Silverstone RV03 Raven 3 Case Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Conclusion
The Silverstone Raven3 is a perfect example of what can happen when you refine a good idea into a great one. Previous Raven designs held on to many traditional case features and had to be considerably larger as a result. The Raven 3 breaks this trend to create a much more compact design that can not only support longer video cards but also better cooling and even more drives.
Stacked Effect Cooling is the primary driving force behind the unique Raven design and by rotating the motherboard 90 degrees you get better cooling for your expansion cards, less card stress from the heavy heatsinks and a natural convection of heat as it simply rises to the top. Of course if the two 180mm Air Penetrator fans are not enough you can knock out the drive bay covers and install four additional 120mm fans and multiply total airflow and pressure.
Case construction is typical for Silverstone and extremely solid. The chassis is constructed from 0.8mm steel with reinforced plastic top and front panels. In terms of modifications there isn't much you can do to this case that hasn't already been accommodated. For those of us that are not fans of a factory side window there is a factory option for that. The Raven 3 featured in this review comes with the elegant grey stripes over the standard champagne coloring. Of course these trim panels are removable allowing you to paint them any color you want.
DIY watercooling can be a challenge with the Raven 3 however if you mount the radiator vertical inside the case and position your pump and res assembly in the lower drive bays you can get away without any major dremel mods. Your next option would be to use the back panel and externally mount your radiator and res. The pump assembly would still need to be in the same location but interior space would no longer be a factor.
Stacked Effect Cooling is the primary driving force behind the unique Raven design and by rotating the motherboard 90 degrees you get better cooling for your expansion cards, less card stress from the heavy heatsinks and a natural convection of heat as it simply rises to the top. Of course if the two 180mm Air Penetrator fans are not enough you can knock out the drive bay covers and install four additional 120mm fans and multiply total airflow and pressure.
Case construction is typical for Silverstone and extremely solid. The chassis is constructed from 0.8mm steel with reinforced plastic top and front panels. In terms of modifications there isn't much you can do to this case that hasn't already been accommodated. For those of us that are not fans of a factory side window there is a factory option for that. The Raven 3 featured in this review comes with the elegant grey stripes over the standard champagne coloring. Of course these trim panels are removable allowing you to paint them any color you want.
DIY watercooling can be a challenge with the Raven 3 however if you mount the radiator vertical inside the case and position your pump and res assembly in the lower drive bays you can get away without any major dremel mods. Your next option would be to use the back panel and externally mount your radiator and res. The pump assembly would still need to be in the same location but interior space would no longer be a factor.
Good Things
Excellent cooling
Stacked effect cooling design
Available with and without windows
Solid construction
Dual speed fans and control switches
Vented Bay Covers
Smaller than Raven 2
Stacked effect cooling design
Available with and without windows
Solid construction
Dual speed fans and control switches
Vented Bay Covers
Smaller than Raven 2
Bad Things
Hard drive cage(s) difficult to remove
Ninjalane Rating
Silverstone RV03 Raven 3 Case Review
Furious 5 of 5
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