New Silverstone FT02

GMaxx said:
Hi guys, it's been a while since I've dedicated some time to my rig.

I got bitten by the RC bug again and had taken up photography so i could take pics of the lil guy.

However, I'm back to my favorite past time now again.

I've got this case sitting in front of me to replace my Cosmos 1000 case but I wanted to get a few thoughts/comments from people.

Originally, I wanted to go with the Corsair Obsidian 800d case. I just loved the way it looked and the cable management was what snared me. I hate spending lots of time rewiring things esp. since I really don't have any spare time now.

However, the more I researched the more I found that its air cooling was lacking even if you changed the fans because of the placement of the intakes. I just don't have the time anymore to deal with H2O setups.

Thus, I stumbled upon the FT02. It seems well suited for what I want.

I want a good air cooled case with good cable management that will last me for a while.

Unfortunately, the Obsidian case still nags at me esp. now since Microcenter now has a rebate for this guy. Something about that case.

My nagging thoughts are if the Obisidian will ever air cool as good as the FT02 with proper fans. I'm thinking not, but just wanted to see what you guys thought.

If you had a choice bet. the Obsidian 800d or the Silverstone FT02 for air cooling. Which one would you get?

I'm kind of conflicted.

Thanks! :p
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I've looked at the 800D as well, but its just too large for my needs. If Corsair were to release a mid-tower version I'd probably be over it.

In early reviews the FT02 appears to be a fantastic air cooled enclosure with the positive air pressure system. You may also want to look at the RV02, which is essentially the same thing as the FT02. The styling is a little bit more "aggressive", it's listed as a full-tower and a couple of inches deeper than the FT02. But it uses the same positive air layout, only downside is the HDD storage/access.

Good luck in your search.
 
GMaxx- Another vote from me for the ft02 if you're gonna air cool. However, that also assumes its other limitations/requirements fit your needs, like the fact you can't fit in E-ATX mobos (prolly not a concern).

Remember that its possible we'll see upper-crust vid cards released in the coming months/years not fit in the ft02 and here we are on the cusp of a new Nvidia refresh to their vid card lineup. You'll almost assuredly be able to fit in more midrange offerings comparable to stuff like a Radeon 5850 or GTX 260, but if you're that guy who would buy stuff like a GTX 295, Radeon 5970 or even the 5870, don't be surprised if Nvidia's next GPU or future ATI cards won't fit.

Outside of that unknown (which is just a guess by me obviously, nobody really knows), the ft02 is an outstanding case if you don't mind it's price.
 
I thought the report was that the Fermi PCB's would be no larger than 11"?
(Coulda swore I read that [H]ere somewhere)

I don't see cards getting bigger. I think the 5970 was a lazy exception to the rule.
Card companies aren't going to start designing cards that don't fit into the majority of cases. A lot of the Antec cases barely fit larger cards now; 5970 or larger and that alienates anyone who owns an Antec case (and that's a lot of people).
 
zero2dash said:
I don't see cards getting bigger. I think the 5970 was a lazy exception to the rule.
Card companies aren't going to start designing cards that don't fit into the majority of cases. A lot of the Antec cases barely fit larger cards now; 5970 or larger and that alienates anyone who owns an Antec case (and that's a lot of people).
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Of course they won't design cards that won't fit in people's computers, but you underestimate how a company looks at market segmentation. You think ATI made the 5970 w/ the intent that people use it in SFF cases? The midrange cards (think Radeon 5770-5850) will be fine for sure in most mid-towers, including the ft02, but you can't say that with certainty about the high end (think GTX 285 and multi-gpu cards) because already in the past we've seen Nvidia release a completely new GPU that wouldn't fit in (some) mid-tower sized cases w/o issues. ATI on the other hand, had never done this till the 4870x2. And what size of case is the ft02? Well it's an odd size really, because in some ways it's got full-tower size (stuff like case depth) but in other ways it is clearly a mid-tower (lack of E-ATX support). Silverstone themselves classify it as a mid-tower, but while the ft02 does have a pretty generous PCI slot length, that is not true compared to a full-tower.

The reasoning from Nvidia when they drop these huge-ass new GPU designs is obvious; high-end $300+ vid cards are a luxury item, period. Nvidia's track record shows that they believe people willing to spend $$$ on a their latest beast of a new vid card are more likely to either have full-tower designs, or be willing to spend as needed to get what they want.

