SilverStone FTZ01 Chassis Review

[@ilhuikar]

It's 2022 and I just bought this case. It's pretty expensive now but it had exactly the features I wanted, some of which are lacking on the RVZ03 Raven. Most of the concerns raised in this video have gone away. I was able to get a gold rated 500W power supply for just 60 euros, and of course cool running efficient Ryzen cpus weren't a thing yet when this video was made. And that slim line Noctua cooler was also relatively easy to install, I've had worse. It's a very nice small form factor case. Takes a bit of planning during the assembly but no biggie for an experienced pc builder.

[@MGL83]

I disagree. There is no reason to limit yourself to some obsolete dual core. Quad core i5 does perfectly fine on standard cooler, as long as you don't oc. I've been running one in Silverstone ML06B (so almost the same case) with gtx980 and it works great. Just make sure not to block the vents and clean dust filters regularly.

[@richardmontenegro1350]

I like your no frills straightforward review. Thanks. Thumbs up.

[@Zetler]

This is the best gaming HTPC/Steam box case out there. With all fans installed mine stays very cool even with a hot card like a 780 GTX. His concerns about cooling for both the CPU and GPU are totally off base but he's right about the assembly process. It requires a lot of planning in both the assembly and parts selection.

[@elvedrano]

It's great for a powerful gaming pc that you can put in a bag and easily transport.

[@bellshooter]

For a low profile cooler I have used the Zalman cnps2x in a Lian Li TU 100 build for a better than stock cooling level. Bit of a pig to install but is very small.

[@jam471975]

Very simple solution to the lid fan... get a fan header extension cable and run it to the front of the case, then tape the fan cable to the lid up to the front of the case. Now you have a connector to disconnect the fan at the front of the case and keep the slack tucked away up by the power supply at the front.

[@melack857]

Hello, great review! Can I mount a 3.5" drive in the space of the graphics card? I am planning a build without a graphics card, and I need additional storage. Thanks!

[@kikayei]

Hi Leo, thank you for this video. The Silverstone FTZ01 case is beautiful and I see it's potential to becoming a awesome gaming PC (console killer). What I would do is install a Silverstone SFX-L 700w PSU (available in January) and order custom cables to the length I need so I can avoid cable management issues. I would then cut and solder the case cables to the right length. Next, install a Z170 motherboard, an i7 6700K cpu, a Silverstone NT06-PRO cooler, 16gb 2400hz ram, a Samsung EVO 850 1tb ssd, an EVGA Titan X SC videocard, 3 Noctua 120m fans and an optical drive from my Alienware X51. I might have the aluminum portion of the case painted because I don't want it completely black. If I want to put it horizontally in my media center, I'll need to cut an opening on the shelf for good airflow. Once it's hooked up to my 55" hdtv, I'll be quite pleased. 😄

[@caseyyoung5111]

KitGuruTech: I noticed you said it may be cramped with the CPU cooler and the 120mm case fan above it. If you put in a 82mm CPU Cooler, will that have any issues with the 120mm fan above it? This is the CPU cooler: pcpartpicker.com/product/88DwrH/silverstone-cpu-cooler-nt06pro

[@MichaelSammler]

I am looking at the Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 which is 5.8" wide, which is the max width for this case. Is there anything I need to be concerned about? Something on the side area that might butt up against the GPU? Thanks for the review.

[@KitGuruTech]

Right now I don't have that level of detail however I intend to revisit FTZ01 and currently have a GTX980 installed without any problem.

[@MichaelSammler]

+KitGuruTech thanks. most 1080's are still sold out, so not too many options atm.

[@jeppetkkerhenriksen8957]

Very good detailed video, but i would mention that this case can be fully watercooled with a full length graphics card.

[@leowaldock8386]

+Jeppe Tækker Henriksen Yes in theory you can liquid cool the CPU but in practice I cannot see how it could be done. If you have liquid cooled your FTZ01 do please post a photo on the KitGuru Facebook page.

[@jeppetkkerhenriksen8957]

+Leo Waldock I do not own the case myself, But i have seen several pictures of it, with ml07, rvz01 and the ftz01. it is even stated on the product page from Silverstone themselves: "Maximum performance in slim form factor with support for liquid cooling*" Link to product page: www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=533 Link to a watercooled ml07 which is the same chassis just without the steel panels, and aluminum front: goo.gl/Hhcq9N

[@leowaldock8386]

+Jeppe Tækker Henriksen Yes indeed I say in the review that SilverStone mentions you can construct a custom cooling loop and while this is doubtless possible it isn't straightforward.

