Silverstone Fortress FT02 - Time for an upgrade and some TLC

[ik9000]

I think so, prototype ravens and some other 90 degree cases. The 180mm fans I have in mine are what they’ll be using in one of their new ones.

They have a flagship one which it seems they are still tinkering with that has 3 200mm fans at the bottom.

alta s1
https://youtu.be/aUF--tpz53M

looks insane doesn't it, i was also thinking nothing stopping them making a case like this with the fans at bottom with the option to mount regular or horizontal atx imo
the case would be taller but could easily mount horizontal with the same design

I guess the masses just get turned off by the vertical mount straight off the bat as they read gpu heat pipes don't function at their best if vertical which is probably true no idea if thats even been proven yet

I would like that case 3x 180-200mm at bottom 3x at front option and vertical horizontal mounting cant see why you couldn't do it just need 2 sets of pci-e spaces one on rear like a standard case and one up top like the raven cases

It's not the heatpipe but the air blowing through the cooling fins that matters, and as that is driven by the card's fans that shuoldn't be affected. What you lose is the air rising away from the card, instead it wants to blow along it, so that might affect one end of the card, but with enough air flow it shouldn't matter. Be an interesting one to test though!

Alternatively given the trend for wanting upright cards to show off the fans the GPU doesn't have to run top-bottom if they used a riser connector. It could make for an interesting arrangement if you could move the card elsewhere in the name of showing it off.

Man this thread reminded me that I have a FT-02 WRI Limited Edition case somewhere in my garage. Never could get rid of it as it was so heavy and big. Are they still any good at all ? I know that you can get the I/O upgraded to USB 3 somewhere , but the case kinda looks silly with all those 3.5" hard drive bays now.

So long as you're happy with the graphics card length and vertically mounted HDD then yes, still very good case. I find it's 5.25 bays I still need, more than 3.5 bays internal. I like to be able to hotswap drives in and out for backup and archiving, and to remove some drives completely when I'm gaming just in case someone starts poking around where they shouldn't. Between those, my optical drive, and a 6-sata power switch in another 5.25 bay to deactivate internal drives modern cases just don't offer enough bays. It's all about the rainbow bling and you're lucky to get one 5.25 bay nevermind 4 or 5.

 

[C64]

Oh I thought it was to do with the way the heat moves through the pipes and doesn't move as well if vertical

 

[ik9000]

Oh I thought it was to do with the way the heat moves through the pipes and doesn't move as well if vertical

I would put money on that being BS. The point of heatpipe is thermal conductivity, not convection cooling. If you're telling me heat conduction depends on orientation to gravity at that scale I'd say BS. Unless there's a convective element I've missed (and even then if it's a closed loop circuit, it would still operate SFAIK). Happy to be shown wrong though, I didn't design the thing.

 

[C64]

This is why people always say reference cooler for the vertical silverstone cases, never had an issue myself with any gpu vertical myself

 

[Swizz]

Washout... A job well done, very nice! I too have the same case and looking into replace the mesh on the bottom of the three dust filters as they are looking tired and old, unfortunately there are no other 180mm available anywhere as I have searched high and low...so DIY, it is then. Can I ask where did you get your mesh from?

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

I would put money on that being BS. The point of heatpipe is thermal conductivity, not convection cooling. If you're telling me heat conduction depends on orientation to gravity at that scale I'd say BS. Unless there's a convective element I've missed (and even then if it's a closed loop circuit, it would still operate SFAIK). Happy to be shown wrong though, I didn't design the thing.

As far as I remember, it really depends on the construction of the heatpipes on the GPU. They usually have some wicking material inside, and some materials are better than others at wicking heat vertically. So if a video card had the combination of, say for example, a powder wick and long straight heatpipes, it could have trouble shifting that heat vertically compared to a different wicking material, or indeed an S shaped heatpipe which would include short vertical climbs as well as horizontal runs.

 

[Washout]

Washout... A job well done, very nice! I too have the same case and looking into replace the mesh on the bottom of the three dust filters as they are looking tired and old, unfortunately there are no other 180mm available anywhere as I have searched high and low...so DIY, it is then. Can I ask where did you get your mesh from?

I kept the originals! The fans slide into the bracket so just had to remove the two screws and pop them out to replace.

 

[ik9000]

As far as I remember, it really depends on the construction of the heatpipes on the GPU. They usually have some wicking material inside, and some materials are better than others at wicking heat vertically. So if a video card had the combination of, say for example, a powder wick and long straight heatpipes, it could have trouble shifting that heat vertically compared to a different wicking material, or indeed an S shaped heatpipe which would include short vertical climbs as well as horizontal runs.

Anyone got some testing to verify this? I really can''t believe orientation would affect things in a significant way. Makes me wish I had spare money and I would happily test this out in the name of science, but well. No can do sadly

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

Sadly most of the forum discussions from the time now contain dead links and removed documents as sources. But Silverstone's own product page for the FT02 says;

There are two main types of heat pipes used in popular aftermarket coolers, they are groove and powder. Groove heat pipes are very susceptible to gravity while powder heat pipes are less so. To achieve best performance in either heat pipe technology, they need to be placed horizontally or have the heat source side located below the other end of the heat pipe.

