Silverstone Fortress FT02 (P182 killer?)

RBBOT · Post by **RBBOT** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 3:45 pm

Finally my processor turned up and I got things built.

From my original worries:

1. The top 5.25 being above the motherboard turned out to be very bad thing rather than a good thing, as there isn't enough room behind it to afix a SATA power cable, unless you can find one that had a right angle twist in like the SATA data does.

When trying to move the drive down I didn't figure out those rocker switch fixings for the bottom 4 bays and pulled out the D shaped plastic bit assuming there would be screw holes underneath. Don't do this as you'll never get them back together again. I finally got the thing put back but without the springs in.

2. The Noctua NH-14 fits with plenty of clearance.

3. There is no rattle from the grille on top like I feared.

Overall, the case is pretty good - everything fits well and it cools well. Noise is reasonable but at the moment I have 2 other PCs on and I haven't tried ASUS Q-fan yet so I'll post about that later. The one huge disappointment is the cable management, or lack there of. There are plenty of holes in the right places to send all the cables behind the motherboard; however, there are hardly any places to secure them in place and the cable ties provided are pretty worthless without anything to tie them too. There is also insufficient space around the back of the case and the side panel was a very tight fit and bows out a little from all the cables. It really needs to be a bit wider.

Here's the overall system spec:

Silverstone FT-02 - 3 x 180mm fans on low, Exhaust fan replaced with notuca 120mm using low voltage strap
ASUS P6T WS Pro motherboard
Xeon W3520 (equiv to a Core i7 920)
Noctua NH-14 Heatsink with only the 140mm fan attached and using the low voltage strap
3 x 4Gb 1066Mhz ECC DDR3 Kingston value RAM
2 x Sapphire Vapor-X 5770 860Mhz core / 1200Mhz RAM
1 x Intel X25-M 160GB
2 x 1.5TB WD Green Power drives with 64M Cache / 4Kb sector size in RAID 1
Pioneer Bluray drive

I've found no matter what I try I can't over clock past 3.57Ghz. To get to that speed I also have to reduce the RAM speed from 1066Mhz to 1020Mhz. However, that also lets me reduce the timings to 6-6-6-18 which means I actually get better SiSoft Sandra benchmarks than standard 1066Mhz RAM at 7-7-7-20. I've also been able to undervolt the processor from 1.2v to 1.1125v.

When doing a Prime 95 + Furmark torture test, the hottest CPU core is 62c and the two 5770s reach 73c with their fans going up to 55% speed. The peak power consumption during the test was 334W and usually hovered around 317W. The idle consumption was 125W.

Scott J · Post by **Scott J** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:15 pm

That looks like a great machine, RBBOT.

I never even heard of the Xeon processors until I already had the i7-920. I haven't even fired up the new PC for the first time yet, I'm hoping to do that in about an hour. Am I already obsolete? That was fast!

Did you get the Seasonic Gold x-650 or x-750? I thought you did and posted about it not quite fitting the rear case vent, but I didn't check back through this thread to find it. If you have the Seasonic, did you mount it with the psu fan facing out the back of the NT02 case vent?

I read recently that some psu fans are designed to draw heat in from inside the case and exhaust it out at the power-switch area, so I checked the Seasonic owners manual, and it says something about some cases are designed to have the psu fan facing the motherboard. They didn't elaborate any further, though.

RBBOT · Post by **RBBOT** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 3:24 pm

I got the X650 and I fitted it facing outwards as I thought there would be enough cooling in the CPU area already so by pointing out outwards I had a good chance of the fan not spinning up most of the time. As I mentioned in my previous post, the peak wattage I measured was 334w even with an overclocked crossfire system, so a 750 would be overkill. It doesn't quite line up but there is enough intake for it not be an issue.

The Xeon isn't that different to the i7 920 - the significant change is that it supports ECC ram which appears to be doing its job - while testing how much I could overclock with Prime 95 I didn't get a single error in the calculations.

Scott J · Post by **Scott J** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:16 am

RBBOT wrote:I got the X650 and I fitted it facing outwards as I thought there would be enough cooling in the CPU area already so by pointing out outwards I had a good chance of the fan not spinning up most of the time. As I mentioned in my previous post, the peak wattage I measured was 334w even with an overclocked crossfire system, so a 750 would be overkill. It doesn't quite line up but there is enough intake for it not be an issue.

