This will be interesting...FT05

M76

[H]F Junkie
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Jun 12, 2012
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Either because I got scammed, or just for the build.

So I ordered a Silverstone FT05 chassis. For an unbeatable price. Honestly I'm not 100% sure if it's a scam or not but on German amazon you can order one for about 1/3 of the normal price everywhere else in Europe and less than half the US retail price.

We'll see what happens, I'm not sure what build will I do with it. Either I'm putting my main PC (from my sig) in it. Or I might do a threadripper (1920x) build.

Or if push comes to shove I'm going to fight amazon for my €70.

I wonder how will it compare to the RV03
 
I got it delivered to me today. Unboxing tomorrow. Hope it isn't bricks in the box.
 
So here it is. As opposed to the common plain cardboard box this comes in a shiny box.
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So it is a case in the box after all. Finally I can rest easy. It wasn't a scam after all. Less than half of MSRP with VAT?!

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Barely visible logo on front, door taped for transport.

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Removing the top reveals the "accessory box" Why even have a box for that tiny bag?

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First look inside, everything seems to be in order. Unfortunately only two USB headers, at least this time they have an internal connector, not a simple extension cord to the IO panel.
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The manual is printed on woven fiber paper, never seen anyone do that.
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Removing the side panels was extremely difficult for the first time, I feared of breaking or bending something, but that's how you're supposed to remove it.
On the back side there are two places for 2.5 drives, and the tray for a slot-in optical drive. I've never even seen one of those, not that I used an optical drive in years.

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Sound dampening material on the inside, believe it or not this is the first case I own that has that.
The other side is a jumble of cables, it will be nearly impossible to route those nicely I suspect.
They took the effort to tape down the door on the top, however the bottom dust filter which is only held on by magnets, was flailing around freely during transport, it was already out of place.

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The two 180mm fans, familiar from the RV03, plus the 2x3.5 HDD cage. Of course 2x3.5 will not do. I'm not sure yet but somehow someway, I'll do some ghetto modding and add more 3.5 capacity.
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If you have the HDD cage in there is limited clearance for the PSU, I'm not even sure mine will fit. Plus the Noctua NH-D15 might not fit in it either. I wasn't planning on using it, just noting this. The plan is to use AIO, and in the area where the air cooler would be put HDD cages.
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Full gallery
 
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Still rocking my FT02 here. It's sure dated in a lot of ways but it's still too good.
 
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Still rocking my FT02 here. It's sure dated in a lot of ways but it's still too good.
I really wanted one of those back in the day, but it was far out of my price range.
 
Still rocking my FT02 here. It's sure dated in a lot of ways but it's still too good.
Same here. If had a spot for at the top for something like a Corsair H150i AIO cooler, I'd probably keep using it.
Just started looking at new cases this week for a build sometimes next year. Doesn't look like Silverstone has come up with much (that I like, anyway) since then, aside from a few NUC cases.

It still amazes me how much mileage I've got out of this 2600K system.
 
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So I've finally gathered my inner strength to try making this build happen. I haven't purchased any new HW yet, so this will be my old config from my sig.

So after much consideration, I decided I won't be doing any invasive modifications to the case, which means the AIO cooler goes to the bottom replacing one of the intake fans.

To get to the fans, you have to remove the bottom plate of the case:

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Note: the edges of the alu frame that the case is built on, are extremely sharp on the bottom. It can easily cause injury if you accidentally bump into the corners.

Here is the bottom removed, and the screws holding the intake fans revealed:

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I found it strange that in the rear there is no mounting holes for 140mm fans, only in the front and center position. So I'll be removing the front fan since my cooler is 140mm.

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With the cooler installed:

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It fits like a glove:

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Now the hard part. All of this (sans the cooler ofc) and a total of 6 (yes six) 3.5" hard drives need to go inside the case.

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I bet nobody can guess why on earth did I need a saw blade.

MB is in:

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This is the part where I complain that this is by far the hardest case to work with that I had. Getting to the front screws is a pain, they are so close to the front panel.

