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They might grow on you. :)
I thought they were hideous at first, now I love em...it's like a geek's root beer float. :D
Noctua stuff definitely eeks quality...I love their fans. The notches and the ridges/texture of the fan blades, as well as the bonus stuff... and they definitely have the best bracket system I've ever seen (SecuFirm2) on their coolers.
 
kiger said:
4. Finally, the Scythe "E" vs. the Noctua 140mm... There are several reasons I did not choose that as a replacement for the 180mm fans. First, it is round and I don't like round fans; give me a square fan and call me anal and I'll be happy. Second, coconutboy is 100% right in that you never, ever, trust the ratings of a fan by a mfg. The goal is to find a review of the same fan by the same review site. Here is what SilentPC says about the Scythe "E": at 12v it is 23dBA@1m, 1230RPM, 34CFM, and 0.62W. They have not yet specifically reviewed the NF-P14, but they have reviewed the DH-N14 which includes the fan and they found the fan itself runs at 21dBA at 12v which is hardly any quieter than 23dBA. Also, at the low speed at which the fan runs 1200RPM, I can pretty much guarantee you will never see 71CFM. Take it for what you will, but those are my thoughts. By the way, the fan isn't exactly pretty; do you want three of those on the bottom of your nice black case?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your explanation. No doubt Im gonna finally pick this case up, that decision is already taken. As for the fans replacement, not yet. I dont care much about the inner aesthetics of the case, just performance; and regard to the SCYTHE S-FLEX "E" or the NF-P14 FLX, its just an airflow/noise ratio fact, purely. That said, the question is, which one has the best ratio?


zero2dash said:
Let me put it another way - I bought 9 SFF21E's; 6 months later I bought 2 Noctua coolers and 2 more NF-P12's. I was disappointed in the P12's from a noise standpoint compared to the S-Flex.
Click to expand...

Bear in mind Im talking for the 140mm one. Again, dont care if the 120mm scythe is better than 120mm noctua in general aspects or performance. Between the 120mm scythe and 140mm noctua, who offers the best overall performance, or in other words, the best airflow to noise ratio? Just that, the answer, is the fan Im minded to pick up.
 
Both are likely close when it comes to airflow. I have three Scythe "E" in my case and they put out a ton of air and I cannot even hear them.
 
but thats not an exact answer. In adittion, the NF-P14 FLX are adjustable at 3 speeds: 750, 900 and 1200 RPM.

When you say they are pretty close, what mode are you referring too? I think this is a matter of concern, to check out the exact ratio and performance, when you re investing some money on it.

Sorry but you have to understand the "I can't even hear" does not clear much on this, since maybe anyone can say that on either of both fans.
Measures are needed, or better, accuracy comparision between them.
 
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baco80 said:
but thats not an exact answer. In adittion, the NF-P14 FLX are adjustable at 3 speeds: 750, 900 and 1200 RPM.

When you say they are pretty close, what mode are you referring too? I think this is a matter of concern, to check out the exact ratio and performance, when you re investing some money on it.

Sorry but you have to understand the "I can't even hear" does not clear much on this, since maybe anyone can say that on either of both fans.
Measures are needed, or better, accuracy comparision between them.
Click to expand...

You're asking a subjective question and looking for a concrete answer, you will not get one. The closest you're going to get is to read silentpcreview.com but even then it will not answer all your questions. They don't have measures because there aren't any as the information provided by manufacturers are not accurate. It's been said a million times before manufacturers don't even have accurate measures for their fans, as the testing method varies amongst all of them, and I'm sure they skew it for their own benefit. This might not be the answer you're looking for, but that's what there is.

You also have to keep in mind that every system is different, you can have a fan that's proven to be the quietest ever, but that doesn't mean your system will be quiet, most likely your graphics card or PSU is going to be louder than your fans. Your sitting position, where you case is, your ambient noise all factors into it too. The only way you're going to know what works for you is to try it.
 