The Xeon isn't that different to the i7 920 - the significant change is that it supports ECC ram which appears to be doing its job - while testing how much I could overclock with Prime 95 I didn't get a single error in the calculations.

Now that mine has been running for a couple of days, I'm very happy with it so far. Much quieter than my old Dell, that's for sure.

steve_lee_01 · Post by **steve_lee_01** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:31 pm

I received my Fortress FT02 last weekend and temporarily migrated my current Pentium 4 system into it. My ultimate goal is to build a new Core i7 860 system in the Fortress, but I need to save up some more money before I start ordering parts.

The Pentium 4 system was housed in an Antec Solo and I must say that I really like that case, but I was intrigued by the design and reviews of the Silverstone Raven 2 and the similarly designed Fortress FT02.

I was able to fit my DVD drive in the top bay of the Fortress, but I installed the IDE cable and power connector before I slid it into its final position. The power connector was bumping up against one of the inside case walls and it was something that I could live with, but unfortunately my IDE cable didn't reach the motherboard connector. I ended up moving the drive to the 3rd bay down from the top and I was able to do the cablegami without any problems.

I've read other posts on this site and others about the lack of room behind the motherboard for all of the cables and so I made some effort to try and keep it clean and organized. Here's a picture (I really need to learn how to sleeve cables...)

...after it was all said and done, my wiring end up looking like a big mess behind the motherboard but at least the top side is somewhat clean.

At least I didn't have any issues with a bulging side panel when I closed everything up.

I'm currently running the three lower 180 mm case fans on low, and I have a fan controller for the CPU fan and the 120 mm exhaust fan. At heavy CPU load with the CPU and 120 mm case fan on high, my temps are about 1 degC cooler in the Silverstone vs. the Antec Solo, but the fan noise characteristic on the Silverstone is a bit more pleasant. At idle when all fans are on low, the Silverstone also has a more pleasant noise characteristic; not silent, but not unpleasant.

When I place my hand over the top of the Fortress case, I'm amazed at the amount of airflow coming out of it for the amount of noise that it produces (all fans are on low). It's not a scientific assessment but I am impressed.

Here are some of the things I don't like about the Fortress FT02. Because of the motherboard orientation, the side panels are really large and are made of relatively thin steel compared to the Antec Solo's side panel. I wish they had opted to use a heavier gage steel because it seems as if I'm hearing case vibrations from the hard drives and DVD drive. The hard drive seek noise seems definitely louder in the FT02 vs. the Antec Solo. Nothing scientific, this is all just based on my uncalibrated ears. I used the drive sleds with the silicon mounts when this system was in the Antec and this design looks better noise-wise and vibration-wise than the plastic trays on the Silverstone. I've never experimented with elastic bungee cords for the hard drives, but I really like the drive sleds in the Antec Solo. Similarly, when my DVD drive spins up, it sounds markedly louder in the Silverstone case vs. the Antec Solo.

I kind of don't like the FT02's removable case cover on the top for the cables. Aesthetically I understand why its there and it also probably helps with noise, but it makes access difficult. My computer case is under my desk and I can't slide it out because I can't extend all of the cables that far. I need to crawl under the desk, lift the cover up and out (which is the difficult part because there isn't a lot of room between the bottom of my desk and the top of the computer), and then disconnect all of the cables. I don't need to do this that often, but I'm doing it quite a bit these days since I'm experimenting with this new case.

Going forward, I'm not sure what I'm going to do for my upcoming Core i7 860 build. The Antec Solo isn't the perfect case for me but I really like a lot of things about it. I could say the same thing about the Fortress FT02 as well. I like a lot of things about the Silverstone, but it isn't perfect either. For a thermally challenging system like a 130W TDP processor and a dual video card setup, I would definitely go for the Fortress over the Solo, but for a thermally moderate system I think either case will serve the job well.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:57 pm

Anyone use Corsair H50 in Fortress FT02 and still able to maintain positive air pressure? Corsair suggests mounting the radiator/fan at the back of the case as intake. The top of the FT02 is the back of normal case. Is it possible to mount the unit on the middle bottom fan position?

How is the noise and cooling comparing to air cooling like NH-D14?

Scott J · Post by **Scott J** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:52 pm

jtcb wrote:Anyone use Corsair H50 in Fortress FT02 and still able to maintain positive air pressure? Corsair suggests mounting the radiator/fan at the back of the case as intake.