[@jeppetkkerhenriksen8957]

+Leo Waldock then I must have missed that, my apologies.

[@leowaldock8386]

That's quite alright - the words on KitGuru are partly a summary of the video but there are extra points in there too.

[@0Tidus0989]

What are the temperatures for the HDD over the PSU?

[@jam471975]

Silverstone makes several different styles of the same interior layout.... I have the raven and I've seen quite a few videos on the different styles of this case and none of them had as many issues as this reviewer did putting this case together and neither did I. The key is to make sure you plan well and pick the proper components for this case. A Noctua 9Lx65 we'll fit no problem in this case if you have the right motherboard... with this cooler you can run any 7 Series Intel or AMD CPU which is a great fit for even a 2080ti. Corsair has SF600 and SF750 power supplies which either will fit great in this case and have no problems powering a 2080ti and Ryzen 7 or i7. Also, I've no trouble with my 12TB HDD above the power supply.

[@qzbnyv]

Yes it seems I watched and thumbs-downed this video for similar reasons at the time I built in my FTZ01 in late 2015. Am currently disassembling it today. And after watching videos of people build rigs in my new case (a Define Mini C that I’ve had laying around for a bit), I see the same issue of this reviewer’s idiosyncrasies/issues being confounded in the review with problems of the case itself. Lots of commenters seemed to pick it up there as well. I think it’s one of the reasons why this channel hasn’t grown anywhere near as much as others over the same 6 year period.

[@ginofoogle6944]

You can build a beast of a gaming computer with this case.. you can't run SLI or crossfire but honestly if you don't run 3 monitor set-ups with gazillion resolution you are fine with 1 beastly card.. 2 ram slots are more than enough.. overclocking will be a problem as you don't have room for good coolers (but who overclocks anyway..) just get good hardware in the first place and leave the overclocking to watercooled enthusiasts with twin tower setups.. the sfx psu is fine as you don't need more than 450 watt anyway. perfect case for a single screen gaming home entertainment system with some punch to do video editing and rendering as well. this guy doesn't seem to know what he is talking about. EDIT: no points to tie down cables? how about the side ventilation mesh that is basically on each side of the case?

[@DaBomb5309]

yeah this guy is very hit or miss to me in terms of case reviews

[@Xander3509]

Could you not just leave the CPU intake fan out and use a much bigger cooler that uses downdraft? Such as the Noctua NH-C14 or the NH-L12 with a 120mm on top? That should cover the CPU cooling though I believe tests have been done where the CPU is not so much of a "bottleneck" anymore on graphics performance so it would then fall to what type of game you're running.

[@leowaldock8386]

+Alex Abbott The area around the CPU cooler is tight for access and makes it tricky to connect cables but the main issue is restricted vertical height. It isn't the end of the world but means you need to restrict the power of your chosen CPU.

[@gillisorneborg6180]

There are plenty of people who use this case for hardcore gaming machines, both with air coolers and custom loops. www.overclock.net/t/1466816/silverstone-raven-rvz01-rvz02-ml07-ml08-ftz01-owners-club/3250 look here for tips regarding hardware, and inspiration for cooling solutions.

[@Lawiah0]

Looks like the Video Card would be easier to cool by removing the Stock Fans and Shroud, then using both Case mounted fans.

[@leowaldock8386]

+Schpankme Verimuch I cannot really review a case by swapping out stock components as that defeats the idea. The graphics shroud is quite fundamental to the design as it divides the case in to two chambers.

[@Lawiah0]

Thx Leo

[@Gaming_Biker]

SilverStone techs have said that you can put a 120mm or 240mm AIO cooler in this case. Obviously, if you go with the 240mm radiator, you won't have a discrete GPU. However, if you get the SilverStone TD03-SLIM 120mm AIO, there is enough room for the whole system above the CPU socket. You will have to wrap the tubing properly, but the CPU cooler/pump are 39.2mm tall and the radiator w/ supplied AIO fan will be 37mm tall. With max clearance at 83mm, provided by SilverStone's spec page, You will have a few millimeters worth of space. Enough that the fan won't hit the CPU cooler. If you use any other 120x120x15mm or thinner fans, you will be fine as well. Nothing thicker will work, so your typical 25mm thick fans will not fit if you want to use the AIO above the CPU socket in that situation. In which case, you would be better off trying to see if you can install an R9 NANO for the GPU and seeing if the AIO would fit next to that, just like with the Fractal Design Node 202.

