Review System

Assembly

The generic interior has the upside of exactly knowing what you are getting into when installing your parts. The motherboard is held in place by traditional screws. The openings to the right and bottom of the 90° rotated board line up well for cable management, so the result should look pretty good even with it lacking grommets. The GPU is installed the same way as in any other enclosure, and there is plenty of space to do so. The Alta F1 is capable of the "vertical" placement, which could be a nice way of showing off the most expensive part of your build, especially when using a water-cooled variant.


Adding a PSU should be done before going for 3.5" hard drives. We removed the cage after attempting to squeeze our standard 650 W review unit into the case unsuccessfully. The body of the SilverStone Alta F1 will easily hold it with room to spare, but that little aluminium lip in the top-right corner meant we could not squeeze it into place with the cages in their position. To secure the PSU, our standard screw drivers were not long enough to reach the mounting screws. SilverStone drilled holes into the top panel where appropriate, but our plastic-lined, electrically save tool was still slightly thicker. To solve this, SilverStone could simply cut out one large circle instead of two smaller ones. Luckily, we had a long and skinny tool on hand, but most users probably won't.


The 3.5" trays are actually rather elaborate in design, and the SilverStone Alta F1 ships with two of these connected together. We have seen these in some other cases, and they are unique in that each cage may hold a 3.5" and 2.5" drive at the same time. SilverStone added a metal plate to one, so it may be installed within the Alta F1, which also means there is very little space to connect the SATA cables to any 3.5" drive installed in this cage. Once filled, simply put the cage back into its place and secure it with the two captive thumb screws.


Including a 2.5" SSD in your build is done by taking a tray of your choice, screwing down the drive with the included screws, and putting it back into one of four possible locations.


With the separate fan/AIO mounting plate in the top of the case, we opted for a 360 mm radiator and routed it through the internal opening and down into the interior of the case. This works well, but leaves the fans exposed to the wiring meant to be connected to the ports of the system and routed out the back. As such, invest a few bucks into fan grills for some peace of mind.


With everything installed, the interior of the SilverStone Alta F1 looks nice and clean, which is also due to the good number of hooks for zip ties on the backside of the motherboard tray. That only really leaves the externally routed I/O and case leads as well as the lack of grommets to make things look as clean as possible. Alternatively, SilverStone could have tinted this glass panel darker like some other brands.

Finished Looks

Connecting the classic, straight HDMI cable presented no issues, but we made sure the lead did not get in the way of the fans. You could use the plastic clips for the I/O cables to hold the lead down, but there is not a lot of room left to add more cables, which makes it harder to detach as well. Ideal would have been a larger cable-management strap, or even just hooks and a Velcro strip between the expansion slot and PSU bay. The power cable, on the other hand, is a bit tough to shimmy past the top-mounted AIO, so you may be forced to invest in a cable with an angled connector depending on your setup. Once turned on, the Alta F1 makes a beautiful impression with a white power LED in the center of the button lighting up as well to let you know the system is up and running.


The ARGB lighting strip in our picture happens to be set to orange, but the color can of course be set using your motherboard. SilverStone could have included a controller for added value, but considering only this strip is included, there is no need for it. In the rear, all the leads come out the back easily thanks to the large opening.


Both sides of the SilverStone Alta F1 allow you to see the internals of your system, which is great for the functional side. On the back, you should be just fine as long as you take the time to route and manage the cables.