SilverStone Raven RV04 Computer Case Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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SilverStone Raven RV04 Computer Case Review - The SilverStone Raven series of computer cases have been favorites around the HardOCP offices for years. This new Raven RV04 has a somewhat different spin, literally. Long gone is the 90 degree rotation on the mainboard which brings the Raven back into the realm of "normal" cases. SilverStone is preaching an even better thermal profile though.
 
Fugly. And overpriced, IMHO. But I do like my power supplies mounted old-skool at the top of the case.
 
Been waiting on this review, Thanks Kyle n company!! :D

Overall, performance is good, I actually like the layout making a compact chassis.

However... This case has some problems. I Hate doors, it's pop up headlamps all over again, if I got one, I'd have to rip off the door pro-actively to beat my kids to the punch. Sadly it might actually look better that way.
 
Kyle, I wish you would add temperature comparisons between the RV02, RV03, and RV04 to the review. I know that's more work, but since they are all successors and operate the same it would be interesting to see!

Otherwise it looks like a good review. Too bad the quality is bad, and the door is so ugly.
 
King Icewind said:
Kyle, I wish you would add temperature comparisons between the RV02, RV03, and RV04 to the review. I know that's more work, but since they are all successors and operate the same it would be interesting to see!

Otherwise it looks like a good review. Too bad the quality is bad, and the door is so ugly.
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I have an RV02 and an RV03 here in my office that are both used pretty much 24/7. Great cases, both loaded with lots of hot hardware and overclocked. Great boxes.
 
The door video is hilarious.

SS took a step back in product styling and quality this year.
 
I no longer have an interest in such huge cases. Plus, it's really ugly.
 
I personally consider it a step backwards design-wise by not rotating the motherboard. Sure the thermals in testing look okay but I can't help but wonder what it would be like on a long gaming session. I have the RV02 and the amount of heat my triple- and quad-fire HD6950's push out the top is not funny. At least they remembered to put in 8 slots (though I would have preferred 9 like the Fractal R2 XL).
 
Going "Old school" for playing inside cases is not something I miss. Only thing I miss less than that are all the sharp corners to scrape your hands & knuckles on.

It seems ok, but not worth the issues it has. Though after having my mono aiming up for a while I also went back to cases aiming the fans towards the back... damn those fans shooting hot air straight up can heat a room fast...!
 
WorldExclusive said:
The door video is hilarious.

SS took a step back in product styling and quality this year.
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Agreed.

I have no idea how a company can put out such great products one cycle (FT02, somewhat RV02 and RV03) and then put up a bunch of mismash rubbish the next (FT03, FT04, RV04).

Decent performance, but damn it's like they quit trying to be Lian Li and decided to rip off Thermaltake instead.
 
I know this is hard to believe, but the plastic we used on the RV04 is actually better quality than what we used previously on other RAVEN cases. This enabled us to create a door this large without having to worrying about it breaking or shattering during shipping (something we had a little bit of problem initially with RV03). The problem with using this more flexible and tougher plastic is that subjectively, it doesn't feel strong or stiff when users handles it.

The RAVEN series for SilverStone is about trying new and more bold designs while other case series such as Temjin or Fortress can maintain more conservative approach to cater to existing customers. Every RAVEN case introduction so far seemed to have solicited plenty of negative responses, but I hope you guys can look past the styling and see what our engineers have achieved with them. The RV04 (and FT04) are incredibly efficient tower case designs that can match or surpass cooling/acoustic performance of the best cases on the market while keeping the size in check (but still fitting Extended-ATX boards and plenty of hardware).

silk186 said:
I no longer have an interest in such huge cases.
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FT04 at 58 liters (RV04 with its protruding parts make it slightly bigger at 63 liters) is about the same size as a CM Storm Enforcer (also 58 liters) that you have in the your sig!
 
man the gtx 280s get hot! 87C.

nice review tho, i'll keep my case tho.
 
zero2dash said:
Agreed.

I have no idea how a company can put out such great products one cycle (FT02, somewhat RV02 and RV03) and then put up a bunch of mismash rubbish the next (FT03, FT04, RV04).

Decent performance, but damn it's like they quit trying to be Lian Li and decided to rip off Thermaltake instead.
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If SS stop dragging their feet and release a smaller, more affordable and sleek looking TJ11, and refresh the RV01 they'll be back on top.
I'm starting a mod with the 90 degree look, since SS decided to depart for that this year. Maybe next year we'll see it return.
 
