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Raven RV05 Brings Back 90-Degree Offset Mobo

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Silverstone's new Raven RV05 can't fly, but it sure will cool your components.

Silverstone has announced a new enclosure that will be known as the Raven RV05, the new flagship case in the series.

The Raven RV05 takes some design cues from the original Raven RV01 in that the motherboard is rotated 90 degrees off from how we'd traditionally find it with the rear I/O of the motherboard facing upwards. Despite its more compact size, the case will still house ATX size motherboards. The more compact dimensions have been made possible through the removal of all of the 5.25-inch drives, which normally wouldn't get in the way all that much, but with a rotated motherboard design they certainly do. There is still a slim optical drive bay though, so unless you need the bays for water cooling gear, you won't be missing much. Graphics cards can be up to 12.3-inch long with CPU coolers up to 162 mm tall.

The case will also house two 3.5-inch drives along with another two 2.5-inch drives, which is enough for most people. Regarding cooling, the top of the case has room for a 120 mm fan. The bottom of the case can house either three 120 mm fans, two 130 mm fans, or you can simply keep the two pre-installed 180 mm air-penetrator fans. These fans are controllable, and can spin at speeds of 600, 900, or 1200 RPM, at which they'll make 17, 25, or 34 dBA of noise. Due to this fan's configuration, the case will have a positive pressure, which in combination with the fan filter below the pair of 180 mm fans, will dramatically reduce the dust intake.

Front I/O is handled by a pair of USB 3.0 ports along with the standard set of HD audio jacks.                                  

Availability is slated for July 3 around the globe, with pricing set at $118.23 for the US and €88.90 for Europe.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • RedJaron
    Very happy they're going back to the rotated mboard. And this is the way you should do cases with no external bays. Simply drop the space and make them smaller, lighter, without compromising airflow. I'm just wondering where the PSU gets mounted.
    Reply
  • vmem
    My only interest in this is that it's a preview to the all aluminum FT05 :D
    Reply
  • PennyLife
    They seem to keep making these cheaper and cheaper in build quality, aside from the excellent FT02 and FT03. I have an RV02, and on appearance alone I would not get this one.

    @RedJaron - The power supply gets mounted at the top-back of the case, mounted vertically. It pulls in air from the back (where you see the mesh in the back of the case), and exhausts it from the top.
    Reply
  • RedJaron
    13568347 said:
    @RedJaron - The power supply gets mounted at the top-back of the case, mounted vertically. It pulls in air from the back (where you see the mesh in the back of the case), and exhausts it from the top.
    Hmmm, at first I wasn't so sure. On older Ravens, that's just been a normal 120mm fan slot. But after browsing the extra pictures on Silverstone's site, that vent is labeled an independent PSU intake, so there you have it. So out of curiosity I took a picture from SS' site and my RV03 and worked a little mockup.
    After scaling the mboard and PSU appropriately ( using the AP-181 in each case as reference, ) and lining the mboard up with the standoff holes in the RV05, you'd get something like this ( I know the PSU would be rotated with the exhaust up, but it's the same thickness in the picture. )

    It's tight spacing between the mboard and PSU, but it works ( I think the PSU might even fit further back, making a more comfortable gap. )

    So basically, they took a RV03, dropped it from eight slots to seven, and chopped off the 5.25" stack on the right. The slim ODD slot is effectively behind the mboard tray, in the same spot I've got my extra PSU cables coiled ( can't see that in my shot. The result drops the case from 12.5 kg to 7.6 kg, or nearly in half. Not bad.
    Reply
  • ChromeTusk
    Love the rotated motherboard. I wonder how the reviews will be for this case.
    Reply
  • PennyLife
    13568347 said:
    Hmmm, at first I wasn't so sure. On older Ravens, that's just been a normal 120mm fan slot. But after browsing the extra pictures on Silverstone's site, that vent is labeled an independent PSU intake, so there you have it. So out of curiosity I took a picture from SS' site and my RV03 and worked a little mockup.
    After scaling the mboard and PSU appropriately ( using the AP-181 in each case as reference, ) and lining the mboard up with the standoff holes in the RV05, you'd get something like this ( I know the PSU would be rotated with the exhaust up, but it's the same thickness in the picture. )

    It's tight spacing between the mboard and PSU, but it works ( I think the PSU might even fit further back, making a more comfortable gap. )

    I have the RV02, and it the PSU is mounted in the back the exact same way. There is actually quite a bit of space for cable management with this design because while the PSU is hanging from the top of the case, there is all the room directly below the PSU to store extra cable. A regular ATX motherboard starts about 1/2 to 3/4" from the PSU, so not a big gap but enough to work with.

    That's all info from my RV02, so I don't know how different it will be for the RV05.
    Reply
  • PennyLife
    Lol sorry I messed with the formatting of that last comment and it did not come out the way I wanted. My response is the second Quote.
    Reply
  • squirrelboy
    "Graphics cards can be up to 12.3-inch long with CPU coolers up to 162 mm tall."
    ?_?
    Reply
  • laststop311
    Now if noctua would make some 180mm fans. These ones are quite loud. Moctua fans could move the same amount of air at half the volume.
    Reply
  • RedJaron
    They only get loud when you have them on high ( and even then they're no so bad as many other case fans. ) Keep them on low and you have just a low thrum. My internals never go above 60* in my Raven 3 with low fans so I have no reason to speed them up.
    Reply