Silverstone SST-TS07B Enclosure & EC03B Internal USB3.0 PCIe Card Review

1. Introduction2. Silverstone SST-TS07B3. Silverstone SST-TS07B (Super High Res Gallery)4. Silverstone EC03B Internal USB3.0 PCIe Card5. Silverstone EC03B Internal USB3.0 PCIe Card (Super High Res Gallery)6. Performance Testing7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

SilverStone have a great reputation for their chassis design, but they also make a wide range of peripherals for the enthusiast audience.

Today we are looking at two of their latest range, the SST-TS07B USB 3.0 enclosure and the EC03B Internal USB 3.0 PCIe Card.

The Silverstone SST-TS07B is a screwless external drive bay for 3.5 inch devices and is reasonably priced at £30 inc vat in the UK.

Features:

• 5Gbits USB 3.0 Super Speed transfer rate.
• Support 3.5” SATA III SSD or hard drive.
• An entirely tool-less design.
• Maximum compatibility with USB2.0 (480Mbits)

The Silverstone EC03 is an expansion card that connects to the motherboard via a single lane PCI-E gen 2.0 slot. Its single USB 3.0 internal connector offers output for dual front port USB 3.0 super speed devices enabling data transfer with maximum compatibility and stability.

Features:

• USB 3.0 front I/O bay included
• Supports standard USB 3.0 internal connector
• PCI Express gen 2.0 with single lane(x1) throughput 5Gbit/s
• Supports simultaneous operation of multiple USB 3.0/2.0/1.1 devices
• Offers up to two external USB 3.0 super speed ports
• Support 5V bus power from computer's power supply
• Build in power connector to receiving extra power from system

The TS07B enclosure is shipped in a dark blue and black box with an image of the product on the front and a list of specifications underneath.

Inside is a USB 3.0 cable, a power adapter, user manual and USB 3.0 cable to connect the chassis to your computer. There is also small clear plastic holder, for mounting the drive chassis in a vertical position.

The chassis is completely black with the ‘SilverStone' branding on one side, it is well made and seems capable of withstanding some abuse. Each end of the chassis has a tough plastic protective cover which is ridged in the middle.

The rear of the chassis has a ‘release' slider to eject the hard drive tray. Next to this is an on/off switch, USB 3.0 connector and AC power connector.

The release slider pops out the tray, as shown above. The internal drive bay unit has two orange sections on either side.

Above, we can see the tray up close. The release button mechanism protrudes from the main area.

The SATA to USB 3.0 PCB is installed in the rear of the chassis and remains protected at all times. The principle is simple – the hard drive slides into the SATA and power header in this section.

The drive bay is a tool-less design which will appeal to a wide audience who hate hunting for a screwdriver. The two orange sections lift up as shown above.

There are plastic inserts on each orange locking bar which hold the 3.5 inch drive perfectly in place. The central drive bay can then be reinserted into the outer shell and locked into place.

The image above looks great, but unfortunately fitting a 2.5 inch drive natively into the 3.5 inch bay isn't possible as the orange side panels will not lock the drive in place. You need to fit the 2.5 inch drive into an adapter before trying to install. Silverstone sadly don't supply a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch adapter,. although some SSD manufacturers do supply these with the drives.

The chassis can be locked vertically into a clear plastic stand, which Silverstone supply in the package. It holds the product firmly in place and looks great.

All that is left now, is to connect the USB cable and power cable, then attach to a USB 3.0 port on your computer.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The Silverstone EC03B arrives in a thin box with the same blue and black colour scheme. The product is shown on the right side with some details listed on the left.

The bundle includes a disc, mounting screws, literature on the product and a USB 3.0 front I/O. There is also a cable for connection between the card and the panel.

The PCI E card is very small and has a connector for the front I/O panel cable and a molex header to receive power.

The USB 3.0 cable slots into the black port on the side of the card, and clicks firmly into place.

The other end of this cable slots into the I/O panel and is locked in place with a screw from the underside.

The I/O panel has actually space for 4 USB 3.0 connectors, so you could use two of the PCIE cards in a single system if the demand was there.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

We installed a 2TB Samsung HD204UI hard drive into the Silverstone SST-TS07B Enclosure. The TS07B was then connected directly to the EC03B, and then a standard USB 2.0 port for comparison. Both results are recorded.

The Silverstone EC03B Internal USB3.0 PCIe Card was installed into an Asus Rampage III Black Edition motherboard with an Intel Core i7 990x Extreme Edition. We tested the EC03B with a Kingston HyperX MAX 3.0 160GB External SSD and the TS07B as detailed above.

We can see that the USB 3.0 performance from the EC03B is superb, with the solid state drive managing a 190MB/s read and 150 MB/s write result. When connected to a standard USB 2.0 port, this speed drops to 33 MB/s.

With a 2TB mechanical drive installed in the TS07B the speeds are identical to direct SATA performance, averaging 135 MB/s in both read and write tests. Again, when hooked into a standard USB 2.0 port, these drop to 33/32 MB/s.

Above, the synthetic results from CrystalDiskMark and ATTO verify our read world performance tests. This highlights the huge gains to be received when switching from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0.

Silverstone have released some of the best chassis designs in recent years, so it was interesting for us to look at some of their latest USB 3.0 oriented peripherals.

The SST-TS07B is a finely crafted external exclosure which will look fantastic on a desk, or on top of a new system. The build quality and finish are first class and the tool-less design works a treat, allowing you to swap out 3.5 inch drives with ease. Performance is just as impressive, and we recorded similar speeds with our 2TB drive when it was hooked up via a SATA port, internally.

The only negative we would mention would be the omission of a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch adapter plate in the box, as some people may want to use smaller drives. Before installing a 2.5 inch drive, you will need to use a 3.5 inch converter tray (not supplied), then install.

This can be purchased from Scan in the UK for only £29.14 inc vat.

Pros:

• Good value for money.
• looks great.
• excellent performance.

Cons:

• No ‘native' support for 2.5 inch drives.

The EC03B is another quality product that delivers great real world results. We used a high performance Kingston SSD drive to test performance and recorded 190 MB/s read and 150 MB/s write speeds respectively. It is easy to fit, and the inclusion of a front I/O panel is very useful. Ideal for a user who has yet to update his machine to accept the new USB standard. As expected, it is fully backwards compatible.

There are no negatives to buying this product, although you will obviously lose a PCI E slot inside your system. It can be purchased in the UK from Scan for £23.75 inc vat.

Pros:

• Excellent performance.
• USB 2.0 compatible.
• Front panel can accept 4 USB ports.

Cons:

• You lose a PCI E slot.

Kitguru says: Both products earn our WORTH BUYING award, combining solid build quality with great performance.

Become a Patron!