Both panels are fastened to the case using thumbscrews, which are available on the top panel. When the top panel is closed you can see these screws, improving the aesthetics of the case. Opening the case we could see that Fortress FT02 uses the same basic design as Raven RV02 – but improved. For example, SilverStone added gray foam everywhere they could (including the side panels), in order to reduce the noise level produced by the computer.

The interior from FT02 is completely painted black, as one would expect on a case from this class. It comes with a big hole on the motherboard tray for you to have access to the backplate from the CPU cooler, allowing you to replace it without having to remove the motherboard, and four big holes for routing cables behind the motherboard tray. The motherboard tray also features several clips for holding zip-lock ties.

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Figure 9: Overall look.

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Figure 10: A view from behind the motherboard tray.

Expansion cards are installed using regular silver screws. We think a case with this quality deserved black thumbscrews here.

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Figure 11: Overall look.

Like RV02, FT02 has three 180 mm fans on the bottom of the case. As shown in Figure 7, this case has individual high/low controllers for these fans, so you can select between 1,000 rpm/27 dBA and 700 rpm/18 dBA. All fans use small three-pin connectors, with the case coming with an adapter for you to connect these fans directly on the power supply in case your motherboard doesn’t have enough fan power connectors. Since this case has more fans pushing air inside the PC than fans pulling air out, it is said to have a positive pressure design. Each fan has an individual air filter that can be easily removed, as you can see in Figure 12.

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Figure 12: Bottom fans.

Here you can understand better the benefits of having the motherboard rotated. The bottom fans push air to the top of the case, cooling down all components and exiting the case through the top panel. This design helps particularly video cards that blow hot air outside the case, because in this case all the airflow will be flowing on the same direction (bottom to top, which is the natural direction hot air flows).

This case allows the installation of video cards up to 12” (30.5 cm) long. If you remove the grill from the middle fan then you can install video cards up to 12 ¼” (31 cm) long.

Fortress FT02 also supports the installation of radiators from certain liquid cooling solutions on this bottom part, and it comes with two brackets to allow you to install this radiator on top on the middle and rear fans.