Silverstone RV04/FT04 - Back Again

NeoDiNardo said:
You know if you really want to settle this, someone with an FT02 should record temps, flip the case around on its end on a yoga mat, then record temps again!! That way we could see if the position really helps as much as we thought.
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If the fans were off, you'd see a difference. The higher the fan speed the more irrelevant orientation becomes.
 
Skripka said:
If the fans were off, you'd see a difference. The higher the fan speed the more irrelevant orientation becomes.
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Perfect example.

Once you go above a certain fan speed, airflow overcomes orientation.
The RV/FT04 will have ridiculous positive pressure of any case for it's size on the market.

I wasn't thrilled about the FT02 at first, but I came around. I'll likely accept this design also.
For now my V354 does well. Thr FT04 will not be released until Q4, so I have enough time to plan around it.
It would be great for a X79 IB-E build I have in mind.
 
Are the AP-182s available anywhere? Tried the SS site, but came up empty handed. I think a better performing fan would be a nice addition to my FT-02. I could run back to backs with AP-181 vs AP-182, but Ill leave the yoga mat alone.

As for the orientation, I tend to agree with;
Cleaner Airflow + Good performing fans = better temps, regardless of orientation. I think the smaller size can also benefit better airflow as there is less chance for stagnant pockets and more chance for structured 'channels' of air.

I do like the access to peripherals at the top of the case vs the back, although there is a noise penalty with having the top of the case as the most porous surface (spills are bad too!!!!!) and the footprint is borderline obscene. This new FT/RV-04 appears to offer more positives from these negatives.

I do take issue with the door. I never cared for them, but that is my preference, sales numbers will dictate if it has a door or not. Design is also subjective, but lets see the final effort and test results.

Yes its different than the RV/FT-02 and possibly not uni-body, but that does not mean its fail. Yes my FT-02 has a uni-body design, but I am pretty much the only one that knows that or even cares that it was designed into the case. If that design element increases the price of the case significantly I could see it being an element that is removed to decrease the new case's cost while increasing profit. Lets be honest, SS is in business to make money.

Rotated mobo does look darn cool though....

TLDR: FT-04 could be pretty cool and good business for SS, lets see what the final product is. Oh, and fans...
 
I kinda disappoint with both case because their motherboard orientation aren't 90* but 180*.
I know that traditional motherboard orientation, 90* , and 180* aren't that different in cooling performance (exclude non ref vga though..) and I can live with that but I want the 90* that is exclusively for Silverstone's cases. :(



The thing that disappoint me the most is how Silverstone mount their harddisk cage.



The picture show how do TJ08-E (that have similar layout to RV04/FT04) look after all components are installed.
You see,we can't install some big or deep cpu cooler in TJ08-E.

From my estimation, the length between harddisk cage and cpu mounting spot of RV04/FT04 is just about an inch longer than TJ08-E's.
That's right, we can install bigger or deeper cpu cooler in RV04/FT04 but I doubt gigantic cooler like Thermallight's Silver Arrow can fit in the cases though. :rolleyes:



Another issue that caused by the way they mouth the harddisk cage is shown in the picture below.

01.jpg


Almost a half of the harddisk cage can be seen through the side window.
If we install many harddisks to the harddisk cage, we will see all the messy wires clearly. :eek:

If RV04/FT04 are low-end case, I will not complain at all.
But they are hi-end cases, so they shouldn't suffer this problem.
To be honest, even low-end cases nowadays rarely suffer this problem! :mad:

From this issue, I think they should drill some holes in the harddisk cage so we have an option to mount the cage transversely like RL01's cage.
I know that transversely mount may block air from the bottom fan but I think high static pressure fan like AP181/AP182 can take care of the tough job.

To sum it up, I gladly trade a few degree cooler for neatness. ;)


From Hexus's video, I think their cooling performance aren't the problem and now I'm looking forward to see someone review FT04 that come with AP182.

From Hardwaresecrets :
- Both case should arrive on the market in the forth quarter of this year.
- RV04's price is 160 USD like RV03. --> Look like RV03 is in trouble. LOL
- FT04's price is 250 USD like FT02. --> Compare to RV04,I think some additional like aluminium door, sound damper, and better fan should not worth 90 USD more.
 
