans are quiet raucous, so the PM01’s big case fans are moving a lot of air at moderate noise.
With a CPU temperature that’s 11.3% better than average (dividing the group average by the single result), and a noise level that’s only 1.3% higher than average (dividing the single result by the group average), the Primera PM01 handily beats the field in cooling-to-noise ratio.
The competing MasterBox 5 is so insanely cheap that even the Primera PM01’s extraordinary performance advantage leaves it trailing in value, before considering the cost of the PM01's extra features.
Performance-to-price supremacy for Cooler Master’s MasterBox 5 puts me in yet another conundrum concerning commendation. I can’t close a review of SilverStone’s Primera PM01 without giving its excellent performance proper credit, and its price includes a bunch of LEDs that some users really want, an LED on/off button that most of us want, a top panel shell that’s capable of holding a 3x 120mm radiator, and a premium finish. Buyers who want these features certainly aren’t looking at the MasterBox 5 or even the Define-C, and the extra performance makes it easy to recommend adding the Primera PM01 to their short list.
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Prev Page Introducing The Primera PM01 (White)
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Crashman Reply
Hahah, it's like someone looked at the Ford GT and said "Hey, let's translate that design into a top panel cover".19222519 said:it really looks like new ford gt.
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DookieDraws Reply19223723 said:omg, its the Love Child of an NZXT Phantom and an H440
Yup! I thought the same when I first seen it. It looks like one of NZXT's crazy designs. -
DookieDraws I would like to see more case manufacturers sell the bodies of their cases with various styling options for the sides, top, and front. Hell, even offer various styles for the case feet. Something like the Cooler Master MasterCase 5 offering. Very surprised we aren't seeing much of this these days, and I've wanted to see this for years. Give us more case styling options. Offer us the case body and let us choose the type of styling we want for it.Reply -
Karadjgne Modular cases offered as a build your own style with interchangeable parts other than just the side panel. I could get behind that idea.Reply