I haven't used the H50, but it seems like the case should continue to maintain positive air pressure if the H50 radiator is mounted to the top-case exhaust fan, whether you had the fan oriented to exhaust (as the case is designed) or whether you have the fan flipped upside down and used as a air intake. I would try it both ways to find out how each method worked on the CPU temps and how each affected other temps (internal case temps, video card temps, etc.). I suspect it would work fine with the H50 radiator mounted just like it is in your picture, but with the fan blowing upward, pushing air through the radiator and out of the case.

I haven't even used my top case fan for the last couple of days. The positive case pressure forces air past the still fan blades just fine (and through the vented PCI slot covers), and according to CPUID/HWMonitor, the temps are all the same or better (I can't explain the 'better' part...):

CPU ('value'): 23Â° C
VREG ('value'): 46Â° C
System ('value'): 28Â° C

THRM ('value'): 23Â° C
Core 0 ('value'): 39Â° C
Core 1 ('value'): 36Â° C
Core 2 ('value'): 39Â° C
Core 3 ('value'): 33Â° C

GPU Core ('value'): 35Â° C
Samsung F3 1TB HDD ('value'): 26Â° C (mounted in first HDD slot)
Seagate 250GB HDD ('value'): 32Â° C (mounted in last HDD slot)
(remaining HDD holders removed to allow better airflow)

I never monitored temperatures on a PC before this build, so I'm new to this, but I think all those temps above are fine for idle temps (if not, somebody please let me know!).

jtcb wrote:The top of the FT02 is the back of normal case. Is it possible to mount the unit on the middle bottom fan position?

I'm sure you could, but you would be blocking airflow to the video card(s), and if you mounted it over the third bottom fan, it would block some airflow to the CPU heatsink. Depending on how large the H50 radiator is, it might fit in the far/back corner of the third bottom-fan without blocking much direct airflow to the CPU heatsink, but with the bottom case fans set to "Low", I don't know if the H50 radiator would be getting enough airflow. With all that room at the top exhaust fan area to "hide" the radiator, I would try to make it work there first.

jtcb wrote:How is the noise and cooling comparing to air cooling like NH-D14?

I don't have any experience with the H50, so I don't have any basis for comparison.

As an additional note, my old IDE DVD drive is 7 1/8th inches deep, so it had to go in the second 5.25" drive bay down from the top, and you could see the bottom corner of the drive through the window, not to mention the large IDE cable going across the bottom of the case. I recently replaced it with a Samsung SATA drive (6.7" deep) and right-angle cables routed behind the MB wall with the rest of the other cables. It fits fine, and the DVD drive completely disappeared from any normal viewing angle.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:30 am

Scott,

H50 is suppose to be installed so the fan blows air into the case. I don't think it is a good idea with three bottom fans blow air up and the top fan blows air down. The radiator doesn't have dust filer either so dust enter the case. I read good and bad comment about it. Some people complain about the pump and water flow is audible. I might end up getting the NH-14. I just don't like the huge size of it and it block access to the ram.

Can you post a pic of the Prolimatech MegaShadow in your case?

Fallen Kell · Post by **Fallen Kell** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:00 pm

The only reason Corsair recommends that it be used as an intake is to give fresh cool air to the radiator. With the design of this case, there is pretty much fresh air arriving to it from the 180mm fan below it on the other side of the motherboard. In other cases where the graphics card's hot air is circulating below the exhaust vent, Corsair does not want you to use have that hot air blowing across the radiator and instead wants cool air from outside the case. That shouldn't happen with the FT02...

Scott J · Post by **Scott J** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:31 pm

jtcb wrote:I might end up getting the NH-14. I just don't like the huge size of it and it block access to the ram."

Make sure to check the Noctua website compatibility page to find out if the NH-D14 will fit on your motherboard in the direction you will want it to go. If it won't, the Prolimatech Megahalem or MegaShadow probably will (check it too, of course), and I would check the Thermalright Venomous-X too (reviews are kind of few and far between so far).

jtcb wrote:Can you post a pic of the Prolimatech MegaShadow in your case?

