Silverstone Cases Promise Improved Air-flow with Fewer Fans

By Jane McEntegart, Andrea Ferrario
published

We saw a lot of weird cases at Computex, but there was also a ton of more conventional looking cases that focused more on function than form. Silverstone had two such cases at its booth, the Raven 4 and the FT04.

The Raven 4 is a plastic case fitted with a "Hi-Flow air filter" that Silverstone maximizes airflow, offering improvements of up to 30 compared to previous solutions, and improved dust buster capabilities. Silverstone has removed the rear grill to improve air flow and these two differences help Silverstone reach the same cooling performance of the previous model with one fewer fan. The FT04 is the same case but it's fashioned out of aluminum as opposed to plastic. 

Silverstone also had on hand a new mini-PC called the SG-09 with a 23 liter capacity as well as a micro-ATX motherboard, a standard PSU, space for two HDDs and four SSDs, two fans, standard length VGA cards, and two USB 3.0 ports on the front.

The Raven 4 will be available in Q4 priced at €130, while the aluminum FT04 will cost €180/€200 (also available in Q4).

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18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • erunion
    "Silverstone also had on hand a new mini-PC called the SG-09 with a 23 liter capacity'

    That must be a typo. Anyone think they can fit 23 1 liter bottles in their case?
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    "Silverstone has removed the rear grill to improve air flow"

    About time one of the case manufacturers did that. I've been removing fan guards, perforated mesh, and grills from the rear panel for years. Improves hot air exhaust, especially if an exhaust fan on the rear panel is aligned with cpu heatsink fans.

    Might not be such a good idea if you have curious cats and little children.
    Reply
  • nikorr
    9373678 said:
    "Silverstone has removed the rear grill to improve air flow"

    About time one of the case manufacturers did that. I've been removing fan guards, perforated mesh, and grills from the rear panel for years. Improves hot air exhaust, especially if an exhaust fan on the rear panel is aligned with cpu heatsink fans.

    Might not be such a good idea if you have curious cats and little children.
    Thank god for the Dremel :D

    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    JohnnyLucky"Silverstone has removed the rear grill to improve air flow"About time one of the case manufacturers did that. I've been removing fan guards, perforated mesh, and grills from the rear panel for years. Improves hot air exhaust, especially if an exhaust fan on the rear panel is aligned with cpu heatsink fans.Might not be such a good idea if you have curious cats and little children.
    Well, you could put the case in a large chicken-wire box. Very minimal airflow disruption while keeping paws and hands away from the fans.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    JohnnyLucky"Silverstone has removed the rear grill to improve air flow"About time one of the case manufacturers did that. I've been removing fan guards, perforated mesh, and grills from the rear panel for years. Improves hot air exhaust, especially if an exhaust fan on the rear panel is aligned with cpu heatsink fans.Might not be such a good idea if you have curious cats and little children.
    You could encase the tower with a large chicken wire box. Does a handy job of keeping out paws and hands with little airflow disruption.
    Reply
  • luke738
    "improvements of up to 30"

    May want to add a unit there...
    Reply
  • skaz
    more pictures please =).
    Reply
  • SpicPeso
    Am I the only one that is disappointed to see Silverstone straying away from what made the Raven cases so special and well performing in the first place, their vertical orientation? The new Raven looks nothing more than any other run-of-mill enthusiast case now. And as luke738 stated before, "improvements of up to 30" what I can only assume %, they are going to have to show me hard numbers before I believe that case is better than any other case, but more importantly, that it is a worthy successor to the Raven 3. Now that was a badass tower.
    Reply
  • pocketdrummer
    Why bother marketing the FT04 as an "aluminum" case when there's more plastic there than aluminum? Silverstone started off as a decent alternative to Lian li if you wanted an Aluminum case, now they're just expensive cases that offer nothing more than any other case manufacturer out there. They're butt ugly and the design is uninspired and overcomplicated.

    Just make the FT03 ENTIRELY aluminum and call it a day. Until then, I'm keeping my Lian Li.
    Reply
  • Travis Beane
    I have an old Silverstone KL01, and I absolutely love it. I would love it even more if it was larger (wasn't big enough for my needs). It's solid vd extremely heavy.

    I require a heavy steel case, and I require that there be absolutely no fragile plastic components. It must be stiff, indestructible, well ventilated and preferably easy access with hot swap bays.
    Reply