Silverstone RV02 Raven 2 Case Review

Innovation is a never ending process in the computer world and it can come from anywhere, in fact most changes in common thinking come from the end user or a trend in the enthusiast sector.  For instance enthusiast style overclocking started in the garage and eventually became the basis for many high end motherboards produced by DFI, EVGA, and Foxconn.  Casemodding is another enthusiast pastime designed to "dress up that beige box", increase cooling capacity, and basically show of.  Of course this trend has also gone up the ranks and is now something many case makers think about when creating new chassis designs.

In this review we will be looking at the latest and greatest case from Silverstone called the Raven 2.  As the name indicates this case is a second generation Raven chassis that shares many of the same fundamentals established by the original Raven.  We had a rare opportunity to see a working prototype of the Raven 2 at Computex and were impressed from the start.

Model No. SST-RV02B (black) / SST-RV02B-W (black + window)
Material reinforced plastic outer shell, 0.8mm Steel body.
Color Matte black
Motherboard SSI CEB, ATX (maximum 12" x 11") , Micro ATX
Drive Bay External 5.25" x 5 or 8 (without hard drive)
Drive Bay Internal 3.5" x 3 (w/ suspension system), 2.5" x 1 for SSD
Cooling System Top 1 x 120mm exhaust fan, 950rpm, 18dBA
Cooling System Bottom 3 x 180mm intake fan 700/1000rpm, 18/27dBA
Expansion Slot 8 Front I/O Port USB2.0 x 2  / audio x 1 / MIC x 1
Power Supply 1 x optional standard PS2 (ATX)
Expansion Card Compatible with expansion card up to 12 inches
Net Weight 12.5kg
Dimension 212mm (W) x 503mm (H) x 643mm (D)

Despite the size the Raven 2 has a very square dimension and measures only slightly larger than the Silverstone TJ10. 

We do our case reviews a little differently here at Ninjalane and look beyond some of the basics of any case and instead look at each chassis from a casemodders perspective.  This unique look goes beyond if a motherboard will actually fit and attempts to focus on things like case construction, cooling, and airflow.  We'll also look at the possible ways the case could be modified to either enhance what we find lacking or to include things that the designers might not have originally intended.  The truth of the matter is the majority of "good" cases on the market have already addressed many of the issues simple casemodding was intended to resolve.  This is never a bad thing, in fact makes our reviews that more challenging.