SilverStone Fortress FT02 Mid Tower Case Review

Interior Impressions – Page 2


From a wiring perspective, there is unfortunately quite a rat’s nest of cables protruding from various openings in the case. Toward the front, we have a rainbow of header connections, as well as a Molex connector for the hot-swap adapter. The biggest mess unfortunately comes from the fans. Due to the fan controller on the top of the case, there are three conductors per fan leading to the top of the case as well as to the power connectors. It just seemed like there were red yellow and black wires all over the place. SilverStone did twist-tie much of it down, but we couldn’t help but wish they had sleeved them and routed them a little more tightly throughout the case. Those who are really obsessive about cable management will definitely want to spend some quality time cleaning up the fan wiring.

As you’ll see in greater detail shortly, there are several openings that allow power supply cabling to be run behind the motherboard tray.

The hard drive caddies in the FT02 are identical to those found in the FT01. They are unfortunately plastic, which is not good from a thermal perspective, but thanks to their very close proximity to the massive 180mm intake fan, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The hard drive caddies themselves use rubber grommets and special screws to reduce hard drive vibration and noise. As mentioned earlier, a 2.5inch adapter is also available so that solid state drives and other small hard drives can be used with the caddies.

We should make note that removable hard drive trays were not included as part of the Raven RV02 case and are a very welcome addition to the FT02.

SilverStone’s nifty 5.25 inch drive locks are also a feature we were happy to see maintained in the FT02. They make optical drive installation a total snap – no pun intended. Simply push upward to unlock, insert drive, push down and you’re done. No more messing around with tiny screws is required!


On the opposite side of the case, we are greeted with a mess of fan cables – as expected – as well as some great cable management features to help keep things under control. Zip-tie friendly notches at the rear of the motherboard should make routing cables a clean affair. We’ll take a closer look at these features in the “Hardware Installation” section.


Behind the drive caddies, we find a single hotswap adapter installed. SilverStone includes only one CP05 hot-swap adapter with the FT02, but additional ones are available to purchase from most major retailers, including NCIX. Hard drives can be easily hooked up without them, but for proper hot-swap operation, they are required. The CP05 adapter has a pass-through Molex connector and not a SATA power adapter.


As you have probably already noticed, SilverStone has included noise-damping foam on the side panels and in select locations within the case. The foam is much more dense and feels “gummy” in comparison to what was found on the FT01. We’re not equipped to properly test the effectiveness of this foam, but it does make the panels feel heavier and dampens vibration in our highly complex suite of dampening tests – better known as tapping on the panel with a finger. Although it certainly doesn’t hurt, it is not nearly as effective as the triple layer panels found on the Antec P180 series enclosures.

Now that we’ve seen this case from every angle, let’s get some hardware into it!