Hardware First Look: SilverStone Raven RV01

Look into the Lian Li Tyr, due to the fact that there is nothing blocking the airflow in the mainboard / cpu / gpu area (everything else is stuffed away above / below) the fans can be incredibly slow while still providing enough cooling.

 

it looks crazy.

i like it.

 

i dont mind the looks, although i'd never have it in my room.

one thing i will say is that i doubt this will be the last 90degree case, nor will it be the best. the formfactor just makes sense thermally, particularly for sli set ups

 

Yeah, why only one? The hot-swap connector is for a SATA 3gbps HDD, but the power cable coming off it is Molex. I'm not entirely sure why - perhaps it's to link up with the Molex power for the front light (which doesn't show up very well in photography). But it does mean that if you use it, you have to connect the Molex cables for your modular PSU; a bit annoying if you've got a SATA optical drive just to avoid this problem.

Also, what happened to my hilarious pun of using Caw instead of Core? As in, Raven case-raven bird, caw-caaw, Core i7-Caw i7? No?

Hope Tim doesn't think I just can't spell!

 

I was tired yesterday, I'm sorry.

 

It's Clive who should be sorry for a pun like that.

 

it's in his name, not mine!

 

I really don't understand the lack of cable management on this case, especially on the outside.

A simply hinged door with a recess (to keep the design) with a hole top and bottom would make the back look so much tidier and would not be too much of an annoyance is the case needed moving.

I have a funny feeling that they simply designed this case to be different rather than actually to meet a target audience or even a aim (ie better cooling) of some sort.

 

I personally really like aggressive cases even though loads of people think there ugly. Like I do like the design features of this case, yet that comes after build quality, and features like cable management. I'd personally be really only using 1 HDD. 2 at the most, probably just get a Spinpoint F1 terabyte and leave it at that, dont really want full raid 0 style set ups.

Yet as stated, crappy cable management, the lack of vision in the side window is pretty crap, and for the materials used vs. price.. hm =\ not for me.

 

This case clearly has many different people involved in its design:

* Visually, it's beautiful.
* The plastic + steel may actually be ugly up close, and are inconsistent with the price.
* The 90 degree rotation is innovative both for heat management and port access.
* Many details of the design's functionality clearly were not fully thought through, and have major problems.
* Some design aspects suggest paying attention to the needs of its customer base (eg. rotated board), while others flatly ignore it.

In short, this case had the potential to be totally awesome, if it could stay edgy throughout its design & manufacturing process. But it looks like instead many features came out of a poorly run committee, probably placing the over all value at average for a case, with an extraordinary price tag.

I'm really curious about how the heat testing goes, and almost more curious about noise.

 

Thats to bad, I was hoping for a good review. I like serious black cases with a little "Hey something powerful is in here" look. Disappointing.

 

It's like someone at Silverstone saw Voodoo's last "Omen" and thought "Hey! We can do that cool mobo-rotating trick!" then somewhere along the way they decided to design the case to be the complete opposite of the sleek, understated Voodoo one to avoid drawing comparisons. But then they decided to use the name of a different Voodoo/HP product, the Blackbird! Haha, anyone know what happened to the Omen? It's no longer on Voodoo's website.

Does anyone absolutely hate when case manufacturers throw in plastic parts on to an otherwise alright looking case (not saying that the Raven is an otherwise alright looking case)? I can understand it on a case like Antec's P182/180 where the plastic helps keep things quiet but that is about it.

 

looks to me like this case has potential .. +1 for trying something different.. with any luck they'll do a revision of this model and it will fix all (or at least most) of the drawbacks!

 

Well, this was a dissapointment

I was rather looking forward to this case - even if it was only just for the rotated motherboard...

 

Just wanted to point out that the Raven is less than ideal for (what is usually) rear I/O port access. It does point them upwards, but covers them with a top panel.

To remove this panel, you have to unlock it with the two finger-friendly turny wheels at the rear of the case, and then you're presented with an ugly PC backpanel. You can just about see one of the turny wheels in the bottom-right photo of the first page. You could leave these always unscrewed if you wanted to pop the top off any time you wanted, but it'd be a hassle.

And with only two USB 2.0, one FireWire and the headset conenctions at the front, it does look like SilverStone expects you to have a USB hub on your desk (and yet another cable to dangle out the back of the case).

 

At that price - it should be made from aluminium, no room for discussion.

 

I absolutely love the design. First PC case in a long time to embrace form. Now if the had only made it from brushed aluminium and not put in that window I'd be very impressed. But all in all it's for once a PC case that doesn't look like the standard box without turning into that blue monstrosity dubai tower case in other news.

 

It looks like Megatron took a dump and Silverstone made a case out of it. Ugliest case ever.

 

not as bas as the lian-li hahahaha

 

I would credit SS with rotating the mobo 90 degrees, it's already done in the voodoo omen and bfg phobos, it's a first for a case manufacturer.

Oh my god, that so corny