Once we have confirmation of the actual size of Nvidia's reference designs for the upcoming lineup, we should be set for a couple years (at least) because they won't be making drastic changes outside of this next architecture. Also, I gotta stress that my personal guess is that the single gpu Fermi parts will be fine in the FT02, but I'm not so sure about the whatever dual-gpu part they release. Both chips are from the same fab, but the ATI's gpu is 2.1billion transistors. Nvidia's is 3 billion. And as is, based off those designs, ATI's multi-gpu part barely fits in the ft02. But how do we know Fermi won't be clocked higher or run hotter etc? It's not a given that Nvidia's next multi-gpu won't fit in the ft02, but it'd be foolish to count on it when we're not even sure about the single gpu part.

I thought the report was that the Fermi PCB's would be no larger than 11"?
(Coulda swore I read that [H]ere somewhere)
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If that's true, I missed it, but I really hope you're right as it'd open up the possibility of going right for that sweet looking red Lian Li, price be damned. I don't care much about the top-end gpu parts, I almost always buy in the $200-300 segment.
 
zero2dash said:
FT02 for air cooling
800D for water

Each is built for their specific purpose (ie FT02 for air cooling, 800D for water). Granted you can do water in the FT02 and air in the 800D, but it don't work as well.
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This was my feeling too, but I have to say that I seem to like the design of the Obsidian 800d just a little bit more than the FT02.

As mentioned by a fellow user it would take another $40 or so in good fans to come close to what the FT02 already has.

I do have a lot of Antec 120mm Tri-Cool Fans lying around from a svc sale but still don't think with those fans that it would match the FT02 in terms of air cooling.

I think I'll just stick with the FT02. BTW, a 5870 card is going in there and I usually upgrade pretty frequently but never with the best at the moment card, usually with the second best card so hopefully the card size issue won't come back to haunt me.

Thanks to everybody for their comments.
 
coconutboy said:
GMaxx- Another vote from me for the ft02 if you're gonna air cool. However, that also assumes its other limitations/requirements fit your needs, like the fact you can't fit in E-ATX mobos (prolly not a concern).

Remember that its possible we'll see upper-crust vid cards released in the coming months/years not fit in the ft02 and here we are on the cusp of a new Nvidia refresh to their vid card lineup. You'll almost assuredly be able to fit in more midrange offerings comparable to stuff like a Radeon 5850 or GTX 260, but if you're that guy who would buy stuff like a GTX 295, Radeon 5970 or even the 5870, don't be surprised if Nvidia's next GPU or future ATI cards won't fit.

Outside of that unknown (which is just a guess by me obviously, nobody really knows), the ft02 is an outstanding case if you don't mind it's price.
Click to expand...

Yeah, don't see myself ever going for E-ATX mobo. Silverstone should think about lowering the FT02 price. THey would sell a ton more of these guys if they did.

Thanks!
 
GMaxx said:
I think I'll just stick with the FT02. BTW, a 5870 card is going in there and I usually upgrade pretty frequently but never with the best at the moment card, usually with the second best card so hopefully the card size issue won't come back to haunt me.
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You'll be fine man, the ft02 really does have nice pci slot length for a mid tower. zero2dash is definitely right that Nv/ATI aren't gonna sell stuff people can't slap in their cases, The only real concern should be some of the future multi-gpu behemoths. If you're not into spending $400+ on a single vid card, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
...at least I can say I sure the hell hope Fermi cards aren't longer than what will fit in this case because depending on how well they Fold, I may end up replacing both of my 260's with Fermi cards. (assuming my wife doesn't kill me first) :D

I tried to dig up that info on the size of the PCB's; I couldn't find it. I guess since nothing's been officially announced AFAIK on dimensions, it's still up in the air. Although I'm a firm believer in common sense, and since the longest nV cards are 10.5" and die shrinks are a part of the new cards, I don't see why larger than 10.5" PCB's would be necessary but who knows. I think if anything nV probably learned from ATi's little screwup of releasing long cards (since ATi was first out of the gate this generation), and the outcry of people who can't get those cards to fit (or don't like the tight fit)...hopefully nV realizes not to make the same mistake.
 
zero2dash said:
...at least I can say I sure the hell hope Fermi cards aren't longer than what will fit in this case because depending on how well they Fold, I may end up replacing both of my 260's with Fermi cards. (assuming my wife doesn't kill me first) :D

