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
Assembling the SilverStone FT03 Mini
As I stressed over and over again in the previous section, assembly of the SilverStone FT03 Mini is a very specific process and you really do have to follow the instruction manual to the letter. With that said, however, I was surprised at just how easily the build came together. There were places I struggled with the FT03, but the Mini was a remarkably simple affair for a Mini-ITC case, all things considered.
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When you get started, you want to tear down the case completely per the instructions, because you'll be putting it right back together the same way. The motherboard tray includes the standoffs needed for Mini-ITX, and the board itself goes in easily enough. I also cabled the motherboard at this juncture, but wasn't able to pre-install power cables; our test PSU wasn't modular, although SilverStone is actually going to make a modular SFX power supply available in the near future that should be ideal for cases like this one.
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The next step is installing the power supply, which suspends from the top of the case. Since it's an SFX power supply the weight isn't a major issue (and the frame of the case can definitely handle it), but SilverStone seems to have been a bit miserly in the number of screws they included with the FT03 Mini. There are five points to screw in the PSU, but there were only enough screws available to do the four corners. You can see the specific way the power cables are supposed to tuck into the enclosure, though, and this was a good time to get them connected where possible.
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Where things do get tricky is the optical drive tray and associated 3.5" and 2.5" cages. There's an additional 2.5" cage mounted to the motherboard tray that can be removed but we opted not to use it, instead employing the "stacked" trays for the 3.5" and 2.5" drives that sit under the optical drive tray. The problem is that it's never 100% clear how these trays come together, but the key is to look for the three notches that the 3.5" tray uses to slide into the bottom of the 2.5" tray. Once you've installed a slimline drive (or not), you can replace the optical drive tray. Mount the 2.5" tray to the bottom of the optical drive tray, then mount the 3.5" tray to the bottom of the 2.5" drive tray using the notches. Everything screws into place. Take care to orient the drives properly to make cabling as easy as possible.
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Finally, installing expansion cards is actually one of the easiest parts. The case is designed to accept the expansion cards last, and I was able to squeeze our Zotac GeForce GTS 450 Eco into the FT03 Mini without too much trouble. I will say that I'm still not a fan of having to remove a cover from the expansion slots before removing the slats from the slots themselves to install the card, but I'm also not sure if there's any other way to really handle it, especially with a case like this one.
With all the doors snapped back on in the proper order, the FT03 Mini is ready to go. There's even a small notch under the case's I/O for routing the power cable out the top of the case. It might seem a little sloppy to have all of the cabling spilling out from a single point in the top of the case, but that's how the original FT03 worked and as I mentioned before, you'll already know if the FT03 Mini interests you just by looking at it. That it comes together pretty easily is almost secondary to that fact.
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robl - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I liked the review, and I'm quite interested in the case. I also caught the comment and about a GTX 670, as that's what I'd use, and would love a follow-up article.It's impossible to review cases in all configurations that anyone would like (HTPC, PC for mom, gaming PC, workstation, etc.) However, with that said, I like the idea of perhaps 2 primary configs for testing cases. (a) sweet & simple, and (b) enthusiast/gamer.
I'd love to see how this performs as a gaming machine. (and am concerned that if it is desk mounted, that a high end GTX whine/blower out the top may be really unworkable - hair dryer anyone?)
Mumrik - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I like this thing. It's relatively attractive, efficient and quiet. I'd have liked it more though, if they had dropped that 5.25 bay and focused on making more room for 3½ drives. This is not a small ITX case, so I'd sort of expect it to have more (storage) server potential.rm19 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I was interested in this case the moment it came out and I found out that Maingear makes one called the Potenza that comes in black and looks much less watercoolish. They offer a GTX 680 option with 450w power supply so it seems capable of being a compact beast.chaoticlusts - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Just had a look at that out of curiousity...that's *hideously* overpriced, though boutique pc's tend to be >_<A high end CPU+GTX 680 seems like asking for trouble with a 450w PSU, Nvidia recommends a 550W PSU minimum with the 680, add a high consumption CPU onto it and your asking for trouble with the strain that poor little PSU would be under, hopefully someone will release a higher than 450 watt SFX PSU soonish. Technically all those components consume below 450w under load but spike usage+accessories plugged in etc etc..your not leaving yourself much safe room. Granted I might be wrong, would be great to see some real tests ^_^
ikjadoon - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Well, here's somewhat of a real test, but there is a bit of vested interest here, too, haha:http://bit.ly/MIHWFq
So, an i7-3770K @ 4.6GHz + GTX 680 pull 350W from the wall.
