| SilverStone RV02B-EW Computer Case |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Austin Downing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 11 January 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page 1 of 5
SilverStone Raven RV02B-EW Case ReviewCase design for the last 25 years has not changed very much, disk drives in the front, motherboard in the middle, connections out the back. Enthusiast and casual users alike have just accepted that this is the fact of how computers work. In the recent years, growing concerns about heat have led to some different case designs each claiming to help beat the heat, but each case has still followed this tried and true design with the only variations being where fans go, and how the air flows through the case. SilverStone attempted to shake things up with the original Raven RV01 but many critics had complaints of some first generation design quirks, high price, and extravagant looks. Silverstone toned down the looks, and had a more refined products with the RV02-BW but even that could have used some improvements. By combining the interior of the Fortress FT02, with the exterior of the RV02, all updated with Silverstone's 180mm Air Penetrator fans for great cooling the Raven 2 Evolution was created. Nevertheless, as many enthusiast know a cases features are useless if they come at too high of a cost or do not functions properly. In this review, Benchmark Reviews will look at this unique design to see if it truly is smarter than its competition or if it is all marketing hype.
When reviewing a case you have four major things you need to look at. First, you need to look at build quality because no one wants to spend hours putting hardware in a case only to find defects or to have parts that will fail months later. Secondly, you need to look at cooling because as the heat output of components goes up, so do cooling needs. Third, you need to look at the acoustics of your new case because as anyone who has worked on or near servers knows adequate cooling can come at a acoustic cost unless a company put expenses into preventing this. Lastly, you need to look at the ease of build, which depending on your system may or may not play a big role in your choice of case. If you like, I spend lots of time inside of your case modifying parts then you want a system that you can easily move around in while making modifications. On the other hand if you want to setup your system and leave it then this becomes less of a importance and therefore can be moved lower on the requirements for your case.
Manufacturer: Silverstone Technology Co. Ltd. Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Silverstone Technology Co. Ltd. SilverStone Raven Features
RV02B-EW Specifications
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments
Where this case isn't innovative, and was noted by the author, is where all cases are breaking down. It's the drive bays! Why can't case designers just use something like this?: ##amazon.com/Kingwin-3-5IN-Sata-Mobile-Rack/dp/B00126U0VA/ref=pd_sim_e_3
Problem solved because the drive slides into the tray w/o any sleeves. I have 4 of these in my case and I love them. I can swap out drives anytime w/o cracking the case.
I also agree--plastic is so, uh, 80s case design. At least they didn't use eggshell white. Plastics can be pretty cool though. Just look at the Pelican Cases. If we could get a case's exterior made out of this sort of high impact plastic in matte, which they all are, that would be really nice, and an acceptable replacement for aluminum or steel.
But good for Silverstone. I actually woke up a little when I saw the top down, instead of the front, back, side, approach.
Fortress 2 all the way.
-Why? Why does it make tri crossfire impossible? I don't get what they're saying here. I ask because I just bought this case with dual crossfire, and considered a third card in the future.
This also means that all quad SLI/Crossfire setups using card that utilize dual slot coolers would be impossible due to not having at least eight slots