Whoops I skipped a few steps here, I tucked away the cables, installed the PSU, and the second fan of the cooler. There is not 1mm to spare as the ATX power cable and the front USB cable barely fit next to the cooling fan.

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Waterblock / pump finally where it belongs, plus test fitting the first VGA:

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Another big jump ahead: +1 VGA +3 HDDs in.

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Unfortunately the data cables weren't long enough to route around the back. (which is a good things since there is barely enough space back there for the rest of the cables.

I also had to remove the factory HDD bracket which would've held 2 drives, the modular PSU cables would not fit because of it. It might be OK with a regular PSU where all the cables come out at the other side. But not for this one.

Some magic, and hacking later, I've found the space for the other 3 HDDs:

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The other side is a mess, there is not enough space to route the cables properly, I couldn't even use the second 2.5" bracket, because it is located in the worst possible place,
Right where the bulk of the cables want to go. Below the other drive. There is plenty of space next to that one, I don't know why didn't they put the second 2.5 bracket there.

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After using two legs and two arms to press on the side panel I managed to flatten the cables enough so it would click in place:

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So that's it for this build, sorry there is no finished image, as I connected everything as is, without the left panel and the top cover to test things out. And I can't even install the top cover, because the display cable is not long enough to route around the back.

I like the look of the case, but overall I think it could've been designed better. A lot of the screws are really hard to get to both on the io side, and to the ones holding the MB.

The location and design of the 2.5 brackets, and the 3.5 cage is questionable

Finally the side panels are really hard to remove / put back. Very poor design choices there. A simple old side panel would've done it, I don'T know why they choose to go this route, where the side panels slots in at the bottom and held by some retention mechanism. It is tool less, but I can install a side panel on a non tool-less case while the computer is running easily. On this one that is nearly impossible to do.

+
  • Small footprint
  • Efficient cooling, with upward convection
  • positive air pressure design
  • room for water cooling at the bottom (120-140-240-280-360 mm radiators will fit)
  • pre-installed noise dampening foam on all panels
  • has a reset switch (I don't know why many cases don't have it recently)
-

  • Only 2x3.5" space from factory, and even those are useless if you have a slightly longer psu, or a modular one like me
  • Not enough cable routing holes, there is not even a hole for the ATX 12V connector. I had to take out the MB screws again, to be able to squeeze the connector trough from behind.
  • Not enough space for cables behind the MB tray.
  • Inconveniently located second 2.5" bracket
  • All of your peripheral cables need to be at least 60cm longer to work with this case with the top installed.
  • Really not enough room to work with, most screws are hard to access, even ones that are often needed to be undone. Like the cover of the expansion card slots.
  • Only two front panel USB ports.



Gallery link with full size images.
 
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HM, it seems I have to do some sort of vent shroud for the cpu cooler. As the exhaust from the radiator is overheating the HDDs above it.
 
Still rocking my FT05 and loving it. I replaced the two 180 fans with two Noctua 140 PWM fans. The 140s actually end up in better positions for cooling, one is directly under the CPU and the other is directly under my GPU.
 
Great case but cable management, lack of rubber grommets, and lack of space on the back to route cables without bending the back panel were irritating.
 
Great case but cable management, lack of rubber grommets, and lack of space on the back to route cables without bending the back panel were irritating.

I hear that, I've become a bit of an expert at routing the cables in the back and making everything flat so the back panel closes flush.
 
So here it is. As opposed to the common plain cardboard box this comes in a shiny box.
View attachment 115656 View attachment 115657

So it is a case in the box after all. Finally I can rest easy. It wasn't a scam after all. Less than half of MSRP with VAT?!

View attachment 115658 View attachment 115659View attachment 115660

Barely visible logo on front, door taped for transport.

View attachment 115661 View attachment 115662

Removing the top reveals the "accessory box" Why even have a box for that tiny bag?

