SilverStone changed the case industry when they released their Raven series, where the motherboard is installed rotated 90º, making the rear panel from the computer to be on top of the case, improving thermal dissipation. Now they are bringing this concept to their Fortress series, with the release of FT02. Let’s take an in-depth look at this new case.
By the way, we’ve already reviewed Raven RV01, Raven RV02 and Fortress FT01, if you are interested in comparing these cases to Fortress FT02.
Fortress FT02 is available in four versions: FT02B (black, solid side panel), FT02S (silver, solid side panel), FT02B-W (black, transparent side window) and FT02S-W (silver, transparent side window). We reviewed the FT02B-W version.
FT02 is a hybrid case: its internal body is manufactured in steel, while its external panels are constructed in aluminum (4.5-mm thick). It is worth mentioning that the front, bottom and rear panels from FT02 are built using a single bent aluminum sheet, a technique called Unibody by SilverStone, also used on Fortress FT01. In fact this is the only thing where FT02 shares something with FT01, because the two cases are completely different.
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Figure 1: SilverStone Fortress FT02B-W case.
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Figure 2: SilverStone Fortress FT02B-W case.
Pay attention on Figures 1 and 2 and you will notice that on FT02 the motherboard goes on the “wrong” side, i.e., it is attached to the left side of the case instead of being on its right side. The only other case we’ve seen using a similar design was Raven RV02 (on RV01 the motherboard goes on the right side).
Also notice the space between the motherboard compartment and the bottom panel, which is used as an air intake. This is a terrific design.
The front panel doesn’t have a door and it has a very conservative looks, with its five 5 ¼” bays. The covers from these bays are built in aluminum, matching the material used on the front panel.
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Figure 3: Front panel.
The rear panel is pretty simple, with a huge air intake featuring an air filter and a hole for you to pass the cables coming from the top panel to the rear of the computer (power cord, keyboard, video monitor, etc). This panel is clearly inspired on RV02’s.
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Figure 4: Rear panel.