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Guys - stay on topic.
Post fan questions in the OC and Cooling subforum or use a search engine.
 
Switched out the Noctua fans for R4s.

Before:
img0670r.jpg




After:
img0700du.jpg
 
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nice man, I like how the blue brings out that there are fans down there... to bad mine is going to be covered up with an H50 rad. I may make the middle one a blue one... Have to think about that...
 
Thanks FalconSS. The interior's almost all black-and-blue, now, SATA data cables included. Just waiting for the NZXT sleeved cables to finish it up (replace/hide the multi-colored ATX power and 3-pin fan cables). Once those are done, this build will be complete.
 
Well I got my case yesterday and got it all setup and I must say this case is amazing. The air cooling in this is so much better than my p180, and it is just as quiet, if not quieter. My CPU in the p180 ran idle at 38c and now it is running at 30c. My 5870 used to run at 60c idle in the p180 and now it runs at 41c idle, which is crazy, same drop in temps for my 8800 GTS physx card. Not to mention it is dead sexy. I need to do a better job with the cables, my first attempt.

Pros
1. Quiet
2. Roomy
3. Cable management
4. Cooling is great
5. All Black
6. Did I mention cooling is great?

Cons.
1. I wish they had more room behind the motherboard, another inch would be amazing for cables.
2. Longer optical drives might not fit. Not an issue with me.
3. Black paint can scratch easy

Pics ( pics do not do it justice, it is just sexy in person.)

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1843/006vy.jpg

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/1985/008cab.jpg
 
Congrats Ryan45!

It is a beautiful case, and really easy to work with. You might start looking for any reason to open it up and play around since it is so easy to work in. I agree about the space between the mobo tray and side cover. Even 1/4" would help.

Enjoy the new case!
 
I just picked up an FT02 for myself and none of my 5.25" devices fit. They're too wide - can't even slide them into the opening in the case. Have any of you owners noticed anything like this?

zc1, is that a Scythe Kaze Server controller you have there? I have the same (also doesn't fit) and I was wondering whether you had to file down the mounts for it because in addition to being too wide, it seems like the mounts are too tall (vertically) to fit between the slide rails in the FT02's 5.25" drive bays.

What the heck is wrong with my FT02? :(
 
inept said:
I just picked up an FT02 for myself and none of my 5.25" devices fit. They're too wide - can't even slide them into the opening in the case. Have any of you owners noticed anything like this?

zc1, is that a Scythe Kaze Server controller you have there? I have the same (also doesn't fit) and I was wondering whether you had to file down the mounts for it because in addition to being too wide, it seems like the mounts are too tall (vertically) to fit between the slide rails in the FT02's 5.25" drive bays.

What the heck is wrong with my FT02? :(
Click to expand...

i see why you call yourself "inept"
 
inept said:
I just picked up an FT02 for myself and none of my 5.25" devices fit. They're too wide - can't even slide them into the opening in the case. Have any of you owners noticed anything like this?

zc1, is that a Scythe Kaze Server controller you have there? I have the same (also doesn't fit) and I was wondering whether you had to file down the mounts for it because in addition to being too wide, it seems like the mounts are too tall (vertically) to fit between the slide rails in the FT02's 5.25" drive bays.

What the heck is wrong with my FT02? :(
Click to expand...
Hi Inept,

That sounds pretty frustrating. I can't say I've seen anything about that problem (drives being too wide), before. What are your parts (part types, brands, model numbers, etc)? If you have photos, that might help people to give you useful advise.

The controller is a Kaze Server. The side tabs can be bent slightly inward towards each other and that should help you to get it in place. It does take a little bit of persuasion. If you're firm but careful it will go into place properly and secure in place with either screws or the tool-less retainers.
 
BTW, Inept. This may seem silly, but are the tool-less bays "unlocked?" If you have them in the "locked" position then the drives won't go in. Hopefully it's as simple as that.
 
