# My review of the Silverstone Raven 2



## Polarman (Aug 29, 2009)

Yesterday, I received my new case. 

Behold… The Silverstone Raven 2. 

When the Purolator guy handed me the box, I was shocked at the sheer size of this thing. It was so huge that at first, I was scared this thing would not fit under my desk. I’m not kidding! Box size is 12 ¾ X 22 ¾ X 30 inches!!! 







Since it was a bit late for me to start tinkering with it, I put aside for this morning. Woke up a 7:00 and after my usual breakfast, I started my “case replacement”. This means taking my old case down in the basement where my workshop is and gutting the thing bare. That alone took a good while but the best part was yet to come.






Opening the Raven 2 is pretty straightforward, pop the top off and remove two retaining screw for each side panel. Look around to contemplate how neat looking it is and then get started. Joy oh joy! Please note that the following is for a mature audience. Just kidding! But on serious note, this is not your daddy’s case. You will need some advance skills to get this thing up and running unless you don’t give a squat about neatness. Be prepared to turn this thing around a lot when you assemble it. You might as well use a “Lazy Susan”. 

Setting up the PSU is weird because it’s facing up. I did not use the Velcro strap thingy but I did use the bottom retaining clip. The motherboard was easy to install also. The drives were a bit more complicated. My top two DVD’s once installed were only an inch away from the last slot making the connectors hard to get too. I had to unscrew them to be able to plug the wires. Another complication here is that the IDE cable that came with my board was not long enough to reach any of the top drives. Putting both DVD’s in the middle if the case would have looked pretty stupid. Looking around in my spare parts junk box, I was fortunate enough to find a longer IDE cable. Long enough that I could even hide it behind the case thus making it appear cleaner. I hit another roadblock when it was finally time to put my hard drive into that “drive cage”. I had to unscrew four screws to remove the drive cage only to find out that my motherboard is in the way. I had to slide it out from the front of the case. You have to install the hard drive sideways in the cage which was new and weird looking to me. When I put the cage back into its space, one of the screws fell and rolled underneath the fan. FFS! I lost like 15 minutes just trying to retrieve that damned screw. :shadedshu

Almost there, I just have the wiring to do now. I don’t know about you, but my Silencer 750 PSU has a shitload of wires sticking out of it. I took me ages trying to hide and conceal all those freaking wires behind the back panel. Modular cables would have made this job a cinch. Tie wraps to the rescue. Honestly, I would have preferred regular tie wraps to what they give with the case. I was happy putting the back panel and gaze upon my finished interior. Wow! Now let’s plug this baby up already. 






I made some cable cleanup behind my desk to accommodate this new case as well as a new hole to insert all the wire. The way my desk is made, I do not have a single wire on the floor making cleaning very easy and less dusty as well. The good part is that everything fired up just fine. I do find it a bit noisier than my older case because of the exhaust directly on top. The three bottom 180’s all have fan controllers but the top one doesn’t. I may insert a Zalman fan controller for that top fan.






Finally… The part everybody was waiting for. The temperature testing that all the other review sites fails to mention. That big question for this case: “Will my temps go down ?”

The answer is YES!  I made a controlled test under the same condition with my old Antec Titan 650 and this new Silverstone Raven 2 case.

Settings:

-	Phenom II 940 @ 3.0Ghz CPU (Stock)
-	MSI HD4890 Overclock Edition @ 880 GPU / 999 MEM (at idle, 240 GPU / 999 MEM. Fan was set to 50% manually)
-	3Dmark06 Firefly benchmark @ 1920X1200 (Ten times in a row)
-	BlackBox 1.1.6 was used to record temperatures. 

Here are the results:






The result speaks for themselves. Of course, I don’t keep the fan settings this high all the time. I put it at 50% just for testing purposes. I was very surprised at the CPU load temps. 10 degrees difference vs. the old case. With the video card on the side, no heat coming from it can affect the CPU.	That’s a big plus for keeping low temps.

Now I’m going to give a short list of like and dislikes about the Silverstone Raven 2.

What I liked:

-	Look of the case. All black plus a window! 
-	90 degree motherboard setup.
-	Right access panel is great in my book since the case is on my left.
-	Top USB/audio ports.
-	Roomy.
-	Impressive cooling.
-	Fan filters makes it easy to clean and keeps dust out of the case.

What I disliked:

-	Hard drive cage. They could have made this thing better.
-	Top 5 ¼” bay doesn’t have screwless retention thingy. Why?
-	No fan control for top fan.
-	Blue LED in front too bright.
-	Top power/reset switch makes it easy to hit by mistake.

What some may not like:

-	Only room for three hard drives in cage.
-	CPU cutout for back plate may not fit all motherboards.	
-	No eSATA / Firewire ports.
-	Top USB/audio ports. (I like it)
-	Water Cooling enthusiasts.


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## codyjansen (Aug 29, 2009)

i hate how the mobo and psu are mounted.


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## Zehnsucht (Aug 29, 2009)

It's too bad they didn't make it a tad taller to accommodate a triple radiator in the bottom more easily.


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## CDdude55 (Aug 29, 2009)

Awesome review, looks like a really nice case., your temps went down a good bit to.

I to dislike the way the mobo is mounted.


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## Frick (Aug 29, 2009)

Can we get pics from the top and the rear?

Also, did the HDD temps go down?

 on the review.


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## Gjohnst4 (Aug 29, 2009)

Very nice looking set up. Is the raven 2 smaller than the original? and how many fans does it incorporate?


