Hands-on: Silverstone Bucks Own Trend with Raven RV-01 Case

Nathan Edwards — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:45:53 -0600

Silverstone is normally known for sleek brushed metal enclosures like its flagship TJ10, but today at CES we got a first look at a case that marks a departure from that norm. The Silverstone Raven RV01 looks more like a stealth bomber than anything - it's all black plastic and strange, radar-baffling angles. But fear not, true believers: it's as fully featured as we expect from a high-end Silverstone enclosure.

The first thing we noticed about the Raven is that it takes the standard ATX motherboard placement and turns it on its side: the mounts are rotated 90 degrees, so the I/O ports and what you normally think of as the backplate is on the top of the case. They say this offers improved airflow. Removable panels on the front, back, and all sides mean you can hide those backplate cables and route them to the back, so everything still looks smooth.

Cables and ports come out the top of the case . . .

. . . but a top shroud keeps the clutter hidden and routes them neatly to the back.

All intake vents are have removable filters to keep debris and dust out of your machine. Holes for cable routing are everywhere, and the back of the mobo tray has plenty of routing clamps. Add in screwless drive bays and support for an adapter (one included) that lets you hot-swap your SATA drives, and it's clear Silverstone didn't skimp on the features.

Look for our full review of the Raven in an upcoming issue of Maximum PC!

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Hands-on: Silverstone Bucks Own Trend with Raven RV-01 Case