[@EdensRemorse]

If you knew about Thermolab's ITX30 you wouldn't be spending half of this review complaining about CPU limitations in this case...

[@490o]

Damn this case is almost $150 where I live.

[@hoepsipoepsi]

I just bought this for 20 bucks, putting a gtx1070 mini r5 1600x 16gb 3200mhz ddr4 1tb ssd and 600w corsair sfx psu in. building wouldn't be too hard and stock amd coolers are badass these days can even overclock descently enough on them so

[@HectorJ.32]

I have this case with a gtx 1080 i7 6700k liquid cooler 16gb ram 250gb ssd 1tb hdd main gear drift gaming pc and cable management is horrible no space I'm switching to another case.

[@DanS443]

Where did you install the radiator for your cooler? And what case did you move to?

[@beals8888]

it can be water cooled

[@simonmaj]

The remarks on the CPU cooling don't make sense, Intel cooler + fan *just behind* is what Intel CPUs are tested for. About power consumption, you don't need a 500 or 600W PSU to build a great gaming pc ... A i7 6700K CPU (+ mobo) is maxed at 110W, GTX970 and 980 at 150W ("gaming" versions at 220W). Of course if you take a more power hungry hardware (AMD...) it's a different story.

[@KitGuruTech]

+Simon Majou You correctly pick up on the two most significant factors building a PC into this chassis which are a low profile cooler and the SFX power supply. I have a second look at thiis case in th works using a SilverStone cooler and PSU.

[@simonmaj]

In fact you could almost run a GTX Titan Z with a 500W PSU ... The Titan Z (standard) has a max power usage of 363 W, if you add the mobo (110W) and a couple of SSDs it is still (barely) below 500W ... A so small margin would be a bad idea of course, but it is still imppressive. A more reasonable dual GPU card than the Titan Z would be ok with that setup.

[@simonmaj]

ufster81 Also even if VR will indeed take a toll on performance, I expect FinFET + HBM to absorb it in the new generation of GPUs ... We'll see. (and yes dual GPU makes sense for VR, but I think constructors will keep the TDP reasonable)

Simon Majou Yeah, I wasn't questioning the validity of your statement. I think you're right for an overwhelming majority of the build cases for these sort of small form factor pcs. I'm pointing out that psu might be the first and only limiting factor in certain cases because from a thermal envelope, these enclosures are quite decent with their airflow friendly meshes and cutouts everywhere and you can get decent blow down cpu coolers if you want.

[@simonmaj]

ufster81 I used that one (in french) : www.hardware.fr/articles/925-3/consommation.html I don't know why guru3d overclocked the CPU for a GPU test, it doesn't make sense. Guru3d only gets the power at the outlet, and then calculates the consumption of the card. Hardware.fr actually measures the power consumed : on the PSU, and on the PCI-express port. We can also look at the number from Nvidia : 375 W.

[@YonOtto]

I just wouldn't trust my hardware to be kept cool by cases like this. Great for a home theatre PC that will just sit in your living room though.

[@leowaldock8386]

+YonOtto If you choose the components sensibly the FTZ01 does a fine job. If you want a Core i7 you'll have to come up with a more imaginative solution than a stock Intel air cooler.

[@taiefmiah]

+Leo Waldock you can get a noctua lhx65. the cheapest noctua which are pretty small tek syndicate used 1 and oced slightly with it using an i5 in their lian li itx build

[@taiefmiah]

+Leo Waldock you can get a noctua lhx65. the cheapest noctua which are pretty small tek syndicate used 1 and oced slightly with it using an i5 in their lian li itx build

[@leowaldock8386]

+taief miah That particular Noctua may well do the job as it has a tiny 92mm fan. I tried a build using another low profile Noctua, the NH-L12, and there was simply no space around the side of the board to get in to connect cabling.

[@taiefmiah]

Again in this case I guess you want what capable enough rather than the best

[@beals8888]

lol about CPU limitations? hay Kit whats with a stock cooler ? limitations my ass!

[@shan1754]

Oh really? You reckon the CPU can "Bottle-Neck" a grunty GPU...??? #Interesting.

[@Anonymous6576457]

This guy sounds unbelievably pretentious.

[@ayouthwellspent]

What a load of twaddle.

[@james-ch]

Anonymous6576457 still speak better english than you

[@subadanus6310]

this comment sounds extremely fuckin pretentious lmao, hes literally just talking about his experience with the case

[@bunnylgw6883]

j

[@MrSHINEPOWER]

:)