Gadgetory

well hello and welcome to the harbor Canucks product showcase in this episode we're gonna be taking a look at a case by silverstone the raven RV oh one the case features a unique design fashioned after the notorious stealth jets and it's this that really sets it apart from the other block style cases on the market the part of the Wow is what is claimed to be a revolutionary new design in chassis cooling completely flipping around the traditional idea behind air flow design like many of the Silverstone cases there is a rather large price tag attached where the case promises to be worth every penny the raven certainly suits its description as a full tower which is 11 inches wide 24 inches tall and over 26 inches long weighing in at a hefty 33 pounds in a new approach to front panel doors the drive bays are hidden behind the sliding door which locks in position at the bottom and can easily be returned to the top in keeping with the style of the case the external front ports are also hidden by a clippable cover the ports are simple with only firewire audio and USB top also hosts the power and reset buttons on the windowed model the outside panel is a window centered over the motherboard tray and on the bottom styled vents to allow air into the power supply chamber the backside is a mirror of the front without the window on the basic Edition the front and back panels are both the simple black the raven is a bottom mounted power supply chassis and has an easy to remove and underneath the power supply area part of the unique design of the raven is a 90-degree rotation of the motherboard this transforms your typical back panel into more of a top panel at the back of the top is a locked and vented cover which allows access to the side panel release and the peripheral connectors the side panel removes easily and we're greeted by a nearly pure black interior that looks like nothing you've seen before the side panels are by no means flimsy and lack scented with plastic bits the solid construction is sure to keep the interior noise well dampened the vents at the bottom are well shored up with a dense metal mesh allowing only the finest of dust particles to sneak through as we meander on to the interior the bottom of the case is home to the power supply providing ample room for any sized unit while still being able to stow cables there is also a second dust filter near the front of the case which can easily be removed for cleaning at the top of the chamber that separates the power supply and the other components are 280 millimeter fans these are crucial to the Ravens airflow and positive pressure design these fans been in a quiet 700 rpm producing only 18 decibels there are six hard drive bays featuring easy load rack system and five ROM bays sporting a tool list design across the motherboard area we see this strange metal bar held down by two thumb screws which begs the question what is it and how does it work the motherboard tray is definitely one of the more confusing aspects of this already perplexing case it supports any TX ATX EA TX SS CB and SS EDD all of which have been rotated to accommodate the new design and if you don't know what the last two form factors are and don't worry you're not alone you will also notice that on the motherboard tray there are four holes near the top and the bottom of where the motherboard would sit this is for cables running up the back of the tray and out to the front there are also four clamp type things which are used to keep the cables tidy in the back as a part of the Ravens revolutionary new cooling silverstone has brought science and a little bit of common sense to the airflow designer following the basic law of thermodynamics they flip the motherboard on a 90 degree angle so that fresh air from the two massive bottom fans will pass up over the components and exit up the top harnessing the natural occurrence of heat rising theoretically with the board rotated at this angle the cool air passes over the warmest parts of the system equally whereas with the traditional orientation there would be air passing over the video card and then or the CPU in theory this design should be incredibly efficient as much of the Ravens attraction is attributed to the airflow and cooling wiring as a critical aspect of the case silverstone has really done a great job in covering all the angles when it comes to cleaning up the clutter the bottom has more than enough room to fit a rat's nest of cables and with the motherboard flip most of the connectors such as the 24 pin ATX sit close enough to the bottom of the tray that they remain relatively inconspicuous most of the other connections can be run up the back and out through spaces here at the top on the back the cable clips help to keep wires organized and there's a good amount of space when putting the side panel to allow for fairly thick wire clusters installation of the wrong drives is a completely tool-less and surprisingly sturdy operation merely inserting the drive and clicking the lock into place the hard drive bay uses a simple rack style adapter for fitting the hard drives in securely this allows for better airflow from the fan underneath and also allows users to utilize the Silverstone hot swappable adapter the case comes standard with a single adapter in the first Bay but others can be purchased separately and added in for the other drives the drive slide and easy and can be removed just as quickly and so after everything is installed we finally see the purpose of the bar across the front of the motherboard tray the tabs at the end are intended to secure some of the rather hefty video cards found in today's system and prevent them for the negative effects of gravity the tabs have soft rubber feet so they won't damage the components and lock into place and keep things snug lastly we look at the water cooling capabilities of the Raven and taking the rather jagged piece of plastic off the rear there's a surprisingly flat area of metal on which to comfortably attach up to a triple radiator and as is becoming the standard with most cases there are two two poles to easily accommodate 1/2 inch tubing Silverstone includes custom mounting brackets so as to pull the radiator away from the back of the case and encourage healthy air flow and as we put it all back together a final question is answered with all the peripheral connectors hooked up the vent cover for the top panel fits on just fine even with the thicker DVI cable there was no trickery or extreme bends necessary while they may not have read in read into the wheel silverstone has made some tremendous advancements in the world of cases and cooling the design of the raven is definitely a love it or hate it style but there is no denying that the features and planning that have been packed into this chassis set a new precedent for other enclosures our full written review at triple W Carver canucks com takes an in-depth look at some of the features of the raven including the performance of the redesigned cooling thanks for watching this episode of the hardware connects product showcase