SilverStone Raven RV04 Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on June 20, 2013 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- ATX
Conclusion: Wait for the Fortress FT04
The long awaited SilverStone Raven RV04 is a strange bird and a mixed bag. I liken it to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 480: for its purpose, it was the best, but you had to make some real compromises. The 480 had ugly power consumption and thermals and nasty noise compared to the Radeon HD 5870, even if it was measurably faster. By the same token, the Raven RV04 has a flimsy fascia and door and is needlessly complicated to build a system in, but offers probably the absolute best air cooling performance you can find.
I'm unhappy with the build quality of the RV04 and the internal design. The core concepts of the design and the thermal design itself are all top notch, but the Raven starts breaking down when looked from a practical perspective. If you're not the type to tinker with your desktop, the slightly goofy interior will probably be a one time hassle. Unfortunately, no matter what kind of user you are, you're going to have to deal with the abysmal door design. Is it worth putting up with?
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As it turns out, there are a couple of flies in the ointment. First, there's the fact that closed loop coolers are becoming increasingly popular, and the Raven RV04 is very obviously not designed for these. There's space to mount a 120mm closed loop in the rear of the case, but honestly if you do this, you're not using the RV04 properly. Anyone interested in doing any kind of liquid cooling really needs to just rule out the RV04 entirely; this isn't a jack of all trades like many traditional ATX cases are these days, this is an air cooling case through and through.
The other fly in the ointment is the impending Fortress FT04. The FT04 and RV04 use the same chassis, but the FT04 should have a higher quality shell and I suspect the problematic door design will be mitigated somewhat. You'll pay more for the FT04 when it arrives (I've heard around $199), but you can also expect it to be quieter and slightly easier to use. Odds are that's going to be the air cooling case to go for.
Ultimately, once you're in the price bracket the SilverStone Raven RV04 is in, you're probably going to be looking for something more specific than a straight up ATX enclosure. The RV04 is able to perform amazingly well with nothing but two 180mm intake fans and smartly designed airflow, which is something that many high end enclosures only wish they could claim. If you want to build a dual or multi-GPU rig, use cards that come with blower-style coolers, and then stick something like a Noctua NH-U12S or NH-U14S on the CPU. At that point I'd be hard-pressed to find a more efficient air-cooled design, and for those purposes I would recommend the RV04. However, given my intense misgivings about the door design, I'm inclined to play the waiting game and see how the Fortress FT04 turns out and I would advise you to do the same.
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Chaitanya - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
This case is a disappointment as water cooling support is missing from case of its price range.iceveiled - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
The case is designed solely for air cooling. As for my take on the case.the cooling is impressive for just having two fans, but man that front door....JDG1980 - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
It has just two fans, but remember, these are giant 180mm fans with high static pressure.cjs150 - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
ditch the hard drive cage and it looks as though it could accomodate a 2x180 radiator at the front (that is the equivalent of 4.5x120 radiator so enough for most rigs!!) although you might lose a 5.25 bay as well.But with that front, why bother, the thing will break quickly
JDG1980 - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
The FT04 doesn't look quite as nice in photos as the FT02, but that's forgivable if it has good fit and finish and performs well. It looks like the performance is definitely there (the RV04 has basically the same case body and same ventilation), but I hope that SilverStone hasn't let their fit and finish slip too much on the premium Fortress line.I'm not sure I would put as much emphasis on ease of assembly as you generally do in your reviews. Remember that even though you as a reviewer have to assemble these things every week, most users (even enthusiasts) will often be leaving the case closed for months on end. You probably won't spend even 1 hour of assembly time for every 100 hours of actual use. I'd prefer a case with excellent thermals, acoustics, and fit+finish, even if it was a nightmare to put together. Of course, all else being equal, easier assembly is preferable. I just wouldn't sacrifice too much to get it.
SilverStone's literature mentions support brackets for the CPU and video card on the RV04. Did you get a chance to test these? I know I often feel nervous about giant-size CPU heatsinks, so some mechanical support would be much appreciated. Same for the extra-long video cards which tend to sag in their normal tower orientation.
I think the reason you saw less-than-optimal temperatures with your ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP video card wasn't because it is an open-air design, but because of the heatsink's fin orientation. The fins closest to the front on that card are perpendicular to the slot, so they block the path of the airflow. Many newer DirectCU cards and most MSI Twin Frozr cards have fins parallel to the slot. I suspect these would work far better since the air from the front fans could flow through. This would probably also be a great case for using the Powercolor HD7850 SCS3 with the fanless heatsink, since the fins are in the right orientation on that as well.
zaccun - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
I think the FT02 is going to remain a staple for a long while for me. It's got superlative looks, and still performs like a champ.Subyman - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
I really liked the previous Raven cases, but this one a disappointment for me. The front door is enough to entirely kill it for me. I steer clear of flimsy front doors. I find it hard to spend $150+ for something that has that poor of build quality, even if the design is great.maximumGPU - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
interesting results, but as pointed out in the article this looks like the appetizer before the real dish.looking forward to a review of the FT04, but also a comparison to the recently released Corsair Air.
The Air employs a similar philosophy of unobstructed airflow, and corsair are even claiming it to be the best air cooled case you can buy. So don't make us wait too long:)
Bojamijams - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
I don't see why this is praised as the best air cooling. The RV03 had the same two 180mm, but at the bottom and a 120mm at the top. And the orientation was such that the 180 was below the CPU cooler and the 120mm was above it. Perfect thermodynamic flow. Math wise, that is a much better setup then a 180mm a long way away, possible going through a HDDs shooting towards a CPU without anything on the other end.RV03 >>>>>> RV04
lever_age - Thursday, June 20, 2013 - link
Well, I'd rather have specialization than every single case out there trying to hit every bullet point possible and cover all the bases, if it means better performance or lower price. Nothing wrong with a good air cooling case without water cooling aspirations and vice versa.Though, I'm kind of wondering if Corsair's approach with the upcoming Carbide Air 540 (which was done in the past with boutiques, smaller vendors, arguably in some rotated sense with say BitFenix Prodigy and Cooler Master HAF XB and so on) will become more popular. Do people really like having that drive cage like that and also on the TJ08-E / PS07? Direct airflow to components is great, and with the move to solid-state primary storage (so less heavy access on mechanical disks) and cooler mechanical drives, it makes sense to chuck drives and other secondary components in a different section where they're not blocking airflow.