SilverStone Raven RV05 Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on December 24, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- Case
SilverStone Raven RV05 Exterior
Much like the previous models of the Raven series, the RV05 sports a very aggressive appearance, with numerous sharp angles and long lines. It is less extravagant than most of the previous Raven models but it definitely is not a case for everyone. Most of its body is made out of plastic, with the metal parts reduced to just the core of the chassis and the side panels. It is much more compact than the previous models of the series and no larger than a typical Midi-ATX tower, while it weighs 7.75kg.
The Coke can is there for size comparison, if you're wondering.
There are no external 5.25" bays on the Raven RV05, but SilverStone does offer a solution for an optical drive, albeit an expensive one. An opening to the right side of the face panel gives access to a slim slot-loading optical drive (not included). In their attempt to blend the opening in the design as much as possible, there is no eject button either.
The power and reset buttons can be found along the top of the faceplate, one on either side of the front I/O ports. SilverStone installed two USB 3.0 ports and two 3.5" audio jacks (headphones, microphone), which are beneath a rubber cover. The rubber cover is functional as far as keeping the dust out goes, but it hardly is practical at all. It needs to come off and stay off completely each time the user needs to attach any cable. We suspect that many users will just put it in a drawer (and eventually lose it).
All of the air intake is at the bottom of the case, which is why the small case has such tall feet. SilverStone installed a single, large washable filter there, removable towards the front of the case. This is the only filter pre-installed on the Raven RV05 and cleaning it should be a very easy and quick task for any user. There is another opening at the rear of the case, but that is for the PSU fan intake only.
The top of the case is perhaps the most important part of the Raven RV05. Beneath the plastic cover, we see a spacious area for routing cables, the expansion slot cover, and a 120mm fan opening. Device cables (USB, monitor, LAN, etc.) and the power cable enter this area from the opening at the rear of the case. There is no fan installed but SilverStone does provide an extra filter if you feel like installing one as intake. Latches hold the side panels in place and simply pressing on them is enough to remove a side panel; there are no screws involved. From this area, the user can also access the basic fan controllers of the case, two switches behind the I/O ports that offer three fan speed settings (High, Medium, and Low).
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Blaid - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
Thanks for posting a review of a unique case on Christmas Eve. A nice read for those of us sitting at help desks nation wide.Tikcus9666 - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
+1Flunk - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
That's rough, I used to have to do that. Take heart, at some point you'll not be the entry-level help desk guy any more and you won't have to work Christmas Eve.gopher1369 - Thursday, December 25, 2014 - link
I personally can't wait until I'm 3rd line support and am on call 24/7 including Christmas Day, that will be a huge improvement!lavaheadache - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
gotta love that you used a GTX 295 in the build. An oldie but a goodieromrunning - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
"With the exception of the RV04, which does not share the 90° design, the cases of the Raven series were somewhat bulky and excessively long – features that did not make them very popular among users."The RVZ01 Raven is a mini-ITX case - perhaps you can review that one as it definitely isn't bulky or excessively long.
wiz329 - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
Glad to see a new case review, it's been awhile!lorribot - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
Bottom up cooling is a sensible way to go, however current motherboard ATX and mATX siz and shape limits things, ITX would be a better way to go but you are limited by number of graphics cards they extra cost of the MoBos themselves (why do we still pay more for less?), perhaps this is why Apple design their own MoBos and why they can do things like the the Mac Pro.SHuttle used to do thier own MoBos in their cases, I am sure they would be a market for an inovative case manufacturer or boutique PC company (or even Alienware with Dell backing) to come up with a truly unique design with a nonstandard mobo.
Or a mobo manufacturer to come up with split MoBo (say CPU/RAM and PCI-x/SATA/USB) that could be used in more inovative case designs.
It just needs someone with some vision and who can think out of the box.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
Sadly, long-term reliability of Shuttle cases was highly suspect in my experience. I reviewed probably a dozen or so of their SFFs in the 2004-2006 time frame, and nearly every one ended up dead within two years. Which isn't to say other companies were better with those early proprietary SFFs -- I think every option basically was questionable. Biostar, MSI, Shuttle, Foxconn... they all often failed within a year or two (sometimes even less). That was the problem with CPUs using so much power, and we've improved a lot since then plus manufacturing tends to be better. What's crazy is that our modern ITX designs aren't really any less expensive than the old proprietary stuff. :'(Zimeon - Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - link
What the hell is that coca-cola can doing in the picture? *sigh* But nice case review none the less.