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
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
Puget Systems recently ran an article pitting the SilverStone Fortress FT02 against Antec's P183 v3 and orienting them in different ways to test the effectiveness of SilverStone's rotated motherboard approach, specifically trying to ascertain whether or not natural convection really plays much of a role in the FT02's thermal performance. I don't disagree with their results, but when evaluating the FT02 specifically I don't find them particularly relevant either.
My primary points of interest are thus: the FT02 delivers a massive amount of directed and unobstructed airflow straight through the motherboard area, right into blower-style video card coolers and right into tower-style CPU coolers, and I'm concerned about the resulting noise from having that air vent out of the top of the case. A lot of us keep our computers under our desks, and instead of routing the accompanying noise out of the back of the case it comes out of the top and has a pretty good path straight into our ears.
The FT02 includes switches near the 120mm exhaust fan (meaning you'll have to remove the panel to change them) that can change the speeds of the 180mm fans between high and low settings; I tested the enclosure with both settings. Other cases with fan controllers built in have their most balanced results listed.
Right away we can see the FT02 delivers respectable, if not awe-inspiring performance. The differences between the two fan settings are, as is often the case, slight. I'll admit to having expected better, though: the In-Win BUC continues to run wild, and the Thermaltake Level 10 GT also produces stellar results competitive with the FT02. Something about those side intake fans makes a major difference, a notion we'll be testing when we review Corsair's upcoming Carbide 400R.
On the flipside, the FT02 is among our quietest cases with the fans on low. Once again it's tough to justify running the case's fans on high if you're not overclocking: noise increases disporportionately with thermal performance. If nothing else, the FT02 is efficient.
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veselinbg - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Exactly!!!Thank you!
banthracis - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I did find the FT02 vs RV03 temps odd since bit tech has the FT02 on low beating the RV03 on high.Also, over on HardOCPs FT0 thread, Tony Ou, Silverstone's sales rep mentioned that in their internal testing that the RV03 should get very close to the FT02, but implies it shouldn't be better.
somewhere in this thread
veselinbg - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I'm sorry this is my short post version, because Anand didn't allow me to post all the text at onceDevoted - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Hi Dustin, and congrats on another great review.I'd like to know if you'd be able to test the FT02 with a graphics card with a non-reference cooler, like a Twin Frozr from MSI or a WindForce from Gigabyte... Since these coolers don't push air outside the case, I'm curious if the vertical aiflow orientation will be detrimental to their performance.
I've been reading conflicting results allover the 'net, both from people who have consistently good results and from other who claim the GPU's temp steadily climb until it's over the card's threshold...
Anyone has any opinion/data on this? I'm considering moving from an Antec P182 to a FT02, but I'll also be getting a new graphics card, so I'm cautious about this...
thanks!
runavaio - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
I've used for a year and a half a FT02 housing a very hot GTX295, without problems, despite it being the dual pcb earlier design.A few months ago I switched to a GTX570 and so far, so good, despite this one is a zotac non-reference design with a central fan. Probably not the best choice for this case, but for me, it is a lot cooler than my old gtx295.
With neither of them I have had cooling trouble, nor feared for the temps, always cool and as quiet as those cards can be.
Just this week I have also updated from a Q9450@3,55ghz with noctua C14 to a 2600K@4,6ghz with noctua d14, awesome difference!
I always wanted to set up a water-cooled rig, but I have settled for a very good air cooling solution.
Devoted - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
Thanks, just the kind of I needed...I'm considering going from a Q6600 to a 2500K and from a 8800GTS to a GTX570 SOC, and maybe change the case later on... we'll see..
I've been entertaining the notion of watercooling for quite some time but I always end up going for aircooling, too.
danjw - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I would really like a review of the P193 v3. I haven't found any English language reviews of it.sakanade - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Nice review.Could you elaborate more on swapping the usb2.0 panel for a 3.0?
Where did you get one that fits the FT02?
sakanade - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I mean the cables...sorry
burningrave101 - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
You can contact Silverstone RMA here in the USA to order the USB 3.0 upgrade kit and last I called about it it was $12 shipped.