SilverStone FT03: Nothing Else Like It
by Dustin Sklavos on April 28, 2011 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
Noise and Thermal Testing, GeForce GTX 580
To put some real stress on the SilverStone FT03, we've added the GeForce GTX 580. We don't expect most of you to be running a card like this, but it does help to put things in perspective and the cooler isn't overpoweringly loud like its predecessor was. If a case can handle the thermal load of a GTX 580, it should be able to handle more mainstream configurations without incident.
The GTX 580 radiates a lot of heat on its own, but due largely to the "wind tunnel" design of the FT03 it doesn't produce much in the way of collateral heat. Our i3-530 doesn't warm up that much as a result of the increased ambient temperature, and the chipset doesn't have to contend with helping drive the IGP so it breaks even. Only the memory shows signs of substantially increased ambient heat. The idle temperature of the GTX 580 is actually pretty impressive, but under load it rockets up to 89C. Keep in mind that's a worst case scenario we're testing with, though.
At this point the extra noise is attributable almost entirely to the GeForce GTX 580. It's definitely audible, and subjectively it does appear to drown out the existing fan noise. The FT03 is a great design but it seems to have some difficulty muffling video card noise.
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IlllI - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
why in the world would they decide to stick that ugly, plastic thing on the side?other than that it looks decent. i'd be willing to forgive the ugly plastic lid, but the thing on the side completely ruins the aesthetics
softdrinkviking - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
what're you talking about? the silverstone snowflake?Spoelie - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
no, check the gallery, third picturesoftdrinkviking - Monday, May 2, 2011 - link
oh man. i didn't see that.that is really strange; not my cup of coffee.
heffeque - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
He means the top grill.The tittle is "Nothing else like it", but seriously, the idea is extremely similar to this other casing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0NbGbZBPL0&t=4...
:-)
headbox - Friday, April 29, 2011 - link
I thought I was going to get RickRolled for a second there...Yes, even the best PC cases have NOTHING on Apple designs from more than a decade ago. The PowerMac G3 and G4 cases are still miles ahead of the "high-end" from Lian Li or others. And the PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro cases are just amazing. Hate on Apple all you want, but no one designs enclosures like they do.
Oh, unless you like alien eyes on the front.
bman212121 - Monday, May 2, 2011 - link
The G3 was interesting but I don't know if I would use that setup for a full sized build. It would probably work well for this scenario though using a mini ITX. (The mainboard is mounted to the side panel and when you open up the case you lay the board down and out of the case) With a smaller size having the board basically come out of the case to mount and work on makes it so much easier to add memory, an expansion card, or work on something else in the case. The outside of the G3 is all plastic and does still look good with it.The G5 is definitely one of the nicest looking cases, but I find it hard to work inside of. (it's a fairly large case too) The thermals are covered nicely in the PowerMac but it's a real pain to insert drives. The Intel Mac Pro has a better layout but I'd still change the inside around some. If anything the solid aluminum side panel is a blessing compared to most other cases.
tbutler - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
Yeah, from a easy-to-work-on standpoint, the G3/G4 design is probably the best I've ever seen. Unfortunately, towards the end of its run it started having cooling issues (remember the "Windtunnel" nickname?)The G5/MacPro case does much better on cooling; it's not as easy to work on as the G3/G4 case, but it's not bad. One thing that makes it gadget porn for me is the complete lack of cabling in the interior work area, and the near total lack of cabling at all; the only time I've ever had to mess with cabling at all was when I installed a second optical drive, and had to run a SATA cable down to the motherboard. That cable was a bit tricky to run and required disassembling more of the case than I'd like, but after that it wasn't bad. (I also had to hook up the second power lead to the optical bay, but that was pretty trivial.)
softdrinkviking - Monday, May 2, 2011 - link
no he doesn't. check the third pic, like spoelie saysRasterman - Thursday, April 28, 2011 - link
I agree, for $170 bucks, plastic is not allowed, it should be aluminum, or glass would be very cool.