Silverstone Extended-ATX Tek Aluminum Full Tower Computer Case

This is the first computer I've decided to build all by myself, over the years I've seen many cases and worked on hardware with them but I have never opened a case from the original box and put a build together from scratch.This has got to be the best looking case I've ever seen. The sides are steel and front is aluminum. It feels sturdy throughout. It may be prone to scratches but if you take care of it, it should be fine. On the left side is a window, it's nice but I wish it wasn't so low as it reveals cables. With a ATX board I don't know of a way to avoid having the cables being hidden with this case but I did my best it doesn't look bad at all.The actual build, it was easy to get the sides off, all you have to do is take off the plastic top cover, (which contrary to others I think it's pretty solid) then there is a lever you pull and just pull the panel up. It's pretty tight in there but I like that it makes the build feel like a game. It was my first build so I don't know how hard installing a board is compared to other cases but I had to add 3 extra mounting points and put the screws in a specific order. The screw by the PSU first, then the screw by the I/O panel second then the rest however. It was difficult because I didn't have a magnetic screwdriver. All the fan cables and such are a perfect length and come with ties to keep it neat.The most difficult part was mounting the SSD's to the other side. There's two little clip things that you can slide one side of the drive in to hold it, then you put 2 screws in the other side. It was so difficult to fit my tiny screwdriver in those tight spaces, it's possible but it's hard no matter how experienced you could be. Once I got it in the SATA cables fit nicely back there along with other cables i routed back there.It has 4 slots for 2 dual channel RAM.The rotated Board design is amazing and works great with those huge fans, by the way those fans take 3 pin connectors, my board only had one 3 pin thing so I think I can only control one of the fan speeds unless somone makes An adapter.But all in all the case is great build quality all the way through, it's a little tight but in the end it'll make you happier, cause any larger would make it difficult to carry and very heavy as they're using solid sheets of steel.As you can see in pictures it has noise dampening foam, and im not all the way done with my build i still need to add processor and psu. I will come back later to update this review with DSLR pics and with a GPU in there too.Update 4/2/15: After playing with my computer I come back to update my feelings about this case. I learned a lot building a computer and when it was time for me to put my GPU in that I just bought I had to start learning a lot. First I want to say that the case is still in excellent condition and this case keeps the system cooled very well.When I first got my GPU I didn't have the right screwdriver to install it correctly. In fact I never had the right screw driver to build the system in the first place, I used a mini screw driver that worked great for tight areas and small screws but wasn't magnetic and couldn't get enough torque on bigger screws. I had to goto the local drug store to pick up the right screw driver. Once I got that I've put this case to its real strength. I took out everything except the mounted SSD's and PSU. The first time my cable management was terrible and probably blocked a lot of air flow. You must manage the cables before you install your motherboard and it may seem complex to new builders where to route each cable. So I suggest building your system outside of the case first to understand how the 90* rotated motherboard design works. Silverstone really does an excellent job there's just enough room in this case to have everything fit and when you do it right it looks amazing and very neat.To install a GPU you must first goto the top of the case and remove the cover for the pcie slot screws. Take the screws necessary off and then install your GPU or perhaps USB adapter or anything that goes in a pci slot. Its pretty basic but the main thing for new builders is to note that the cover on the top of the case has to be removed to install pci devices.The only thing that I haven't done with this case yet that I want to do is install a slot load drive. I'm sure it would fit in easily and work just fine. I recommend the panasonic version based on reviews I read its just as good as the silverstone version infact maybe even better and for the price of the silverstone DVD RW drive you can get the Panasonic Blue Ray RW drive.Back to the GPU I installed a Nvidia GTX 970. I used the reference Nvidia model because I figured it could really take advantage of the 90* rotated design. With the reference cooler on the 900 series it's bigger than the 700 series and quieter. In this case it releases heat out the top of the case. In a normal case it would release it out the back of the case. Since heat rises and the two silverstone fans are blowing straight up out of the case I figured installing a reference card would be great to keep the air flow vertical. The reference card also looks way better and is quite slim. You could easily do an SLI config in this case.All in all this case is pretty small compared to other cases i've seen and you can fit some performance in this case while it still looks beautiful. Make sure you get that cable management right. The only cons I can give this case is it is very hard for new builders, however if you put your mind to it you can make it work. And I just noticed the model I got on the window there is a long but faint vertical scratch, I don't think it was from me or shipping because this scratch is perfectly straight. I only noticed it when my graphics cards' LED lit up against the window. It's not a deep scratch at all I can't feel it I can only see it. I tried wiping it down thinking maybe it was adhesive but I don't think it is. I might get a new window in the future or maybe even tint the one I have for a really cool looking case.

