SilverStone Fortress FT01

Installation:

In the SilverStone Fortress FT01 we had installed a Tyan Tempest i5000VS motherboard, Intel Xeon 5060 processor, Dynatron LGA-771 heatsink, 2GB of Kingston DDR2 FB-DIMM RAM, Razer Barracuda AC-1 sound card, Seasonic M12 700W power supply, Serial ATA DVD-RW drive, and a Western Digital 160GB Serial ATA hard drive. For what it's worth, on the operating system side was Ubuntu 8.10.

Installing the Tempest i5000VS into the Fortress FT01 was a tight fit, but we had managed to safely install the motherboard. Once the server motherboard was in place, the rest of the installation was very smooth. Cable management with the SilverStone FT01 wasn't as easy as with the SilverStone Temjin TJ09 or TJ10, but still it went well.

Thanks to the design of the case, quiet fans, and foam dampening pads, noise from the system was virtually non-existent when just a meter away. This took us a bit by surprise since when Pulse Width Modulation isn't enabled for the Dynatron LGA-771 heatsink we were using, the fan is normally screaming. The Fortress FT01 took the noise level down significantly and it was near silent when PWM was then enabled. Air circulation in the ATX case also appeared to be suitable and we hadn't run into any cooling problems.

Conclusion:

The SilverStone Fortress FT01 doesn't outdo the Temjin TJ10 if you're after an extended ATX enclosure, need a surplus of room, or require dedicated cooling for your graphics card(s), but if you're just looking for one hell of a well-designed and well-built desktop chassis, the Fortress FT01 rings that bell. The SilverStone Fortress FT01 looks superb (at least we think so) both on the interior and exterior, is about half the weight of the TJ10 and is smaller making it easier to transport, and has excellent cooling capabilities. The dust filters and foam used for noise dampening is an added bonus found on the FT01 that we hope will find its way to more SilverStone enclosures.

Even a year and a half after the Temjin TJ10 was first introduced, it's still selling for more than $300 USD. Fortunately, for those with a smaller budget, the Fortress FT01 will only set you back about $200. After seeing this case first-hand, installing the server/workstation hardware, and then seeing how quiet the chassis was while having great operating temperatures, this case is worth the price. If you don't need a case as big as the Temjin TJ10, and decide to get the Fortress FT01, you should not be disappointed. This case is also being awarded with our Phoronix Editor's Choice Award.