I can try, if I already have one on the hard drive, otherwise I'll have to take some pictures and post later. Here's one from before I changed to a shorter DVD drive and moved it up to the top 5.25" bay, it's a little dark. I just tried clicking on the image in "preview", you should be able to enlarge it (zoom) at the link. If not, I can post it here, but they come out really LARGE here on the Forum:

zc1 · Post by **zc1** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:33 pm

I have the H50 mounted in my case. It's mounted on the rearmost bottom fan and works beautifully. The H50 radiator is mounted on top the case fan, and the H50 fan sits on top of the radiator (bottom to top --> case fan, H50 radiator, H50 fan). It's a push-pull setup, with the case fan pushing air through H50 radiator, and the H50 fan pulling air out of the H50 radiator and up towards the top case fan i.e. the H50 radiator is sandwiched between the case fan (bottom) and H50 fan (top). The H50 fan is set to run at max, so that it's running faster than the case fan at all times, to prevent heat buildup in the radiator. I have a G0 q6600 (2.4 GHz) overclocked to 3.4GHz and peak temp is 66C (idle is 38-39C).

I agree with Fallen Kell. The Corsair instructions that were alluded to earlier are unnecessarily specific if they state that the radiator should be mounted to a rear case fan. The rear fan isn't even universally an intake point. I think the key is to try and mount the H50 radiator so that the coolest air possible is being drawn through it. For that, you're looking at air from outside the case rather than inside, and air from down low rather from up high. The bottom case fans in the FT02 fit both of those criteria.

zc1 · Post by **zc1** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:41 pm

I tried to post a photo, but don't have enough posts, yet, so my 1000 words will have to do the job of 1 photo, unfortunately. I have a Noctua NH-D14 on the way, so it should be interesting to compare the H50 and D14 in my system...except that I was too lazy to put Arctic Silver 5 on the H50, opting, instead, to use the pre-applied thermal paste. I will be using Arctic Silver 5 on the Noctua. The only review that I have seen in which both of these CPU coolers were included, the D14's cooling ability was superior to that of the H50.

zc1 · Post by **zc1** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:29 pm

Here are my results (prime 95 testing), cross-posted from another forum:

*FAIL = at least 1 core temp reached 71C so test was stopped
*Max performance of stock H50 indicated in RED
*Max performance of stock D14 indicated in BLUE

3.4 GHz (378*9)

1. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Push ==> Idle 44C; Peak 69C
2. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Pull ==> Idle 38C; Peak 66C
3. H50, 110CFM Scythe Fan, Push-Pull ==> Idle 37C; Peak 62C; LOUD
4. Noctua NH-D14, Stock (Push-Pull) ==> Idle 38C; Peak 60C
*At this clock, stock D14 cooled significantly better than did stock H50 (temp difference of 6C)

3.5 GHz (389*9)

1. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Push ==> NOT TESTED
2. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Pull ==> FAIL
3. H50, 110CFM Scythe Fan, Push-Pull ==> Idle 39C; Peak 68C; LOUD
4. Noctua NH-D14, Stock (Push-Pull) ==> Idle 38C; Peak 63C

3.57 GHz (397*9)

1. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Push ==> NOT TESTED
2. H50, Stock Corsair Fan, Push-Pull ==> NOT TESTED (nb: failed at 3.5 GHz)
3. H50, 110CFM Scythe Fan, Push-Pull ==> FAIL
4. Noctua NH-D14, Stock (Push-Pull) ==> Idle 40C; Peak 68C

3.58 GHz (398*9)

4. Noctua NH-D14, Stock (Push-Pull) ==> FAIL

Summary

In my system, the D14 outperformed the H50 stock vs stock. The D14 also outperformed the "modified" H50 (upgraded fan). The Noctua performed well and was QUIET. The only speed at which the two systems could be compared in stock form was 3.4 GHz, where the D14 outperformed the H50 by 6C (H50 push-push setup) and 9C (H50 push-pull setup).

I also tried the Noctua with 3 fans (the two stock fans, plus the Scythe fan on top as a second "pull" fan. The difference was 1C peak temp at 3.5 GHz. I didn't test this setup at any other speeds. I wish the Cooler Master R4s had arrived in time for all of this.

MaxVcore was 1.47V. My goals were to keep vcore below 1.5V and core temps below 71C.

Where I live, the price difference between the D14 and H50 is $10, but last week the D14 was on sale for less than the cost of the H50. For similar prices, given the performance in *my* system, I would go with the Noctua right off the bat if I had the chance to do it all over again. It's not as good-looking (terrible-looking, actually), but it works very well and provides that performance in a quiet manner.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:51 pm

What optical drive do you use in this case? The case looks nice by itself and any plain looking optical drive will ruin the look. So I want to know what do you people use? Do you care at all? Looks over functional?

I call him Bub · Post by **I call him Bub** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:02 pm

You could try stealth modding it using a lian-li c-02 or c-02b bezel.

