Gadgetory

this video was brought to you by NCI X great technology selections and service hello everyone we get another Raven chassis from Silverstone that looks the part of the Raven with those accentuated angles and that armored feel that the series has always carried so this is the Raven 5 priced at $115 omits our companion that Silverstone is really proud of with much reduced volume compared to the first Raven yet with the same rotated monitor design to complement the cooling and I'm going to say this up front the Ravens 5 is not meant to do everything well and it sure doesn't but instead it's a chassis that's not afraid to be unique and those who can keep the limitations in mind are bound to avoid disappointment and actually encounter satisfying results now the exterior plastics are just plain plastics nothing rubberized here and it brings the cheap feeling to the case the side window is one of the things they have always misplaced as it reveals unnecessary internals and the window on our sample wasn't fully secured and rattled with slight knock or vibration on the case at the rear we get ventilation for your power supply notice missing filter but no worries is actually included in the accessory pouch and is magnetic so just simply attach to the case and remove for cleaning is needed the raven 5 is well elevated with rubberized case feet and notice the large dust filter spanning the entire floor that's conveniently removed from the front behind which we get the stars of the show these are dual 180 millimeter air penetrators with outstanding CFM and directional airflow although they are a little bit loud and since hot air rises the Raven series has always utilized this one directional airflow tunnel for outstanding thermals and take at the bottom and exhaust at the top very simple there are mounting holes for triple 120 member fans in case you'd want to install a water cooler but we would advise against as the sole reasoning behind this impressive cooling are those air penetrators coming to the top we find a removable cover with large ventilation but no dust filter here pyaare buttons at the front plus behind this rubber cover are a pair of USB ports and audio jacks there are two fan control switches up top for low and high speed auto placement of these is uncomfortable exterior location would make more sense this is an ATX mid tower with only seven PCI slots and an exhaust fan mount Alto with internal mounting only as the frame restricts clearance anything above it given the rotated motherboard design over the cable will exit through the top and route it behind the chassis and while this design allows outstanding cooling bear in mind the uncomfortable nature of needing to take off the top cover every time you need to access your rear i/o slot or the top I use locks and this space also adds about two and a half inches to the height of the chassis making it taller but also notice these handles for really simple transportation each side panel removes up with this release mechanism and then you just pull upwards but the side panels are really stiff inside the housing so simple pull will not get the job done at least on our sample I had to take off the rear panel off-camera with the case on the floor so I really would prefer simple thumb screws for the job and so this is the layout where sort of used to with front intake fans and silverstone has gone ahead and rotated the motherboard 90 degrees to take advantage of rising hot air the internals are low cramped considering it's only 61 liters in volume and also notice how the rear slightly elevated for this angled lock I actually like that now there are a few compromises here like the power supply must not exceed 170 millimeters in length if you still want to utilize the three and a half inch drive gauge that is right below it the cage does support two drives and I'm surprised this wasn't made to us as there are mounting holes up top and below the cage to secure your drive which is very inconvenient the cage is removable that would allow longer power supplies but this gets rid of any three and a half inch storage potential so choose appropriate power supply for your build in order to avoid this sort of compromise as for GPU clearance there is just over 12 inches available and that would say blower style GPUs are just slightly more ideal to compliment airflow direction and the refined to SSD mounts with enough spacing for connectivity an optical drive mount is the Raven five actually has a stealth opening in the front so those still using discs are not forgotten and checking out the build with appropriate hardware the Ravens five was actually pretty straight forward to working with our 160 millimeter power supply cabling exits through the large opening right beside it plus there's another cutout for the large 24 pin cable and I use this space also for the PCI Express cables and that's one thing to keep in mind route your graphics cables away from the GPU cooler side and also make sure they don't obstruct air flow for the CPU cooler either I didn't have to pre route the a pin CPU cable right behind the motherboard before installation but that's not really a big deal and while it's not the easiest cable management round you'll be fine with some patience CPU towers up to 160 millimeters in height are supported and going with some Noctua heat sinks is probably the ideal configuration here to take advantage of this excellent air tunnel and it's when we come around to the back things get a little more hectic as there is nowhere to really tuck your cables and this is where silverstone needs to get back to the drawing board as you can see the cables are a little bit out of control and I had trouble closing the side panel now coming back to that window as you can see it could be less revealing at the bottom and move slightly up for a better presentation of your hardware and what we have here with the Raven 5 is an absolute cooling powerhouse with just two fans thanks to the rotating motherboard design I found working with in limited space surprisingly without too much hassle and I appreciate easy removal dust filters at the rear and the bottom now I've mentioned it earlier the Raven isn't designed to do it all but I feel like the drive cage could have been different to allow longer power supplies to be installed regardless as that is the compromise you have to face the exterior plastics I wish for coated with something that presents a more quality feel and the fan controllers are internal so not as accessible as they could have been and I would like to see top dust filter as the dust settles in when the machine is powered off and this Raven is not entirely unique as it is a fifth iteration within the series but it invite minimalistic air-cooled builds where thermals are priority and it's only when considering the multitude of cases in this price bracket the raven flies away into the abyss with too many compromises and limitations for the price but what do you guys think of this latest Raven does it excite you because this form and internal layout or it's just old news and just another Raven let us know by commenting below we'd love to hear what you think don't forget to subscribe for more similar content the enter Lux is coming soon and we'll see you in the next one