SilverStone Raven RV02

Installation:

Installed into the SilverStone Raven RV02 was an ECS P55H-A motherboard, an Intel Core i5 750 processor, 4GB of DDR3 system memory, a 640GB Western Digital WD6401AALS-0 SATA HDD, an OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W power supply, an 802.11g/n PCI WiFi adapter, LG DVD-RW burner, and an ATI Radeon HD 4770 graphics card. This system was running Ubuntu 9.10, which unfortunately does not support the reading of the CPU temperature or any motherboard sensors with the LM_Sensors modules found in the Linux 2.6.31 kernel. However, from monitoring the temperatures at the BIOS, the temperatures remained low and after weeks of use, we have not run into any thermal-related issues with this chassis. Additionally, this case is extremely quiet. All four case fans for the RV02 are very quiet -- even when the three intake fans are switched to high -- and the case was virtually silent less than a meter away with all of the hardware running.

Installing all of the hardware in the Raven RV02 was very easy and straightforward. The most consuming process was just installing the 3.5" SATA drive, since it required the removal and reinstallation of eight thumbscrews, but that really is not much of a problem. The cable management abilities for the case were great and we encountered no sharp edges or any other difficulties during the build.

Conclusion:

SilverStone -- or any case manufacturer -- has finally done it... It has been two years since the introduction of the Temjin TJ10 (or three years since the nearly identical TJ09), but finally if we had to pick between the Temjin TJ10 or the Raven RV02, we would pick the second-generation Raven. The Raven RV02 has dethroned the Temjin TJ10 as being our favorite chassis to date. However, both products are great and we would be perfectly happy with either enclosure. The Raven RV02 though builds upon the innovations of the original Raven while making several welcoming changes such as the cooling improvements, redesigned front panel and top cover, excellent cable management, use of dust filters, and other changes we have mentioned. The Raven RV02 is built very well being made mostly of steel, but even the plastic on here is very rugged and there should be no problems with any of it breaking. The rotated motherboard tray should also help very well for cooling while remaining to be a very quiet system.

The SilverStone Raven RV02 is a phenomenal enclosure that is very likely the best computer enclosure we have encountered and is undoubtedly a favorite. The pricing on the Raven RV02 isn't bad at all either, the SST-RV02B-W is $190 USD at NewEgg or $180 at Amazon, which is an exceptional value for being a SilverStone product.