I tried to dig up that info on the size of the PCB's; I couldn't find it. I guess since nothing's been officially announced AFAIK on dimensions, it's still up in the air. Although I'm a firm believer in common sense, and since the longest nV cards are 10.5" and die shrinks are a part of the new cards, I don't see why larger than 10.5" PCB's would be necessary but who knows. I think if anything nV probably learned from ATi's little screwup of releasing long cards (since ATi was first out of the gate this generation), and the outcry of people who can't get those cards to fit (or don't like the tight fit)...hopefully nV realizes not to make the same mistake.
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I had mentioned this in another thread, based on this:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1193/1/
3rd bullet in the list a bit down the page.
I hope it's true, but now that I've looked around (this came up in a search for 'GF100 length'), I don't see it mentioned much, so... We'll see :-X. I can't see them being 5970-size for a single GPU, though.
 
Aww, come on guys . . . what's the big deal? Just switch cases every 3 to 6 months like I do and you'll all be fine regardless of how big the new GPU's get. Just get a new case (again) :)


P.S. I love my RV02 now but anyone who thinks its tenure is going to last through all of 2010 is delusional . . . including myself.
 
zero2dash said:
...at least I can say I sure the hell hope Fermi cards aren't longer than what will fit in this case because depending on how well they Fold, I may end up replacing both of my 260's with Fermi cards. (assuming my wife doesn't kill me first) :D

I tried to dig up that info on the size of the PCB's; I couldn't find it. I guess since nothing's been officially announced AFAIK on dimensions, it's still up in the air.
Click to expand...

NYHoustonman said:
I hope it's true, but now that I've looked around (this came up in a search for 'GF100 length'), I don't see it mentioned much, so... We'll see :-X. I can't see them being 5970-size for a single GPU, though.
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I've got a very good friend who works for TSMC (a couple, actually), and another who works for ATI. The TSMC guy honestly doesn't know how big the boards will be which is.... odd. Usually over the years he's given me rock solid info. The friend who works for ATI obviously doesn't like to talk about Nvidia much, but he did tell me that if he had to guess, Fermi will be only slightly bigger than what we saw from Nv w/ their last lineup.

It's pretty much impossible for anyone to know outside of Nv, because the size of the cards really depends on what frequencies the chip can hit, and thereby how much heat needs to be dissipated. It's actually possible that we'll see Nv's new boards be smaller than stuff like an 8800GT which would be pretty sweet, so long as the performance was still top-notch.


Edit- oh, something else, that Legitreview link is providing the same info all the other sites released, but the fact that they posted a specific size of the board means one of two things: either

a) Legitreviews is talking out their asses (because we've had every other site out there saying specifically that they don't know that information yet. Mind you, I respect Legitreviews as a decent hardware site

or

b) they broke NDA which means Legitreviews will be hearing from Nv legal.
 
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yenniedn said:
Aww, come on guys . . . what's the big deal? Just switch cases every 3 to 6 months like I do and you'll all be fine regardless of how big the new GPU's get. Just get a new case (again) :)

P.S. I love my RV02 now but anyone who thinks its tenure is going to last through all of 2010 is delusional . . . including myself.
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Some of you guys around here change cases more often than other people brush their teeth. Not sure which is crazier. :eek:
 
Here's my FT02 w lower perforated plate removed and blue LED lights.
4315045863
 
Great picture. I still can't convince myself to pay $240. I want to buy it now but not for that price. Silverstone is not known for dropping prices on their cases either.
 
Finally added in the F2 1tb and the extension cables from Frozencpu for the front panel stuff.

Final shots [crosses fingers for now] :D
IMG_0467.jpg

IMG_0464.jpg

IMG_0468.jpg
 
Nice build. I'm looking to see how you did your cables for my upcoming build. I've got a SSD, raptor and 3 drives for raid 5 to work through for this case.


zero2dash said:
Finally added in the F2 1tb and the extension cables from Frozencpu for the front panel stuff.

Final shots [crosses fingers for now] :D
IMG_0467.jpg

IMG_0464.jpg

IMG_0468.jpg
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Damned, zero, damned you. That just might make me go out and buy one of these!

Can you take/post a pic from the front with whatever drives you have installed? I just want to see one of these in actual use with opticals and what not instead of just the plain drive covers. Thanks in advance.
 
