New Case Fortress FT01B-W

[sharpygsxr]

Just got delivery of my fortress today to house my new rig

Here it is in comparison to my Antec 900

Its not until you get a decent case that you appreciate the build quality and finsh and this case is no exception.

The case is also very very quiet thanks to the sound proofing foam on the inside of the panels

Sorry for the poor final pic will get some more during daylight, i have to admit i expected the case to be a lot easier for cable management but the foam on the side panels makes stacking cables on the back of the mobo tray a no go without cutting away loads of the foam.

Anyone with any experience of the case that can give any advice for tidying the cables on these cases, its ok as it is now but id like to hide more if possible.

 

[sharpygsxr]

you can but theres a thick layer of foam on the side panels for sound dampening which means the space you have is only a few mm without cutting away some of the foam.

There are a few cable management holes at the side which are too narrow to fit the pci-e connectors or atx lead through so that means trying to route all the thickest cable up the backplate.

I would norm,ally juist cut away some of the foam but the case at the moment is so quiet i dont wanna lose that as after the 900 case im loving the silence lol

I know RJ did a build log with his fortress so ill have a look there and see if theres any pics of his routing.

 

[sharpygsxr]

my fans are running fine off the board mate, i cant get over how quiet the case is, literally the only thing i can hear during use is HDD access, itr prob my raptor im hearing.

I never realised just how loud my antec 900 was until now ha ha.

BTW in terms of cable management my job was made a bit harder by my only using one of the HDD bays, if i kept them both installed you can hide loads of cables at the back of the HDD cages.

Personally i chose to remove the top one to allow the front 180mm fan to breathe a little.

 

[sharpygsxr]

i was thinking about this earlier in regards to the top fan im wondering if the fan housing can be removed and rotated 90 degrees so that the fan filter points out of the case as opposed to the drive bays.

Diggsy, did you need to remove any foam or just give it a good squeeze to shut the case again?

For me the biggest prob was the area at the back of the harddrives, but your build means im gonna have another go at it for sure

 

[sharpygsxr]

cheers mate im gonna have a go at it again now, i got a pack of those sticky pads and some black cable ties

 

[sharpygsxr]

ok im back after my little cable tidying exercise, lets see what you guys think of this.

Heres the backpanel now btw im using a modular psu, which i put fan facing down like RJ's

And how it looks inside now, im well chuffed with it



Just liek Diggsy said it took a little gentle persuasion but its all back together and no bulging, the kep was getting the fatter cables flat, also i basically disconnected everything and re wired then in order to make sure as few as possible cables overlapped.

A little twisting of sata cables kept them hidden too

 

[sharpygsxr]

the pcie cables are quite tight in that pic, it even had me a bit concerned as they were notibly bending the sockets up a bit so they have as much slack as possible in that pic, i dunno if they would reach to under the bays without putting them in front of the mobo tray.

 

[sharpygsxr]

cant say ive noticed any vibration i have a raptor 150gb which i can def hear the hdd access, i also have a maxtor 150gb.

This is as quiet a case as ive ever owned and i certainly dont hear anything from HDD's that would give me cause for concern

 

[sharpygsxr]

im lookin a front drive bay panel for showing temps, of cpu, gpu ambient temps etc.

Anyone any recommendations for something to fit this requirement, bling factor would be nice too

 

[sharpygsxr]

Out of interest, what CPU cooler are you using for your i7 sharpy? It looks nicer than the Noctua nh-u12p that I'm getting, but is yours as good as the noctua?

Yep its an akasa nero, crackin wee cooler for the price.

Have a look roun dfor reviews its getting good ratings and like i said earlier i consider it the Freezer 7 pro of the I7 range

 

[sharpygsxr]

Nice builds guys, and sharpy, do you know if the fan on the akasa nero can be replaced with any 120mm fan? Ive been looking at that cpu cooler recently but havent found anyone that has it installed in their system. Web reviews are a little vague.

Im thinking of installing a sharkoon silent to go with the theme in my case.

yeah mate it will fit any 120mm fan, the rubber prongs in the heatsink go through the screw mounting holes on the fan and when pulled through lock the fan in place, also means theres zero vibration

this was a good review of the current i7 heatsinks with the nero included http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2009/02/19/ga-1366-cpu-cooler-group-test/1 btw the nero was their pick of the coolers available including the noctuna

 

[sharpygsxr]

make sure you get some pics when you get it up and running mate.

Did you order the black or silver case?

 

[sharpygsxr]

aye i meant you mate, will look forward to seein them

 

[sharpygsxr]

Sorry if someone else has already asked this, does the sound-proofing foam raise the temperature or is it not an issue?

I think I'm lining this up as a replacement for my Thermaltake Armour

temps are great in the case mate, the fan set up creates a fgreat airflow and with the fans and foam the case is very quiet indeed.

Theres a cool video here which shows how they create the positive airflow in the case so hot air doesnt stay centralised

 

[sharpygsxr]

yeah mate, gta4 loves the quads, ive only one 280 in my rig so with 2 you should be well set at your native res