SilverStone Fortress Series FT01-BW Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Uni-body Computer Case

Pros: Cool, quiet, clean, sturdy and spacious. Plenty of room for a tall cooler or long video card.

Cons: A bit tight when routing thick cables behind the mobo tray (still fits okay). No CPU cooler backplate cutout (minor issue IMO, who's swapping out coolers all the time?)

Other Thoughts: Excellent airflow and cooling, dual 180mm fans push a lot of air and are near silent save for the air they push. Vibration absorbing hard drive trays, silent fans, and sound insulating foam ensure the case stays quiet. Positive air pressure and dust filters keep it clean, and are also removable and washable (saw a video where the fan filter for the top fan was near impossible to get out, they changed this design). Power supply fan can be directed down out of the case, keeping the heat out. A pretty good amount of room for cable management, although if your power supply has thick/stiff cables it will be a little tight, as others have mentioned, although I really have no complaints. Easy cable access from sata ports to hard drives, although you'll probably want short ones concerning the tight space behind the hard drives, and also easy access to the bottom of the motherboard, as well as the 8-pin CPU power plug. Unibody frame and body are excellent and the sandblasted finish and brushed aluminum sides are great to look at and even has a nice texture. The only things that aren't black are the 6 thumbscrews on the back, the rivets holding the window on, and the power button, even everything inside is black. The case is also extremely easy to open and close, only three thumbscrews each panel, and a convenient latch that locks the top of the panel down.

All in all, well worth the money! I don't anticipate buying another case for years! Bunch of positives with only minor issues, if they can be called issues.

My build just for reference (only relevant info):
MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LK
CPU COOLER: Zalman CNPS 9500A
PSU: Corsair GS600
GPU: Galaxy GTX 660 OC

Pros: Very sturdy, looks great, lots of room, hot-swap bays, sides remove easily. I wanted a nice solid case without all the gimmickry so prevalent on cases today. I was building a computer, not some alien spaceship. This fit the bill perfectly.

Cons: Cable space behind motherboard tray is limited, but if you're careful, it's adequate. Top dust shield is technically removable but blocked by cables going to the top USB/headphone panel.

Positive pressure pressure design is questionable (see below).

Other Thoughts: I have a dual Xeon motherboard in this case with two 80 watt processors for 3D rendering. Under full load, a lot of heat builds up inside the case. Heat rises, but the top fan is set up as an intake, so the only way the heat can escape is through the single rear 120mm fan. While rendering, my CPU fans would always speed up close to their max speed, which is pretty loud.

The last time I removed the top fan to clean the dust filter, I flipped it around to be an exhaust just to experiment. To my surprise, my CPU temps under load dropped close to 20C, the CPU fans barely rise from idle and the case is dramatically cooler.

I get the positive pressure design to reduce dust, but not if the end result is that the case can't efficiently exhaust heat. So the tradeoff is that I might need to monitor and blow out some dust periodically. In my opinion, that task is more than compensated for by the overall lower temperatures, lower noise and less hassle surrounding the top fan dust screen (which I removed now that that fan is an exhaust).

The end result is that I like this case even more now. I just wish it fit EEB motherboards so I could but another for a new dual Sandy Bridge Xeon system.

Pros: - Sturdy as hell
- Gorgeous
- SPACEY - I was not expecting a mid tower to have this much breathing room.
- Mostly tool-less. 5.25" drives can be installed without turning a single screw, which is awesome, and the thumbscrews on the case are completely optional, as there's a side-panel turnable "lock".
- Quiet. The foam helps more than I thought it would.
- Removable dust filters for both large intake fans. BRILLIANT. (so long as you remember to clean them out once a month ;)
- For anyone who it'll help, I instead an Antec KÜHLER (Kuhler for those searching) H₂O 620 in this guy. Worked just fine.

Cons: Plastic on the topside USB/Firewire/Sound plate. I was really hoping to be at least 99% metal, so I'm not all that happy with that part. However, it's a matte finish, which I appreciate.

For the price, I'm quite insulted by the nickel-and-diming. At worst, the hot-swap SATA plates should be 5-for-$20. At best, they really should have come with. This is not a cheap case.

