The SilverStone Fortress FT05 Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on June 5, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- Case
Test setup
Professional testing requires the emulation of real-world situations but with repeatable results; thus, a perfectly controllable test setup and environment are required, especially for comparable results. Testing the thermal performance of any case with a typical real-world setup technically limits the comparability of the results to this setup alone, as an active system interacts with its environment and the change of a single component would alter myriads of variables.
As such, we developed synthetic loads that emulate the thermal output of real systems, which however are passive, steady and quantifiable. As a result, our thermal testing displays the thermal capabilities of the case alone, as if it would have to deal with the entire thermal load by itself, regardless of the system that would be installed inside it. Laboratory data loggers are being used to monitor the PT100 sensors and control the safety relays, which are fully accessible via our custom software. Three such loads have been developed; the ATX version simulates a 200W CPU, 50W VRM, 30W RAM and 4 × 120W GPU card thermal load. Finally, three 3.5" HDD dummy loads have also been created, with each of them converting 30 W of electrical power to thermal, bringing the total thermal load of the ATX test setup up to 850 Watts. As such, the thermal load is immense and only the best of cases will be able to handle it for more than a few minutes. Meanwhile we are also performing a test with a thermal load of 400W, with all of the aforementioned components except the HDD drives at about 42% power, which is more suitable for the majority of cases.
Thermal testing has been performed with all of the case's stock fan operating at maximum speed. Noise testing has been performed with a background noise level of 30.4dB(A). Advanced noise testing is also being performed, in order to assess the ability of the case to dampen the noise of the components installed inside it. This includes the installation of two noise-generating sources (strong fans) inside the case, one positioned approximately over the first expansion slot and one over the CPU area, which generate ≈ 44.2 dB(A) when unobstructed. During the advanced noise test, all stock cooling options of the case are entirely disabled.
Note: As the Fortress FT05 can only host two 3.5" devices, the maximum load of each test configuration is reduced by 30 Watts (minus one HDD dummy load).
Results and discussion
The thermal performance of the SilverStone Fortress FT05 is just a little worse than that of the Raven RV05. This was to be expected, as the sound dampening material on all panels acts as a thermal insulator as well, forcing nearly all of the heat transfer to take place via the airflow. Still, the thermal performance remains fantastic, rivaling that of much larger and fancier products. Even cases with double the volume of the Fortress FT05 are having a hard time competing. For example, the small and cramped Fortress FT05 can maintain about the same GPU temperatures as the massive Corsair 760T. However, this is solely because there are two massive 180mm intake fans supplying ample air directly over the system. If the airflow is blocked for any reason (e.g. messy cable job, dust on the filter, etc.), the thermal performance of the Fortress FT05 plummets.
With the Raven RV05, the 180mm stock cooling fans had the downside of being significantly loud at maximum speed. The same fans are present in the Fortress FT05 but the sound dampening material makes for a notable drop of the sound pressure levels, making the 180mm fans completely inaudible at low speeds. With a maximum of 37.3dB(A), the Penetrator fans are now fairly comfortable for everyday use even at their maximum speed. Considering the airflow of these fans, running them at half the speed will provide more than adequate airflow to a system with a typical CPU and a single GPU.
The sound dampening capabilities of the Fortress FT05 were better than we initially anticipated. As the top of the case is almost entirely perforated, one would expect the noise dampening capabilities to be very low. SilverStone pleasantly surprised us, with the Fortress FT05 reducing the noise of our dummy test source from 44.2dB(A) to 40.9dB(A). It may not seem as an astonishing figure at first but remember that the decibel scale is logarithmic and seemingly small changes can have great real world repercussions. It actually is very good, with a drop of the sound intensity by nearly 54% (2.63×10-8 to 1.23××10-8 Watts per square meter).
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E.Fyll - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
I will try to be as succinct as possible.Taking a lot of time to make a case look tidy is, simply put, not good.
As pictured, the cables of the AX760i are hard pressed against the HDD cage. You cannot insert or remove any cables. Having to take out the entire HDD cage to insert a cable is, simply put, not good.
It is not my job to spend a lot of time to try and hide the cables. Given enough time and resources, I can hide every single cable inside the smallest ITX case. If I need a lot of time to route and hide cables, that is -1 for any design. If you cannot hide the cables altogether with a design forcing you to run them across the motherboard, like this one, that's -3. Or -50. Depends on how biased towards tidiness you are.
My opinion could be "skewed" but pictures tell no lies. Judge for yourselves.
Isn't it rather ironic that whenever I say something positive about a product I am "on the take" and whenever I say something negative my opinion is "skewed"? :P
wurizen - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
Hi,First of all, thanks for replying. I assume you are the reviewer of this case. Any one can make things look tidy given enough time. But, it also doesn't take up that much time after some thought have been made to where to route the cables for this case. The fact that you went about your cabling in the same way as you would go about routing cables for a case that is much bigger is... as you put it... NOT GOOD. Just because there aren't any grommet holes or dedicated spots for cables doesn't mean that there isn't a way for those cables to be placed there. For example, the 8-pin CPU cable needs to be tucked in under the mobo first, so it runs across the back of the case. This is one example of no grommets, but, yet, the 8-pin CPU cable can be placed on this case in the same manner as any case with special grommet or holes for them. This is because there is space on the right side of the case for the 8-pinCPU cable to snake through as well as all the system wires.
