Silverstone Raven RVZ01 Mini-ITX Case Review

One of the biggest hurdles when building a small form factor machine is the case.  For far too long enthusiasts have avoided building Mini-ITX systems due to the lack luster case selection that either forced us to use toaster style cases or revert to a larger desktop case.  The end result was a system that was larger than it needed to be or contained mismatched hardware.  There were exceptions like the Silverstone Sugo SG08 but even that case was quite tall given that the video card was positioned vertically.

In this review we looked at a case which refined the SFF case standards and finally gave enthusiasts a proper case to build a Mini-ITX system in.  Much like with previous Raven designs the Raven RVZ01 supports positive air pressure cooling and is compatible with AIO watercoolers.  For those looking to build a compact Steam Machine the RVZ01 also supports discrete graphics cards up to 13 inches in length and offers direct cooling of those cards with two 120mm fan positions.  While this may sound like any other case on the market the Raven RVZ01 does this with a case that is only four inches thick.

We spent a few weeks prior to this review using the RVZ01 and were please to see that the low profile 120mm fans actually do well at keeping the case vented.  Overall they weren’t much louder than a video card or OEM heatsink and moved the right amount of air.  For simplicity during our testing we ran an OEM heatsink on our Core i7 3770k and noticed average system temperatures typical of those found in much larger tower cases.

This may be difficult for a high-end hardware enthusiast to admit but Mini-ITX motherboards serve a purpose in the enthusiast world and their potential has been largely unrealized due to lack luster case designs.  The Raven RVZ01 changes all of that by not only providing a viable small form factor case but also resolving the classic problem of aftermarket cooling in a small system. 

Small Form Factor (14 Big Slam Pepsi Bottles)
SFX Power Supply
Video Card Support up to 13 inches
Only Four Inches Thick
Positive Air Pressure Design

Cooling fans are not PWM controlled
Not much room for cable management
Watercooling is configuration dependent