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Its not the prettiest case in the world, but really functional and so so slim for a M-ATX Case, I don't think it has much competition!
The SFF Case Gallery And Specs Thread
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Its not the prettiest case in the world, but really functional and so so slim for a M-ATX Case, I don't think it has much competition!
Caporegime
Just saw this on another site, Looking good CAT!,
That Scythe Kama Amp looks awesome, How much did it set you back may I ask?
Thanks!!
It cost me around £40 to £50 IIRC,although it is the first version,meaning the meter does not move that much. The second version used to be around £60,but is not imported any more and they seem hard to get hold off,so the price is probably higher now.
The next thing is for me to bypass the onboard sound with a DAC,the ODAC looks interesting:
http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/
It will be around £100 in the UK:
http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/our-products/e-dac-24bit-miniature-usb-dac/
That mATX case you are using is slim! I do like the top mounted power button - you should plonk a Trinity A10 into that:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,review-32463.html
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Nice! Looks like a cool gadget! Don't think it would fit in my case though! 
The review isn't glowing of Trinity, But again I expect it would draw less power than my X3. Which the fourth "unlockable core" seems to be a pile of ****.
It's not pretty but it works, and its going to slipped down out the way anyway, The top mounted power button is good but its pretty ugly when turned off, When its on it lights up a brighter blue which is nice,
Just updated my HTPC log as I added the BeQuiet SFX PSU. Its absolutely fantastic, Would heavily reccommend it for builds that might need to save that little bit more of room!
5UB confirmed that in a few months OCUK will stock some of the SFX PSU's which is nice to hear, ITX is getting much more popularity and cases are bound to start needing them!
The review isn't glowing of Trinity, But again I expect it would draw less power than my X3. Which the fourth "unlockable core" seems to be a pile of ****.
It's not pretty but it works, and its going to slipped down out the way anyway, The top mounted power button is good but its pretty ugly when turned off, When its on it lights up a brighter blue which is nice,
Just updated my HTPC log as I added the BeQuiet SFX PSU. Its absolutely fantastic, Would heavily reccommend it for builds that might need to save that little bit more of room!
5UB confirmed that in a few months OCUK will stock some of the SFX PSU's which is nice to hear, ITX is getting much more popularity and cases are bound to start needing them!
Hi Guys
I have done some downsizing recently. Decided to stick my system on air cooling for a while as I need a bit of space. I have recently been put in charge of all of the cooling and modding groups at OcUK, I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to review some of the hardware I am looking buying.
My biggest bug bear is putting my GTX 590 on air. It has never been ran on air ever so the prospect of taking the blocks off and dealing with a noisy GPU again is a bit of a tough pill to swallow.
The pictures show a 680 but this is just for reference as my 590 still has its watercooling blocks on it.
Full specification for the system is fairly simple:
only two mods for the system:
SSD Dual Mount mod, this involves two Silverstone SSD mounts layered on top of each other using TJ07 stand-offs
cable braiding on the front panel cables
The case looks superb, the colour is really smart and matches the stand of my Dell monitor well. I was really surprised by the build quality of the FT03. All of the panels are really thick and well made, it has such a solid build quality and is by far one of the nicest cases I have used.
Here is a small modification, the FT03 only allows for one SSD to be mounted using the supplied holes. I decided I wanted to keep my drives together and came up with using the longer TJ07 stand-offs to screw in the first SSD and some nice allen head bolts to screw in the second drive. The plastic on the second ssd was fouling the side panel. this meant that I had to cut the tabs off the sides and use the holes on the bottom of the drive to mount it. Admittedly, this was a bit of a bodge job and needs sanding down to make it perfect. You can see it is a bit rough in the picture.
Cable management in this case is easy, there is acres of room behind the motherboard tray. The only problem I encountered was that I wanted to use my Bitfenix black braided extensions for my main power cables. This was impossible because adding the braided extensions made the cable management a nightmare. It was simply too long in such a small case. I used some P Clips I had from a hardware shop to hold most of the cable routing in place. looked much better than cable ties and the screw holes for the hard drives that weren't in use were a perfect mounting point for them
The rear panel is a fairly standard affair. I swapped the chrome 120mm grill out for a black one and exchanged the Silverstone stock fan for a 900RPM Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PL1 fan. This is a superb case fan and one of our best sellers. Whisper quiet with unique mounting hardware. I was mega impressed with the way the fan looks and performs. both Noiseblocker fans I used came with modular cables so I could choose either a short or a long fan cable depending on my case layout. Noiseblocker are a brand exclusive to OcUK in the UK too.
Matching the rear fan, I went for the more powerful Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PLPS PWM fan. This is a PMW fan which spins up to 1500RPM and has incredible performance statistics. I would say that this is easily one of the best fans for a CPU cooler on the market at the moment. It looks superb and performs well. I used the Limited Edition Black Megahalems from Prolimatech to cool the CPU. This cooler is perfect for 2011 and looks brilliant with the 'BlackSilent' range of Noiseblocker fans. This setup ensures that my cpu cooler doesn't foul whatever memory modules I go for.