Sure thing :)

IMG_0469_1.jpg


I thought I'd be upset at not having stealth or fancy bezels (ala Lian Li) but it doesn't bother me. The drive fits pretty well flush with the front, and the difference in black color of the drive vs the rest of the front is not that much of a difference. It's kind of easier to tell on this photo versus others, but the outer aluminum of the case is sorta rough and textured but it's not cheap feeling or anything at all. I figured since LL is a smooth aluminum outside that this would be the same, but it's not. The 5.25 bezels are smooth aluminum like LL but the rest has the texture, and it's like "hey I'm a well built piece of equipment" feel to it. With the flash, you see a difference between the bezels and the front (texture vs not), but in normal light you can't really tell...the front is just 'black' in normal light and then you touch it and it's like 'ooh! aah!'. :D I would best describe the texture as similar to what you feel on an optical drive...like how optical drives have a little of a rough texture on the front of them. The case has a similar texture (but it's not cheap feeling).

I love this case, absolutely love it. I'm trying to ignore a few scuffs I noticed on the window (and trying to clean it/buff them out made it worse). I did contact SS support to see if I can get a replacement window piece (not the whole panel), I'm sure I'll hear back in a day or two (since tomorrow's Monday).

I really do like the RV01, I wish the outside of the RV02 was similar. I almost bought the RV02 right after the FT02 came out just because I wanted the internal cooling with the lesser cost of the Raven, but man I am glad I just said "the hell with it" and spent the extra on the FT. It just reeks of quality...coming from several LL cases, this being my first SS I'm thoroughly impressed. It's like the spiritual successor to the V1000 for me (long time my favorite case of all time). The cooling, the capabilities, expansion, airflow etc. it's all just Grade A. Oh and I can finally report after getting the front panel stuff hooked up that both the power and HDD LED's are blue. ;) I think the HDD one is slightly lighter blue in color (then again having an SSD as my Win7 drive, it doesn't flash much anyway). :)
 
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Good looking build, but it probably can't run crisis or windows for that matter. Where's the ram? ; )
 
Trigeminal said:
Where's the ram? ; )
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...in the ram slots. All 6 of em. :D
I have 12gb of Corsair DDR3. The heatspreaders are silver which makes them a little harder to see (when we're used to blue, red, or black heatspreaders). [thank God I didn't have to pay that much for mine...sheesh] Man, RAM has went up a lot in the last week or so. :eek:

And before anyone asks why I have 12, it's because I run F@h Linux VM -bigadv 24/7 on this machine, and the VM takes up 5gb of ram on it's own. ;)
 
The thing that baffles me is when manufacturers of cases can't even get CPU backplate holes in the right size or location, you end up with nothing more than a non functional hole in your case if you're not careful

ft02_inst8.jpg


This barely manages it in the photo above.

At least Corsair identified this problem with the 800D and rectified it by increasing the area it covers.
 
DarrenHonour said:
The thing that baffles me is when manufacturers of cases can't even get CPU backplate holes in the right size or location, you end up with nothing more than a non functional hole in your case if you're not careful

ft02_inst8.jpg


This barely manages it in the photo above.

At least Corsair identified this problem with the 800D and rectified it by increasing the area it covers.
Click to expand...

The 1156 is giving them problems, the socket is more in the center of the board so the backplate will not line up. Mainly the RV02/FT02 is made for the X48/X58 mobos. Corsair changed theirs because they took 1156 in consideration. Silverstone recycled the RV02 frame and made the FT02, to lazy to make the CPU hole larger and probably would have increased cost another $10 to do so.
 
worldexclusive said:
The 1156 is giving them problems, the socket is more in the center of the board so the backplate will not line up. Mainly the RV02/FT02 is made for the X48/X58 mobos. Corsair changed theirs because they took 1156 in consideration. Silverstone recycled the RV02 frame and made the FT02, to lazy to make the CPU hole larger and probably would have increased cost another $10 to do so.
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Is it only the 1156 socket giving issues then? I assume 1366 will be fine? Was planning on going with the latter for a new build.
 
DarrenHonour said:
Is it only the 1156 socket giving issues then? I assume 1366 will be fine? Was planning on going with the latter for a new build.
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The 1156 backplate is in the center of the board so it will be lower than the 1366 backplate on the FT02, so the 1156 socket could be blocked by the hole. If you notice, most of the CPU cut outs are to the right of the motherboard, not the center. Corsair extended the hole to the center to fit the 1156 backplate.
 
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I emailed Silverstone today about the availability of the silver windowed version and they said that they may not even bring that model to the US market. So my question was: "why the hell not?"

