Any Issues with Silverstone Fortress FT02

[ChuckR]

This is what I am now thinking of for the build. I am concerned the horizontal CPU Cooler on the vertical motherboard may cause stress on the top screws and the board.

Thoughts: Cool, Quiet, Clean, GOOD Monitor as some eye problems MidTower as it will sit on Desk. Clean as I live in Las Vegas.
Silverstone Fortress FT02
Seasonic X-750(SS-750KM Active PFC)
Scythe S-Flex SFF21E 1200rpm fans
Intel Core I7 930
Xigmatek Dark Knight
ASUS P6X58D Premium
Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600 KHX1600C9D3K6/12GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB or
WD Caviar Black 500GB with
Kingston SNVP325-S2/128GB
Sapphire 5850(Vapor-X)
Samsung SH-M523A DVD/CD Combo(2)
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Items still up in the air.
Dell UltraSharp U2410 Rev. 2 or
HP ZR24W

 

[CurseTheSky]

It's a solid case, but it does have a few quirks (what case doesn't?):

- Though it's listed as a mid tower, the overall volume is more like a full tower. Think of it like turning your average full tower on it's front panel; it won't be as tall, and it's still just as wide, but it's VERY DEEP.
- Though the unibody piece is thick aluminum, everything else is steel. The black version looks very nice with it's painted interior, but if you insist on all aluminum you will be disappointed. Consequently, the case is heavy.
- The top 5.25" bay cannot hold a long CD / DVD / Blu-ray drive. I had one shorter DVD burner that fit fine, but my longer Blu-ray doesn't fit. I use the bottom slot instead.
- You cannot use super-long graphics cards in the case. IIRC, an HD 5970 will fit as long as you remove one of the 180mm fan guards, but anything longer (a custom HD 5970? GTX 480? GTX 490 / 495?) may not fit. Currently that shouldn't be a problem, but if you sometimes buy the absolute fastest card on the market, be warned. An HD 5850 / 5870 / GTX 285 won't be a problem.
- The top cover limits the overall height of the connectors you use. You CANNOT use a VGA cable with a DVI adapter and close the cover. Regular DVI / VGA / HDMI / USB / etc. connectors work just fine, and the cables are organized very nicely.
- The front panel connectors only consist of USB 2.0 and audio jacks. E-SATA or USB 3.0 would have been nice.

Overall, I love this case. It's a big of an odd duck, but it's functionality far surpasses it's quirks. The stock 180mm fans do an excellent job of keeping things cool, and on low they're very quiet. The HDD cages do a great job of keeping hard drive noise down, and the cable organization really keeps things uncluttered. I also found this case much easier to work with than my previous P182; routing cables was fairly easy, and there's tons of room to work in it.

I recommend it.

 

[ChuckR]

Any issues with Cooler/Motherboard? If this is that heavy than I may have to put it on a carpet under the desk. Suggestions! With the external limitations How will the P6X58D Premium do in this case?
Thanks

 

[Anubis]

FWIW ive been using cases that totally invert the mobo for years (silverstone is just a 90 degree change) I have had no issues using larger heavy heatsinks

 

[zagood]

Dark Knight isn't a light cooler by any means (660g), but it's also nothing close to the Prolimatech Megahalems (790g) or the Noctua NH-D14 (1240g!). There aren't any specific issues with motherboard orientation vs. cooler weight - if you're worried about it though, you can always add some bailing wire for stability.

 

[ChuckR]

Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

 

[ChuckR]

Do the fans in the FT02 connect to the P6X58D so they are controllable from Software?
The Fans in the Antec P183 do not.

FORGET THIS. I re-read the PureOverclock review and it answered this.

How would the ASUS P6X58D Premium with the Dark Knight work? Would there be access to the USB 3.0 and Sata 6.0 connections as well as the USB 2.0?

 

[vine]

It is a great case (and yes very large). The only niggles I have with it is:

-compared to the P180/182 the case does a lousy job of hiding hdd noise. In my old P180 I could barely hear my WD Raptor seeks, in the Fortress they are shockingly loud and even amplified by the case due to the poor rubber grommets in the cages. I'm going to pull the cage sleds out and try and suspend my drives. Might as well replace the Raptor with an SSD.

-it's a lot more roomy to work in than a P180/182 but you will not have nearly the same sound insulation. Especially with the fans and PSU pointing straight up.

-routing the cables in the side of the case is great, but be careful how many you track through there or it is very hard to get the side on.

-just disconnect the ide/power leds from the front. They are very bright and the power led annoyingly flashes when the pc is in standby.

 

[nitromullet]

- You cannot use super-long graphics cards in the case. IIRC, an HD 5970 will fit as long as you remove one of the 180mm fan guards, but anything longer (a custom HD 5970? GTX 480? GTX 490 / 495?) may not fit. Currently that shouldn't be a problem, but if you sometimes buy the absolute fastest card on the market, be warned. An HD 5850 / 5870 / GTX 285 won't be a problem.

Apparently, people are getting FT02's equipped with SilverStone's AP-181 fans now when ordering from higher volume e-tailers (Amazon, Newegg). It seems that SilverStone silently upgraded to these fans, and the originally equipped ones are slowly disappearing from retail.

 

[mv2devnull]

Wasn't there first a special FT-02 (red?) with AP-181's? AP-181 vs FN-181.

This is about 90-deg rotation and heat-pipes. Should it be served with a grain of salt?


No matter whether the motherboard is 0, 90. or 180 degrees, it still is vertical and CPU cooler will hang on its side. Towers more than flat ones. Only in desktop cases does the mobo lay at bottom and HSF sit on top of it.

Incidentally, a typical image from a component review shows the board on table (without case). And the heat-pipes of a regular GPU end up just the wayt that Expreview article recommends against. Hmmm.

 

[nitromullet]

Wasn't there first a special FT-02 (red?) with AP-181's? AP-181 vs FN-181.

Yeah, the FT02B-WRI. It was a limited edition, only sold at Newegg in the US IIRC, and all sold out now. I was saying that just regular FT02s are now shipping with AP-181s according to guys getting them from Newegg and Amazon on [H].

 

[Petey!]

Yeah since maybe a month ago all new stock from Silverstone be it RV02 or FT02 ships with AP181s. The Black with windows are all but guaranteed to have them since they move the most, then the black without windows, the silvers are a bit of a gamble as they move very slowly.

I have a P6X58D-E in mine, which is essentially the exact same mobo minus a ethernet port. Works just fine, access to everything.

Case is honestly awesome. I picked up some 1 screw 1/2" cable clamps from performancepcs to make cable managing easier and it made it a breeze.

The DVD issues are usually the only thing I find people ever had a problem with, and it's not usually to big of a deal.