SilverStone RV01 Raven Case Review

CONCLUSION

in⋅no⋅vate: to introduce something new; make changes in anything established.

We are not going to list our lists of likes or dislike of the Raven as they are mainly judgment calls, which as we warned you in the beginning are calls only you can make. We personally do not like the looks of this case, but we do respect it. Hopefully by this time you should have a very clear idea of whether or not this first generation case is right for you. What we are going to do list is what we consider to be incontestable facts to summarize the good, the bad and yes even the ugly for you.

This case looks, feels and even acts like what it actually is: the first generation of a very innovative idea. There is no arguing the “Stack Effect” setup does indeed work, because numbers do not lie and what they have told us is that this is one remarkable setup. Heck this setup will allow users to achieve an instant lowering of temperatures when switching to the Raven.

While cooling is the upside to Silverstone's innovative idea, the down side is one that has plagued new ideas since the first pre-human discovered fire: no one ever gets everything perfect on the first try. This is one heck of a first try but just as the original Wright brothers' craft was full of quirks and annoyances so too is the RV01 Raven full of these areas in need of refinement. The first and most obvious of these annoyances is the use, or in as some may argue the overuse, of plastic. This case is for all intents and purposes a normal case which has been modified by Silverstone and they slathered in cheap plastic. Let’s not get into a debate on the merits of plastic versus steel versus aluminum. Rather the only issue we are going to point out is this: when you spend as much as you will for the Raven, don’t you think a bit more metal should be used? This is not an inexpensive case yet for many the somewhat gaudy façade of plastic will cheapen it in their eyes. Aesthetics are not the end all and be all of enclosure design but in many instances they will sour the deal long before a person gets to know how capable a product is. Such is the situation which the Raven finds itself in.

By flipping the motherboard on its side, the designers of the Raven have created one major fault with this case: the long distance your your SATA, ATA, and heck any cables need to travel. You can forget about using those nice and short 12inch cables which came with your motherboard. You can even forget about those 18 inch ones you brought in to give you some extra cabling room, and you can certainly forget about most ATA ribbon cables fitting. You will need extra long SATA cables for the Raven, unless you enjoy seeing a mess of cables making beelines through your case. The down side to not being neat with you cabling is all those air blockages do add up and this case is going to be ultra sensitive to this. Without a doubt, this is one product that really needs a clean, obstruction free path from the fans at the bottom to the exhaust ports at the top to function properly.

By this point you have to be wondering who this case IS designed for.. It may not be ready for the masses but then again it was never designed nor intended to be. This is a niche market case, and just like a Hummer gets really crappy gas mileage or a Ferrari has no storage room or even like a Mini-Cooper has no leg room in the back seats, this case has taken any and all niceties and creature comforts and sacrificed them to the gods of Efficiency and Performance.

If you are a hard core gamer, running multiple GPUs, the Raven will be a good fit for you. If you do not want to get into water cooling this is the most efficient case on the market when it comes to air based cooling. If you are a Silent PC aficionado who hates GPU fan noise, yet loathes having to rely on underpowered or aftermarket solutions this may be the case for you. Heck, if you prefer passive GPU cards yet don’t want them to stew in their own juices, this may be the case for you. If you want a case which is different than all the rest, this is the case for you. If you just want a conversation piece or bragging rights this is the perfect case for you. Heck, even if you just want to achieve awe inspiring air based overclocks this case will certainly help you in your pursuit of happiness. If you like living on the bleeding edge of technology and want to be the “Joneses” which everyone else needs to keep up with, this is the case for you. There you have it.

In the end the Silverstone Raven is a product which will not appeal to everyone, however this is not necessarily a bad thing since it certainly is not some bland beige box. At the beginning of this review we mocked SilverStone for having the temerity to call this an “Extreme Enthusiast Chassis” but we were wrong, this really is an extremely good air based cooling case for many an enthusiast; and if a case ever deserved the title Extreme Enthusiast Chassis, this may be it. For this and the fact that its innovative twist on an ordinary case layout actually works, we here at HWC award this case the Dam Innovative award…now if they would only come out with an all aluminum version which has all the bugs worked out of it.


Pros:

- Great cooling potential
- Innovative layout
- Distinctive styling
- Sliding front door with auto close
- Hot Swap Bay included


Cons:

- Only 1 Hot Swap Bay included
- Only 2 USB ports on front, no e-SATA
- Not a tool-less installation process (except for 5.25 bays)
- VGA to DVI adapters can not be used
- Extreme Chassis deserve extreme accessories (Only two cable ties???)
- Looks not for everyone (or even most people)
- Way too much plastic
- Price
- First Generation of a good idea but w/ 1st Gen quirks