SilverStone FT03: Nothing Else Like It
by Dustin Sklavos on April 28, 2011 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
In and Around the SilverStone FT03
For scale, the FT03 is about the size of a small dustbin or a couple of shoeboxes stacked up. The Corsair Graphite 600T that now houses my personal machine honestly looks kind of silly and needlessly large compared to the FT03 at nearly twice the depth.
SilverStone offers the FT03 in both silver and black finishes; our review unit has the silver and white finish while the black unit will be seen in our upcoming system review. Externally there isn't a whole lot going on; SilverStone keeps the finish attractive, simple, and resilient. The front of the tower has a tasteful embedded SilverStone logo and a slot for the internal slot-loading optical drive, while the left side has a removable vent for one of the bottom-mounted intake fans. The bottom has a removable fan filter that attaches magnetically; the power cable for the FT03 also routes under here. Finally, the top of the case has a removable white plastic grate that fits well with the overall styling, and this covers the I/O shield, four expansion bays, hot-swap bay, and exhaust fan. There are indentations on the side panels to allow for cabling to route between the grate and the case itself, and there's a small panel at the tippy-top that has the power and reset buttons along with the bridged USB 3.0 ports (sorry, no motherboard header support yet) and headphone and microphone jacks. Overall it's a very clean and slick looking design, at least externally.
There are admittedly a couple of hitches, though. If you have to use any kind of video port adapter, like DVI-to-VGA or Mini-HDMI-to-HDMI, you'll want to use a flexible dongle or an adapter cable; the hard physical adapters wind up rising above where the grate would be and thus prevent you from using it. I also found myself frequently accidentally hitting the power and reset buttons when moving the case, which isn't a huge problem but isn't ideal either. Plugging in the system can also be a little difficult because the plug on the bottom is recessed, and the magnetically attached filter feels pretty loose. To wit: the review unit from the boutique builder I have doesn't even include that filter. I'll also go ahead and spare you the wait: I would've liked to have seen a fan controller included in the top panel. If wishes were fishes, etc. etc., but it would be a welcome addition.
When you get to the internals is when things start getting really interesting. The two side panels slide up and off easily (maybe a little too easily), while the face snaps on and off easily and securely. SilverStone engineered the guts of the FT03 in a very slick way that actually winds up maximizing the space inside. While we use a Mini-ITX board for testing, there's space in here for a Micro-ATX board and two large video cards. The power supply cubby also works remarkably well, and cable routing is smart.
If there's one area of concern, it's the side of the case designed to house storage. There's space here for two 3.5" (or 2.5" with adapters) drives and a 2.5" drive, as well as an additional 3.5" hot-swap bay complete with connecting cables. The essential problem is that there's virtually no airflow here. That's mitigated somewhat by the aluminum side panels which are good at radiating the heat off of the drives and allowing them to be passively-cooled, and the hot-swap bay in particular is cooled by a large chunk of aluminum affixed to the side panel itself. The design here is as smart as it could conceivably be, as the drive mounts are designed specifically to put the drives themselves in contact with the side panel. Later on you'll see drive temperatures measured were more or less in line with what hard drives in notebooks hit, and are well within drive tolerances, but if the FT03 has an Achilles' Heel it's here. To be fair, though, I don't think I could armchair engineer a better solution than what SilverStone has done.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
81 Comments
View All Comments
geniekid - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I disagree with the people who said it looks hideous. Surely their comments are hyperbole? I'm not saying it's beautiful, but with such a simple, unadorned, rectangular enclosure, the worst thing I could say about it is that it's boring. Not a deal breaker for me, ESPECIALLY for a well cooled, microATX case where the options are severely limited to begin with.It's clear they're aiming for quiet by keeping temperatures low rather than any acoustic dampening. In that respect, I wouldn't use this case for my primary gaming desktop, because the graphics card will always be loud. However, this would make a great HTPC case, where the slot-in aesthetic works well and you're likely to use passively cooled components that don't generate noise to begin with.
