Silverstone Fortress FT01
by Christoph Katzer on November 10, 2008 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Exterior
As mentioned, the main frame of the chassis is made out of one piece of aluminum. That makes this case look a little similar to the G5 from Apple, just without handles and perforated front panel. The front has a large cutout in the bottom covered by a metal grille with a Silverstone logo in the middle. The first 180mm intake fan sits behind this grille, and the power button is just above the grille in the middle of the front. The upper part of the front has five 5.25" covers, behind which you can install optical drives or other components.
The top of the chassis features a recessed I/O panel that also sports the reset button. There is no plate/door blocking access to the I/O panel, providing easy access, but whether that's better will depend somewhat on personal opinion. Access is certainly easier, but it's also one more cranny where dust can build up, and if you have children in the house, it's sometimes nice to hide access to things like reset buttons. As far as dust is concerned, Silverstone angles the ports so that they are almost horizontal, so at least dust buildup inside of the ports will be kept to a minimum. However, during our tests we already noticed dust building up in front of the ports.
The back of the top panel has another large opening with a black grille. Behind that grille is the second 180mm fan, which will blow air into the case. You will want to make sure that you don't block this area, since that would obviously affect cooling performance.
The back of the case gives us some hints at the internal structure. The power supply sits on the bottom in this case. At the top are two openings covered by rubber, through which you can insert your external water cooling tubes into the system. We also find the lone 120mm exhaust fan on the rear panel, which of course will be supplemented by any power supply fans.
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Zepper - Monday, November 24, 2008 - link
I notice that the author didn't bother to convert the measurements into English units - isn't this a mainly American site where only a minority is really fluent in Metric? It is basically a maxi-mid tower of about 19x8x20 (HWD) inches (assuming the values in the Specs. table are accurate) - SST has been known to be inaccurate in their specs tables and this one looks like it was "borrowed" directly from their Web site, so I do my own measurements and weighing.Otherwise and interesting, but not knockout case. Looks too much like Lian Li at first glance, but L-L would seldom round the edges like that.
.bh.
anartik - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
Even the best of cases have some design issues and tradeoffs depending on its intended use. I think if you are looking for an air cooling only case or plan to use external WC the Fortress rocks in its simple high tech aesthetics. People whine about $200 for a case but in the scheme of premium, all aluminum cases it’s a pretty good deal. If you want fuzzy dice, uh bling, you can still do it tastefully with a window and some internal lighting. I hope SS offers a windowed version, as they usually do, and it’s not that crappy looking window they put on the TJ07 and others. If not… buy a nice window kit and install it yourself.The one thing I would really question is putting that 180mm top intake right on top the single 120mm exhaust and the overall air flow. I would have to suspect it is going to interfere with the airflow of some vertical CPU coolers. The one thing I would add to that case is a 3 bay intake (i.e. Kama Bay) w/ a 120 or 140mm fan. That might be the solution for the Fortress to provide better air flow to one or more video cards while increasing positive air pressure. IMO positive is the way to go for dust control where the dust is limited to your filtered intakes. Every week or two I wipe off my front panel and maybe every few months the two 140mm intake filters get cleaned. Overall the inside of the case stays clean. Nice case but for a little more money I think Lian Li still has a leg up on Silverstone.
Van Squished - Saturday, November 15, 2008 - link
Well I have just finished building an FT01 installation with 850W PSU, Rampage Extreme M/b Q9550 CPU, two ATI cards in Crossfire mode and two hard disks.The case is brilliant to work with, extremely good finish, and in operation the system is almost silent and I struggle to get any part of it above 42 degrees C even with CounterStrike 2 or Photoshop.
So I would recommend it big time.
NicePants42 - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Anyone with even the most cursory interest in PC case modding could tell you that the The Silverstone FT01 is a basically a revised version of the Silverstone TJ09 internals with a TJ07-styled exterior.Implying that Silverstone's case designs are/were influenced by Apple implies that you are completely unaware of at least two products that have been highly praised (to put it mildly) by PC enthusiasts everywhere. The TJ07 has been on the market since the spring of 2005, and the TJ09 since the end of 2006.
Making demeaning comments based solely on your own ignorance makes you look...ignorant.
Griswold - Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - link
It has an ashtray! Good for smokers.strikeback03 - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
Would go well with this:http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SIL-CIGCUP...">http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SIL-CIGCUP...
JonnyDough - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
It's pretty simple. Look at how a wood stove or car works. Air intake, air exhaust. The idea is to get a DRAFT going, using the rising warm air. Cool air should ALWAYS be sucked in through the bottom of the case, where the air is COOLEST. It should be expelled via the TOP of the case, where the warm air is naturally rising. An ideal case would "funnel" the air upward and have a chute blowing out the top like a chimney. As the warm air is condensed, it speeds up - sucking more air in through the bottom. Ideally, the hotter a PC is the LESS fans it would need because the increased temps would create more draft. There's a balance here between manufacturing technologies, voltages, and passive cooling. I believe we're nearing it with better case designs and new manufacturing technologies.JonnyDough - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
If I do plop down my left arm for a new case, this one will be it. Good job Silverstone!CEO Ballmer - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
I like this!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
zShowtimez - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
Ive had a TJ case for 4 years now, the whole upside down motherboard/kinda BTX style... best case Ive ever owned. Kinda makes me want one of these new ones