Silverstone Kublai KL02 Case Review

Exterior Impressions


The first thing we noticed about this case is how much it looks like an oversized version of Silverstone’s newly-released SG03 mATX case. Most of the KL02 is power-coated in a black matte finish but the two angled bezels on the front are brushed black aluminum while the front panel contains perforated grilles to increase internal cooling. The whitish bar at mid height on the front panel contains a pair of soft blue LEDs that serve as power and hard drive indicators and the side panel on this particular review unit has a perforated grille in place of the optional side window. All of these design features give the Kublai a very plain, utilitarian and functional look. The overall design of cases is very subjective with some people looking for the flashiest look on earth while others (myself included) prefer a case which does not announce itself with bold colors and spotlight-like LEDs. For an exterior size comparison, the KL02 is very close in dimensions to the Antec Sonata series of cases.

The back of the Kublai is standard fare for most modern ATX cases; it holds a lone 120mm fan along with a top-mounted opening for the power supply and another cut-out for the motherboard backplate. Silverstone has chosen to make a few interesting additions here which include perforated expansion slot covers as well as perforating the aluminum casing to the right of the expansion slots. Another noteworthy feature is the distinct lack of a motherboard backplate; in all my years of building computers, I can’t remember one time where I used the included backplate which came with a case. So, its omission is well though-out and ultimately goes to decrease the Kublai’s price to a certain extent.


Even though both side panels can be removed on the KL02, Silverstone has chosen not to include any thumb screws. This is extremely unfortunate since any enthusiast who buys a case wants quick access to the interior and that means the inclusion of the thumb screws which are hopelessly missing here. In this day and age even budget (sub-$100) cases use thumb screws to attach the side panels and to see their omission on a case in the $135 range is disappointing to say the least.

The power button on the KL02 is located on top of the case itself. This positioning keeps the front looking very sleek but this may also cause problems for people with tighter desks. In my home office I have a smaller computer desk which has an opening for an ATX-sized case; when the Kublai was installed, there was barely a half inch in which to leave place for my fingers to press the power button. All in all, depending on your situation, this may be a very inconvenient place for the one button you will use the most.


Moving to the front of the case, we see that there is space for four 5.25” drives and two 3.5” drives (one of which has a punch-out for a floppy drive). All of the drive bay covers are fabricated out of perforated steel in order to increase the airflow in the case. Moving a little further down, we see a small “eject” symbol that can be depressed to reveal the front I/O ports. Finally, at the bottom there is another perforated piece of aluminum that is the cover for the front 120mm intake fan.

All of these drive bays can be accessed by flipping open the two side brackets to either side of the bays. Just watch yourself here; these two brackets are not very easy to open and when they do snap open you better have your fingers somewhere else. They jerk open very quickly once enough pressure is applied but if your fingers are anywhere near the outside latch; you will be nursing a pinched finger.


Each of the front drive bay covers can be removed in order to make way for the installation of your components but we have to voice a little warning here as well: the grey-painted aluminum covers must be removed to install a drive and their edges are v-e-r-y sharp.

As mentioned before, the front I/O connectors are revealed by depressing the eject symbol and you get the ever-present connectors: a single Firewire port, an audio-out connector, a microphone connector and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. You may have also been wondering where the reset button is on this case and it makes an appearance at the far right of this semi-hidden area.


The lower panel can also be removed for easy changing of the front 120mm fan (which is included) and to access the hot-swap hard drive bays. The fan connector is absolutely brilliant; it uses a contact plate to transmit the power from the interior of the case to the front fan instead of having a long fan wire. The fan is attached to its own PCB with electrical contacts by a normal 3-pin fan connector which will make changing out the fan extremely easy.

You can also see here that if all of the hard drives are installed, you won’t get too much cooling from the front 120mm fan.


The bottom of the Kublai has a quartet of aluminum-protected rubber feet which act as vibration dampeners. They seem to be quite sturdy and they prevent your case from gliding across the floor.


The front LEDs glow a very soft blue which is welcome considering some of the blazingly-bright indicator lights we have seen in the past.