Penti - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Reminds me of the PowerMac G4 Cube, it's basically the same form factor of course the only major difference is the optical drive placement. Plus less cubey. Which of course it self is a throwback to NeXTcube and other odd form factor workstations. Fun to see ideas being developed. They seem to do a pretty good job, for something I have otherwise lost much of my faith in when it comes to often poorly thought out custom cases and self builds. This with a discrete add on graphics-card would be pretty sweet together with a 2.5" SSD for OS/Software and a 2.5" 7200 rpm drive for additional storage. Certainly pretty good where Mini-ITX is concerned and should have the power to drive a half decent mid-end GPU. SFX PSU should be able to drive a decent machine, most mid and low end cpus are enough for almost all work now days, if you don't need dual or quad socket workstations that is. Would love a low voltage/power version for use in builds and space confined machines like this though. Certainly something more possible then the included ATI Rage 16MB that the Mac cube used :)ggathagan - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Just finished building a system for a friend with this case, the AsusS P8H77-I, an i7-3770S, a Corsair H60, a Samsung SSD, a Sony BD combo drive, a 2TB 3.5" hard drive and an EVGA GTX670.It all fits, but I ended up putting the SSD in the same tray as the optical drive with double-stick tape.
Haven't had a chance to stress the system, but after playing 30 minutes or so of Diablo III, the Asus monitoring software indicated a CPU temp of 39c and the system remained quiet.
I had hoped to put a 120mm fan on top of the H60's radiator, but the drive tray wouldn't allow for it
The ST45SF PSU works, but it's ill-suited for the MINI; too many SATA and Molex power connections, cabling is too long and the orientation of the SATA connectors make for difficult connections.
This is what triggered putting the SSD with the optical drive
I'll be interested to see what Silverstone does with their modular PSU.
If they're wise, they'll offer a MINI-specific cabling kit, in addition to cabling for a more traditional case.
chaoticlusts - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Out of curiosity have you tested how much power that system is drawing under load? I was considering if I got enough money later this year building a transportable system and this case looked appealing, a 670/similar power consuming GPU's would be great (top ends seem unrealistic) but I'm really curious if the wee little 450w PSU struggles trying to drive all that? With the cost of all those components I'd be worried about the PSU dying from being strained too hardVery happy to hear the noise/temp results though that's really promising :) (slightly cooler than my 2500K in a full sized tower with a coolermaster hyper 212+!.. Although it's OC'd a little)
Really hoping the modular PSU the article mentions that's coming, arrives in 500-600w options just that little bit extra would provide some nice peace of mind :)
ggathagan - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
I never paid attention to the draw, as several website reviews showed the GTX670 drawing around 310-330w under load.The user has no interest in overclocking, so between those wattage figures and knowledge regarding the power consumption of the chipset and CPU, I wasn't concerned about the capacity of the PSU.
If there's a free way of checking power consumption, I'm willing do it.
I guess it depends on how you define "transportable", but this case would not be my 1st choice if you're thinking of a grab-and-carry case to take to LAN parties.
If you're simply referring to a case that is easy to pack for someone who moves a lot, then you'd be fine.
It's a solid case, all the internal parts are well anchored and the top latches solidly, but the four side panels are easily removed, so you'd want to wrap the outside with a couple of turns of painter's tape to keep it all together in transport.
HardwareDufus - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Do you have any photos with all of the cabling installed? Would like to see how it appears in a typical home installation...