A Closer Look At Silverstone's Teeny Tiny Raven RVZ02, And Why We Like It
We got a closer look at Silverstone's Raven RVZ02, and here's why we like it.
Right before CES, we showed you the Raven RVZ02, but at that time Silverstone was unable to give us very many details because the design wasn't finalized yet. In fact, the only image that we had at our disposal was a render. At the show, we managed to get a closer look at the case, and we liked it so much that we even gave it a Top Pick award for the show.
The case itself measures 350 x 350 mm and is only 80 mm wide. Silverstone managed this by removing all the unnecessary bits on the inside, which apparently includes removing all case fans. Looking at its design, however, it doesn't seem like it will be much of a problem. Granted, you won't get thermals to write home about, but considering that the RVZ02 occupies less space than the renown NCase M1 (which many deem one of the few true-to-life compact performance-oriented Mini-ITX cases), we're actually quite impressed with the design. We'll have to see how the thermals pan out in practice, though, because removing all case fans is a gutsy move.
Inside the case you will be able to fit a Mini-ITX board, a full-size dual-slot graphics card (although we'd recommend a blower-style card), an SFX power supply, and two 2.5" drives. After the slim slot-loading optical drive is added, there is no more room, but that's okay.
For most folks this kind of space is plenty. Still, this chassis is very, very small. With a displacement of 9.8 liters, you will have to carefully pick your hardware – especially the cooling hardware. You won't be getting any form of liquid cooling into this baby.
The model that Silverstone had on display was still a prototype, which was only finished a couple days prior to the show. To us, though, it looked like it could well have been a market-ready product, as we didn't find any apparent kinks that still needed to be worked out. The coating of the case didn't seem entirely finished yet (or was heavily damaged), but the basic internal layout and basic aesthetic design did appear finished.
So, why did we give this case an award, if it's so limited? We like that it takes a step back and gives you only the basics. By doing so, it's able to squeeze hardware into a form factor in a way that's previously unseen, and with the way it's built, it's a right easy system to assemble, too. Silverstone set out to make assembly as straightforward as possible, which is something we can warmly welcome in the Mini-ITX space.
Silverstone didn't know exactly when the case would be available but expects it to launch around the time of Computex, in about six months. Pricing wasn't specified yet either, but we were told that it would cost about as much as the RVZ01 goes for, which is about $90, depending on where you get it.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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gggplaya Toms like to use adjectives like "teeny" and "tiny" very loosely, i would define this as neither. Though, small and slim tower might be appropriate.Reply -
David Dewis I would love to build in this case, if only Silverstone would release the 600w PSU in the UK for under £100+. I am concerned that in the horizontal position, which i would use under the TV, the GPU intake is very close to the surface. Hope it wont smother the GPU.Reply -
dovah-chan It's the size of a console almost. Go watch Linus' video to really get a scale of how small this tower really is. (and how he almost broke the only one in the world).Reply -
Vlad Rose Well, since this case uses less space than the current record holder, the NCase M1, for a case able to handle a full size video card, I'd say "teeny" and "tiny" is appropriate for this case. Anything smaller would force you to go with a slimline video card or an APU.Reply
I do agree though that they have a tendency to use the terms 'teeny' and 'tiny' loosly as the Bitfenix Prodigy and similar are not small and they've used similar words on those. -
balister I like the look of the RVZ-02, but to only have 2 2.5" drives is kind of a deal breaker. Both the RVZ-01 and the NCase M1, while larger, allow for a lot more hard drives (up to 3 3.5" and 2 2.5" or up to 6 2.5" using 3.5" to 2 2.5" adapters in the M1 and 1 3.5" and 3 2.5" or up to 5 2.5" drives using a 3.5" to 2 2.5" adapter while still allowing a slot load ODD in both). Likewise, the RVZ-01 still would look good next to a TV for use as an HTPC. They just cut the size of the RVZ-02 down too much (they need a couple more 2.5" HDs in it).Reply -
TechieNewbie Even though I like the case, what are companies aversions to using a PCI riser cable and simply folding the card over? I mean why not just add an extra inch or so to the width of the case as opposed to five inches to the height?Reply
That form factor would also allow you to line the bottom of the case with 2.5 drives, nix the slim optical, and have a 3.5 covering the PSU rat nest of cables. I guess, I don't know how to make a chassis, because using space in this way seems so obvious to me. -
WithoutWeakness ReplyI would love to build in this case, if only Silverstone would release the 600w PSU in the UK for under £100+. I am concerned that in the horizontal position, which i would use under the TV, the GPU intake is very close to the surface. Hope it wont smother the GPU.
I would hope Silverstone would include at least some self-adhesive rubber feet or something to lift the case ~1/4" to ~1/2" off of a surface when laying on its side. They're usually pretty good with including accessories with their cases. If they don't include some little rubber feet it should be only a few bucks to get some at a hardware store or online. -
jtd871 General comment: why even bother with an ODD?! The slim ones you would need are overpriced and underused. This is a console!Reply
@balister: Consider putting all your data (and HDDs) in a NAS device in your LAN closet and go with a single SSD or two. The spinners will only slow this console down. -
Vatharian At last! This is possibly the first case, that will enable to loosely replicate the Falcon Northwest Tiki, and in with style! I'd wish to have this beauty on my desk, or beside TV. Raven's style is maybe not something that everyone is cool with, but at this point it's irrelevant, as it's the only case in this format, beside the Tiki.Reply -
animeman59 "The coating of the case didn't seem entirely finished yet (or was heavily damaged)"Reply
Yeah. I think I know who did that. *cough* Linus *cough*