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inept said:
I just picked up an FT02 for myself and none of my 5.25" devices fit. They're too wide - can't even slide them into the opening in the case. Have any of you owners noticed anything like this?

zc1, is that a Scythe Kaze Server controller you have there? I have the same (also doesn't fit) and I was wondering whether you had to file down the mounts for it because in addition to being too wide, it seems like the mounts are too tall (vertically) to fit between the slide rails in the FT02's 5.25" drive bays.

What the heck is wrong with my FT02? :(
Click to expand...

Omerta said:
i see why you call yourself "inept"
Click to expand...

LOL - that's cold! Maybe you're inserting it backwards? The end with the SATA & power connector ports should go in first??? ;)

zc1 said:
BTW, Inept. This may seem silly, but are the tool-less bays "unlocked?" If you have them in the "locked" position then the drives won't go in. Hopefully it's as simple as that.
Click to expand...

This is probably the cause right here.
 
Nope, that's definitely not the cause, although I did have the lock disengaged. Remember, I had to remove the bay cover somehow. The drive just doesn't fit into the bay at all, like not even a tiny bit. As far away as the lock rod is from the face of the case is how much space I'd have left before running into it if the drive would go in at all. The drive in question is a several year old Samsung SATA DVD-RW of unremarkable specification.

I would get a new one if I could guarantee that it would fit because the 30-odd bucks is nothing - couldn't care less, I just don't know that it will fit. Drive's a drive, right, so how would a new one be any different?

As for the other device, it's the Scythe Server control bay.

I'm at work so I will try to put up a few pics when I get home. It's like the most ridiculous possible case fail ever. The case gave me a lot of general grief as I was building my system in it too. The CP05 hot swap connector was installed incorrectly (crooked) from the factory, the SSD mount doesn't sit flush because there are screws in the way, one of the fan filters slid out the second I opened the case and cracked in half.

:(
 
I love my FT02!

I agree with the more space behind the mobo comments, I jammed the 24pin back there with the NZXTextention and the cover has a slight bulge :eek:, owell it'll be fine.

dsc02420.jpg
 
inept said:
Remember, I had to remove the bay cover somehow.:(
Click to expand...
Yes, but it's easy enough to have it flip back into locked position without noticing. It sounds like that's not the case, though. Strange problem. One of my drives is a couple of years old (Philips OEM unit out of my old system), and the other is new (LG unit just purchased a few weeks ago) -- both fit fine.

Probably wouldn't hurt to pick up a new optical drive on the way home from work and give that a shot. If it doesn't fit then you can always return it.
 
@PredatoR33: That is a sharp-looking system! The NZXT ATX cable extender has a nice, clean look to it.
 
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@DNX: True...completely forgot that as I haven't had to remove one in a while. It sounds like this isn't the issue, though, as he can't even get the drive past the front face of the computer, let alone past the first toolless latch point.

As an aside, the toolless kits are removable. I just remembered when trying to rearrange my 5.25" devices. I removed the toolless kit from the 2nd 5.25" bay from the top so that I could put the card reader in there using regular mounting screws.

@ Inept: the kaze server went into the top 5.25" bay much more easily than it did into the other bays (very easily, actually); you might want to give that a try if you haven't already.
 
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Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions but nothing will go into the top 2 bays, it would seem. I managed to get everything in starting from the bottom bay up, though so that's going to be how it goes. I figured I'd see if it fits before taking photos and it did.

I would have liked all of my peripherals starting at the top and going down but the case wasn't having any of it so it is what it is. I guess it's actually not too bad this way - closer to eye level and closer at hand.

Thanks again

:D
 
Hey inept, after reading about your problems with the 5.25" bays, I'm reminded of something Tony Ou mentioned earlier in the thread about the ft02/rv02 warping if handled improperly. Maybe this is your problem?