The overall build looks great in the flesh and is very quiet thanks to the cooling configuration. I fully expect it to get much louder when an aircooled GTX 590 is in there. [The GTX 680 is just a test sample we had at OcUK to test the system with]. Overall I am really happy with the build and the components I have used have really surprised me in terms of quality.
Big thanks to Phil for taking the photographs of the completed system.
I have done some downsizing recently. Decided to stick my system on air cooling for a while as I need a bit of space. I have recently been put in charge of all of the cooling and modding groups at OcUK, I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to review some of the hardware I am looking buying.
My biggest bug bear is putting my GTX 590 on air. It has never been ran on air ever so the prospect of taking the blocks off and dealing with a noisy GPU again is a bit of a tough pill to swallow.
The pictures show a 680 but this is just for reference as my 590 still has its watercooling blocks on it.
Full specification for the system is fairly simple:
- Silverstone Fortress FT03 Tower Case - Titanium
- MSI X79MA-GD45 Motherboard
- Intel Core i7-3820
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 590 Graphics Card [not pictured]
- Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB (soon to be replaced)
- Corsair AX750w PSU
- Samsung 256GB SSD 830
- Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB
- Samsung 1TB HDD [not pictured]
- Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card
- Prolimatech Black Megahalems CPU Cooler
- Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PL1 Fan
- Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PLPS
- Gelid Extreme Thermal Paste
only two mods for the system:
SSD Dual Mount mod, this involves two Silverstone SSD mounts layered on top of each other using TJ07 stand-offs
cable braiding on the front panel cables
The case looks superb, the colour is really smart and matches the stand of my Dell monitor well. I was really surprised by the build quality of the FT03. All of the panels are really thick and well made, it has such a solid build quality and is by far one of the nicest cases I have used.
Here is a small modification, the FT03 only allows for one SSD to be mounted using the supplied holes. I decided I wanted to keep my drives together and came up with using the longer TJ07 stand-offs to screw in the first SSD and some nice allen head bolts to screw in the second drive. The plastic on the second ssd was fouling the side panel. this meant that I had to cut the tabs off the sides and use the holes on the bottom of the drive to mount it. Admittedly, this was a bit of a bodge job and needs sanding down to make it perfect. You can see it is a bit rough in the picture.
Cable management in this case is easy, there is acres of room behind the motherboard tray. The only problem I encountered was that I wanted to use my Bitfenix black braided extensions for my main power cables. This was impossible because adding the braided extensions made the cable management a nightmare. It was simply too long in such a small case. I used some P Clips I had from a hardware shop to hold most of the cable routing in place. looked much better than cable ties and the screw holes for the hard drives that weren't in use were a perfect mounting point for them
The rear panel is a fairly standard affair. I swapped the chrome 120mm grill out for a black one and exchanged the Silverstone stock fan for a 900RPM Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PL1 fan. This is a superb case fan and one of our best sellers. Whisper quiet with unique mounting hardware. I was mega impressed with the way the fan looks and performs. both Noiseblocker fans I used came with modular cables so I could choose either a short or a long fan cable depending on my case layout. Noiseblocker are a brand exclusive to OcUK in the UK too.
Matching the rear fan, I went for the more powerful Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PLPS PWM fan. This is a PMW fan which spins up to 1500RPM and has incredible performance statistics. I would say that this is easily one of the best fans for a CPU cooler on the market at the moment. It looks superb and performs well. I used the Limited Edition Black Megahalems from Prolimatech to cool the CPU. This cooler is perfect for 2011 and looks brilliant with the 'BlackSilent' range of Noiseblocker fans. This setup ensures that my cpu cooler doesn't foul whatever memory modules I go for.
The overall build looks great in the flesh and is very quiet thanks to the cooling configuration. I fully expect it to get much louder when an aircooled GTX 590 is in there. [The GTX 680 is just a test sample we had at OcUK to test the system with]. Overall I am really happy with the build and the components I have used have really surprised me in terms of quality.
Big thanks to Phil for taking the photographs of the completed system.
Soldato
I like the look of that. How big is the FT03 compare to a 'normal' size case (CM 690 II or HAF 932 would be ideal comparisons, but...)?
The CPU cooler look very close to the back of the graphics card, or is that just the angle? (I have this issue with my Silver Arrow)
Soldato
Looks like it'd fit inside it! Still, looks bigger than I'd imagined.
At some point I'll have to unpack my TJ11 to see how big that is...
At some point I'll have to unpack my TJ11 to see how big that is...
Associate
Perfect timing for this case rjkoneill, Im considering this as a possibility for my next case as I need to downsize! 
