SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

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Lawrence Lee
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SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by Lawrence Lee » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:43 am


kepstin
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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by kepstin » Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:35 am

I notice that the Strix GeForce GTX 980 card you're using has an "open air" cooler design, rather than a blower.

I'm kind of curious about what kind of differences you might see with a blower design, like Nvidia's reference cooler for the GTX 980. Since all of the heat from the GFX card will be exhausted out the back of the case, rather than be circulated inside (and ventilation paths within the case look pretty congested...), it might help with temperatures of other components, and reduce noise generated from the CPU cooler.

That said, I don't know whether the possible noise increase from the blower might offset this.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by MikeC » Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:59 am

kepstin wrote: Since all of the heat from the GFX card will be exhausted out the back of the case, rather than be circulated inside (and ventilation paths within the case look pretty congested...), it might help with temperatures of other components, and reduce noise generated from the CPU cooler.

That said, I don't know whether the possible noise increase from the blower might offset this.
All of the heat? This would only be possible if the fan was spinning at some ungodly speed & whining like a jet engine. Just one look at the exhaust vent and fan intake on any blower type cooler should tell you there's no way to get enough airflow w/o high noise. It might ot might not be better for cooling but definitely would be worse for noise.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:32 pm

Blower style GPU cooling limitations...from the archives.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by fyleow » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:39 pm

Very good review, thanks. The rvz01 platform showed the most promise out of all these steam box style cases but that review didn't use the most modern components and a louder psu so I wasn't sure how much it could be trusted. Happy to see the 500 watt SFX power supply used here which according to Tony Ou from SST is the quietest SFX power supply they make but on hardforum there are many who complained about ticking noises.

Had I seen this earlier I may have considered using this case instead of the Rosewill W1 but it would mean replacing my perfectly good Seasonic 460 watt fanless and Mugen 2 cooler which would have added another ~$160 to the cost of my rebuild so maybe not. Still it's a very impressive showing for the size especially compared to the Node 202 reviewed earlier

Interesting to note is the silverstone has a smaller desk footprint than the ncase even though it's volume is higher. Much of that owing to the height differences which may or may not matter as much.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by Nice Marmot » Wed Aug 26, 2015 8:12 am

Sleek, really nice looking case. Doubt I'd actually use it for a gaming machine, but my old HTPC (in an Antec NSK2400 MicroATX case) has been acting up and will likely need a replacement soon. This looks like it might be a great way to shrink to an even more living room-appropriate Mini-ITX footprint, but still have room for an optical drive, a CableCard tuner, and a beefy 3.5" local storage drive (but will have to move OS to a 2.5" drive). Couple questions:

1. Can the case be used in a horizontal "desktop" orientation? Didn't look like there was an option for feet on the bottom, so maybe that wouldn't work with the bottom air intake. Though I guess you could get adhesive feet. Or does the plastic stand work for both horizontal and vertical setups?

2. Wouldn't be using a discrete graphics card, but using the riser, is there any issue using a PCI-E 1x card in what I'm assuming is a 16x slot? Would be using a Ceton InfiniTV4.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Aug 26, 2015 10:26 am

Nice Marmot wrote: 1. Can the case be used in a horizontal "desktop" orientation? Didn't look like there was an option for feet on the bottom, so maybe that wouldn't work with the bottom air intake. Though I guess you could get adhesive feet. Or does the plastic stand work for both horizontal and vertical setups?
"Stuffed inside the FTZ01 is a white box containing its many accessories. It ships with three ultra fine mesh dust filters, riser card, dual fan connector, the components to assemble the video card holder, case feet that are attached with adhesive for horizontal operation, and two stands for holding up the chassis in vertical orientation. "

"The best result I could achieve with the case in horizontal position was 31~32 dBA, with the stock fans at 80% and GPU fans at 53%. It was significantly louder than the vertical orientation as the fan vents become more restricted. Even with the filters removed, much higher fan speeds are required to attain a similar level of cooling."

Replace the 170W gfx card with your tuner and it'll probably be fine. Might need taller feet for better airflow. Probably want to be careful if stuffing it into a small enclosed place.
Nice Marmot wrote: 2. Wouldn't be using a discrete graphics card, but using the riser, is there any issue using a PCI-E 1x card in what I'm assuming is a 16x slot? Would be using a Ceton InfiniTV4.
should work fine. A PCIe x1 card merely has fewer lanes.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by MikeC » Wed Aug 26, 2015 10:54 am

FYI -- There were a few changes in the review:

1. filters do attach magnetically. The strips are on one side, and work only if pressed to the case on that side
2. Fractal Node 202 is the closest competitor (by size, shape & intent) from another brand; it's been added to the comparison table.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Aug 26, 2015 11:18 am

re: Node 202 - That puts things in perspective. :)

Nice Marmot
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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by Nice Marmot » Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:49 pm

Thanks, Steve. I'm blaming the cold medicine for my terrible reading comprehension today.

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:42 pm

I usually blame lack of caffeine. :)

growfin
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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by growfin » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:38 am

Excellent review! I am doing my first build in this case. (Have the case, got to save $ for everything else!).
Most likely a really silly question... Would the MSI GeForce GTX 980Ti Seahawk fit in the gpu area, with those sideways tubes and thick fan/radiator below? Sorry if this is just dumb to ask, but I would like to know...

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by MikeC » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:01 am

growfin wrote:Excellent review! I am doing my first build in this case. (Have the case, got to save $ for everything else!).
Most likely a really silly question... Would the MSI GeForce GTX 980Ti Seahawk fit in the gpu area, with those sideways tubes and thick fan/radiator below? Sorry if this is just dumb to ask, but I would like to know...
You'll have to examine pics very carefully, compare the Asus 980 we used to the MSI, etc. No way for us to say without having the card in hand. MSI never responds to our sample requests, so...

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by growfin » Mon Nov 02, 2015 4:25 pm

Thanks! It's looking doubtful, because of the liquid cooler. I'll make the gpu the last thing to buy!
P.S, thanks for the clever idea for the cpu cooler in the article. I've been spending too much time deciding on this part, and with the case fan assisting just the Noctua's bottom small fan, it looks to become very capable.
If I end up having 2 case fans also blowing in to the gpu on the other side, (so all the ftz01's fans blowing in), is there enough all-round ventilation in the case for warmer air to escape? I'll be having the case sitting tall (on its end).
Cheers!

deprecatedcoder
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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by deprecatedcoder » Sun Jan 24, 2016 5:46 pm

FYI, this conversion in the article is wrong: "37.6 x 10.7 x 35.1 cm or 9.1 in x 14.8 in x15.6 (W x H x D)"

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Re: SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress

Post by michaelsammler » Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:23 am

Picking this case up soon. My first build, so sorry if this is a stupid question.

The Strix GTX 980 you used size is 288.6mm x 134.4mm x 40.9mm, but the FTZ01 manual says GPU size limitation is 330 x 131.6 x 68.
So the extra 3mm was in the pipes blocking the support? Did you guys just get lucky?

I am looking at GTX1080 GPUs. Wondering which is better for cooling. An FE card (Vapor cooled? What?) with case fans (ZOTAC)? Or something else with 2 or 3 fans from Asus or MSI or the likes? Although they all seem to be too long.

Thanks and great reviews. Helped a lot.

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