Silverstone Raven RVZ01 Mini-ITX Case Review

One of the issues with small cases is that to get everything installed you must first remove almost everything from the case.  Likewise you need to be extremely careful about how you reinstall things.  To install the video card in the RVZ01 you must first remove the graphic card support bracket which holds the PCI Express riser card and majority of the drives in the Raven.

With the support bracket removed you can see where the PSU needs to be placed and how little room you have to run cables.  You will also notice the extension cable for the PSU that runs from the back of the case around the front of the chassis to connect inside the PSU cage.

To give a sense of scale we used a Gigabyte Z77N-Wifi motherboard which is not only extremely small but comes with a plethora of onboard features.  (e.g. a good choice for a case like this)

Speaking of power supply the Raven RVZ01 requires that you use a SFX PSU.  The SFX form factor is basically a standard ATX PSU that has been shrunk down and offers less wattage.  To give you an idea as to the size difference we have a Silverstone Strider Gold next to a Silverstone SFX Series 450w.  Both are 80 plus Gold rated and fully modular making them perfect builder PSUs and where the similarities stop.

Of course a 1200w PSU is designed to drive high end systems using multiple graphics cards and a variety of hard drives.  That sort of thing is unnecessary in the small form factor world and is one reason why SFX may become a standard design for systems of the future.

Our SFX PSU is a 450w unit that supports a single graphics card utilizing an 8pin and 6pin PCI power connectors.  The cables are shorter than normal power leads making them good for smaller cases.  The assumption here is that these power supplies will be used in SFF situations but can be installed into a standard case using the included SFX to ATX adaptor.