Plus my "trial" SATA plate didn't even WORK.

Whatmore, the non-standard "big" fans (180mm instead of the 200mm everyone else uses). It's a little insulting that the only fan that can replace these things with lights is made by Silverstone.

Other Thoughts: I wanted a case made entirely out of metal (save for the side window) and for the most part, this thing delivers. For the prize it's an amazing piece of hardware.

I didn't buy a case to get vendor-locked. In fact, if I'm buying a PC in parts, it should be pretty obvious that vendor lock is a pet peeve of mine. Cases are usually what builders are least likely to spend extra cash on, because they're not as directly impactful on the experience. Heck, even when you do want to spend a little extra, most higher-end gamer cases top out at around $100. When you're twice the price as the upper-tier "regular" cases, I really don't expect that kind of treatment.

Pros: -Beautiful design
-Top of the line construction
-The brushed aluminum on the panels is breathtaking
-Excellent Airflow
-Quiet fans
-Great expandability
-easy to assemble and access parts
-Dust filters are a nice touch

Cons: -Poor cable management. The room behind the motherboard tray is sparse and attempting to route any cable behind it will cause the side panel to bulge out and warp the metal panel.
-Large amounts of interference in the front headphone jack. It's not as noticeable when nothing else is plugged in but if you have something occupying the USB or Firewire ports, the interference is unbearable and makes the headphone jack unusable.
-The Molex connection that powers the HDD hotswap bracket is incredibly cheap. The prongs are easily dislodged from the plastic casing and this makes it impossible to use the hotswap bracket. Something this flimsy on a Premium case is just plain unacceptable.
-The side window is a bit tacky and detracts from the aesthetics.

Other Thoughts: Despite how good this case looks and a lot of the other benefits, some of the cons seriously should not exist in a case that's this expensive and boasts such high quality.

I would highly recommend using a modular PSU with this case because there is no good place to store the excess cables without warping the side paneling next to the Motherboard Tray or placing them somewhere that interferes with the airflow.

I also wish I had the foresight to go with the version that did not have the side window panel since I feel this clashes with the general look of the case but that's ultimately a matter of preference. I didn't think it would look that bad when looking at pictures of it online but when I saw it for myself, it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be.

In summary, it's a beautiful case but the biggest value comes from the aesthetics alone. It's form with only the bare minimum of function.

Pros: Excellent case!! The case is very well built with very nice construction. The fans are very quiet, I can hardly hear them running and they are all protected with easy to clean filters. You can't go wrong with this case.

Cons: None

Pros: The case feels very solid and looks very nice. The fans are extremely quiet and yet it keeps everything very cool. Wire routing is good and with proper attention keeps everything very clean. I have 6 Hard drives in here and an SLI 480 GTX setup so I definitelly have plenty of wiring. 5.25" bays are awesomely designed.

Cons: Not enough space on the backside for wires that have been routed. Trying to fit the side panel back on is almost impossible even with proper wiring back there. The foam for noise suppression does not help this. It took a lot of effort to get that side panel back on. No removable motherboard tray is lame but I rarely see that at all anymore. I would have liked it better if all the aluminum was the brushed look like on the side panels and the front bezels. The hard drive cages are easily broken if youre not careful. I accidently broke one. Fortunatelly not two as I used the other 6. The airflow through them is probably rubbish from the front as they seem quite restrictive. The rubber bits in the drive cages can also make it a pain to install the hard drives and actually made my raptor drive louder (fortunatelly that drive has been mostly retired by an SSD now). They should have included some zip ties. I have my own but why not? ive seen $40 cases that include more accessories.

Other Thoughts: Overall this case is very nice and very well made. If you dont have a lot of hard drives or wiring it will be awesome for you. If you do, youre going to have to get crafty to get that side panel back on when you route everything back there. People have complained that the side panels feel cheap? I didn't think so at all they seem very nice and I love the locking feature they have. Ive owned a lot of nice cases and theres nothing wrong with these side panels. Overall this has been the best case ive owned and I like it very much. If youre looking for a mid tower and want something nice this is a good buy. I had an antec 900 before this and while airflow was good it was very crampt and wire routing was rubbish. It was also quite loud. This case is much quieter and much more roomy. It's not cheap but It is worth it. One thing I couldnt fit in cons is the fact that the expansion cards are a pain to install as you cant easily fit a screwdriver to where you tighten the screws.

