Let's Get Vertical - SilverStone Raven RV02
SilverStone's Raven RV01 made waves amongst DIY enthusiasts for being one of the first to come out with a 90-degree vertically-mounted casing in the market. Now, they are following that up with the Raven RV02, which SilverStone says is smaller yet better. We investigate further to reveal the truth.
Vertically Challenged
Traditionally and even today, motherboards are mounted onto casings in such a way that its rear I/O ports are always located at the back of the casing. However, when SilverStone released the Raven RV01, they decided instead that the motherboard should be mounted vertically with the rear I/O ports facing skyward. Needless to say, this caused quite a lot of debate amongst DIY enthusiasts.
But they are not doing so just for the sake being different. As dictated by the laws of mother nature, hot air rises. To facilitate the expulsion of warm air, the SilverStone RV01 has a cleverly placed exhaust fan at the top of the casing. To help speed things up further, intake fans at the bottom suck in cool air. Therefore, mounting the motherboard vertically actually makes sense, since it's actually working in tandem with mother nature to get warm air out of the system. This is as opposed to traditional casings, where the intake and exhaust fans are located laterally.
The new SilverStone Raven RV02 follows in the footstep of its predecessor and continues the vertical-mounting tradition. This time, however, SilverStone said they have improved upon its design by making it smaller and lighter, and have also added some additional features. Naturally, we had to check it out for ourselves.
This is the SilverStone Raven RV02 and it's discernibly smaller than its predecessor. That doesn't mean it's small though, it'll easily swallow lesser casings.
Dark & Sinister - Exterior
Based on first impressions, the new SilverStone Raven RV02 is markedly smaller than its gigantic sibling - the RV01 - and this was confirmed by the specification sheet. The Raven RV02's height and width is roughly about 80% that of the original RV01's. But at 64cm, the depth of the casing is still excessive, making the Raven RV02 look as if it has been stretched.
Elsewhere, the Raven RV02 is a hodgepodge of sharp lines, vents, reinforced plastic and steel. Coupled with its flat black finishing, the Raven RV02 looks exceptionally sinister, much like its namesake.
In spite of the Raven RV02's sizable mass, it was rather light. This is because most of the chassis is made using reinforced plastic, which feels solid and does not have that cheap plastic feel that you might get from lesser casings. The parts which are made of steel, however, such as the side panels, are really sturdy and weighty, giving a sense of solidity. All in all, the Raven RV02 is well-built and we really dig its devilish, menacing looks.
Up front, there's space for five 5.25-inch drive bays. And if you are willing to forgo the internal 3.5-inch drive cage, you can have up to eight 5.25-inch drives.
The rear is usually where all the action is, but the Raven RV02 is a vertically-mounted casing remember? So all we have here is the vent for the PSU.
SilverStone has conveniently provided an easy to remove filter for the PSU vent.
Resting the Raven RV02 on its side, this is its bottom. We can clearly see the vents for the three intake fans. To help facilitate the fans, the Raven RV02 is propped up by four stands with rubber feet.
A closer look at the rubber feet. In between the stands are the water-cooling grommets. It's a bit odd for the water-cooling grommets to be located here, since it's a fair distance away from the motherboard.
Dark & Sinister - Exterior (contd.)
Moving to the top panel, we find two USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and the power and reset buttons. The design of the top vents is also very ominous, which suits the flat black color scheme of the Raven RV02.
Removing the top cover reveals the top exhaust fan as well as the expansion slots. The PSU slot is right towards the rear of the casing, and yes, it is vertically mounted as well.
This is the 120mm exhaust fan that is located at the top of the casing. Beside it are the fan speed selectors which control the intake fans. Oddly, the exhaust fan doesn't have its own fan speed selector.
The three intake fans at the bottom each have their own fan speed selector. But there are only two modes, "high" or "low". Better than nothing, we guess.
Deviant Insides - Interior
Peering inside the SilverStone Raven RV02, we were greeted by the same flat back color scheme that adorns the Raven RV02's exterior. Shifting our attention downwards, it's hard not to notice the three colossal 180mm fans that line the bottom of the casing. These fans work alongside the smaller 120mm exhaust fan that is positioned at the top of the casing to expel warm air out of the system.
And if you didn't know about the Raven RV02's unique motherboard mounting position, you'll think that the motherboard tray has been placed the wrong way. For those who skipped the introduction of this review, the motherboard tray is positioned as such because the motherboard is meant to be vertically-mounted, that is with its rear I/O ports facing upwards. We recommend reading the introduction of this article to get a better understanding of the reason behind such a design.
Moving on, despite the large size of the Raven RV02, its internals aren't as large as you'd think it'll be. This is because much of the real estate in the casing is taken up by the three massive fans. But fortunately, the fans do a good job of keeping the systems cool. Powering the Raven RV02, we were welcomed by a cool breeze at the top of the case as the exhaust fan spun wildly. It was really windy, so it seems then that the principle behind the Raven RV02 works - air really does get expelled faster in a vertical layout as such. Also, despite the size of the fans on the Raven RV02, they were amazingly quiet under operation, even when we increased the speeds of the large intake fans from "low" to "high".