What would be the logic for such a decision?
 
Cooler Master does the same with their products too. They always keep the cool stuff in other countries then decide if they want to bring it to the US. I don't know why but it could be because of bigger profit margins. I think it's silly for New Zealand or Singapore to have plenty stock of a case and the US having limited to no stock.
 
I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on either this case or the CM 690-2 Advanced.

The only thing holding me back is that I've read a few forum posts about bad temps when using SLI/Crossfire, specifically when there are two cards butted up one next to the other. There seems to be no problem when there's a 1 slot gap between the cards. The bad temp reports came from owners of the RV02 but it's the same as the FT02.

Can someone confirm or deny this?
 
HKSEvo8 said:
I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on either this case or the CM 690-2 Advanced.

The only thing holding me back is that I've read a few forum posts about bad temps when using SLI/Crossfire, specifically when there are two cards butted up one next to the other. There seems to be no problem when there's a 1 slot gap between the cards. The bad temp reports came from owners of the RV02 but it's the same as the FT02.

Can someone confirm or deny this?
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Wouldn't that be the case in all/most cases? If you have two hot-running GPU's pressed up against each other, it's going to be scorching hot in any case. It would seem like the RV01/RV02/FT02 line would be BETTER at cooling multi-GPU systems given the bottom 180mm fans and the stack effect. Heat does rise naturally.

I run 2x GTX295 SLI in my RV02 but don't care about anything but my CPU temps so I don't have any GPU #'s to give you but I can't imagine that this case is any WORSE than any other case I've had where the motherboard is situated horizontally with a front to back airflow design.
 
Just a guess, but these people may be comparing to a case where you have a large fan blowing across (onto the video cards). In the case of the RV-02/FT-02, air has to travel a long way for the fans to push it all the way up between two cards like that. Of course, in these other cases that hot air may continue to circulate anyway, but at least the video cards are cooler.
 
NYHoustonman said:
Just a guess, but these people may be comparing to a case where you have a large fan blowing across (onto the video cards). In the case of the RV-02/FT-02, air has to travel a long way for the fans to push it all the way up between two cards like that. Of course, in these other cases that hot air may continue to circulate anyway, but at least the video cards are cooler.
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Again, y'all confusing me again. There are three huge 180mm fans right at the bottom of the case. In my system (with 2x GTX295's), these fans are literally less than TWO INCHES from the edge of my GPU's so the cool air that is drawn in from the bottom of the case gets right to these cards. The airflow of these fans plus the natural tendency for heat to rise makes for better heat dissipation - which is the whole intent of this case design.

In most of the other "horizontal" cases I've had, cool air is drawn in from the front by smaller 120mm fans that are somewhere between 4" to 8" from the same edge of the GPU's. Also, in this traditional case design, the heat/hot air from the GPU's also rise upwards towards the CPU/HSF area whereas the heat from the GPU's in the vertically designed Silverstones go straight up and out of the case. That's why I think Silverstone has a winner with this design.
 
HKSEvo8 said:
I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on either this case or the CM 690-2 Advanced.

The only thing holding me back is that I've read a few forum posts about bad temps when using SLI/Crossfire, specifically when there are two cards butted up one next to the other. There seems to be no problem when there's a 1 slot gap between the cards. The bad temp reports came from owners of the RV02 but it's the same as the FT02.

Can someone confirm or deny this?
Click to expand...

Mixed results so far, including the one, or maybe it's 2, people in this thread who have actually tried running 2 or more vid cards w/ no space between them slot-wise. From what I've seen looking at reviews or random blogs etc, cases w/ a fan blowing in from the side panel a la the CM Haf 932/p193/etc tend to do better than the RV02/FT02 design, but really, this shouldn't be a problem unless you're running tri/quad vid cards. Plus, even if the FT02 doesn't perform quite top-notch in squished multi-GPU configs, the problem is the mobo layout no matter which case you use.

There are plenty of excellent mobos for all CPUs that provide a 3 slot gap (or more). If you need more than 2 discrete cards, I haven't seen anything that says the RV02/FT02 perform badly, I've only seen chatter that their performance isn't up to the standards of some of the those cases with fans blowing in from the side panels. But considering how much louder an Antec 902 or Haf are vs the RV02/FT02, that's also not really a fair comparison.

