SilverStone FT03: Nothing Else Like It
by Dustin Sklavos on April 28, 2011 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
Testing Methodology
Part of the reason we took so long in getting new case reviews up on the site is because we decided to go back and revise our case testing procedures. Moving forward we're standardizing our testing methodology in a way that will hopefully feel more concrete and useful than our previous reviews did. I'm going to take the opportunity to break down how things are going to work for this and future reviews, but note that these procedures aren't set in stone. Anand stressed to me in conversation that one of our greatest assets is essentially the mountain of free feedback we get from people who comment on our reviews, and I agree with him. We pride ourselves on being fairly agile and adaptable to the needs of our readership, so if you feel there's something we can change and it's feasible, rest assured that we do listen and will at the very least take it into consideration.
First, we've standardized on two testbeds: a Mini-ITX testbed that's low-powered and doesn't generate too much heat, but isn't too miserly either, and a full ATX testbed that's indicative of the high-end of what most of you are running. Since this review uses our Mini-ITX bed, I'll save discussing the full ATX one for that review. The essential thinking here is that a Mini-ITX board can be used for Micro-ATX builds like this one without sacrificing much (we're not testing multi-GPU scenarios for cases this small since they're seldom designed for it), but we still use a processor that produces enough heat to merit thermal testing. Before I go any further, it may be prudent to just lay out the hardware we're testing with:
| Mini-ITX/Micro-ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU | Intel Core i3-530 (73W TDP) |
| Motherboard | Zotac H55ITX-WiFi |
| Graphics Card |
Intel HD Graphics (IGP) Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (244W TDP) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Slimline DVD+/-RW Drive Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gbps |
| CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS8000A with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Gold 750W 80 Plus Gold |
The Zotac motherboard is included as one of the most fully-featured Mini-ITX boards available, and it works with the Core i3-530 we had on hand. That i3-530 is also fairly typical of what to expect in smaller builds. From there, the Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer memory has a unique feature particularly suited to our needs: it includes thermal diodes that can tell you how hot the memory is running. The SSD is used to gauge how easily a 2.5" drive is installed and to provide a stable baseline, while the Caviar Black gauges how easily a 3.5" drive can be installed and gives us a secondary reference point for drive temperatures. The Zalman cooler is quiet, low-profile, and effective, giving us an alternative to the Intel stock cooler. And finally, SilverStone's power supply is modular, small, and efficient, making it ideal for case testing.
Of course, the GeForce GTX 580 is going to raise some eyebrows. In this instance, we wanted a video card for case testing that would push thermals without overpowering acoustics. Not all cases we test with are going to support it, but enough are to warrant its inclusion. As a result, Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX systems are tested in two configurations: with and without dedicated graphics.
Moving on, acoustic testing is standardized on a foot from the front of the case, using the Extech SL10 with an ambient noise floor of ~32dB. For reference, that's a silent apartment with nothing running, testing acoustics in the dead of night (usually between 1am and 3am). A lot of us sit about a foot away from our computers, so this should be a fairly accurate representation of the kind of noise the case generates, and it's close enough to get noise levels that should register above ambient.
Finally, thermal testing is run with the computer having idled at the desktop for fifteen minutes, and again with the computer running both Furmark (where applicable) and Prime95 (less one thread when a GPU is being used) for fifteen minutes. I've found that leaving one thread open in Prime95 allows the processor to heat up enough while making sure Furmark isn't CPU-limited. We're using the thermal diodes included with the hardware to keep everything standardized, and ambient testing temperature is always between 71F and 74F. Processor temperatures reported are the average of the CPU cores.
Thank You!
We do have some thanks in order before we press on, though:
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory we used to add memory thermals to our testing.
- Thank you to Zalman for providing us with the CNPS8000A heatsink and fan unit we used.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the optical drive and power supply.
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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.