SilverStone Fortress FT04 Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on August 29, 2013 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- ATX
For testing full 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.
| ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-2700K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H |
| Graphics Card |
ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP (tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V) 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 in SLI (full fat testing only) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive 3x HGST DeskStar 3TB 7200-RPM HDD |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 1000W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
For the "full fat" testbed, the GTX 560 Ti is swapped out for a pair of GTX 580s, and three hard disks are added to fill out the case.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i7-2700K.
- Thank you to Gigabyte for providing us with the GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink and fan unit.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- Thank you to HGST for providing us with the trio of hard drives.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
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koshling - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
Glad I gave up waiting about 6 weeks ago and bought an FT02 (which rocks)GokieKS - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
I've been a huge fan of SilverStone's cases for about as long as the company has existed, as I was a big fan of Cooler Master's ATCS cases prior too. But this really doesn't do much for me, in either aesthetics (which I believe SS to do better than just about anyone else in the industry) or features - it's the first case from the Fortress line that I haven't loved from the moment I laid eyes on it.What I really wish SilverStone would make is an updated version of the FT-01. The single-piece extruded aluminum design of the TJ-07/FT-01 still looks great today, cooling performance is quite good, and I dearly love mine and continue to use it despite it missing some features that are commonplace nowadays (CPU cutout, proper cable routing holes, USB 3.0 front ports, etc.) If they just released a new version with the features that you expect all decent cases to have in 2013, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
Theremings759 - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
my bf's sister just got a nine month old Lexus GX 460 SUV only from working part time off a macbook air... go to this web-site http://jobs63.combobbozzo - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
Hi, it is difficult to tell from the pictures if the front intakes are filtered; please state whether they are or not in all case reviews.Thanks!
bobbozzo - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
ISTM that a case this expensive should either come with PWM fans, or have another model available with them. Spending another $25 - $50 to buy a couple PWM Nexus or Noctua fans makes this even more expensive.bobbozzo - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
I should point out that many of the Noctuas come as a kit with multiple connection options in case you don't have any available PWM motherboard connectors, so SS could actually sell a single model for PWM / non-PWM.Touche - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
Ugh, this looks like such a mess. FT02 wasn't perfect but it had a lot positive points, but the new series is bad to mediocre in most of things.Any plans on reviewing Fractal Define R4 and/or XL R2?
Touche - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
Sorry, R4 was reviewed.Touche - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
Doh, both are reviewed. Why isn't the R2 in the graphs?genghisquan - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
YES! I wish Silverstone would've improved the FT02/RV02 while keeping the essential layout and design...instead of making this 4th series.