SilverStone Fortress FT03

Back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show one of the most interesting and innovative products I came across was not one of the many tablets or 3D monitors on display, but was actually a computer case. SilverStone Technology has been producing computer enclosures for years, yet they seem to always drive a new level of innovation into their products, and is why they're one of the few enclosure manufacturers to be featured on Phoronix. After being fascinated by their small form factor Sugo enclosures in the past, they introduced a SFF Fortress enclosure, which is easily one of the most unique micro-ATX enclosures.

I previously reviewed the Fortress FT01 and Fortress FT02 enclosures from SilverStone, which were brilliant ATX enclosures, but the FT03 takes a radically different approach with a much smaller form factor to target micro ATX/ITX systems. When seeing this enclosure at SilverStone's CES suite, I thought at first that it was a next-generation Sugo. The FT03 seeks to reduce the chassis depth without compromising the ability to fit mainstream components. SilverStone has been successful in doing so while making one very sleek enclosure. With a distinct columnar design, this is just not a miniature version of the FT01/FT02.

Features:

- Aluminum shell, steel body
- Micro ATX, Mini DTX, Mini ITX Support
- 1 x Slim optical drive loading bay
- 3 x 3.5-inch Internal Drive Bays
- 1 x 2.5-inch Internal Drive Bay
- 2 x 120mm Case Fans
- 3 x 80mm Optional Fan Slots
- 4 Expansion Slots
- USB 3.0 Support
- 6.7 Kilogram Net Weight
- 235 x 487 x 284 mm

Contents:

The SilverStone Fortress FT03 was well protected via two Styrofoam molds within a thick cardboard box. SilverStone usually protects their products quite well for shipping and this micro-ATX enclosure is no different. The Fortress FT03 is available in SST-FT03B and SST-FT03S models with the post-fix denoting the black or silver exterior color. The sample kindly sent over by SilverStone Technology was the black version.