SilverStone Raven RV04 - A Flight of Fancy?
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Page 2 of 5 - Exterior Design
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Exterior Design
Exterior Design
The immediate exterior of the Raven RV04 is made from reinforced plastic while its main body is made from steel. The color of the case is matte black and sports a concave facade, in the form of a hinged front cover. Although the front cover appears simple, the company has paid attention to the little details of the cover. There is a fastening magnet , which is hidden behind the plastic panel, located at the bottom of the chassis. This allows the hinged cover to latch somewhat securely to the chassis.
The cover opens to reveal two external facing 5.25-inch drive bays, together with a pair of its bundled 180mm front intake cooling fans. There is a fine mesh dust filter located in front of the fans to reduce internal dust accumulation. Their operations are controlled by a pair of switches that are found below the last 5.25-inch drive bay.
One of the fan control switches is seen below. It is a three-speed control switch and the other switch is located to its left.
The top plastic cover of the chassis features a rather intricate design, with an embossed pattern that resembles the barbs of a bird’s feather. The ventilation holes are meant for the intake fan of the power supply unit that will be mounted at the top. Near the front, there are two buttons; one for power and the other is the reset button. With the cover open, the actual buttons are revealed beneath.
Next, we move to the side panel of the chassis where there is a large clear acrylic window. The casing's I/O ports are located at this side as well. They consist of two USB 3.0 ports, together with audio and microphone ports. Some may balk at the lack of easily accessible USB ports; these days several casings offer four USB ports. However, this minimalist approach is in-line with the Raven series. The Raven RV02 has two USB 2.0 ports too, on top of the same audio ports. Perhaps it's time that Silverstone revised their design code to appeal to its customers and today's heavily USB-focussed peripheral connectivity?
Moving to the rear of the RV04, we can see that the power supply unit (PSU) will be mounted at the top. There is an option to mount a rear 120mm outlet fan. Other notable mentions are support for eight expansion slots and a removable dust filter at the top panel.
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There are no dust filters at the bottom; instead, we were greeted by the rubber padded feet of the chassis, and numerous options for securing screws. These can be used to secure 3.5-inch drive enclosures, or a pair of 2.5-inch drives. We will see these options in detail in the latter sections of the article.
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