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You can fit a big cooler in the TJ08-E... See this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buPdEMRZx10&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Granted, not with HDs, but using the 5.25" bays for drives.

Good point on wiring mess, FT02 HDs are wired in the back. FT04 wiring could be partly solved with that silverstone sata power strip adapter. And if you use an H80 CPU Cooler you will have plenty of room to wire those HDs.
 
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NeoDiNardo said:
The AP-182 fans should be out the same time as the FT04, 4th quarter 2012.
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I'll likely skip the V750 for the FT04.
Mainly because around Q4 2012-2013, I'll upgrade to an IB-E or Haswell PC.

Ivy and the V354 more than does the job for my needs as of now.
Also, I'm just a big SS fan and I enjoy trying out new products from them. Shame the TJ11 was not a good value enough for me to try it out.
 
NeoDiNardo said:
The AP-182 fans should be out the same time as the FT04, 4th quarter 2012.
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Cool, thanks. I missed that nor deduced it from what I was finding.

Thinking about it, I may be running AP 180s and not the 181s. Have to check.
 
If you don't have the AP–181 fans I'd get them now, big difference over non-air penetrator fans, I don't expect the AP–182 to be that much better. And how are they going to be sold without that case mounted variable speed knob? I think it's more about the variable control than anything else with them being able to go from 500 RPM to 2000 RPM.

And I don't think you would like to TJ11 world exclusive, as you know I've had one unboxed, it's just so fracking huge, to the point where it's not even useful unless you're watercooling. I was going to try my hand at water cooling, but with a really good card like the MSI lightning 680, some gentle typhoon fans, an H80 CPU cooler, and the AP–182 fans... I just don't see how water cooling could ever be worth it.
 
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Sorry but that Shit is Ugly especially on the inside!...:eek::(WoW!...I will not trade my FT02 for that!!!
I'm surprised SilverStone comin' out with this Ugly Box!:confused:...They get rid of their designer!?....How you go to this!....from [ RV's, TJ's & FT02 ] <---Classic!
 
Gaate said:
I'v had the Rv01 for years, Still my favorite.
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I Bought one as well, sold it because i kept having problems with it. One thing after another kept breaking, and It was fairly new.

The right side Panel (behind motherboard) latch broke, 3 times.

The window cracked around the screw holes due to stress.

The front door wouldnt latch down after about a year.

Sexy case, but I couldn't deal with having it anymore.
 
Am I the only one that actually likes the look of these? Depending on how the FT04 production models turn out I would love to take my watercooling gear from my FT02 into the 04. Looks like it will fit my dual 180 radiator in the front and my dual bay res/pump quite nicely.

Looks to be smaller too so lugging it around to lans should be easier than the FT02 as well.
 
Retaliation87 said:
Am I the only one that actually likes the look of these? Depending on how the FT04 production models turn out I would love to take my watercooling gear from my FT02 into the 04. Looks like it will fit my dual 180 radiator in the front and my dual bay res/pump quite nicely.

Looks to be smaller too so lugging it around to lans should be easier than the FT02 as well.
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I like everything but the door.
 
I don't see the door as a problem on the FT04, on the RV04 however it is quite unsightly with no sides on it like that. The amount of times I use an optical drive or even the power buttons and fan controls in my FT02 shows me that the door would hardly ever open anyway.

The only thing that could be problematic if I watercool it would be the hard drive placement, but I guess I could just cut down to two mechanical hard drives and an ssd :confused:
 
The FT02 is an air cooling case, but jamming a water cooling setup in it was surprisingly effective. I don't see the FT04 repeating this phenomenon as it lacks the space needed.
 
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I have to disagree. While it obviously won't fit the 3x180 radiator that the FT02 and RV02 could fit after modding upon inspection of the pictures I have seen so far it looks as though it will easily fit the 2x180 radiator that I currently have.

The 2x180 radiator is more than enough for most people watercooling a cpu and single graphics card, and would probably be fine even if you added a second graphics card too.