"My opinion could be "skewed" but pictures tell no lies. Judge for yourselves." If you look at that picture, I can see clearance and space for the cables to be taken out even without removing the HDD cage. I also know this because I have the AX760 and I've swapped cables without having to remove the cage. Is it tight? Yes. Is it impossible or that hard? No!
I am not biased about tidiness. But, you're a reviewer. People will look at this review and see how you run the cables and it's not how it's done. It's not just for aesthetics or some OCD for tidiness, either. But, if you leave the cables as pictured on your review, then you have all those system cables in front of the bottom fan impeding or blocking airflow. Thus, it is not just a tidy thing but also an ethical thing. You've "skewed" the thermal performance of the case by not routing the cables the correct way.
thank you!
I use to place this site as one of the better tech sites. But, no more!!!
Ryan Smith - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
wurizen, while I regret that we can't meet all of your standards, I do stand by my editor in the case of this case (er, no pun intended). Given the small space available in the FT05, E. did a reasonable job on cable routing. Especially since this is just for evaluating the build-friendliness of the case and taking pictures of what an assembled system will look like. There are tradeoffs to be had in terms of time, and even experienced builders are going to have trouble getting the "perfect" build on this case. E's build, I believe, is likely better than what the majority of users will accomplish with this case."Thus, it is not just a tidy thing but also an ethical thing. You've "skewed" the thermal performance of the case by not routing the cables the correct way."
I would also quickly note that we don't test this case with standard components (as installed), but rather with a dummy load. More details can be found on page 4. This admittedly creates a setup that's a bit idealized, but it also means that the results aren't being impacted by the build itself, since it's not present for testing. So I can assure you that the results are not negatively skewed.
vivi2000 - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
The article states that the fan speed switches are only 2 way(low/high) but they are actually 3 way but only labeled as 2 way.romrunning - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
E.Fyll - thanks for posting both metric & non-metric measurements for the case dimensions (H×W×D)!Impulses - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
I think making it wider would've solved a lot of issues, they could've had more cable management room, space for a vertically mounted 5.25" bay, etc... I'll stick with my Corsair Air 540, of which I have the opposite complaint.I don't mind that the 540 is SO wide but it wastes a lot of space on the right compartment, should've had one more drive cage there or been narrower, at least it was cheap tho and the unobstructed airflow thru the left compartment probably works as well as Silverstone's bottom/top design.
I feel like there's plenty of room to innovate with designs like that tho, which don't force the typical and awkward S shaped airflow path and/or don't waste a ton of space up front on 5.25" bays.
deadlockedworld - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
When I bought my FT02, it was because my wife insisted that I get something that wasn't too ugly and I needed it to run with very little front ventilation. Had this existed at that time I would have paid basically any amount of money for it. Value isn't even part of the equation!Few other manufacturers can make a case this classy looking, yet with good thermal performance. They are targeting a niche user, who cares about looks as much as performance and doesn't have financial constraints.
tim851 - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
>>> True enough, convective heat transfer suggests that higher temperature air will naturally flow>>> upwards, so the design does make sense. The case does act as a convective heater
I wish reviewers weren't parroting marketing speak all the time.
It's been shown time and again that convection plays no role in a case once forced air movement (aka: fans) come into play. The FT05 (or FT02 or any other of these) isn't such a great performer because "hot air rises", but because it employs two huge 180mm intake fans.
If you want to test this, just turn it on it's face, so that the airflow becomes horizontal, and marvel at how the temps don't change.
Valantar - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
Kind of a shame that this could have been a truly excellent case if only they had added 1-2 cm to its width and length for cable management. With space for cables along the "top" (i.e. right side) of the motherboard, they could have stuck a hdd/ssd mount or two along the side there too. Suddenly, the case would be both roomy and have plenty of expandability.MCX - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
Having had my fill of custom watercooling, I went back to Silverstone's Fortress series with the FT05, which seemed like a good successor to the FT02, making a reasonable compromise between size and flexibility. Like the FT02 the backside is unnecessarily cramped and not very useful for cable management, but also like the FT02, the thermal performance and noiseless operation is impressive.Besides the lack of neat cable management, a bit too much is made of how hard it is to build in the case. Sure, it's not for beginners, and if I were someone who changed components weekly or if I had to build hundreds of these, I'd acquiesce to a larger case, but for relatively experienced builders who isn't changing motherboards or cpus every other week, it's not a big deal.
Currently, I'm using it with a Noctua DH15 for my cpu and a semi-passive psu and a gpu (an AX860 and a Strix 970). Case fans are controlled by the motherboard. It allows for whisper-quiet computing that hardly gets louder while gaming, even with a reasonable overclock.