The SilverStone Raven RV02 in its full naked glory. The casing might be huge, but much of the space is occupied by the huge intake fans at the bottom.
The reverse side of the motherboard tray has an opening for easy swapping of CPU cooler. Note also the SSD tray to the right.
You can attach an optional SSD tray to the side of the 5.25-inch drive bays for a single SSD.
The drive cage has space for only three 3.5-inch hard drives. To fit the drives into the cage, you'll need to turn some screws. Note that the mounting holes come with rubber grommets installed.
The drive cage goes beneath the 5.25-inch drive bays. If you are willing to sacrifice the drive cage, you can have up to eight 5.25-inch drives. Although it's hard to see why anyone would want to do that.
A closer look at the three 180mm intake fans. Each has its own filter for easy cleaning.
This is the 3-pin connector that powers the fan. You'll need four system fan headers to get all the fans in the Raven RV02 spinning. Not many motherboards might have that many spare fan headers so be ready to spend some dollars on 3-pin to 4-pin Molex power converters.
Deviant Insides - Interior (contd.)
As we proceeded to install the motherboard, PSU and graphics card components, we noticed some flaws with the Raven RV02. First of all, installing the casing was a bit of a hassle. In traditional casings, the PSU would normally have a dedicated rack, making it easy to install. But in the Raven RV02, because the PSU has to be vertically mounted, installing it required us to rotate and position the Raven RV02 numerous times. And this is no easy task considering the casing's significant bulk. Furthermore, high-powered PSUs are often of appreciable size as well, and we don't like the fact that the PSU is left sort of dangling from the top of the casing with nothing more than the top screws and a PSU strap securing it in place. A small PSU placeholder was provided as well, but it really didn't help much.
We also didn't like that the fans have to be powered by multiple 3-pin power connectors instead of a single daisy-chained 4-pin Molex connector. This means that to get all the fans on Raven RV02 going, the motherboard must have four fan power headers (besides the CPU header), and that is an issue to even some high-end motherboards which lack that many connections. This means some of the users would need to spend a few more bucks to purchase a 3-pin to 4-pin Molex power converters to fully utilize the casing's potential.
This is what it looks like inside the Raven RV02 after we've installed all the components. Despite the large fans taking up much space, the Raven RV02 will easily swallow a Radeon HD 3870 X2 card. There's much space for neat freaks who want to tie and stuff the power connectors away.
Installing the PSU was a drag. Because of it has to be vertically mounted, there was no PSU tray and therefore we had to turn and rotate the casing around numerous times to ensure a good fit. SilverStone also recommends tying a strap around the PSU to the casing to prevent it from swaying about during operation.
The Raven RV02 has eight expansion slots, which means you'll be able to fit three dual-slot graphics card.
Yet another issue we found was that the top casing cover would have difficulties closing if any of the ports were to use any adaptors or a cable with an ill-sized ferrite core. There goes the neat and clean look if you get stuck with this issue.
Here's a look at the top side of the Raven RV02 with all the ports exposed.
Remember the top panel that covers all the ports? If you are using an adapter like this, the top panel won't fit....
... See, it won't fit!
Unique, but not without Drawbacks
There's no doubt that the SilverStone Raven RV02 is unique amongst similarly priced competitors. From our experience with the Raven RV02, mounting the motherboard vertically does seem to work for good airflow ventilation as the top panel felt really breezy. But as we've also seen, there are some drawbacks. Installation was pretty troublesome - specifically the PSU - and we didn't like that you needed four system fan headers to power the Raven RV02's fans. Should you need any adaptors on your motherboard's rear I/O panel, you probably may not be able to close the top casing cover any more, which kind of spoils the design.
Fortunately, the Raven RV02 does have a couple of things going for it. For starters, and perhaps most importantly, the cooling principle behind the Raven RV02 seems to work. By working together with the natural flow of warm air, it felt as if the Raven RV02 was expelling warm air much quicker than traditional casings. Also, the way air is drawn into the casing, via intake fans, at the bottom, means that, over time, your system internals would be probably cleaner so long as you keep the area at the bottom of the casing clean. This is further aided by the fan filters that SilverStone has conveniently provided. This is a nice and easy maintenance touch by the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer.
The SilverStone Raven RV02 is unique with its vertical-mounting approach, but it has its share of flaws.
The Raven RV02 will go on sale locally for S$249, and that puts it squarely in the sights of the similarly priced Cooler Master Storm Sniper and HAF 932 - both of which we've previously reviewed. To be honest, it really depends on your individual preference. Are you going to stick with the tried and tested method? Or do you want something out of the ordinary? The Raven RV02 works, but it is not without its imperfections. And if you can see past them and would like a radically different casing for your system, the Raven RV02 is worth a shot.
** Updated on 17th August 2009 **
We just received word from SilverStone that the Raven RV02 was supposed to come with a 3-pin to 4-pin Molex fan adapter cable that would have allowed the three intake fans to be powered by a single Molex power connector. It seems that our review unit did not come with this cable, leading us to believe that you needed to connect the fan's 3-pin power connectors to headers on the motherboard or purchase an adapter.
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