Tony Ou said:
I know this is hard to believe, but the plastic we used on the RV04 is actually better quality than what we used previously on other RAVEN cases. This enabled us to create a door this large without having to worrying about it breaking or shattering during shipping (something we had a little bit of problem initially with RV03). The problem with using this more flexible and tougher plastic is that subjectively, it doesn't feel strong or stiff when users handles it.

The RAVEN series for SilverStone is about trying new and more bold designs while other case series such as Temjin or Fortress can maintain more conservative approach to cater to existing customers. Every RAVEN case introduction so far seemed to have solicited plenty of negative responses, but I hope you guys can look past the styling and see what our engineers have achieved with them. The RV04 (and FT04) are incredibly efficient tower case designs that can match or surpass cooling/acoustic performance of the best cases on the market while keeping the size in check (but still fitting Extended-ATX boards and plenty of hardware).



FT04 at 58 liters (RV04 with its protruding parts make it slightly bigger at 63 liters) is about the same size as a CM Storm Enforcer (also 58 liters) that you have in the your sig!
Click to expand...

The problem seems to be less about the plastic, and more about the large pointless door on the front of the case.
 
I know there are a lot of people that love the 90 degree rotation, but it really does not necessarily make for better cooling. I know heat goes up, but even a single fan can totally change the air flow inside a case. I also don't like the wiring coming out of the top, not being able to place anything on the top, and the rear exhaust instead of top keeps you more comfortable when sitting beside it. After years and years of personal testing, I still believe that a PSU on top with the traditional airflow horizontally inside and rear exhaust from the case works better than 90 degree rotation. Bottom air intake is the best thing we have learned. I'm glad to see that SS is somewhat admitting that with the launch of this case.
 
Tony Ou said:
I know this is hard to believe, but the plastic we used on the RV04 is actually better quality than what we used previously on other RAVEN cases. This enabled us to create a door this large without having to worrying about it breaking or shattering during shipping (something we had a little bit of problem initially with RV03). The problem with using this more flexible and tougher plastic is that subjectively, it doesn't feel strong or stiff when users handles it.

The RAVEN series for SilverStone is about trying new and more bold designs while other case series such as Temjin or Fortress can maintain more conservative approach to cater to existing customers. Every RAVEN case introduction so far seemed to have solicited plenty of negative responses, but I hope you guys can look past the styling and see what our engineers have achieved with them. The RV04 (and FT04) are incredibly efficient tower case designs that can match or surpass cooling/acoustic performance of the best cases on the market while keeping the size in check (but still fitting Extended-ATX boards and plenty of hardware).
Click to expand...

I have the TJ08-E as a minor gaming/HTPC case, which I am very impressed with when it comes to airflow, but not so impressed with the hard drive cage when it comes to vibration suppresion.

Currently, I am using a FT02 for my main PC and consider getting the FT04 (want something new and shiny). But I am a bit worried about the bottom cage. According to a comment below the Anandtech FT04 review, the bottom cage is supposed to rattle even with a WD 5400K drive.

If I am getting the FT04, I am planning on using it for a quiet gaming build, meaning I want to maximize airflow so I can turn down fans, while having enough air so that GPU fans doesn't spin up too much. Either I remove the main HD cage or use it as an airtunnel, depending if there is turbulence or not. I'm only going to use a single SSD and a mechanical HD, so the bottom cages would be the best placement. But, do they rattle?

Anandtech FT04 review comment said:
- My 3.5" HDD often rattles in the bottom hot swap bay.... There's padding in the big drive bay, but none in the bottom. I'll have to come up with something to stop the vibration which seems tricky since there's not much free space on the sides between the drive and the bay. It's only a 5400rpm 3TB WD green... also.
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Velocity_Micro said:
I know there are a lot of people that love the 90 degree rotation, but it really does not necessarily make for better cooling. I know heat goes up, but even a single fan can totally change the air flow inside a case. I also don't like the wiring coming out of the top, not being able to place anything on the top, and the rear exhaust instead of top keeps you more comfortable when sitting beside it. After years and years of personal testing, I still believe that a PSU on top with the traditional airflow horizontally inside and rear exhaust from the case works better than 90 degree rotation. Bottom air intake is the best thing we have learned. I'm glad to see that SS is somewhat admitting that with the launch of this case.
Click to expand...

Except the RV03 and RV02 both did a pretty amazing job of cooling, so why change a formula that works? why not release this case as another model or series.
 
