SilverStone FT03: Nothing Else Like It
by Dustin Sklavos on April 28, 2011 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
Conclusion: In a Class of Its Own
SilverStone's engineers have produced a stunningly unique and very attractive piece of kit in the FT03. It's one of their crown jewels and justifiably so: the FT03 has excellent thermal design, decent noise with the stock fans at stock speed, and if you're into the minimalistic look it's frankly just plain nice to look at. In fact, that's really the main draw of the FT03: the case is uniquely designed in a way that's both aesthetically pleasing and eye-catching while being remarkably functional. Assembly is remarkably simple, and the case is capable of housing a tremendous amount of performance. I'd be considering using it for my own tower if I didn't need more than the four internal drive bays as well as a dedicated 5.25" bay.
Compared to the positives, the weak points of the FT03 are comparatively minor. Noise remains an issue but not an unsolvable one (though I'm concerned about more powerful cards like the GTX 580). The side panels and bottom grate also come off far too easily.
My biggest complaint about the FT03 may actually be its hidden costs. You can get the case for $169 up front, but that's really not the end of the additional expenses using it can incur. First, you have to use a slimline slot-loading optical drive (and there's no access to the button either, you have to use the operating system to eject the drive). These things don't grow on trees and they easily cost twice as much as a conventional optical drive. That gets compounded if you're like me and need a blu-ray reader/writer, where suddenly you're looking at paying at a bare minimum $200 for the privilege. At least there's a cheap solution to this: buy an external.
Second, and thankfully at least a little less egregious, you need a small, modular power supply. Let's be realistic here: if you're willing to spend $169 just on the case and then cheap out on the power supply, you're going to get exactly what you pay for and probably what you deserve. Most serious builders are going to go for something modular anyhow, but in this case it's essential. While SilverStone's short modular cable kit isn't absolutely essential, it's preferable, and that adds yet another expense.
Finally, if you're like me you'll want to invest in a fan controller, and given the form factor and design of the FT03 that really doesn't leave many options. Once again the best one available is going to be the one I used for the GD04, Xigmatek's expansion slot fan controller.
When all is said and done, though, if you're not the kind of person the SilverStone FT03 appeals to, none of these things matter. You probably weren't planning on spending this much on a case anyhow and you're not interested in the conversation piece, and that's fine. But if you took a look at the FT03 and thought it was a slick piece of engineering like I did, this review should read like almost nothing but good news. You'll need to invest a bit more to really make the most of it, but you were already considering investing in it anyhow, and in exchange you get a case that's both attractive and remarkably functional. All things considered, that's worth at least a Bronze Editor's Choice award. I'd be anxious to see what would happen if SilverStone worked those minor kinks out.
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GeorgeH - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
When I want compact I almost always also want quiet, and 45dB is far from extraordinary.If they had used the unique design to facilitate more noise reduction this would have gone on my list. As it is I'm not impressed at all, especially when you consider that the extra costs this case will entail put it within spitting distance of the FT02.
slacr - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
First off, the slimline DVD, I didn't get myself one as they are expensive. For the most part you can make do without it though, OS installs are readily available through USB and most drivers can be found online. It can be a bit of a chore when you REALLY need something of a disc but I figure that happens to me at max once a year.The stock fans are not very good though, there seems to be some unnecessary turbulence around the angled intake fan near the graphics-card too when using a mid-high flow fan. The noise is really bothering me too, still working on that (with i5 2500k, p8p67m-pro and asus GTX560).
As for cable routing, it mostly works fine although some of the holes are a bit too small, when using an mATX board accessing the headers for sound/usb is not very neat. Fixing it would require added case depth though.
Over all im quite pleased with the diminutive stature, fitting snugly on a tiny desk with 2 monitors, the plasticky side vent facing away from me, it sticks out a tad less in black too.
archer75 - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Saw this same case in my PC Gamer magazine for a computer digital storm is selling. It's certainly not new.Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Not that long, this case has only been available for a couple months, and I actually have that DigitalStorm unit in house right now. That review'll be going up soon.Rick83 - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
You didn't adress it :(Was hoping to see some GPU cooler recommendations, as down-pointing heat-pipes don't work well and down-blowing fans blow right into the lower fan. On the other hand, the radial, exhausting designs are often noisy under load (see the GTX580 in this case).
I'm thinking about getting a HD 6950 with this case, but can't really decide on a cooling solution (and there hasn't been a VGA-round-up recently either...)
Any pointers? I was eventually thinking about getting a dual fan solution, like a twin frozr III or a directCU, but then stock isn't too bad at load....but not optimal either.
slacr - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Ah, the heatpipe issue passed me by until you pointed it out.I first used this with a OEM cooler XFX 6950, it was LOUD at load, with the fan reving up to over 35% it was too much for me. I think the DirectCU2 should be the least noisy one, however you will orient the pipes down, I now use a DirectCU2 GTX560, which is only 2 slots with much slimmer fans, pipes pointing down. With a custom fan curve and less vcore (0.95) its quite silent (don't hear it over the case fans in the games i play). If the 6950 DirectCU were available when i bought it i'd have gotten that instead, it will end up veery close to the fan on the bottom though.
Rick83 - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Thanks for the info. Guess stock cooler is out of the question then.Next challenge is finding the right cooler, there's a lot of designs out there that have not been properly reviewed, from one to three fans...Still hoping for a sapphire Vapor-X to join the fray as well.
Oh well, probably going to wait for Z68 to happen anyway, so I can get a third DVI output, without having to pay for the sapphire flex or an miniDP to dvi active adapter.. Just got DCS:A10, and I see a triple screen setup becoming a possibility. Thanks to spanning window mode now working, I won't even have to limit myself to eyefinity and whatnot..
7Enigma - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I'm interested in some more specifics of how bad this issue really is. I've honestly never heard of it before. Are we talking for extreme overclocking or in general they are not very efficient?I've always hated the idea of having heavy cards "hanging" with tower systems and thought this method of vertical hanging would be great for alleviating that stress, but this heatpipe issue is new to me.
Thanks for bringing it up and hopefully the author of the article can chime in.
Rick83 - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Well, the heatpipe works by evaporating a liquid which gathers at the bottom of the heatpipe and then rises to the top where it condenses. This doesn't work as well if the heat source is above the lower end of the heatpipe. The exact impact though, I've not seen it examined. It can't be that bad, as many heatpipe designs for VGA coolers double back on themselves, which has a similar aspect.Still, would be awesome if such obvious compatibility challenges would be addressed by even a single reviewer...
Spoelie - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Still working through the review, but thought I'd already chime in. The design is interesting for certain, I don't buy anything other than mATX boards lately, but would never consider this case because of the storage system.* 4 is really the bare minimum for me (currently have 3 3.5" and 1 SSD)
* mounting system, took most of the timelapse video...
* no airflow
* direct contact with sidepanels/metal???
Especially that last point surprises me, that truly is a worst case scenario for transferring vibration noise. Personally think suspension + airflow is a far superior alternative to "heatsink" type cooling for drives. Seems like I'll be sticking to my P182 for a while yet.