SilverStone FT03 Mini Review: We'll Make You Fun Size
by Dustin Sklavos on May 22, 2012 1:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- SilverStone
Conclusion: You Already Know If You Want It
Honestly, you probably already knew whether or not you were interested in the SilverStone FT03 Mini from the moment you looked at it. There are plenty of Mini-ITX cases out there, but none of them look like this one, so what the review is really about is answering questions and determining whether or not it has personality to go along with its looks. I'm happy to report that it does.
I liked the FT03 to begin with, and the FT03 Mini is in many ways a direct improvement on that design. In addition to shrinking the form factor, SilverStone fixed one of the main problems: the side panels. There's also no more bottom fan filter falling off, and assembly is actually much simpler in the FT03 Mini than it was in the FT03 proper. The engineers did their homework and came back with something not only improved, but I think shrinking to the Mini-ITX spec actually serves the design better. Aesthetically it's more interesting by being smaller, and physically it allows SilverStone to go down to a single 140mm intake fan in the bottom doing all the work.
The funny thing is that in the process, SilverStone continues to prove that you don't need to throw six fans at every problem when one or two smartly placed fans will do the job. The aforementioned FT02 and TJ08-E along with Lian Li's PC-90 are evidence enough of that. I've been increasingly of the opinion that the low-front-intake-to-top-back-exhaust design, however popular, is inefficient. Tiny wind tunnels like the FT03 Mini seem to prove that.
If you're interested in the FT03 Mini, hopefully this review assuages any concerns you might have about it. Assembly is relatively easy apart from the slightly unusual mounting for the drive cages, and thermal performance and acoustics are both excellent. It's at least as good as it looks if not better, and SilverStone's engineers are showing real progress in their designs. Taken as a whole, that makes the FT03 Mini Bronze Editor's Choice award material.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
67 Comments
View All Comments
harshw - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Given the way onboard GPUs are headed, wouldn't it be better for a HTPC to have a Thin Mini-ITX, SO-DIMM, mSATA and HD4000 graphics ? I built a HTPC using the EMC-800b Habey case, with the DH61AG motherboard, a 120GB mSATA SSD and a slim 1U heatsink. The case is incredibly neat, has excellent thermals and very little noise. I keep seeing all these supposedly 'bleeding edge' cases and in 22 years of building computers, have yet to see vendors do anything remotely constructive about cables and power supplies.I think Silverstone should come up with more cases for the Thin Mini-ITX standard and be more creative about cables and power supplies.
Especially now that there's Thunderbolt, I dont think system vendors can use 'expandability' as an excuse for much longer. External video card ? Use Thunderbolt. External link to high speed storage ? Use Thunderbolt.
Spunjji - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
In that case, this isn't for you. :)For me, I'd look at this as a design challenge - to see how much hardware I could fit into so small of a case with as little noise output as possible. An experiment in passive cooling for the CPU, GPU and PSU, relying on the 140mm fan to provide airflow. Something like that.
Also, WRT Thunderbolt, it's not great for external graphics and you then have to deal with the issue of powering and finding space for multiple boxes. Add in the issues of matching the devices aesthetically and it's not necessarily a superior option.
So, while I see what you say, I'm still glad to see Silverstone taking care of this end of the market.
cjs150 - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Based on the Anandtech reviews (what else would we read!) the HD4000 is a massive advance on earlier Intel designs (correct frame rate is a good start which AMD had for ages). Latest AMD chips are very good but Intel beats them on media encoding so a case of pay more but get more power, pay less (AMD) and get a great HTPC but maybe a little slow on ripping all your Blu-rays (legally of course).For a HTPC a slim line 1U case is fine, for me an i7-3770T plus Mini ITX board. So this case is a complete waste for an HTPC
This Silverstone case is really for a decent but lightweight desktop - not top of the line in power but still powerful enough for most. Personally I prefer the Lian li designs or even the SG05, but then again I would watercool the CPU and GPU and reduce noise down to minimum
MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Apple Cube anyone?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4_Cube
Wardrop - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I've always thought designing cases would be a really enjoyable job. Sometimes though it seems a lot of these cases suffer from design by committee, where a lot of people put in their ideas and requirements which always seems to produce an awkward case that doesn't perfectly fit anyone's needs. Not directing this at the FT03 at all, but rather just a general observation.On a slightly unrelated topic, I think Lian Li's discontinuation of the A17 was very surprising. Lian Li have put quite a lot of effort in building up their portfolio of case accessories that integrate into their product range, like optical drive bezels, hot-swap drive cages, etc, and the A17 combined with these accessories was really an enthusiasts dream. I may never understand why they canned it. I'm typing this with an A17 sitting right next to me actually - probably bought the last one in Australia a year or two ago. I've got two Lian Li hot-swap drive cages in it, and have 2 of the other 3 5.25" slots populated with optical drives using Lian Li's bezels. The quality of the case and accessories make this machine look as well designed as an Apple, but with difference being complete configuration flexibility. I'm sure that's got to appeal to more than just myself. It's unlikely a case will have the exact number of internal 3.5" bays, external 3.5" bays and external 5.25" bays that you desire, and the A17 combined with Lian Li's accessories just seems like such a perfect solution.
lemonadesoda - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
The front should have a power switch, a usb slot, and a card reader. Optical drives are so yesterday. If you really want one for legacy reasons, put it on the back or at the side. Everyday we use a SD card or USB device. Once a month we might use optical media.Spunjji - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
"We"? ;)teakwood54 - Thursday, January 30, 2014 - link
They're at the top. As for the optical drive, just turn the system around.ectoplasmosis - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
"I wish we'd had a GeForce GTX 670 or 680 on hand to really give the SilverStone FT03 Mini a proper thrashing"...So why not wait until you did before rushing a cobbled-together review out?
Honestly, the last few articles on Anandtech have been very sloppy. Definite decline towards just another toy hardware site.
Mumrik - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I find that it's a good idea to check who the author is right away. Anand himself is by far the best reviewer here. The other guys may or may not be to your liking.