SilverStone Fortress FT02: True Classics Never Go Out of Style
by Dustin Sklavos on August 15, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- Full-Tower
Testing Methodology
For testing ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
| Full ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-875K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 3.8GHz @ 1.38V) |
| Motherboard | ASUS P7P55D-E Pro |
| Graphics Card | Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (244W TDP) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gbps Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive |
| CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS9900 MAX with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Gold 750W 80 Plus Gold |
A refresher on how we test:
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 what my silent apartment measures 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.
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.
For more details on how we arrived at this testbed, you can check out our introductory passage in the review for the IN-WIN BUC.
Last but not least, we'd also like to thank the vendors who made our testbed possible:
Thank You!
We have some thanks in order before we press on:
- 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 CNPS9900 MAX 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, Intel Core i7-875K processor, ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard, and Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
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sweetca - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
Thank you so much! I laughed so hard and ended up choking on the M&M I was eating.ACEkombatkiwi - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Great review as all ways but I hope you cleaned up those cables :)It is one of the few cases that can fit a HWlabs Black Ice SR-1 560 internally without heaps of modding.
Where did you get those USB 3.0 connectors from that is the only reason I had against this case for a build that is coming up.
Rick83 - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I actually see a USB 3.0 version being sold in Europe.Not sure about overseas.
Bobben49 - Sunday, August 24, 2014 - link
I just got a USB3.0 version from Amazon on July 28th 2014 to build my wife's new system in. They are currently in stock listed as "Silverstone Tek FT02B-USB3.0. . ."Affectionate-Bed-980 - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
While I realize review data may be old, this is a CLEAR competitor against Antec's P183 or P182. I forget if you guys even did a P183 review, but this is clearly one of those ATX cases that come to mind.P183/Define R3/HZXT H2/Silverstone FT02 are very commonly debated cases on forums and stuff.
radium69 - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Jarred,When are you going to review the Lian Li a70F case?
I've heard it's great value and a lot of nice features.
Just need a little push to open up my wallet :)
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php...
It's quite an old model, but it looks very sleek. Especially if you take the LED fans out and replace them with normal black ones.
Pricing is around 180 euro's in europe, can't get a hold of it though.
The A77 is her bigger brother and looks very nice also!
Cheers,
Kevin
don_k - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Seconded for a Lian Li review :)Kevin you can get the A70 from caseking.de for 170EUR + shipping. They have most Lian Lis in stock. I actually have the A77F - it's a thing of beauty, words don't do it justice.
To mention just one thing, humongous full tower case that weighs just about 9Kg (20lbs)..
JarredWalton - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Talk to Dustin, not me! ;-)I think we've pinged Lian Li before, as well as Fractal Designs. I'll tell Dustin to try again on both, though.
R3MF - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
i have this case too, and it was worth the money.i agree with more room behind the tray, and side-mounted optical drives.
Sunburn74 - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
The writer is wrong on anumber of accounts. These criticisms of his opinions come from someone who has owned the case for about 9 months now.Criticisms
The writer says it is in dire need of an eighth expansion slot but doesn't say why. I yet to have found myself deficient in expansions and I have a dual slot gpu, a single slot sound card, and a single slot tv tuner card.
There is an issue with the top 5.25 bay and the last expansion slot, but its something that can easily be avoided by populating your 5.25 bays from the bottom up. It still looks aesthetically pleasing and is perfectly normal.
The FT02 doesn't need more ports in the top cluster. The fact that the vertical orientation puts all the difficult to reach ports normally in the back of your board right on top, makes it unnecessary to have an all inclusive top cluster at all. I'm even surprised you went as far as to add a USB 3.0 front port, when whever I need to use my 3.0 slot, I can pop the mesh and I have as many of them right there.
The PSU strap is fine. Its only purpose is to hold the psu in place whilst you screw it in on the initial install. Once you've done that, the screws do all the work. The writer fails to understand that.
The case costs 250 but its fit and finish and appearance is in line with the "premiumville' cases the writer mentions. No case is perfect, but at the 250 its just as clean and beautiful looking as the more expensive 800d and the lian li x2000f both of which I was considering at the time.
The real issues with the case are as follows:
The 2.5 mounting system is pretty lousy for running SSD raid setups. I ended up just sticking both my ssds into one of the 3.5 drive bays without any screws. They are ssds and do just fine, but it'd be nice if there were a cleaner solution. You can purchase SSD mounts but they don't work very well with silverstones railing system for some reason (i tried).
The dust trays are easily accessible and relatively effective, but nonetheless a ton of dust will build up on the fans and cause them to get slightly noisy over time. The sata bays take a bit dust hit too despire the presence of filters. The internal mobo and etc will however remain very very clean.
The back psu air supply is questionable and has cord reach issues with certain PSUs (corsair psus in general).
Overall I don't see myself replacing this case for 3-4 years (this coming from a guy who replaced his case at a clip of every 5-6 months due to one issue or another). My internals are clearn and the case is quiet. Its also a stoic monolith in my room. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 8.7 after 9 months of ownership.