Silverstone ft01 review: Silverstone Fortress FT01: Positive Pressure Case

11 апреля, 2023

Silverstone Fortress FT01 | bit-tech.net

Silverstone Fortress FT01

Manufacturer:Silverstone
UK Price (as reviewed):£152.69 (inc. VAT) With windowed side panel
US Price (as reviewed):$199.98 (exc. Tax)

Silverstone, and its TJ07 premium aluminium chassis especially, has achieved something of a cult status within our community over the last few years thanks to the TJ07’s elegant design and excellent build quality. It used a unique uni-body construction where the majority of the case’s chassis is made from a single piece of curved aluminium.

It’s also proved itself a hit among those with watercooling set ups, with excellent provisioning for multiple radiator set ups, a high end feature that we’ve since seen creep into many other manufacturers’ designs.

However, Silverstone’s cases aren’t exactly known for being affordable, which is where this new model, the FT01 comes in. Built using the same uni-body construction as the TJ07, but in a smaller size and with some of the higher end features cut to keep the price down, could Silverstone have another massive hit on its hands? Let’s find out.

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Exterior

The uni-body construction method is immediately obvious when you look at the FT01 – the front, roof and base of the case are all part of the same 6mm thick piece of aluminium, which has been perfectly machined to give the FT01 a similar external appearance to the TJ07, with curved edges and a gorgeously styled front fascia.

This construction method, while by no means cheap, brings a wonderful feeling of toughness to the FT01 and the case is absolutely rock solid thanks to it. The feel of the aluminium also exudes class – it just draws your hands to it and is wonderfully smooth.

And who wouldn’t want to put their hands on something so utterly gorgeous? The FT01, has inherited its big sister’s looks and is just as stunning as the TJ07. Those smooth clean lines and the wonderfully uncluttered exterior really do make the FT01 one of the best looking cases we’ve ever reviewed.

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However, the FT01 isn’t just about looking good and Silverstone has cut three 180mm grilled fan mounts into the uni-body aluminium chassis to make it as cool as it is stylish, with one in the roof, one in the front fascia , and another in the base for cooling the CPU, hard disks and PSU respectively. Again the build quality here is impeccable and the mesh used to cover the blow holes is very sturdy and looks very much in line with the rest of the design.

Drive bay wise, the FT01 has five 5.25” drive bays, all of which come with matt aluminium blanking plates removed by undoing two screws inside the case. However, because they’ve only been secured by one screw on either side, they can be a little bit wonky, and you’ll need to adjust them to get the gaps between them uniform.

The gaps between the blanking plates are roughly 1mm high and while Silverstone claims they allow for improved airflow, we suspect it’s more a by product of the manufacturing process than a design decision to improve cooling – the amount of airflow through such small gaps is going to be pretty minimal.

1 — Silverstone Fortress FT012 — Insides and Outs3 — More Insides4 — Testing and Results5 — Results Analysis and Final Thoughts

SilverStone FT01 Mid-Tower – Techgage

Silence and power. These two words have come to define current trends in PC building. A few short years ago, this was a fantasy. Now, it has become the mantra that is heard over and over again. I can’t count the amount of times I have been asked how to get both attributes into a serious full powered PC.

In steps SilverStone once again. With a long track record of high-end power-house parts, they have been heeding our calls. The price of admission may be higher than many others, but the old saying of “you get what you pay for” has never been truer. Ask any premium builder about it and most will quickly agree and even more will recommend SilverStone.

Keeping that overclocked Quad-Core cool used to be quite the challenge and more often than not it was only possible with high CFM fans and a case full of them to boot. Thankfully, that has changed. Large low and efficient fans that are smartly placed have come to the rescue. Let’s see just how well the Fortress has been designed for such a task.

Closer Look

Diving in head first, let’s take a look at the factory specifications straight from SilverStone’s product page. One thing to take notice is that there are two color choices and you can also get it with a window as well.

    • SST-FT01B (Black)
    • SST-FT01S (Silver)
    • SST-FT01B (Black + Window)
    • SST-FT01S (Silver + Window)
  • Material: 3.0mm ~ 6.0mm uni-body aluminum outer-frame and aluminum body
  • Motherboard: ATX, mATX
  • Drive Bays: External: 5.25″ x 5, Internal: 3.5″ x 7

Once out of the box, it was immediately apparent that this was not a run-of-the-mill chassis. The brushed-aluminum finish along with heavy grills screamed quality. Even the molded plastic front/top/bottom one piece bezel felt rich and well made. Just below the bottom 5 ¼ expansion bay is the power button. Below that are LED’s for system power and HDD activity.

The I/O panel is well-placed in the top front. I really like the fact that it is situated at almost a 90 degree angle making it easier to plug things in especially in a desk with tight quarters (like mine). Another feature that is woefully lacking in many current chassis’ is a reset switch and SilverStone was nice enough to include it up here as well.

Our first look at the windowed side panel shows how well it is fitted and the spacing is perfect. The window itself is very-well made.

With a pull of the quick release lever shown in the upper-left-hand corner of this photo, the side panel pops off. You can use either a small padlock or the included thumb screw to keep the lever in the locked position keeping the panel firmly in place. The mechanism was easy and effortless to use and works very well.

With the side panel off, we can start to really take in the attention to detail that was put in. Personally, I love the fact that the inside is painted. Another excellent feature is the fact they put protective grills on the fans.