As for the space, I would say that the case is even more suited to watercooling than the older ones. You can get the rad in front, hell you could even sandwich two in the front if you wanted, and still have room for a tube res and a pump between the radiator and the edge of the motherboard, something that was impossible in the 02's.
 
Interesting points but I still can't see it being as elegant, but hey I never watercooled. I was thinking of 5.25 bays and pump room too.
 
How many 5.25" bays do people even use these days? I use 4 out of the 5 that I have but my fan controller isn't needed, my optical drive was used to install windows and hasn't been touched since, and my dual bay pump res is only in there because there is nowhere else for it in the FT02
 
Retaliation87 said:
How many 5.25" bays do people even use these days? I use 4 out of the 5 that I have but my fan controller isn't needed, my optical drive was used to install windows and hasn't been touched since, and my dual bay pump res is only in there because there is nowhere else for it in the FT02
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I agree, I don't need more than two bays, one for my Blu-Ray Burner, one for my fan controller, but I see a lot of bay based water cooling products. I thought that would be a plus for watercooling, not a negative.
 
As I said I only use a bay based pump due to space constraints. I would rather have it mounted elsewhere for several reasons (noise, tube routing etc)
 
meh, the way the HD cage is in there is bleh. Its side load drives are nothing for me.
 
They should have mounted the HDDs to the back of the motherboard, like the RV03.
The HDD placement doesn't make any sense.
 
WorldExclusive said:
They should have mounted the HDDs to the back of the motherboard, like the RV03.
The HDD placement doesn't make any sense.
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Well, there are actually 2 HDD mounts below the motherboard, and provided how small the SSD's, you would probably have 2 x 3.5" + 1/2 x SSD without even needing that stupid case in front of the motherboard.

I'm not sure, but those slots seem to be 3.5" (also, you may use the 5.25" you have).

We need mooooaaaar pictures to be sure of anything, though :D
 
Another video preview of the RV04: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb7uqzy-qig

I guess people are still disappointed that this is a 180° layout rather than vertical, but I think it looks like a good design anyway as air flow can be quite unobstructed across both CPU and graphics cards (I think a lot of users could put all SSDs and HDDs in the 5.25" bays and there won't be any obstructions at all in front of the fans.)
 
I like that they fixed the window. Though the FT-02 and RV-02 still look like better cases imo.
 
The FT02 is in my hall of fame for cases.
I'm now a fan of CaseLabs also and I want to try out one of their cases.

Here's a near production photo of the FT04:

9FXxiur.jpg


Tony also revealed that you can mount a 3x120 rad in the front. Removable mobo tray.
With SSI-EEB compatibility, you can fit a dual CPU board inside too, like this one in reverse!:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131817&IsVirtualParent=1

I'm slowly coming around but still skeptical.
But this could be my Mac Pro killer.
 
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I assumed that these cases were primarily designed to be the best performing possible for air cooling, but the watercooling support is interesting. Would anyone choose a 120mm triple radiator for a new build if the 180mm dual fits? Comparing Alphacool's latest there is only a couple of mm between the length, but a substantial increase in width and area:

Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 360mm = 400 x 124 x 46mm
Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 180mm Dual = 402 x 182 x 45mm
 
the 3*120mm rad in the front changes it imho. I like caselabs for their water cooling, although their cases are not anywhere near as refined as SS. Will have to wait to see the reviews.
 
IanM said:
I assumed that these cases were primarily designed to be the best performing possible for air cooling, but the watercooling support is interesting. Would anyone choose a 120mm triple radiator for a new build if the 180mm dual fits? Comparing Alphacool's latest there is only a couple of mm between the length, but a substantial increase in width and area:

Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 360mm = 400 x 124 x 46mm
Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 180mm Dual = 402 x 182 x 45mm
Click to expand...

Makes sense and you will save money by using the far superior AP182 fans.
You can also dremel the floor to fit a possible 240.

The ability to fit the ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS in such a small package has my mouth watering.
Small things like that changes the game and puts it on my want list.

Example:
U5YLInx.jpg


No need for a Mac Pro workstation.

Retail Price: $199 - FT04, $150 - RV04
 
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I wonder if you'd be able to do a push-pull 180mm radiator setup in here if you removed the HDD cage...

Tempting...
 
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