I call him Bub · Post by **I call him Bub** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:03 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyAfvtjrfq0

You may need help staying awake while watching video

spworley · Post by **spworley** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:53 pm

Just got this case today, I'll be making a build in a few weeks with a i7-980X and some Fermi GPUs.

I misunderstood the FT02 case specs, and didn't realize that there were only 7 expansion slots and not 8. This sucks for me since I actually expect to put 4 GPUs in the case.
Since there's room for 8, and in fact the 8th slot is even filled with a spacer, I was confused why... but now I understand. It's because if you mount a 5.25" DVD, the DVD extends far enough back to interfere with slot 8 and even with slot 7.

This case is very very long, but to be honest it needs just two more centimeters more so that the DVD doesn't interfere with the MB.

I can't find any short DVD players (150cm or less) so I may actually SKIP installing a DVD and just use one via USB when necessary. That's rather funny for such a big case but by skipping the DVD I think I CAN slip in a 4th GPU and with a little cardboard square even route its exhaust out of the case.

We'll see when I make the build in a couple weeks!

Edit: The Raven is about 3 cm longer than the Fortress... just that extra length I asked for. I wish I had a Raven with the Fortress styling! Still, no regrets, the case looks like a real winner.

gpascal · Post by **gpascal** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:09 am

Hi,
Is the seasonic x-750 fan obstructed by the rear exhaust/filter position ?

I have a corsair hx620 (150mm long) and then fan is "masked" on 1 or 2cm..

Thanks

Trigeminal · Post by **Trigeminal** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 6:20 pm

gpascal wrote:Hi,
Is the seasonic x-750 fan obstructed by the rear exhaust/filter position ?

I have a corsair hx620 (150mm long) and then fan is "masked" on 1 or 2cm..

Thanks

Wondering the same thing. I have the ft02 and the Seasnic x650 is on the way. Fingers crossed.

I was worried it wouldmn't sit well since the seasonice fan cover seems to rise a bit from the surface, and that might intefer with mounting.

cordis · Post by **cordis** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 6:32 pm

spworley wrote:Just got this case today, I'll be making a build in a few weeks with a i7-980X and some Fermi GPUs.

I misunderstood the FT02 case specs, and didn't realize that there were only 7 expansion slots and not 8. This sucks for me since I actually expect to put 4 GPUs in the case.
Since there's room for 8, and in fact the 8th slot is even filled with a spacer, I was confused why... but now I understand. It's because if you mount a 5.25" DVD, the DVD extends far enough back to interfere with slot 8 and even with slot 7.

Well, be careful, I had some thermal shutdown problems when I had a gtx 275 and a gtx 295 mounted in the case. I now have just the 295 and an i7-980x in there, and things seem fine, but be warned. I suspect that since I have the ft02 under my desk, it might not let all the heat escape, so a quad gpu system with great ventilation might be ok. But keep a close eye on the temps.

spworley · Post by **spworley** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:02 pm

cordis wrote: Well, be careful, I had some thermal shutdown problems when I had a gtx 275 and a gtx 295 mounted in the case. I now have just the 295 and an i7-980x in there, and things seem fine, but be warned. I suspect that since I have the ft02 under my desk, it might not let all the heat escape, so a quad gpu system with great ventilation might be ok. But keep a close eye on the temps.

Good comparison.. I'm currently running with a 980-X @4GHz, 1 GTX295, 1Q uadro 5800, and one GT240. (The Quadro and GT240 are placeholders until the GTX480 comes out next week.. I'll run with 2 GTX480 1 GTX295 after I get them)

GPU temps are fine for me, even with low case fan speed.. at 22C ambient, the GPUs are at 45C idle and 80C load, which is fine. The GPU fans get quite loud (no surprise) but the temps are lower than the same cards in my older p183 case. These are for CUDA GPGPU apps, not graphics. (CUDA apps tend to take only about 3/4 the wattage of graphics.. still hot and loud though.)

I am also using the GIANT Noctuna NH-D14 heatsink on the 980X, which turns out to be overkill.. the CPU doesn't get that hot to need it so much so the D14 ends up being completely silent... which sounds great (literally) but then is completely wasted by the dominating GPU fan noise. Again I'm a special case with 3x GPU.

Anyway, no regrets with the case.

Dear Silverstone, here's my wishlist for FT03!

