Sponsored by: SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.
Review category: Cases
Manufacturer info: More info
The SilverStone Raven RV03 Case is yet another uniquely designed product. There's plenty of drive bays, lots of fans, black interior, window on side panel, dust filters, tool-less design and more. This is not your traditional full tower case!
I have been checking out a few of your articles and i can state nice stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your blog.
Hey another great review..
Im looking at getting this case and have a question I currently use a PNY liquid cooled GTX580 (requires a 120mm fan slot) I also have an Antec Kuhlur 920 ready to go in the case as well( again needing 120mm fan slot)
I see there is space on the rear of the case but what I am wondering in your vast knowledge is The 2nd unit I put in will require the pump/radiator to be install on the roof of the tower replacing the existing fan Do you know if this would cause problems for the Cooling Unit ?
Thanks in advance
Yes I understand that but the 2 cooling systems require the fans to be used as an exhaust (1 in a push/pull config)and the R3 uses the bottom fans as intake. and from what I can see there is not sufficient room for 2 x 120mm fans and rads on the rear of the case... Also still wondering about the position of the radiator and it being in any of the 4 possible positions:
| standard
_ bottom
¬ roof
┌ upside down.
Just wondering if they pose any problems in the different positions or is it just a matter of being less effective ?
Thank you for the feed back anyway :-)
you can remove the bottom 180mm fan to put one of the 120mm rads there or jut install it al the back 120mm fan slot XD
Hi,
Love your reviews and they are a good source of information.
Here is the thing up until this moment I have been user low class cases
and with the kit I have now I'm looking at getting a case that will do it justice.
My Problem is I have a Antec Kuhlur 920 and a PNY liquid cooled 580 GTX.(currently only using the GFX card)
These both require a 120mm fan slot so technically this case can meet my requirements but it would mean that one of the water cooling Rad's would be attached to the roof. In your experience does this cause any problems for ALC's ?
Thanks again and keep going
Could anyone take a picture or video with the front light at the power button.. want to see how bright the red and white is..
Because this case is really awesome and i want to have a blue color theme in it, i have decided to color the champagne color lines blue, and i don't want it to be totally destryoed by the red light. So i want to know how bright it is ? can someone take a video or picture plz..
Anyway nice review like always!
im looking for dust 'free' case what would be they better option a RV02-EW or this one, im leaning towards the Raven RV03 because im using the USB 3.0 slots a lot a that a pain taking the top panel off each time...but i think the RV03 is less dust free or am i wrong ?
They're both pretty much equally dust free. They have the same fan setup by default and dust filters covering the bottom fans and PSU ventilation. Because of the positive pressure inside of the case air will passively leave through the other open holes preventing passive dust build up. The RV03 is better if you think you might install larger E-ATX motherboards since the RV02-e doesn't support them, and the RV03 also has USB 3.0. The only advantage of the RV02-e is that it can fit longer power supplies. This isn't an issue really since you can still fit an Antec High Current Pro 1200W (which is the most solidly built desktop PSU available in the US) into the RV03.
Does the case support a 240mm rad on the 5,25 drive bays
The RV01 looks better. That is still my favourite case.
Quick question, what is the led color for the led next to the power button? I have heard it was red and read from another review that it was blue so I just want to confirm the spec. Thanks and good review.
The power LED is a white colour, while the HDD access LED is red.
Hey :)
Very nice and informative reviews!
I would like to know how how mac's get cooled down and how their fans get their air. I would like to understand their cooling system.
Regards,
Valentin N
you didn't press the power and reset button =p
I guess it's nice to have such case under ur table (when all the cables are going up from the top)
that front USB3 method is very very retarded...
hey 3dgamerdude do you mind throwing a motherboard and a gpu in the cases you review just to show how things look and fit? No wiring or anything fancy just for reference.
Someone asked for a picture of the case with stuff installed - I posted a couple of pictures of mine when I first got it here - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18274849
Absolutely love the case and really liked your review. Although I may never be brave enough to never put the lid on by thumping it quite like you did it's nice to know it'll survive if I do! :)
GREAT Review!!But I have a question:)Raven RV03 or RV02 E, I need case with great air cooling:)???
Thanks
RV02 for me.
So Raven RV02 E cool better than the Raven RV03?
And why its just kickass??
Thanks for replay.
I love the magnet filters :D
Hi what about the issue with the pins breaking as described by Hardwaresecrets and other forums? Do you or anyone of you have a take on that From Hardwaresecrets.:...
Thanks for the reply Gabriel.
On the HardForum message board, I just learned this from a recent RV03 customer:
"Well, I just bought and setup my own RV03 (No pics yet, coming), and I tell you what that's really my main gripe. I have already broken 2 tabs, one from the top cover, and the ther from one of the "Fan Holders" on the front of the case. The plastic is somewhat thick, but it's def brittle if you get a tab in a bind it will snap off.
