Silverstone Fortress FT01
by Christoph Katzer on November 10, 2008 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Installation
The hard drives fit nicely into the small plastic frames. There are small rubber grommets that work with the special screws that come with the case. The drives will be isolated from the chassis since they don't touch the frame directly, which should reduce vibrations and noise. After installing the hard drive(s) into the frame, you can easily slide it back into its final position inside of the case.
While the case looks very large from the outside, it's surprising how little extra space there is around the motherboard area. You will definitely want to pay attention to what you're doing during system installation. Everything fits okay, but depending on your choice of motherboard you may have a few areas that cause difficulty. Other areas present far fewer problems; optical drives are easy to install: slide them in and push down on the button. That will extend two little pins into the holes where screws normally go. However, you will need to be careful when you connect the IDE and/or Molex connector; if you press too hard the two pins will not hold and the optical drive will most likely fall out of the front.
The CPU cooler sits directly below the top 180mm fan, so it should have plenty of airflow and good temperature results. The rear 120mm exhaust fan supplements airflow for this area, so it's entirely possible to go "fan-less" on the CPU. Our three GeForce 8800 Ultras fit nicely inside the case even though there isn't much space to the right. All of the cables from the power supply also need to pass here, which will make this area rather crowded and airflow will definitely be better if fewer cables are at this position. Power supply length will not be an issue in this case, as there is enough space for even the longest units with a little more than 20cm clearance.
The only problem we had was with the SATA connectors on our motherboard. Since the motherboard we use has angled connectors, there is very little space between them and the chassis. If you intend to use all of your SATA ports on such motherboards, it will be difficult but not impossible to install the cables properly. On some motherboards, you might get lucky and the three long openings to the right will line up with the SATA jacks, allowing you to pass cables directly to the hard drive area. However, our motherboard had part of the frame in front of the jacks, which made this impossible. (The use of SATA cables with angled connectors is another option.)
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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