He mentioned it somewhere way back at the start of the thread and it was more specifically about the PCIe slots misaligning due to user error, but perhaps something similar is hampering your ability to use the upper bays? Whatever the reason, it'd probably be a good idea to contact Silverstone or else the place you purchased your case. Maybe you can get another one in case somewhere down the road you need to use the defective 5.25s.
 
After searching, I've seen a bit of posting about the H50 in this case, but I was wondering how much room there is above the case (120mm area). Is there room for a 25mm fan + a 25mm shroud with the cover on?
My guess by looking is that a fan up there would be fine, but adding a shroud might make it too high?

Anyone have a configuration like this going? :)
 
I am ditching my FT02. Let me give you a little background on why because it is a great case... but it is just not for me.

If you scroll some pages back you will see that I am running some 2.5 SAS drives and I also have about 5 x 3.5 1TB drives which I need to hotswap probably only once a month.

For the 2.5 drives I am using a nice 5.25 bay which accepts four 2.5 SATA or SAS drives. It is pretty decent. My only complaint is the cooling really isn't all that and the drives average about 40c. That is not bad by any means, but I really would like to see those numbers in the low 30's.

For the 3.5 drives, I had a very difficult time finding trayless hotswap bays because the FT02 limits the depth to about 184mm assuming no connectors are on the side near the motherboard. I finally found some nice ones here... however they have a huge problem. Half of my 3.5 drives are 7200 and they got up to about 54c in the hotswap bays! I almost burnt my hand taking them out!

I have blown a lot of money on the case, some magnetic filters, and some fan ducts, but I just cannot seem to get the case to do what I want given the poor depth issue. I have considered putting drives in the 3.5" bays... I did this with my 2.5" drives using some adapters but wow, they got hot... the airflow in those 3.5 bays is really poor even though there is a fan right below it.

Today I was at a crossroads and started looking at other cases and I figured I would probably not find much because the FT02 had everything I wanted. However, I eventually stumbled across the Lian PC-P50 which does everything I need. I am placing my 4 x 2.5 SAS drives behind the 120mm fans (which I will replace with the Scythe E) and that should really keep things cool. I also picked up this to take care of my hotswap needs.

While I have found the FT02 to be a decent case, it is a shame that I did not discover these issues until I had already bought the case.

Also, not to knock the case at all but I was extremely, extremely, intrigued by this review of the RV02 (basically identical to the FT02) and it received incredibly low marks for cooling, compared to for example the Lian PC-P50. So, here is what I intend to do. I should receive the PC-P50 later this week and before I swap it out, I will bench the thermals in my FT02 and post the results. I am interested to see for myself how it will stack up.

You know, maybe I can do three tests:

1. The FT02 with the stock 180mm fans.
2. The FT02 with the stock 180mm fans replaced with three 120mm Scythe "E" with adapters/shrouds.
3. The PC-P50 with three 120mm Scythe "E" + two stock 140mm fans (exhaust).

Finally, here is my current FT02 setup:
85318557.jpg

36564829.jpg
 
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coconutboy said:
Hey inept, after reading about your problems with the 5.25" bays, I'm reminded of something Tony Ou mentioned earlier in the thread about the ft02/rv02 warping if handled improperly. Maybe this is your problem?
.
Click to expand...

Got the ft02 recently and i must say its pretty damn solid and would take quite the drop to deform the case. But seeing as how ups likes to treat packages who knows.

kiger, did you try having the 180mm fan to cool your hdd bay? From your pics it doesn't look like the 120mm fan gives the hdd bay area total coverage. I currently have 2x 1tb seagate drives and a 300gb raptor in the 3.5" bays; leaving a open slot in between each none of the drives ever get over 40c. It would probably get quite toasty in there if I were to fill it with 5 drives, but with 3 drives in there the airflow is more than adequate.

Also looking at how many hotswap bays you need, have you checked out the lian li b71? Looks to me like it might suit your needs quite well.
 