Having said this, I simply love the design of this case. It works really well once put together. My advice is if you buy one, to take your time, slow down, get plenty of room when you start taking it apart, in addition on the top cover make sure you do not pull up in such a way you catch 1 tab in a bind by pulling up on just one end, try to keep something of an even pressure and don't yank it off. I have already contacted silverstone, they are going to replace my top cover I hope (They asked me for an invoice copy, after I sent that too them I haven't heard a response that it's going to happen), I haven't contacted them about the tab on that front fan holder where it connects to the HDD cage. I might try doing that tonight, ugh leave it to me to break stuff /facepalm"
Seems like quite a pain, to have to treat this case as a fragile piece of plateware, or else tabs are going to snap off everywhere. Seems to be an issue beyond the 10 they sent out as sample units I would think.
Mysticode is offline Reply With Quote
Must have something to do with this issue:
"The top panel of the Raven RV03 can be seen in Figure 10. The top lid is made of plastic, and you have to remove it to access the motherboard rear panel. Here lies the major problem we found with the Raven RV03. SilverStone used a sub-standard plastic on this lid; the plastic is too thin and looks cheap. The pegs that hold this lid to the top panel broke the first time we removed the lid. SilverStone explained to us that they sent us a pre-production sample that, in fact, had this problem (of which they were aware), and that they fixed this problem on the models that are currently being sold."
Sorry to hear about the issues. There is more plastic on this case then previous ones. I get that "more-plastic" feel to this case over the previous ones.
Maybe the model that I reviewed was a later version, because the top panel didn't seem to have sub-standard plastic. And I removed/installed it 10-20 times during the review.
I'd be interested to know if even customers are having any problems with this though.
Nice case, just wondering if those 180mm fans at the bottom can be replaced with 2 120mm or 140mm fans, wich would be great for a water cooling set up :)
Hi there,
Do you happen to have any comment about the issue described by Hardwaresecrets and detailed by Mysticcode.
The top-piece issuse is my main concern for this case... So it would be nice to hear your take or the take on the general forum.
Maybe the model that I reviewed was a later version, because the top panel didn't seem to have sub-standard plastic. And I removed/installed it 10-20 times during the review.
I'd be interested to know if customers are having any problems with this though.
Two of my top cover's posts have already broken in the first few days of use :\
Thanks a lot I'm new here so didn't spot toposting no need to post twice... (oops sorry) If other have had actual experience then do give sound - Otherwise that's just perfect.
Hi Rodney,
Great Review!
Please could you confirm if it is true that power supplies of a size like the Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX1200 are too large to fit this case?
Thanks,
Ted.
Intel Core i7 950 @ 4.2GHz - Nocuta NH-D14 ~ NF-P12 - ASUS Rampage III Extreme - Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800 7-8-7-20 1600MHz - 2 x Zotac GTX 580 AMP SLI - Corsair AX 1200 - Antec 1200 V2 (6 x Antec 120mm Fans, 1 x Antec 200mm Fan, 5 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 RPM) - 1 x Corsair CORSAIR SSD-F120GB - 3 x Corsair CORSAIR SSD-F60GB RAID-0 - 1 x LG External USB Lightscribe DVD+/-/RW - nVidia Surround Technology @ 3150 x 1680 - 3 x Dell E228WFP
I can confirm that the AX 1200 will fit in the case. It is a tight fit, sure. But it does fit. I have the case and the AX 1200 myself.
Hi,
Thank you for letting me know. Do you have any images of the AX 1200 fitted in the case?
Not at the moment, but I can take some tonight.
Max PSU Length is 180mm.
That is a shame as the AX1200 is 200mm long!
Yea, but you get some amazing PSUs these days that are 180mm long.
There are some other great PSU's but I think that currently the AX1200 is the only 100% modular, Gold Certified PSU that also has 2 x 8-pin MB ATX connectors for use with the ASUS Extreme motherboard series.
Your review showed that this case could be excellent at air cooling if you add the extra fans and for that reason I would really like one. But not at the cost of having to replace my AX1200 PSU!
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comments.
this is what i have been looking for but then it was upside down :(
Announcing the video's really made an impact if I look at the votes. Great change. Gives a reason for the doubters to come and visit. Now they have a reason if it is an interesting product or not. I like the case review very much something I definitely want to buy personally. If only the design was a little better.
Thanks for announcing the review, this case is awsome btw!
could you post some photos of what it looks like with a full setup inside the case?, I just want to get a fair idea of what it looks like with the i/o things on top
does this thing come with an option for mounting a 360mm radiator internally?
I think this case needs work in the fan noise, even at low settings, because the fans are not that quiet; however, the fans can be replaceable.
Alright now this is what I am talking about. Using youtube as a means to provide greater service to your audience (posting that new reviews are out) while still monetizing. Now I can still view your reviews while they are fresh and new but not have to add another site to my list of sites I check. This was such a great idea I was willing to make an account.
Wow... I'm blushing with so many compliments :) Thx
SilverStone makes some of the most bad ass cases :D
The announcement videos are an awesome idea. I like being notified without having to check back every once in a while. This is an awesome looking case. I love the motherboard orientation on these. My next build is most definitely going in one. As always, awesome review!
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