Associate
it's a lovely case, but if you need to use a dvi-vga adapter for your monitor then you can't fully close the top cover
that and the slim slot load drive not having a physical eject button are the only problems i have with the FT03
that and the slim slot load drive not having a physical eject button are the only problems i have with the FT03
Last edited:
Soldato
It does indeed look very smart... and an interesting build also!
I have just been checking out the Silverstone FT03 case on your shop webpage, and feel it would be useful if the actual dimensions of the case were also included on here.
I have just been checking out the Silverstone FT03 case on your shop webpage, and feel it would be useful if the actual dimensions of the case were also included on here.
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- 19 Jan 2009
- Posts
- 720
MY HTPC System
(photos taken with iphone)
Needs abit of cable tidying
Spec
Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black
GA-A75M-D2H Motherboard
AMD Llano A8-3870K 3.00GHz
Corsair Arctic White 8gb kit
LiteOn iHBS112-37 12x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
(photos taken with iphone)
Needs abit of cable tidying
Spec
Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black
GA-A75M-D2H Motherboard
AMD Llano A8-3870K 3.00GHz
Corsair Arctic White 8gb kit
LiteOn iHBS112-37 12x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Associate
- Joined
- 4 Jul 2012
- Posts
- 6
MY HTPC System
(photos taken with iphone)
Needs abit of cable tidying
Spec
Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black
GA-A75M-D2H Motherboard
AMD Llano A8-3870K 3.00GHz
Corsair Arctic White 8gb kit
LiteOn iHBS112-37 12x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Where the hell are the wires going into your tv??????
Looks very nice though!
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- 9 Aug 2008
- Posts
- 35,707
Where the hell are the wires going into your tv??????
Take a guess.....
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2009
- Posts
- 720
Where the hell are the wires going into your tv??????
Looks very nice though!
I've got cable trunking in the wall mate, its all hidden and has face plates ether end to feed cables through. better than having the cable trunking showing.
Bit of a rebuild. Went back to a mid range gaming set up for tribes ascend so had to go for a bigger case to allow for a video card.
Specs:
Core i3-2125
Asus P8H61-I
Asus HD6850 1GB DirectCU V2
8GB 1600Mhz VengeanceLP
Corsair Professional Series AX750
AData S510 120GB SSD
Lian-Li PC-Q25B
The PSU is a very very tight fit and bends the hot swap bay alittle. I may remove the hot swap cage sometime as i dont plan on using it and it will allow the PSU more room. At the moment its running the stock lian-li fans and intel cooler but will be changing all them over the next month or two.
Now that is very nice. How does it run? I really like that a full size PSU fits in that Lian-Li.
Form Factor: Mini-ITX
Manufacturer: Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini E350
CPU: AMD E350 (Zacate) APU
RAM: 4 GB
HDD(s): 1 x 2 TB
GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6310 integrated
Speed (if overclocked): N/A
Temps: Ooof, first time I've looked at these. 65 degrees CPU, 50 degrees HDD, 55 degrees Motherboard
This is my under-TV Windows 7 HTPC and NAS box, also serves for crunching with Gomez Peer. Case is a Compucase 8K01, which is quite aethestically pleasing. I also have a slimline blu-ray drive installed along with PowerDVD and XBMC for media purposes, and an XBMC tv remote. Took a little tinkering but works like a charm
I have important irrecoverable stuff backed up to my raid-1 500 GB storage array on my desktop, for anyone curious!
Manufacturer: Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini E350
CPU: AMD E350 (Zacate) APU
RAM: 4 GB
HDD(s): 1 x 2 TB
GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6310 integrated
Speed (if overclocked): N/A
Temps: Ooof, first time I've looked at these. 65 degrees CPU, 50 degrees HDD, 55 degrees Motherboard
This is my under-TV Windows 7 HTPC and NAS box, also serves for crunching with Gomez Peer. Case is a Compucase 8K01, which is quite aethestically pleasing. I also have a slimline blu-ray drive installed along with PowerDVD and XBMC for media purposes, and an XBMC tv remote. Took a little tinkering but works like a charm
I have important irrecoverable stuff backed up to my raid-1 500 GB storage array on my desktop, for anyone curious!
i have an FT03 its bigger than i imagined, it fits behind the TV due to its footprint though so it can easily be a gaming pc / HTPC, its noisy though with stock fans and you need to grab some sound insulation for inside panels imo. it runs crossfire setups no problem so its a half way house between mini itx setups and a ugly mid-tower
actually a perfect representation of what the FT03 is like
i have one, it fits behind a 32" TV easy enough (and thats not a big tv of course) but i agree some sound insulation on the panels, just use 1 gpu, and change the stock fans
its a decent case, i wanted a Hybrid-HTPC which could game aswell as it plays movies, its just as you scale out to a proper cinema you either go with a traditional theatre box, a rack mount or traditional pc hidden out of the way
