Final Thoughts

Lately, Silverstone's high-end cases seem to be falling short considering of questionable design decisions. Concluding year'southward Fortress FT04 delivered some of the best GPU cooling we've seen just its CPU thermals were average due to the placement of its 3.5" drive cage, which is mounted long ways rather than sideways, making it difficult to install 3.5" drives in addition to wasting a lot of infinite. Had Silverstone non made that mistake, the FT04 would accept likely been our favorite case of 2022.

Unfortunately, the company hadn't come up up with a more sensible solution in fourth dimension for the Raven RV05, which sticks its iii.5" drive cage directly nether the power supply bracket causing huge compatibility problems that forced u.s.a. to remove all 3.five" drive back up and then we could fit a 175mm long PSU. This will be a problem for anyone with a power supply that stretches 160mm or longer and that probably includes more models than you lot'd hope, though Silverstone itself offers some compatible solutions.

The good news is that the Fortress FT05 delivers the same unbeatable performance as the Raven RV05 and it can handle all the same hardware despite being 30% smaller, which turns out to exist ane of the FT05'southward biggest improvements over the RV05. For such a large case, the RV05 has limited hardware support allowing for 2 3.v" drives (and but if y'all used a pocket-size enough PSU) along with 2 2.five" drives. Silverstone has addressed the RV05'due south wasted space with the more efficient FT05.

Motherboard support besides as maximum GPU length, PSU length and CPU cooler pinnacle all remain exactly the same in the FT05 while its more than meaty design makes it better suited for many gamers as information technology'due south more portable regardless of beingness heavier. Although we feel that the FT05 is a better instance than the RV05, information technology's still difficult to piece of work with considering of its cramped design, while pricing becomes a consideration as the former is around 50% more expensive than the latter at $200.

For what information technology's worth, the extra money does buy a more elegant case that is nearly void of plastic whereas the RV05 uses a ton. In that location'due south as well the realization that fifty-fifty if $200 is a significant premium over the Raven, it isn't an outrageous price for a loftier-performance enclosure that offered some of our best cooling results (albeit with less hardware installed than most cases). If you're subsequently a sleek, compact, quiet enthusiast chassis, there are certainly worse choices than the Fortress FT05.

Pros: The Fortress FT05 has enough going for information technology to justify its premium over the Raven RV05 if you're subsequently a like design with calmer aesthetics, a more infinite-efficient layout and fantastic cooling.

Cons: The FT05 is more awkward to piece of work with than most similarly priced enclosures, offers weaker support for storage drives and ability supplies, and costs ~fifty% more the comparable RV05.