1) Increase the depth on the back panel of the case, by just 2-3 mm. It's a tight fit to get cables laid out right to not interfere with the case side, especially with where plastic molex and SATA doodads get smashed by the side.

2) The motherboard backside cutout needs to be extended 1 cm lower to make a clean match for mounting on the ASUS PT6 motherboard line. You can't install a CPU heatsink backplate without taking out the MB. Good try though. This is not a big deal.

3) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make an 8-slot version, similar to the Raven02! Yes, I know it makes a giant case even bigger by 2cm, but that 2cm would allow 4-GPU systems!! I beg you!

4) The 3.5" hard drive mounts made me cry in happiness. They're beautiful. Thank you. Please add one or two similar plastic holders that can take a 2.5" drive too... I'm using the current 2.5" SSD mount for my SSD but I'd love to be able to hotswap them too. This doesn't need any case change, just another $2 plastic drive holder like you provide now for 3.5" drives.

5) The top removable grille is a bit fragile, I broke one of its mounting posts by being careless. Fixed with superglue, but it still was vulnerable.

6) Slightly extreme suggestion: make the entire 5.25 inch bay support cage entirely removable. Most people only need it for a single DVD drive, yet its fixed steel takes up a lot of room and restricts airflow. I think a 8-slot case for 4GPUs could be made with the current form factor by allowing this cage to be removed entirely.. yes, that's for extreme systems, but that's what I want. I'll use an external eSATA or even USB DVD drive for the 3 times a year I need it. It's the DVD drive length that blocks the 8th expansion slot, so let me get the slot back by giving up on the DVD!

7) Perhaps the PSU region could be "raised" above the level of the motherboard by 2-6 cm.. then the extra depth behind the PSU would be useful for stuffing unused PSU cables instead of letting them drip into the corner of the main chamber. They aren't too intrusive there but it'd be even nicer to hide them entirely.

The USB ports on top work great. Add new optional ones on the BACK of the case too.. so you could plug in keyboards/mice etc without having to route the cables to the MB's USB ports. Minor, but useful. Most motherboards give you a ton of extra USB hookups.. the P6T MB line gives you 6 for example, and the FT02 only uses 2.

Wow, I wrote a lot more than I expected.. but these aren't because I'm annoyed.. it's just that the FT02 case is my new favorite and I just want to make it even better!

itwassooted · Post by **itwassooted** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:27 pm

I've been using this case for over a month now... biggest problem is vibration from the 18cm fans(I needed to do more cable management to prevent this). The low setting of the 18cm fan isn't as quiet as I'd hoped, but some fanmates took care of that. Overall the cooling peformance is very good. I hate the top piece, you have to `jerk` it off

and the black paint at the top-back part comes off a bit, this part isn't seeable so I don't really care, but thought I'd mention it.

The PSU positioning... bottom mounted I believe is more quieter(no rubber between case and PSU *ewww*). Entirely subjective though.

The side panel(bit thin) and way it's connected to the case(not easy to attach back on) could be better I feel.

Overall, the many little faults can't faulter all the good aspects of this case. Great cooling, sleek, yet subtle look. The aluminium has a great finish, feels great (not that it matters though). I have the P180 and cosmos 1000, P180 and cosmos 1000 are quieter... but more difficult to cool with high-end cpu/graphics.

I also added some lian-li wheels, they fit great, and look great.

cordis · Post by **cordis** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:56 pm

Hey spworley, good suggestions! I differ a little on what to do with the 5.25 bay. What I was thinking there was, add a vertical 5.25 mount like you see in this bulldozer case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... zer%20case

or one like this:

http://xoxide.com/auzentech-gmc-toast-case-black.html

With the extra height, you might even be able to fit two slots, which would be good enough for almost everyone. With the 5.25s in a vertical position, you wouldn't have to worry about them butting up against the motheboard, you could make the case a little less deep and probably free up some space for a few more 3.5 drive slots. It would at least free up some room for the 8th slot. That would make it a pretty sweet case.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:17 am

Has anyone swapped the top fan with another brand? I find the top fan is quite loud. I set the bottom three fans to low and the noise is not too bad. I have the NH14 and those two fans are quite loud too. The fan in the X-650 isn't spinning most of the time which is good.

rick216 · Post by **rick216** » Sun May 23, 2010 9:24 pm

jtcb wrote:Has anyone swapped the top fan with another brand? I find the top fan is quite loud. I set the bottom three fans to low and the noise is not too bad. I have the NH14 and those two fans are quite loud too. The fan in the X-650 isn't spinning most of the time which is good.