WorldExclusive said:
I've decided to buy the RV02 instead, mainly because it has more style and it's cheaper. The only issue with the RV02 was that it didn't hold enough hard drives, well problem solved!

http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=CASSCFP53B

We can buy an extra HDD cage for $20. This will increase the capacity to six HDD.
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Dude... THANK YOU for that. I could swear one of the reviews I read back in Sept-Nov mentioned there being an optional hdd cage. Then when the RV02 was down to $139 after MIR I went looking for it and I guess I failed because I never could find that part listed on SIlverstone's site, nor did I ever get an email from them about it.

I'd be curious to see case/hdd temps while using two cages in the RV02, but so long as things still perform reasonably w/ 5+ bays loaded, I'll be watching carefully to see when there's another MIR/sale.
 
BTW- anyone gotten their hands on a silver FT02 yet? Maybe w/ pics of an installed system? I really like the sIlver exterior, but the interior is kinda fugly w/ all the black plastic bits. Curious to see what it looks like.
 
NYHoustonman said:
Just a guess, but these people may be comparing to a case where you have a large fan blowing across (onto the video cards). In the case of the RV-02/FT-02, air has to travel a long way for the fans to push it all the way up between two cards like that. Of course, in these other cases that hot air may continue to circulate anyway, but at least the video cards are cooler.
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yenniedn said:
Again, y'all confusing me again. There are three huge 180mm fans right at the bottom of the case. In my system (with 2x GTX295's), these fans are literally less than TWO INCHES from the edge of my GPU's so the cool air that is drawn in from the bottom of the case gets right to these cards. The airflow of these fans plus the natural tendency for heat to rise makes for better heat dissipation - which is the whole intent of this case design.
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Absolutely QFT.
Air does not travel "a long way", it's an inch or two at most. With the fans on high I can guarantee you that the front HD fan shoots some air to the bottom most CF/SLi card (I can verify this based on being in the case and checking airflow last night). The rear fan (directly below the cpu path area), likewise throws air also towards the topmost card and not just the cpu area. Keep in mind that fans don't just toss out air directly above the fan itself; it does also come out at angles from the fan and there is a radius of airflow there. Think of the airflow as a V shape coming off the fan and you'll get the idea.

Whether the airflow "makes it" to the dead air area sandwiched between 2 cards doesn't matter either anyway because the cards are dual slot and the case intake is directly near the dual slot cooler intake on the card itself. Internally the gpus are getting the coolest air they would ever get inside of a case; the only way they'd be any cooler is if they were running shroudless on a test bench/open air setup. I had the same 2 card setup in a HAF 922 with 2x120mm side fans (S-Flex SFF21E's) running at full blast and my cards are cooler in this case (FT02) than they were in the HAF and it's no surprise why.
 
zero2dash said:
Absolutely QFT.
Air does not travel "a long way", it's an inch or two at most. With the fans on high I can guarantee you that the front HD fan shoots some air to the bottom most CF/SLi card (I can verify this based on being in the case and checking airflow last night). The rear fan (directly below the cpu path area), likewise throws air also towards the topmost card and not just the cpu area. Keep in mind that fans don't just toss out air directly above the fan itself; it does also come out at angles from the fan and there is a radius of airflow there. Think of the airflow as a V shape coming off the fan and you'll get the idea.

Whether the airflow "makes it" to the dead air area sandwiched between 2 cards doesn't matter either anyway because the cards are dual slot and the case intake is directly near the dual slot cooler intake on the card itself. Internally the gpus are getting the coolest air they would ever get inside of a case; the only way they'd be any cooler is if they were running shroudless on a test bench/open air setup. I had the same 2 card setup in a HAF 922 with 2x120mm side fans (S-Flex SFF21E's) running at full blast and my cards are cooler in this case (FT02) than they were in the HAF and it's no surprise why.
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Was just a guess, because several users have reported this (I myself, with an RV-02 and single 5870, couldn't be happier). It isn't just a matter of the air coming up through the heatsink (which you're right about), the cards themselves radiate a TON of heat into the rest of the case at full load, and that air needs go be moved; a lot of conventional cases have huge fans blowing on this area for just that reason (even it if isn't efficient in moving the air out of the case).. May just be that the bottom fan, even at full speed, doesn't cut it for some combinations. I really can't think of much else to explain it (must be some reason, presumably).
 
My new build is in here.

By the way, if you guys have Amazon prime you can get free 2nd-day shipping on this. I selected 2nd-day and it actually came overnight. Pretty sweet.
 
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