Antec P183 or Silverstone Fortress FT02

[taylor]

Just curious if there are many builds using the Silverstone Fortress FT-02 case? I was kind of sold on the P183, but not that crazy about the gunmetal color or the swinging door. The Silverstone Fortress reminds me of a Mac Pro case and aesthetically, looks more elegant. I assume the cost factor is much higher on the Silverstone, which may be why most opt for the P183.

However, if you add acoustic padding to the P183, add a top plate, and replace the fans with quieter models ($$$), your not that far off from just buying the Silverstone case, which already comes with dampening and quiet fans. The only major draw back for the Silverstone is the size, which is so deep. I guess the RJ-08 would be another option. Would like to hear some thoughts on this. Thanks.

[PCC-William]

We have sold very few of the Fortress cases, though we have offered them for quite a while. I think there are a few factors at play here:

- Silverstone cases cost more in general
- The bottom-to-top airflow is unusual, and situational: in a desk with a cubby for the computer it will not work as well as front-to-back, for example. We are actually testing this a bit further, and should have a hardware article within the next month with our results.
- The FT-02 cannot easily be made as quiet as the P183. While the door may not be desirable to everyone it very much makes a difference in noise level: it helps dampen the sound from hard drives, which is most cases are located near the front of the system.

I'm sure the fact that we feature the P183 in several of our branded systems also is a factor here, but then there are good reasons for our love of the P183.

I haven't heard of a "RJ-08" though - do you have a link to that?

[taylor]

Thanks William. That's a good point about the case location. I gave up on trying to fit my cases in a typically computer desk. There seems to never be enough air flow in those tiny cubby holes. Yes, the P183 does seem to be branded extensively on the site. I was just trying to factor in the extras (dampening, cases, etc.) with the P183. That would be great to see an article on the Silverstone case air flow. Seems like a great design to me. The other case I was referring to was the TJ08. I just have to decide if I can live the extra length of the FT02 case. Of course, I wish the cost was lower also on the Silverstone.

[PCC-William]

Hopefully the review of the Fortress vs P183 will be out soon! As for the TJ08, though, that is *not* quiet... I suppose with upgraded fans, etc it could be reasonable, but it would not be my first choice (or second, or third...)

[newPC4me]

Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents since I purchased a FT02 build from Puget in the past year. Here's a few pros and cons from my experience.

Pros:
-I love how it looks (I did the windowed case)!
-I think the bottom-to-top airflow does work really well at keeping my system nice and cool.
-My system is fairly quiet (with one notable except, below).

Cons:
-This case does not dampen hard drive noise very well, even with the built in sound dampening foam (not AcoustiPack, but that kind of material, which comes attached to the case). I have a Western Digital WD6401AALS-00J7B1 (Note that this is a later version of the original 640; the original 640, which I have in another computer, is much quieter, and I think has better performance. The 00J7B1 is NOT quiet, unfortunately.). My case sits on my desk, which works great for enjoying the windowed view of it's insides, but puts my head right next to the my noisy hard drive. If it were sitting on a carpeted floor this would be less of an issue, but even then I suspect I'd be able to hear this hard drive across the room (as I currently can) when it is writing a lot of data.

So, all that to say, the FT02 is a great case, but care is warranted regarding hard drive noise. I already had the quieter version of the WD 640 (in another computer), which would have been fine in this case, when I made my decision. Overall I'm still happy with my choice because the aesthetics matter to me. I'm also currently exploring options for quieting the hard drive further and/or switching to a different drive (possibly in a quiet drive enclosure).

If quietness is more important to you than aesthetics then you're probably going to be much, much better off with the P183, in my opinion.

I hope the above is helpful!
Sean