Pros: The fans are great they provide adaqute cooing to teh entire case. Fan filters a are provided are exetremely easy to take out and clean, they simply slide in and out, no screws required. Foaming on side panels are a nice touch, and possibly reduce noise. The case is large enought to fit 10 inch cards, but if more space is needed, you can remove had cage. The Rubber feet of the case is awesome, as well the provide rubber to the PSU side brake, as well as the HD Carriers.

Cons: Although the foaming is a nice touch, it does hamper wire management, it makes it alot harder to close the side panel, because all the wires are bulging out. I suggest a modular PSU, maybe it will cut down on the number of execessive wires.
The one thing im ticked off about though is that the provide hotswappable HD connector came to me broken.

Other Thoughts: Silverstone couldve provide extra filters.

Pros: Large fans move a lot of air without making hardly any noise. All of the fans in this case combined make less noise then my old 478 cpu fan. Very high quality. This is the first case I have purchased in several years. It has a nice side window so you can see where your paycheck went but unlike other "show off cases" it seems to bring more class to the room.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Very happy with my upgrade.

Pros: Case looks great on the outside. Appears to be finely crafted solide construction. but...

Cons: 1. most importantly- the hotswap drive bays don't connect properly. Drives must be installed not hot swap. Not enough room between drive connections and side of case to install more than a few drives because drives are mounted sideways. Not enough room between case and motherboard. My mobo has 6 sata slots- but I could only connect 3 of them because case is too close to sata connections.
2. Case fan that vents CPU started high pitched whine after a month.
3. earphone jack on top never worked.
4. several internal screws missing. I had some extras so I tried to install them, and found out it was no accident they were not there. The case did not fit together properly. several screw holes did not line up.
5. hot swap drive bays have rubber washers that get in the way. very hard to put in a drive- but doable.
6. plastic window is very soft- very easily scratched.

Other Thoughts: i bought this for my first build after reading positive reviews of the model and the reputation of silverstone, but I would not buy a case from them again. I wanted a flexible case that I could keep for a long time and make changes to the internal equipment along the waym, but this is not the case for that. too many little details make installing components extremeley difficult if not impossible. if I buy another case it will have lenthwise drive bays.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you very much for purchasing a SilverStone. Your case comes with a one year warranty, if anything on it fails on it or is not working/fit right, please contact our US office directly for service:

909-465-9596
usarma@silverstonetek.com

You can also download the RMA form from the below link for return and exchange services:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/Form/rma_endusers.doc

Pros: Three big, quiet fans, easy-clean fan filters, sophisticated understated black theme, inside and out, no sharp edges. The H50 cooler fits into this case, with the screw holes expanded slightly. PSU mounts on the bottom, with air flowing in from the bottom and out the back. Room for many many drives. Holes are provided in the mounting surface to route nearly all cabling behind it, out of sight, for a very clean installation.

Rediculously fast delivery from Newegg--that rush delivery charge really does something...

Cons: The PSU fits exactly into the space provided, but an unnecessary rubberstrip was added, making PSU installation impossible until I cut it out with a razor.

The exhaust fan on the back sits adjacent to the biggest intake fan, on the top, so it blows out the cool air just brought into the case. This is absurd, and you need to flip the back fan around to make it an intake fan instead. Then replace the sheet metal drive bay covers with flow-thru mesh covers, Newegg has some nice ones. This provides all the necessary ventilation outflow.

The side panels have the worst latching system I have ever seen in my many years of building systems--you could pry these panels off with a popsicle stick.

For a case held together by rivets, the "unibody" claims for this case run a bit thin--come on SilverStone, I purchase your cases because of your quality, and I'm not blind.

Other Thoughts: The only reason of don't give it fewer stars, is that all the important things are present with a little extra effort. I am running an i7 930 at 3.88mhz, and the hottest I can prime95 it to is 62 C, all while being the quietest machine in the room. This case, along with the right cooling adjustments, has made this possible. The case seems a bit overpriced given its unecessary shortcomings that must be manually overcome.