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## sneekypeet (Aug 29, 2009)

I like that you take a stab at all other reviewers, but yet you say you have a controlled test.

1) no mention of ambient temps, couldn't have been too controlled.

2) a pic of the original as a point of reference. For all we know your old case was a rats nest of wires.

3) Yes I take personal offense to that comment, as you obviously dont read all case reviews.

4) no mention that your previous case is a hot box by design either


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## Polarman (Aug 29, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> I like that you take a stab at all other reviewers, but yet you say you have a controlled test.
> 
> 1) no mention of ambient temps, couldn't have been too controlled.
> 
> ...



1 - House is air conditionned so it was 76 Fahrenheit or 24.4 Celcius for both test.

2 - http://img.techpowerup.org/090422/100_1412.jpg

3 - There's not much reviews out for the Raven 2 and none of them made this kind of testing.

4 - See image above. I always keep my system clean looking and clutter free.


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## sneekypeet (Aug 29, 2009)

"The temperature testing that all the other review sites fails to mention."

Not diected specifically at this review.

I'll give you the A/C bit, but it should be mentioned, its as important as the temp readings.

The case is freeking brand new to the market, reviewers are just getting their samples


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## overclocking101 (Aug 29, 2009)

yeah pics of the top especially would be nice,I'm getting this case and would like to know the clearance from the floor to the case but either way I know i can fit my pa 120.3 in there i no i can


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## Polarman (Aug 29, 2009)

A lot of pictures here:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/r-photo.php?model=RV02&area=usa

A good inch of clearance from the floor btw.


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## Frick (Aug 29, 2009)

You're the reviewer, you should take the pics! I want to see it when everything's plugged in.


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## DrPepper (Aug 30, 2009)

I have it's bigger brother. I'l get a comparison review when I get a triple rad setup. Nice review though.


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## trt740 (Aug 30, 2009)

very nice case but the mounting method has my mind all jacked up.


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## pbmaster (Sep 2, 2009)

Great job, love the case. I do have one question for you, how does that CPU cooler keep that chip so cool? I had the one below, the 9500 AM2, and my chip got waaay too hot. Does the difference between 92 mm and 110 mm make that much of a difference?


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## Hale88 (Sep 4, 2009)

WOW this case is long but I dont know If It can do water cooling


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## zithe (Sep 4, 2009)

Silvertone used to be a radio company. Nice case.


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## Kantastic (Sep 4, 2009)

That is one spankin' nice case! The 'revolutional' mounting methods do worry me a bit though..


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## mav2000 (Sep 13, 2009)

I like this case and your review is very very good...concise and to the point..


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## pantherx12 (Sep 13, 2009)

nice review, I prefer the original raven though, much more sleek.


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## Brackish (Sep 19, 2009)

Nice review.

I have this case now also. Must admit it was a doddle to work with in comparison to my old CM690.
I know I dont have pics yet but my temps have dropped in the new case compared to my old CM690 (will try to get temps).
 A note on the cable routing on the top: If you have a dongle. eg; DVI - HDMI it will fit but its pushing it if the dongle is larger than a standard one.

I am working on pics but my camera gave up on me and im trying to find my old LG viewty to use lol.


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## Brackish (Sep 19, 2009)

a few pics of mine, excuse the crap quality only had a mobile phone to use :shadedshu

A few shots of the bits you may not see much. hope this helps and yes my cable routing is not the best, i am saving for a new power supply.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/back-1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/bottom-1.jpg



http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/P190909_1234-1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/P190909_123701-1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/P190909_1235-1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee210/brackish23/S5002325-1.jpg


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

I see a few people saying they don't like how the mobo is mounted, I actually prefer it that way, also makes more sense from a thermal dynamics point of view.


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## trt740 (Sep 19, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> I see a few people saying they don't like how the mobo is mounted, I actually prefer it that way, also makes more sense from a thermal dynamics point of view.



are all the connections on top of the case?


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## pantherx12 (Sep 19, 2009)

Yup, that's why it has that angled vented cover at the top, so the wires still come out the back end anyway.

Picture of the top of the original raven without vented cover ontop

I can't hot link heres the review the picture is on

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2710/silverstone_raven_sst_rv01b_w_full_tower_case/index10.html


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## nascasho (Sep 19, 2009)

One thing I didn't like with it is how easy it is to strip those holes, I accidently had the HDD cage misaligned by like a mm and stripped the hole trying to force it in, chipped the paint around it and everything. I assumed that if it'll get "angled" into the hole, that screwin g it in would align the cage better. WRONG.


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## trt740 (Sep 20, 2009)

pantherx12 said:


> Yup, that's why it has that angled vented cover at the top, so the wires still come out the back end anyway.
> 
> Picture of the top of the original raven without vented cover ontop
> 
> ...



I like this case it's nice but my Armor is sturdy as hell (all rolled steel) and is big, roomy and frankly very well designed. I was gonna buy a raven 2 for my birthday but it would have been wasting a perfectly good case and buying something I didn't need. I'm trying to stop doing that but I might just break down and buy one sometime.


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## Blacky (Sep 29, 2009)

I have one question for the owners of this case. I really interest in this case but my doubt is the clearance in the floor in this case. My main systems always have a good watercooling component and my radiator is a Thermochill PA 120.3 the height is 60 mm and I don't know is my thermochill fit in the case floor.

I hope, this radiator fit in the floor but I wanted for someone confirm this.


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