SilverStone Raven RV02 is a full-tower case targeted to the enthusiast that wants a high-quality high-end full-tower case and liked the concept of the motherboard being 90º rotated but doesn’t want to pay more than USD 200 on a high-end case. Here is a summary of what we found about this product.

Strong Points

• Innovative design where the motherboard is rotated 90º so the rear part of the motherboard is available on the top of the case, improving thermal management and also making it easier to install and remove cables from the PC.
• Top-notch quality.
• Individual speed controllers for the three internal fans accessible from the top panel.
• Dust filters for the internal fans and for the power supply fan.
• Anti-vibration mechanisms for the hard disk drives.
• Support for one 2.5” disk drive.
• Far better priced that Raven RV01, providing a good cost/benefit ratio for the enthusiast user.

Weak Points

• With only three hard disk drive bays this case may not please the high-end enthusiast with lots of hard disk drives.
• Top 5 ¼” bay doesn’t come with a screwless retention mechanism.
• Could have four USB ports.
• Could have one eSATA port.
• Could have come with black thumbscrews for fastening daughter boards.
• Could have come with black slot covers for a better aesthetics.

In summary, we think SilverStone hit bull’s eye with Raven RV02. It brings the innovative design introduced with Raven RV01 but at a more affordable price. At USD 180 it is still an expensive case, but in our opinion it is worth every penny of it (compare to the outrageous USD 250 price tag RV01 had when it was first introduced – being, by the way, the reason we didn’t recommend RV01 at the time). The only real problem with this case is its reduced number of hard disk drive bays (three or four, if you use the adapter that comes with it).