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Actually, I had a chance to inspect it carefully under appropriate lighting and I'm pretty sure now that the issue is a manufacturing defect. If you have the case, you can look in the drive bay opening and what you'll see is the fascia/frame of the case (the single u-shaped piece of metal) to which is screwed a plate of steel that is in turn riveted to the case's internal drive bay structure and whatnot. This plate of steel that attaches to the fascia is riveted to the rest of the frame crookedly and then just screwed to the facia like that. If I'm looking at the problem right, this is unfixable.

It tapers in almost 4mm at its maximum and causes the top two drive bays to be blocked, as I had noted earlier. You can see it here:

http://www.compulogick.com/files/ft02-left-highlight.jpg

I'm going to RMA. I've got a few other complaints about the case (notably with the silly SSD mount position and crummy CP05 hot swap accessory) but those are minor. It's otherwise everything I've been looking for for a long time. Cooling performance and noise level is exceptional... Although if you've got a million HDDs like kiger maybe it's not for you. :)
 
kiger said:
I eventually stumbled across the Lian PC-P50 which does everything I need. I am placing my 4 x 2.5 SAS drives behind the 120mm fans (which I will replace with the Scythe E) and that should really keep things cool. I also picked up this to take care of my hotswap needs.
Click to expand...

I had a P50R which only holds three hard drives compared to the 5+1 in the FT02.
10.5" cards seem like the maximum with the additional HDD cage for $30.

CPU cooling is great in the P50 and could be better for the GPU.
I probably would have went with a Lian Li case for the number of drives you need.
 
kiger said:
Also, not to knock the case at all but I was extremely, extremely, intrigued by this review of the RV02 (basically identical to the FT02) and it received incredibly low marks for cooling, compared to for example the Lian PC-P50. So, here is what I intend to do. I should receive the PC-P50 later this week and before I swap it out, I will bench the thermals in my FT02 and post the results. I am interested to see for myself how it will stack up.
Click to expand...

That will be interesting to see in response to that review. I had read it a while back, and what strikes me is that they (and they state this) go for maximum heat buildup within the case, relying on whatever airflow is there to get rid of the heat. I don't think the motherboard orientation does as much to this end as more active cooling would.
Most commonly in the benchmarking world you go for realistic workloads; I can understand bit-tech's reasoning in this case but from everything else I've seen they're not looking at a realistic situation.
 
Good god, the back is soooooooo tight, it took me an hour to tape the cables in order to prevent the lid to bend.
 
kiger I'm surprised you didn't go with a full tower like the PC-A71FB (which is what I almost ended up with if it hadn't have been for the FT02). Look forward to your upcoming comparisons though. :)
 
Kiger - bummer to hear your ft02 isn't working out for you and I'd like to thank you for all your comments and details as you've definitely helped me suss out my own case buying situation. Despite the various complaints people have levied against the ft02, you're the first actual owner I've heard of who finds the case insufficient for their needs.
I'm definitely hoping you'll try the 3-part testing for temps because if we buy an ft02 (with CeBit over that's probably going to happen although Lian Li is tempting me), I'll be filling all 5 hdd bays just as you did. Like wewu said, I wonder if switching back to Silverstone's 180mm fan for the hdd cage would fix or at least minimize your problem? Looking at your pics the frontmost fan definitely looks to be too small to properly cool the entire hdd cage. Not that the concept directly translates since it's different products/grilles/etc, but dig this video. p.s. is that Tony Ou in the vid? Tony you're a celeb, take a bow!