View attachment 115663 View attachment 115664 View attachment 115665

First look inside, everything seems to be in order. Unfortunately only two USB headers, at least this time they have an internal connector, not a simple extension cord to the IO panel.
View attachment 115666 View attachment 115667

The manual is printed on woven fiber paper, never seen anyone do that.
View attachment 115668

Removing the side panels was extremely difficult for the first time, I feared of breaking or bending something, but that's how you're supposed to remove it.
On the back side there are two places for 2.5 drives, and the tray for a slot-in optical drive. I've never even seen one of those, not that I used an optical drive in years.

View attachment 115669 View attachment 115670 View attachment 115671
Sound dampening material on the inside, believe it or not this is the first case I own that has that.
The other side is a jumble of cables, it will be nearly impossible to route those nicely I suspect.
They took the effort to tape down the door on the top, however the bottom dust filter which is only held on by magnets, was flailing around freely during transport, it was already out of place.

View attachment 115672 View attachment 115673 View attachment 115674

The two 180mm fans, familiar from the RV03, plus the 2x3.5 HDD cage. Of course 2x3.5 will not do. I'm not sure yet but somehow someway, I'll do some ghetto modding and add more 3.5 capacity.
View attachment 115675 View attachment 115676

If you have the HDD cage in there is limited clearance for the PSU, I'm not even sure mine will fit. Plus the Noctua NH-D15 might not fit in it either. I wasn't planning on using it, just noting this. The plan is to use AIO, and in the area where the air cooler would be put HDD cages.
View attachment 115677

Full gallery
Hi! I know is kinda old post, but, did you managed to put more 3.5" drives inside this case? I'm looking for building a workstation/NAS and was looking at this case. Would like to have 8*3.5" drives right on top of those bottom 180mm fans.

Please let me know if you did some mod to it. I wish I could find the FT02, but I can't find it here in my country and importing is too expensive. Thanks!
 
Hi! I know is kinda old post, but, did you managed to put more 3.5" drives inside this case? I'm looking for building a workstation/NAS and was looking at this case. Would like to have 8*3.5" drives right on top of those bottom 180mm fans.

Please let me know if you did some mod to it. I wish I could find the FT02, but I can't find it here in my country and importing is too expensive. Thanks!
You can see in my second post I managed to fit 6 drives. But the second drive cage is directly above the CPU so only water cooling is viable at that point. There is also one more 3.5 space behind the motherboard tray but I'd not use that for a NAS drive. Even a rarely used HDD gets 45-50C° there. You do a rebuild with a drive installed there it is guaranteed to overheat. The only way you can fit 8 drives I think if you don't have a full lenght gpu.
 
You can see in my second post I managed to fit 6 drives. But the second drive cage is directly above the CPU so only water cooling is viable at that point. There is also one more 3.5 space behind the motherboard tray but I'd not use that for a NAS drive. Even a rarely used HDD gets 45-50C° there. You do a rebuild with a drive installed there it is guaranteed to overheat. The only way you can fit 8 drives I think if you don't have a full lenght gpu.
I saw your build, but as you mentioned, it's water cooled. I'll be using air cooler. I will be using my Zotac 1080ti mini on it. Today I have an miniITX, but I pretend to upgrade to a ATX motherboard in the future trip support all 8 3.5 drives. Something to look like this mockup I did on photoshop. This is using their recently released ALTA F1 case. The case only supports 2 3.5" officially under that PSU cover, but that's what I have in mind to try with the FT05.

Those fans at the bottom of the ALTA F1 case are 3 140mm fans.
 

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I doubt the drives would clear the MB in that configuration. The factory drive bracket extends into the plane of the MB.
 
I doubt the drives would clear the MB in that configuration. The factory drive bracket extends into the plane of the MB.
Is the factory drive cage right next to the glass panel? A hard drive dimension is 147mm, add another 10mm for cables, let's say 160mm total. That's basically the height of the CPU cooler... damn, is hard because I can't simply order the case without returning it where I live, otherwise I would buy it and check it out by myself.
 
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