The front 180mm fan also has a washable filter that is easily removed by sliding it out. The 7 hard drive bays are kept nice and cool as well since the air is pushed through the cage as it enters the case. Notice the tool-less locks for the 5 ¼ bays as well. They are basically a large rocker switch that firmly captures your CD/DVD drive once engaged.

A quick push of the tab and the front of the hard drive holder swings out unlocking it from the cage. All that is left to do to remove your drive is to remove the wiring from the backside and slide it out. There is a cool feature for installing hot swap interfaces on all 7 bays. There is one included and more can be purchased cheaply enough.

The plastic hard drive caddy is well built and holds the drive securely. There are rubber grommets and special screws to help isolate vibrations. Installation takes seconds and securing it into the chassis is just as quick.

The final shot of the inside shows us the mounting area of the power supply. The power supply can be mounted to draw fresh cool air in through the floor of the case through a fixed filter. The filter itself is quite large and is ready for the largest PSU.

The backside of the motherboard tray reveals that there was no skimping on attention to detail. Many companies leave this area stark as they must feel it is unseen and no one cares. Not only is it finished like the rest of the chassis, there is not a sharp edge to be found anywhere. I spent 45 minutes looking for a single sharp finger-biter and can say this is the first time I was unable to do so.

Next is a close up of the hot-swap bracket supplied. While the normal user has no need for this feature, it sure makes installing your HD easy and clean. I found extra brackets available for $9.99 CAD at the time of release of this article.

With the close look out of the way, let’s move right into installation, testing and my final thoughts.

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prequel. Case overview SilverStone FT01

  • Introduction
  • Packing and contents
  • Appearance and design
  • Internal structure
  • Test bench
  • Assembly features
  • Chassis cooling system
  • Toolkit
  • Test Method
  • Test results
  • Conclusion
  • Specifications SilverStone FT01
  • Additional photos

Not so long ago, the SilverStone FT02 case visited our laboratory. This is quite an interesting product. It combines a classic exterior with an innovative internal layout that rotates the motherboard 90° with the I/O panel facing up. Traditionally for SilverStone, the case got its name from the name of the series it belongs to — Fortress. Very few, I must say. In addition to FT02, only one more case belongs to it. Yes, you guessed it, it has the first index. nine0031

Introduced at the end of 2008, the FT01 is still the flagship of the «mid tower» line in the SilverStone product line. It is the review of the first Fortress that is offered to the attention of overclockers.ru readers today.

Let’s start, as always, with the packaging and delivery of the case.

recommendations

The hero of today’s test comes in a solid size (360 mm (W) x 660 mm (H) x 600 mm (D)) in a cardboard box. Its considerable width is especially surprising, because the FT01 itself is far from the most “well-fed” case. nine0031

The role of the handles on the box is designed to play the standard cutouts on the sides. Such handles tend to break at the most inopportune moment. In order to avoid such excesses, in the case of the FT01 packaging, they are additionally reinforced from the inside — with a gross weight of the case of just under 12 kilograms, this is very important.

Glossy box in dark colours. With information content, as usual with SilverStone, there is complete order. On both large sides of the box there are images of the case from different angles, including the view from the inside. The main features of the FT01 are marked throughout. Including on one of the sidewalls — and in Russian. And on the opposite side, there are intelligible technical characteristics of the product. nine0031

Inside the case is standardly clamped on both sides with foam clamps (surprisingly, not very crumbling) and additionally packed in polyethylene.

A set of accessories, which the manufacturer saw fit to supply SilverStone FT01, is located right there — a small box with them is hidden in one of the cutouts in the foam.

Found there:

  • Installation instructions. Also multilingual, our «great and mighty» is present. nine0004
  • «Tee» for connecting case fans to a standard four-pin power supply connector.
  • Cable tie bag. Along with the typical disposable, there are also reusable Velcro.
  • Pair of bags with computer fasteners. All the main types of screws and racks are here with a good margin. Only specific «hard drive» screws — exactly 28 (four for seven hard drives).

SilverStone FT01 is supplied without power supply. nine0031

The appearance of the hero of today’s test can be described as seasoned, classic. The case looks strict, but not too boring. For me, that’s just the thing.

The FT01 is only slightly larger than a typical «medium tower» at 211mm (W) x 486mm (H) x 495mm (D). But the mass is more than decent (for a middle tower, again) — about 8.7 kg.

Traditionally SilverStone has two body color options – black and silver. And each of them can be equipped with a window. We got a black FT01 with solid sidewalls for testing:

The front panel of the housing is clearly divided into two halves. The top one is occupied by five plugs for 5.25” devices. They are aluminum, with a characteristic texture under the «stainless steel». Now it’s clear where such stubs came from in FT02.

By the way, there they were a little different from the general «matte» style of the case. But in the FT01, the texture of the five-inch plugs matches the side walls. This «more uniform» combination of materials looks much better. nine0031

The case under test does not allow bringing a 3.5” device to the front panel using regular means. Of course, there is a corresponding adapter in the SilverStone assortment. But, of course, you will have to fork out for it separately (almost $30 in Moscow, by the way).

The «separator strip» between the two zones on the front panel housed the system indicators and the power button. Yes, that’s right, two LEDs are enclosed in one rectangle: the whole of it is occupied by a bright blue, tied to power, and a small red, responsible for the activity of hard drives, is hidden in the center. nine0031

The lower half of the front panel is occupied by a mesh ventilation grille. It looks quite interesting, and in its center, slightly «recessed», is the manufacturer’s logo. By the way, very well made (its texture is visible in the enlarged photo):