I finished my build last night and this was my first SilverStone case. Normally I'm a Lian Li guy, but after watching a few positive reviews I decided to give the FT03 a try. Besides, what I really wanted were those gorgeous aesthetics - especially for a home theater environment.I love this case, both inside and out. The internals are a bit unorthodox, which I was a bit skeptical about at first, but they work wonderfully. The outside is minimalistic and attractive. The aluminum walls are nearly 3mm thick and exude quality. The plastic grills, while I wouldn't necessary call cheap, do seem a bit out of place considering the high quality of the metal used.This most amazing thing about this case is, despite being sff, you can fit just about anything you want inside.Gigabyte GTX 660 fits with plenty of room to spare. Although I would make sure your card has the power on its side. If it's on the back end of the card I could easily see the wires conflict with the lower 120mm fan.For the cpu cooler I used the Thermaltake V1. The main reason I chose this one was for the vertically aligned copper fins. Given the odd down-angle that the central 120mm blows onto the cpu, I figured that a heatsink with horizontal fins would impede the flow of air too much. With the vertical fins of the V1 I envision the air passing right over the cpu and motherboard, straight into the 120mm exhaust. That's my theory at least, and when I place my hand behind the V1 and in front of the exhaust fan, I feel a pretty strong wind tunnel effect. The V1 fits - but barely. It does every so slightly touch the central 120mm (that is blowing right on it). And then the heatpipes around the side of the heatsink do touch the backside of the graphics card. It puts a slight amount of pressure on the graphics card, pushing it perhaps a millimeter or two, but I don't see this as any sort of problem.I'm using the Asus Maximus V Gene LGA 1155.One thing I didn't like was the optional 92mm fan mount for the gpu. It's an odd place for a fan and seemed more like an afterthought than anything. At the same time, I imagine the gpu would get a little stifled being shoved to the side of the case like that. So what I did was install another 120mm intake at the rear of the case. I've installed custom fans before, but given the thick aluminum of the FT03, this one was a lot of work. It took about an hour of cutting and 3 Dremel bits before I was done, but the end result should be much lower gpu temps. Now I did have to install the new fan on the outside of the case, which I was worried might look a little ghetto, but it actually turned out alright. I used a BitFenix Spectre Pro (with white LED to backlight the case a bit) and the SilverStone 120mm fan grill/filter you can find. If you were to install the fan on the inside it would almost be a little *too* close to the gpu, as well as the motherboard itself.Also despite being sff, wire management in this case was more thought out than many of my mid-tower builds. It does take a bit more patience and some nimble fingers, but the case has been designed to really allow for some great wire management if you take the time to do it. There were holes and pass-throughs exactly where you wanted them. I used a Seasonic modular psu - and I would recommend modular - but I'm not sure I would say it is necessary. There is actually a lot of room behind the motherboard to store unused wires. I was very impressed. It's not like every other case I've used where you have to jam the side-panel back on because of all the wires.Anyways, I'm definitely a fan of SilverStone now and will definitely try another one of their cases in the future. There were some crazy ideas thrown into this case, and I was skeptical, but came away completely impressed.