Hello
I'm after as much air flow with the lowest noise possible (low noise being paramount) and after spending much of today researching cases, I have my short list as above.
As far as I can tell the only main differences between the RV02 and FT02 is the styling, the HDD housing and the damping foam found on the FT02. According to reviews the RV02 sound is identical to that of the FT02, however, shouldn't the damping foam make the FT02 quieter?
Out of the FT02 and RV02, I'm swaying towards the RV02 due to price which is £70 cheaper. The only thing that niggles me is the HDD housing and if having to remove the front cover to access the harddrives would become annoying over time. Thats where the RV02-E comes in with its revised easy access HDD mounts PLUS the new Air Penetrators, but I have no idea when this will be released and at what price?
Your thoughts please?
Silverstone Fortress FT02 / RV02 or wait for RV02-E?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
Jackhulk,
I'm entirely impressed by your 'short list' and personally researched the dickens out of both of these cases prior to my recent purchase (ended up going Lian Li).
Both of these cases will offer you among the best airflow out there with those juicy fans along the bottom and unimpeded air intakes. Personally for me, the looks of the RV02 are a dealbreaker. Too much plastic going on there so my choice hands-down would be the FT02.
In fact, I very nearly picked up the FT02 if it wasn't for the sheer size of the thing, and the fact that I just don't need that much airflow/cooling (not running any sort of gaming rig here).
If you've got a system that warrants the purchase of such a gigantic and fantastic case then my vote os the FT02. Everything I read about it basically said it was ever so close to that perfect case everyone's looking for... I suppose its really subjective when it comes to looks. Some will love the RV02 looks but it's just not my personal preference.
So that's my thoughts... Don't know if I helped at all hehe
~Bri
I'm entirely impressed by your 'short list' and personally researched the dickens out of both of these cases prior to my recent purchase (ended up going Lian Li).
Both of these cases will offer you among the best airflow out there with those juicy fans along the bottom and unimpeded air intakes. Personally for me, the looks of the RV02 are a dealbreaker. Too much plastic going on there so my choice hands-down would be the FT02.
In fact, I very nearly picked up the FT02 if it wasn't for the sheer size of the thing, and the fact that I just don't need that much airflow/cooling (not running any sort of gaming rig here).
If you've got a system that warrants the purchase of such a gigantic and fantastic case then my vote os the FT02. Everything I read about it basically said it was ever so close to that perfect case everyone's looking for... I suppose its really subjective when it comes to looks. Some will love the RV02 looks but it's just not my personal preference.
So that's my thoughts... Don't know if I helped at all hehe
~Bri
Hi Frost and thanks for your message. I too prefer the style and looks of the FT02 over the RV02, however I was simply struggling to justify the extra £70 I would have to pay for the FT02, which is essentially (performance wise at least) the very same case.
With regards to size, the FT02 is slightly smaller than the RV02, and even though both are still considered big, it will in fact be a downside for me as I have a full tower at present.
Good news is I've managed to find the FT02 at a price I can swallow, £147 and its presently with the courier on its way to me right now, so should have it today! Whooooha!
P.S With regards to the RV02-E, I wrote Silverstone asking for due date and they stated that this model will no longer be coming to market.
P.P.S..................ITS HERE....and...and and its a thing of beauty! Building time!
With regards to size, the FT02 is slightly smaller than the RV02, and even though both are still considered big, it will in fact be a downside for me as I have a full tower at present.
Good news is I've managed to find the FT02 at a price I can swallow, £147 and its presently with the courier on its way to me right now, so should have it today! Whooooha!
P.S With regards to the RV02-E, I wrote Silverstone asking for due date and they stated that this model will no longer be coming to market.
P.P.S..................ITS HERE....and...and and its a thing of beauty! Building time!
Hey,
Congrats on getting the FT02! Hope it's as nice of a work of art as I thought it to be. Coincidentally, I was getting rid of some magazines around my house and I noticed that the FT02 happens to be the gorgeous case on the cover of PC Gamer magazine. You should pick up a copy of it to commemorate your purchase!
I am hoping to take some photos of my recent build in the next day or two... I have an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev.2 on the way to me today and that'll thus eliminate the last unacceptably loud component in my PC!
Anyway, hope to see a photo or two of your build.. and again, congrats!
~Bri
Congrats on getting the FT02! Hope it's as nice of a work of art as I thought it to be. Coincidentally, I was getting rid of some magazines around my house and I noticed that the FT02 happens to be the gorgeous case on the cover of PC Gamer magazine. You should pick up a copy of it to commemorate your purchase!
