SilverStone Fortress FT02 Case Review :: Exterior

Front

Top

FP I/O

Rear

Starting at the front of the case we notice that SilverStone has taken a single piece body. There isn’t a front panel to remove to install the Optical Disk Drives. There are four 5.25” drive bays on the front of the case that can take the standard 5.25” drives. The top of the case has the I/O including two USB 2.0 ports and two jacks for the Front Panel Audio. There is a black cover for the FP I/O behind the I/O.

Side

Right ¾ view

Left ¾ view

Rear Top view

To the left of the Front Panel I/O lies the Power and Reset buttons. The Reset button is a full sized rectangular button rather than the small buttons found on most cases. There are also HDD and system activity LEDs in this location. Behind the FP IO is a cover for the motherboard tray. This is lifted off the case by grabbing the holes and lifting it off.

Top

Bottom

Bottom 2

Top Cover off

Like the Raven cases the Fortress FT02 case has the motherboard mounted vertically placing the stress of a heavy card like the HD 5970 on the frame instead of the side making it stronger. There might be an issue with those wanting to use adapters for a DVI to VGA display connector but most people will use DVI or HDMI monitors with this case anyway. There are seven PCI slot covers in this position, each with grilled holes. The motherboard back plate has a hole for CPU cooler mounting.

The back of the case where the motherboard usually sits is totally blank except for a power supply filter that can be removed for cleaning. Normally the Power Supply is either on top or the bottom of the case. In this case the PSU is located where the motherboard is normally located. Removing the filters is easy, just push the two tabs and remove the filter.

120mm fan top

PSU

PCI slots

Fan control

The bottom of the case is particularly interesting. There is a gap between the bottom of the case and the case itself. This gap draws air from the outside with the three 180mm fans on the bottom of the case drawing the air in. The three fans along with the top 120mm fan create a positive air pressure drawing in more air than that leaving the case. This effectively cools the components of the case as there is more air being circulated than exiting the case temperatures should be lower. The right side of the case has a window to see the interior of the case. Next to the 120mm fan are three switches to turn the 180mm fans in maximum or silent mode.