SilverStone RV01 Raven Case Review

The gateway hole from the PSU zone to the motherboard zone is large and free of sharp edges. Unlike the other cut-outs this hole has not been rubberized or sleeved in any manner; rather, the metal edges themselves have been rolled upon themselves giving a worry free, buttery smooth edge. Sleeves and rubberizing compounds wear out after awhile, where as this is a permanent solution. We were very impressed to see this done as sleeves are a lot cheaper, and taking the time to roll the metal not only takes time but costs more as well. Bravo SilverStone for going that extra mile.


Moving on down and into the area in front of the power supply we come to the second filter we talked about earlier in this review when we went over the bottom of this case. This filter helps ensure those large 180mm fans have a constant supply of fresh air. Of course, if you have a back mounted fan PSU like the PCP&C 750W for example this feature should also allow your PSU suck in nice fresh air.


As you can see, in the pictures your PSU actually sits on two rubberized rails. These strips are for all intents and purposes vibration dampeners and help keep your PSU nice and quiet, though with modern PSU vibration noise is not as big a concern as it used to be. In any case it once again shows the time, effort, money and though which went into designing the Raven


Last but certainly not least on our list of internal components is the back of the motherboard area. This is one area which a lot of companies fail to take into account. Luckily, some manufacturers are listening to the neat freak and mod community and are actually giving us enough room to do most of out cabling back there. This case, we are happy to report, not only gives you a decent amount of room to work with but actually has gone the extra mile and included built-in cable holders. There are pros and cons to built in cable holders, the biggest of which is they never wear out (like glue stick on ones) yet they are not as customizable either.

When we talked about the other side of the motherboard area we mentioned SilverStone had included four of these strategically placed cable holders. All in all we think they should in theory cover a wide enough assortment of cable options to keep most buyers happy, assuming they are not blocked by the motherboard that is. On the positive side, we were impressed with the fact they were all sleeved in what appears to be form fitting heat shrink material.


One thing which becomes blatantly clear when looking at the back of the motherboard area is this case's motherboard zone appears to be a modified normal tray and not a completely new design. The dead giveaway which tells us Silverstone’s engineers preferred to just reengineer an existing design then start from scratch is the two large squareish indents in the tray which in a typical case would be where a backplate for an aftermarket cooler would reside. If this had been properly positioned it would have been a very nice feature as it would eliminate fears of shorting out your motherboard from the backplate touching the tray.


To be completely honest we are a bit ambivalent to the design and layout of the Raven, both the front and “other side” are well laid out with great assortment of features which should keep even the most discerning of buyers happy, but we wonder if all these features are usable.