I am hoping to take some photos of my recent build in the next day or two... I have an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev.2 on the way to me today and that'll thus eliminate the last unacceptably loud component in my PC!
Anyway, hope to see a photo or two of your build.. and again, congrats!
~Bri
That Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 looks pretty cool. I never even knew todays cards could be passively cooled until recently when I was researching to replace my noisy GTX 275. You should see a real improvement!
Build finished. That was quite an unusual build! I don't think I've ever had to look at a CASE manual until now, and probably never will have to do so again. Having the motherboard at 90 degrees threw my barings off a bit!
Results........fantastic! Its soooo quiet, even with the fans on high! While you can hear the fans more when set to high, its not an unpleasant sound as with many fans and I could happily uses the high settings without it bothering me (something I did not think would be possible). With the fans set to low, they cannot be heard above my CPU fan (Noctua NH-U12P) which is very quiet itself.
Temps are much better, with the GPU benefiting the most when stressed.
Idle = CPU 10c less @ 43c, GPU 3c less @ 57.
100% = CPU 9c less @ 80c, GPU 28c less @ 63 (I probably need to retest this, lol).
Mission accomplished! Powerful PC, fantastic air-flow, minimal noise!
Here's my complete build...
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz OC'ed to 3.88MHz
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan
Memory: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3
Graphics Card:
GigaByte ATI Radeon HD 5750 Silent Cell 700Mhz OC'ed to 870Mhz
Hard Drives:
80GB INTEL G2 Solid State
500GB SAMSUNG HD501LJ
1.5TB SAMSUNG [HD154UI]
Disc Drives:
LG BH10LS30 Super Multi Blu-Ray Re-Writer
PIONEER 118L DVD±RW (±R DL)
2x Samsung Super-WriteMaster SH-S223C - DVD±RW (±R DL)
Sound Card:
On-board Realtek
TV Card:
VideoMate TV SAA7133/35 Dual
Monitors
Dell 2007WFP 20"
LG M2262D 21.7"
Operating System
Windows 7 64-Bit
Case
Silverstone FT02B-W
Only other thing I'm considering is a Sound Blaster. I'd love to be able to use my existing one (Audigy 2) but no space for it as GPU overlaps the spare port. The on board sound is ok but just doesn't compare to the quality of the Audigy 2.
Check out the pics below. This is my very first attempt at cable management. Could be better, but not bad. You may notice that a few cables that should be hidden behind motherboard are not, but this is due to shortness of cable so had no choice.
Build finished. That was quite an unusual build! I don't think I've ever had to look at a CASE manual until now, and probably never will have to do so again. Having the motherboard at 90 degrees threw my barings off a bit!
Results........fantastic! Its soooo quiet, even with the fans on high! While you can hear the fans more when set to high, its not an unpleasant sound as with many fans and I could happily uses the high settings without it bothering me (something I did not think would be possible). With the fans set to low, they cannot be heard above my CPU fan (Noctua NH-U12P) which is very quiet itself.
Temps are much better, with the GPU benefiting the most when stressed.
Idle = CPU 10c less @ 43c, GPU 3c less @ 57.
100% = CPU 9c less @ 80c, GPU 28c less @ 63 (I probably need to retest this, lol).
Mission accomplished! Powerful PC, fantastic air-flow, minimal noise!
Here's my complete build...
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz OC'ed to 3.88MHz
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan
Memory: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3
Graphics Card:
GigaByte ATI Radeon HD 5750 Silent Cell 700Mhz OC'ed to 870Mhz
Hard Drives:
80GB INTEL G2 Solid State
500GB SAMSUNG HD501LJ
1.5TB SAMSUNG [HD154UI]
Disc Drives:
LG BH10LS30 Super Multi Blu-Ray Re-Writer
PIONEER 118L DVD±RW (±R DL)
2x Samsung Super-WriteMaster SH-S223C - DVD±RW (±R DL)
Sound Card:
On-board Realtek
TV Card:
VideoMate TV SAA7133/35 Dual
Monitors
Dell 2007WFP 20"
LG M2262D 21.7"
Operating System
Windows 7 64-Bit
Case
Silverstone FT02B-W
Only other thing I'm considering is a Sound Blaster. I'd love to be able to use my existing one (Audigy 2) but no space for it as GPU overlaps the spare port. The on board sound is ok but just doesn't compare to the quality of the Audigy 2.
Check out the pics below. This is my very first attempt at cable management. Could be better, but not bad. You may notice that a few cables that should be hidden behind motherboard are not, but this is due to shortness of cable so had no choice.