I would like to know as well. The top fan seems to be making most of the noise.

Compddd · Post by **Compddd** » Fri May 28, 2010 12:01 am

Silverstone is starting to ship this case with it's new 18cm fans called the AP Penetrators. Does anyone know if they are quieter and cool better than the fans that the FT02 used to come with?

http://skattertech.com/2010/05/silverst ... uter-fans/

cxkool · Post by **cxkool** » Fri May 28, 2010 9:14 am

I did replace the original Silverstone to improved effect as you would expect. First I had a Noctua with the LNA put on, and then I replaced that with a Scythe PWM fan linked to the CPU 4-pin. I found the Scythe actually a bit quieter, though if I had used Noctua's VLNA (ie even lower voltage), then perhaps not

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:14 am

I received the case today and it looks really nice!
Build quality is very good as expected. Very solid case
Enough space inside.

Yes a bit deep and somewhat heavy though. I like how the front panel connectors are unified, instead of the split end ones in my Antec Sonata.
It has no speaker connection?

Now I have a slightly overclocked i7 930 at 3.2ghz. And the Noctua NH-D14 inside with the ULNA adaptors in place, stock fans all set to low and plugged into the Gigabyte X58x-UD3R fan headers, there is enough for each fan, and it's pretty quiet, only the stock ATI 4670 ruins the party, I'll try fit my old Zalman ZM-80 on it later on. Powered by a Seasonic M12D 850w

The thing is the fans don't speed up under heavy load when rendering on all 8 threads There is no change in volume at all

The CPU runs unbelievable cool!! I think the Noctua might have something to do with it

According to Speedfan. Now idling around 29 degrees celsius, ambient around 13-15 at a guess
Under load 42-46 degrees or so, across all cores. No increase over time.
Stock case fans at 650rm, both CPU fans at 945rpm. I'm guessing they're running at minmum speed as dictated by the motherboard

CPU is running more voltage than stock as well!

On the stock Intel heat sink and fan, Antec Sonata, I was getting 70+ under load and the CPU fan spinning at 3000 rpm

Looks like I can keep things under 65 degrees come summertime at the worst

The Harddrive bays are very effective. My Samsung HD were rumbling quite a bit in the Antec Sonata, not so much in this case! The Floating cradle works really well. There is also no resonance

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:46 pm

Well I bumped my PC up to 4 ghz, slight increase in Vcore CPU voltage, to 1.11 vs 1.13 stock, and afew other settings, and had to decrease the ram multiplier so they ran at 1186 mhz or so, instead of 1:1 with the bus speed to keep them stable. They are rated at 1600mhz, but because I'm using 2 sets of 6, 12 gigs total and running all slots, that changes things I think. Also using XMP memory setting in the bios as well

Ambient temperature is about 15-17 degrees celsius, and the results blew me away! I did these renders one after the other in this order, and temps never cracked 45 degrees and the whole system was really quiet, except for the stock video card fan

Then at idle afterwards!

The fans never sped up at load, and the case feels cold to the touch

This Noctua NH-D14 and Silverstone FT-2 case is amazing. Plus the fact the Seasonic M12D 850w is sucking fresh air directly helps a lot too.

I'm glad I went for this case over the P183+CP850 combo

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:30 pm

Well it sure isn't as quiet as the first time I put my Antec Sonata build together. The 1TB 7200rpm HD, emit a pretty annoying low hum. I think it's partly due the HD and partly due the case.
At night is's pretty loud in comparison, whereas with the Sonata, you sometimes had to do a double take to see if the case was on or not.
Even disconnecting the fan from the video card doesn't really improve things.

The stock fans are not that bad, but the S-Flex 20db model I have here is quite a lot better, but the 1200rpm slipstream I tried in palce of the cases top fan seems to make this faint rattle...

You can take the fans out, the 180mm ones, but once you do, you will lose the speed control as the wires are not detachable. There are holes in the fan holders that can take 120mm fans

I don't bother putting on the top piece, especially since it resides under a stable, which makes connecting things a pain!
Found the case a lot harder to work with

Once SSD get a bit cheaper than I won't have to worry about the HD noise anymore

Silverstone Fortress FT02 (P182 killer?)

Antec Solo vs FT02

FT02 and seasonic x series compatibility

Re: FT02 and seasonic x series compatibility

warning

Re: warning

good suggestions