Also, good job on the review and I'm glad to see the revamped testing methodology. Good case reviews are hard to find, but they're so vital for system builders, professional and amateur.
etamin - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I agree, it is definitely not hideous. However, I honestly would not want my pc looking like that. As much as I admire the internal engineering, the design is more suited for a refrigerator (it even has the snowflake...)InvertMe - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I put this case in my cart on Amazon last night and was debating pulling the trigger. I really like the looks of the silver model. I think I am going to buy it right now.InvertMe - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I already see my first mod. I will replace the plastic vent at the bottom with an acrylic window with a few holes for ventilation. Mmmmm case moding gets me excited.poeticjustic - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
At first i thought this would be like an upgrade of the already awesome FT02 case, but this (FT03) is a totally new category (mini,micro), completely different than FT02.Pretty weird changing the fortress line to another category.
By the way does that mean there won't be any upgrade to the good old FT02?
The idea of having the whole backpanel as a top panel is just awesome, it really helps a lot, and also moving cool-hot air from bottom to top is pretty good following the natural flow of cool-hot air.
I have the FT02 and i believe it's the best case of all i've tried so far (even better than my beloved p182),
i hope the FT03 is as good, though too limited/restricted for my needs.
All in all, good review for what seems to be a nice case for its class.
dcianf - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I would love to see what it looks like with a slew of cabling coming out of the top. I feel like it would be pretty congested up there with USB, DVI, networking etc.Aengex - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Great review, i was really curious for an in-depth one, when i saw the video at CES2011.Can't really be sure about the materials used though, as other users mentioned, plastic parts don't justify the price.
I got a minor complaint and not just from this review, but from all the media that are reviewing hardware.
This is a piece of hardware with half (at most) the aluminum of a normal ATX case. Yet, it's priced @170$ and in Europe will be @170€. And it's editor's choice, meaning that you are "promoting" it indirectly. So 170$ is ok? Do you also encourage, that a normal aluminum case should cost, what, 300$? I think not, but, being a media you can direct the prices for manufacturers, yet you don't do anything about it.
All you are saying to the public is ok, it's a great one. But i doubt if anyone has e-mailed to a manufacturer about it's pricing politics.
400$ Graphics card, 170$ a case, 300$ Cpu, 300$ MoBo, do the maths. 4 years ago the same (proportionally) PC would cost about half as much, wonder why?
You are a part of it, you should.
MilwaukeeMike - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Why does a large fries cost more than a medium?Why does a large t-shirt cost the same as a small?
Why does a pack of 25 blank DvDs less than a single movie?
You're paying $170 for a case, if you want to buy raw aluminium and make your own to save some $$$, go right ahead. If you think it should cost less because it's smaller, then please direct your anger toward those price-gouging tablet PCs.
Aengex - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
Great arguments there, but they do not apply to what i'm saying.In short, i would like to see consumers and media ( who play a major role) boycotting products that do not worth the money.
Hopefully, many companies will then change pricing policies (not politics as i wrongly mentioned above).
Sure i do like i.e. Apple, but as a consumer, don't agree with their prices. And i don't want other companies to follow that path.
JarredWalton - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
"Worth" is all relative. Saying we should "boycott products that aren't worth the money" is the same as saying, "only buy products that you feel are worthwhile." Everyone already does (or at least should do) exactly that, but where you're going astray is in thinking that what you like or dislike is the only metric. I think MacBook Pros are well-built laptops, but I would never buy one. Millions of people disagree with me. Dustin feels this is a well-built micro-ATX case that has some interesting features and that certain people will like it a lot; others disagree.A thin aluminum case is cheaper to manufacture than a thick aluminum case. R&D also costs a lot of money, so doing testing to make sure your mATX case is capable of supporting up to two GTX 580 cards in SLI isn't "free", and that carries over to the price. Making an ATX case that can accommodate two high-end GPUs is practically a no-brainer by comparison. I haven't handled this case in person, but in the past SilverStone has typically used much thicker aluminum panels than the competition, and the reason you're paying $170 for this case is for the R&D, the four 120mm fans, and the overall build quality and aesthetic.
For the record, a Bronze means a product is "very good". Silver would be "great", and Gold would be "exceptional". Giving this product a Bronze is our way of saying, "this is a very good micro-ATX case that will appeal to many users in the targeted market; however, it has flaws and will not please everyone."