I also wonder if much of the issue could be related to you creating a heat pocket in that section of the case with all your 5.25 devices and full hdd cage? Perhaps if you moved your hot swap bays and/or notebook drives to an external enclosure things would improve significantly? Or maybe try removing one of your 5.25 devices, then removing two of the bay covers so they're open (simulating a vented bay cover)? This has been my plan if we buy an ft02 in anticipation of hdd heat issues. Not that any of this necessarily meets your needs, I'm just wondering aloud. If nothing solves your problem, you've got a helluva nice backup chassis or else you'd probably get great value back reselling it. :)

Earlier in the thread I voiced my concerns that the hdd cage would suffer from a lack of proper airflow (see below pics), but since then we've seen at least two people stuff the hdd cage to capacity and since none of them complained about temps I just assumed my concerns were invalid. Obviously your system is more toward the extreme side of heat generation than most people, but given that the summertime produces ambient temps in the 80-90s in our LA home, I'm very curious for any further info you can share so thanks in advance for your time.

ssft02-16.jpg

ssft02-17.jpg


wewu said:
Got the ft02 recently and i must say its pretty damn solid and would take quite the drop to deform the case. But seeing as how ups likes to treat packages who knows.
Click to expand...
I was just tossing out extra info in the hopes it might help inept, but the link Tony had originally posted specifically shows a problem being related not to damage from shipping issues, but from users incorrectly picking the case up via the slot for the I/O ports.
 
inept, I hope your RMA goes off w/o a hitch. Pretty sure you're the only person I've seen that posted w/ a serious manufacturing defect. There were a couple other complaints earlier about IIRC a broken hot swap and a few other niggling issues, but nothing game breaking like what you got. Silverstone's QA on these cases has seemed to be pretty good and I'd expect your replacement to be quality product. Good luck!
 
coconutboy said:
Kiger - bummer to hear your ft02 isn't working out for you and I'd like to thank you for all your comments and details as you've definitely helped me suss out my own case buying situation. Despite the various complaints people have levied against the ft02, you're the first actual owner I've heard of who finds the case insufficient for their needs.
I'm definitely hoping you'll try the 3-part testing for temps because if we buy an ft02 (with CeBit over that's probably going to happen although Lian Li is tempting me), I'll be filling all 5 hdd bays just as you did. Like wewu said, I wonder if switching back to Silverstone's 180mm fan for the hdd cage would fix or at least minimize your problem? Looking at your pics the frontmost fan definitely looks to be too small to properly cool the entire hdd cage. Not that the concept directly translates since it's different products/grilles/etc, but dig this video. p.s. is that Tony Ou in the vid? Tony you're a celeb, take a bow!

I also wonder if much of the issue could be related to you creating a heat pocket in that section of the case with all your 5.25 devices and full hdd cage? Perhaps if you moved your hot swap bays and/or notebook drives to an external enclosure things would improve significantly? Or maybe try removing one of your 5.25 devices, then removing two of the bay covers so they're open (simulating a vented bay cover)? This has been my plan if we buy an ft02 in anticipation of hdd heat issues. Not that any of this necessarily meets your needs, I'm just wondering aloud. If nothing solves your problem, you've got a helluva nice backup chassis or else you'd probably get great value back reselling it. :)

Earlier in the thread I voiced my concerns that the hdd cage would suffer from a lack of proper airflow (see below pics), but since then we've seen at least two people stuff the hdd cage to capacity and since none of them complained about temps I just assumed my concerns were invalid. Obviously your system is more toward the extreme side of heat generation than most people, but given that the summertime produces ambient temps in the 80-90s in our LA home, I'm very curious for any further info you can share so thanks in advance for your time.
Click to expand...

I could very well do an external enclosure however, why should I have to? I mean, all I want is two hot swap bays... that cannot be asking too much. The FT02 would be great for me... if I did not use any of the bays :p

Also, I doubt there is any "heat" pocket created. I would venture to say that the reason the FT02 probably gets too hot is because there simply is not even flow in versus out. If the FT02 had two exhausts I would think the case would be a lot cooler.

Finally, regarding those people with 5 x 3.5 drives... ask them to post their temps. I am as curious as the next guy. I mean, my 3.5 drive worked fine at 54c but it would not last 6 months under those extremes.
 
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