SilverStone Fortress FT01 Mid-Tower Case Review

Installation


Lower PSU mounted cases are often very difficult to work with, but not the FT01. The PSU was very easy to install and was held in place very tightly and there is actually some foam under the motherboard tray bracket that holds it firmly in place.


At the other side of the case, most of the cables can be pulled through and hidden away. We found the empty hard drive cages to be a perfect spot to hide away extra leads even though our non-modular TX750 is definitely a tough PSU to work with in cramped cases. Although not perfect, the cable management in the FT01 is a huge improvement over the TJ09 and TJ10.


The header connections, SATA lead and the front 180mm fan lead all entered the case at the perfect height for connection to the motherboard. Extra slack was simply pulled back through the rubber grommets and tied up behind the hard drive cages.


Installing the hard drive is also very easy to do. The drive caddy fit the drive perfectly and there are special screws included for hard drive mounting. They are longer than regular case screws to allow spacing for the rubber washers which should help reduce vibration and noise from the drive. There are openings to allow some airflow through, but most of the drive’s perimeter is insulated.

Although it would have increased the cost of the case slightly, metal drive caddies would have been preferable. Once we had the drive installed in the caddy, it effortlessly slid into the drive cage and clicked into the CP05 hot-swap adapter.