 

[ik9000]

Sadly most of the forum discussions from the time now contain dead links and removed documents as sources. But Silverstone's own product page for the FT02 says;

There are two main types of heat pipes used in popular aftermarket coolers, they are groove and powder. Groove heat pipes are very susceptible to gravity while powder heat pipes are less so. To achieve best performance in either heat pipe technology, they need to be placed horizontally or have the heat source side located below the other end of the heat pipe.

Thanks. What's used in modern cards? Is it still the same system?

 

[JasonM]

I own 6 (yes 6) of the Silverstone FT-02's plus a Silverstone Raven based on same design.

The reason I have so many cases is I have a home server room, plus some workstation machines I built. The cases are discontinued so a few of my cases were second hand and I put them back into use.

The FT-02 is one of the best computer cases ever made, it has superior air-flow. It was a serious case that was great for workstation or server use. You could run the 180mm fans at very low RPM to provide good cooling and very quiet near silent operation, it also included built in soundproofing. The only downside was cable management was tight due to narrow space, however cable management could be kept tidy with care.

One thing to watch is the 180mm air penetration fans can sometimes start clicking, I have had at least 2 fans suffer from this and I had to swap them out.

 

[DampCat]

I have my limited edition FT02 still, sat gathering dust. I should sell it really

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

Thanks. What's used in modern cards? Is it still the same system?

It's been that long since I bought a new card, I couldn't tell you

 

[chaparral]

I would put money on that being BS. The point of heatpipe is thermal conductivity, not convection cooling. If you're telling me heat conduction depends on orientation to gravity at that scale I'd say BS. Unless there's a convective element I've missed (and even then if it's a closed loop circuit, it would still operate SFAIK). Happy to be shown wrong though, I didn't design the thing.

Anyone got some testing to verify this? I really can''t believe orientation would affect things in a significant way. Makes me wish I had spare money and I would happily test this out in the name of science, but well. No can do sadly

Can make a huge difference to the temps

I own a FT02 and my 2080ti GPU temps drop by about 20c just by changing the position of the case..

Take a look at these temps and the fan speeds,
These are both with the exact same settings and the PC case side panel removed

The only difference is one is with the case in it normal upright position and the other one is with the case on it side

 

[ik9000]

Can make a huge difference to the temps

I own a FT02 and my 2080ti GPU temps drop by about 20c just by changing the position of the case..

Woh that is a massive difference!
Let's hope their rebuild allows for a pciex16 riser header to move the GPU. make it big enough to give it enough copper per lane and hopefully there wouldn't be a latency penalty vs those cheapo ribbon cables. Offer a fibre optic version for the real epeen crew...

 

[chaparral]

Woh that is a massive difference!
Let's hope their rebuild allows for a pciex16 riser header to move the GPU. make it big enough to give it enough copper per lane and hopefully there wouldn't be a latency penalty vs those cheapo ribbon cables. Offer a fibre optic version for the real epeen crew...

The only thing i did was change the position of my case from this



To This

 

[ik9000]

yeah I understood. Kind of defeats their whole "natural convection airflow" argument. Plus I guess you're not someone who needs access to their DVD drive!

The other upside of that rotation is the HDD lie horizontally as well, which can help certain types with longevity (much as the spec says it shouldn't matter the last neutral test I saw based on server center failures did have some correlation with drives in vertical racks failing more than horizontal)

Edit out of interest, any difference with the panel still in place?

 

[Washout]

Can make a huge difference to the temps

I own a FT02 and my 2080ti GPU temps drop by about 20c just by changing the position of the case..

Some cards seem to behave better, probably because of the heatpipe orientation and maybe how they're made. Pot luck when buying a gpu though as it's not the sort of thing they advertise!

I dropped a comment into a GamersNexus you tube vid about the raven about it, would be cool to get their take with some proper testing. They love the Raven cases because... well, they love airflow. With the new Silverstones coming out at some point would make a decent video.

Who knows, maybe the delay with these cases is them trying to figure out a way to help the poor gpus out

 

[chaparral]

yeah I understood. Kind of defeats their whole "natural convection airflow" argument. Plus I guess you're not someone who needs access to their DVD drive!

Edit out of interest, any difference with the panel still in place?

I don't keep it like that it was only for testing for why i was getting stupid high GPU temp's

Don't think i tested it with the side panel on while it on it side...May give it a go sometime.

 

[Carlyle46]

I can confirm that some GPU heatsinks work terribly with the case. A Gainward RTX tripple fan that i have got the area around the display port heated up to 80c, measured with a cheap sensor hooked up to the motherboard. It basically exchanged heat through the mount into the case. I thought the NH-D15 in combination with a 9900ks would be the issue. Now that i made space for an AIO i can confirm the same issue still exists. My 2080 ti from evga does not have this problem.
I had to install a Backplate fan.

The biggest problem is that the GPU temp sensor does not recognize the heat bildup around the display ports, so it does not rev up the fans. With a manual fancurve this becomes a non-issue. I have the backplate fan so that the main fans can be kept really quiet and OC can be done without worry.

To be fair here is a very positive example: