SilverStone Raven RVZ02 Review

SilverStone Raven RVZ02 Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone
UK price (as reviewed): £74.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $84.99 (ex Tax)

SilverStone's Raven and Fortress cases tend to be designs that take things to the extreme. The regular ATX models have traditionally had a heavy focus on outstanding air cooling, regularly dominating our thermal test graphs. However, last year SilverStone introduced the mini-ITX Raven RVZ01, where the focus was on maximising the use of available space (but without sacrificing cooling) – something the company has a fair bit of experience in. Now, it's back with the second iteration, predictably called the Raven RVZ02, and this time it's even smaller and fully passive.


We've been furnished with the windowed Raven RVZ02 which, at £75, retails for £5 more (or $10 in the US) than the non-windowed version. The plastic windows are positioned above the GPU on the left side and over the CPU cooler and PSU intake fan on the right side and both of them double up as vents. There are no fans, or even fan mounts, in this chassis so these vents are crucial in allowing the core components to breathe. There is also lots of ventilation on the top, bottom and rear panels too to increase the available potential airflow.


There are no dust filters on the windowed version either, as this would somewhat defeat the point of the transparency, although arguably the vents don't exactly make it easy to see your hardware anyway. Either way, if you want dust protection you'll need to opt for the non-windowed chassis, which includes external clip-on filters.


The height and depth of the case are roughly the same as with the RVZ01: a little under 400mm each. However, the width has been shrunk by over 15 percent to just 85mm. Once again, you can stand the case either vertically or horizontally. For the former, you get a pair of plastic feet which clasp around the bottom. This keeps them tool free but the clipping mechanism is still a bit fiddly and it's not the most secure of fits. For the latter, meanwhile, you again get a quartet of sticky-back rubber feet to stick on the appropriate side panel. This orientation is more likely to be suitable for living room PCs but the graphics card will have its airflow restricted compared to the vertical arrangement.

The build quality of the steel panelling is fine but not outstanding- this isn't a Fortress case, so you don't get that premium aluminium finish. This is emphasised by the black plastic front section which is solid enough but hardly awe inspiring.

Up front, there's a discreet power button in the bottom left corner and a slimline bay in the right right. There's also a tiny, pinhead style reset button in the bottom right – it seems silly not to have just made this a regular button like the power one. Lastly, the IO ports (dual USB 3 and audio jacks) are concealed behind the Raven logo, which can slide down. However, the mechanism is stiff and awkward; we had to get our fingernails involved just to release it – this part of the RVZ02 definitely needs some work.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 87 x 370 x 380 (W x D x H)
  
• Materials Steel, plastic
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight 3.3kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays 1 x external slimline optical, 2 x 2.5in, 1 x 3.5in/2.5in (with expansion card <200mm)
  
• Form factor(s) Mini-ITX
  
• Cooling None (passive ventilation)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 58mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 300mm
  
• Extras Rubber case feet for vertical or horizontal modes, PSU support bracket, GPU support bracket