Tamlin_WSGF said:
I have the TJ08-E as a minor gaming/HTPC case, which I am very impressed with when it comes to airflow, but not so impressed with the hard drive cage when it comes to vibration suppresion.

Currently, I am using a FT02 for my main PC and consider getting the FT04 (want something new and shiny). But I am a bit worried about the bottom cage. According to a comment below the Anandtech FT04 review, the bottom cage is supposed to rattle even with a WD 5400K drive.

If I am getting the FT04, I am planning on using it for a quiet gaming build, meaning I want to maximize airflow so I can turn down fans, while having enough air so that GPU fans doesn't spin up too much. Either I remove the main HD cage or use it as an airtunnel, depending if there is turbulence or not. I'm only going to use a single SSD and a mechanical HD, so the bottom cages would be the best placement. But, do they rattle?
Click to expand...

We improved the drive cage design on the FT04/RV04 over the one in the TJ08-E. There are now three mounting points compared to two so vibration suppression is better. The bottom two single drive cages are designed to be hot-swap capable so are naturally a little more loose fitting than the larger drive cage. If you have larger terabyte drives, which are thicker, then there shouldn't be rattling problems. Smaller capacity drives nowadays are made to be thinner and some are even slightly narrower than spec. so some of these may rattle. If you really want to suppress vibration, installing drives into the main drive cage is recommended. FT04/RV04 was designed and tested with all drive cages installed so you would still get great performance no matter what you do!
 
darkstarcow said:
Except the RV03 and RV02 both did a pretty amazing job of cooling, so why change a formula that works? why not release this case as another model or series.
Click to expand...

The release of RV04 and FT04 are not indication of us leaving the 90 degree motherboard mount designs behind. Complete case designs take quite a while from concept to production so not seeing them on new cases now doesn't mean we aren't work on them! ;)

We have posted this on another forum, but I think it's worth posting on here too to explain what our thinkings are behind the case names.

Temjin (e.g. TJ07, TJ08-E) - SilverStone's flagship tower cases. Originally created when SilverStone was founded in 2003, this name initially represented all tower cases. But when we expanded and models grew, we had to separate our tower cases into more series to avoid naming confusions (can you imagine how difficult it would be to remember what TJ28 and TJ31 were?). So in 2007, we created other names and pegged Temjin as our top of the line cases with classic designs, best materials and technology for any given class.

Fortress (e.g. FT02, FT03) - High-end cases that combine premium exterior/solid feeling exterior (hence the name fortress) with new designs. Initially this series would focus on the unibody design passed down from the Temjin series, but it would evolve to take on designs from RAVEN series too.

RAVEN (e.g. RV01, RV04) - This series was created in 2008 to break away from SilverStone's original brand image of clean, conservative styling. Besides just being more audacious with styling, RAVEN series would be the platform to launch bold/crazy ideas that may otherwise be deemed to radical for other series. 90 degree motherboard mounting was the most memorable of these new ideas, hence a lot of people think RAVEN series is all about that layout. But if you look closely, each successive RAVEN cases have at least one design feature that has not been done before and are pretty far out. The RV02 went all out in 2009 with entire floor covered in 180mm fans, RV03 in 2011 utilized motherboard backside like no other cases before it with impressive drive arrays and recently RV04 design went to extreme to optimize airflow with a one-piece open air front door (or should that be called a "cover" instead?).

Kublai (e.g. KL03, KL04) - This series was created in 2006 as a step down from the Temjin series, but has since been supplanted by Fortress in terms of hierarchy and price range.

Precision (e.g. PS07, PS08) - This is SilverStone's entry-level cases created in late 2007.

Redline (e.g. RL01, RL04) - Originally created for the Chinese market in 2011, theses cases are also entry-level cases but more focused on aggressive styling.
 
I kind of wish someone review SilverStone FT04B-W case. Seems like no one buying this case and want a review before I throw money at it.
 
We sent Steve a FT04 immediately after his review on RV04 was published so you'll see one at HardOCP. In the meantime, there are two other ones that you can check out as well at Anandtech and SPCR.

Performance-wise, you'll generally see RV04/FT04 doing better the more stressful, high-end components are used (OC'd CPU, dual graphics and more). SPCR's system top out at around 450W ~ 500W so FT04 didn't have as much advantage in their test and was beaten by FT02.
 
Tony Ou said:
We improved the drive cage design on the FT04/RV04 over the one in the TJ08-E. There are now three mounting points compared to two so vibration suppression is better. The bottom two single drive cages are designed to be hot-swap capable so are naturally a little more loose fitting than the larger drive cage. If you have larger terabyte drives, which are thicker, then there shouldn't be rattling problems. Smaller capacity drives nowadays are made to be thinner and some are even slightly narrower than spec. so some of these may rattle. If you really want to suppress vibration, installing drives into the main drive cage is recommended. FT04/RV04 was designed and tested with all drive cages installed so you would still get great performance no matter what you do!
Click to expand...

Thank you for the answer. :)

Checked the SPCR review and it seems that the bottom cages actually are better against vibrations then the main cage still. Got a Carbide Air 540 (also rattlecages) while waiting for your answer, so it seems I will wait with buying a new Silverstone case (still have the FT02 which is great anyway).

Keep up the good work though. Silverstone cases are the first I'm am checking for when I look for a new case where I need great airflow and low noise!
 
Hi tony i hope the next FT05 will take FT02 design cue. FT04/RV04 seem to be judged badly and i think i have to agree. besides the poorer material and quality control, the 90 degree mounting is not easily assembled and that door...*ugh*

FT02 needs a few adjustments and it will be the perfect casing imo.
similar outward design, same 180 mounting, no cables dragging out, handle heavy gpu, 3x180 ap fans and no doors!
but lesser 5.25" bay
1 to 2 more inch behind for cable routing
rubber grommets
easily removable filters without opening the casing
easily removable top cover to reach the i/o ports without tacking in/out the latches .
adapter for 180 to 120/140 for h2o cooling for the bottom fans.
full alu side panels?
etc.

btw i got the tj08e too and the steel material is very thin and some places i got my finger cut..ie. the fan filter slot, the sides panels. scpr now says FT04 is worse than FT02 material...
Is silverstone workmanship going down?
 
The steel thickness between the two cases are the same, although FT04 does have better paint than FT02. The perception that FT04 has worse material than FT02 is likely due to alignment issues of their tested unit and the larger gap between its aluminum unibody door and the front panel.
 
Dear Tony i hope SS can buck up for next casing. It seem the FT/RV04 is not well received and the forums official threads are none comparing to FT/RV02....or even FT/RV03....In fact it seems Cosair Cabade Air has taken over FT02 as THE aircooling case. Corsair made some bold change to the Air, something a leaf out of SS book.
 
The RV05 seems to be trickling out from Japan. Can't find much on Google and nothing shows up when I search for FT05
 
Tony Ou said:
RAVEN (e.g. RV01, RV04) - This series was created in 2008 to break away from SilverStone's original brand image of clean, conservative styling. Besides just being more audacious with styling, RAVEN series would be the platform to launch bold/crazy ideas that may otherwise be deemed to radical for other series.

Redline (e.g. RL01, RL04) - Originally created for the Chinese market in 2011, theses cases are also entry-level cases but more focused on aggressive styling.
Click to expand...

Tony, any chance you can provide some insight on why many cases have these audacious / aggressive styling? What's the target market? Do they sell well? The stylistic design of many top end gaming cases always bugged me. I'd imagine gamers who are more ok shelling out $100+ on cases to be at least in their mid 20s, and they might not appreciate a toy-like appearance. I would appreciate if you can help me answer this question from a case manufacturers perspective.

I do absolutely love the innovation that Silverstone has been doing in cases, especially the Fortress03 series. I can't wait for the Raven-Mini series, or rather the Fortress version of them.

P.S. If you are looking for bold styling, I think something that combines boldness and refinement might work better. To me, In-Win's H-frame presents something that's very interesting and yet attractive.
 
blood said:
Tony, any chance you can provide some insight on why many cases have these audacious / aggressive styling? What's the target market? Do they sell well? The stylistic design of many top end gaming cases always bugged me. I'd imagine gamers who are more ok shelling out $100+ on cases to be at least in their mid 20s, and they might not appreciate a toy-like appearance. I would appreciate if you can help me answer this question from a case manufacturers perspective.

I do absolutely love the innovation that Silverstone has been doing in cases, especially the Fortress03 series. I can't wait for the Raven-Mini series, or rather the Fortress version of them.

P.S. If you are looking for bold styling, I think something that combines boldness and refinement might work better. To me, In-Win's H-frame presents something that's very interesting and yet attractive.
Click to expand...


You have to realize that we sell products all over the world so a product that is well-received here at Hardforum for example would likely translate to better sales in mostly English speaking countries (or to a larger extent, the Western countries). Once in a while though, we would have products that do equally well everywhere so it is hard to gauge how case styling affect sales sometimes.
 
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