Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Silverstone
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SILVERSTONE RAVEN 3 (RV03)
IN THE UNITED STATES
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SILVERSTONE RAVEN 3 (RV03)
IN CANADA
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
The Raven 3 comes in one of three variants. We have model number SST-RV03B-W, denoting a black case with champagne trim and a side panel window. Depending upon where you look, you can find the Raven 3 listed as either a full-tower or mid-tower chassis, and I can see how the Raven blurs the line between the two. At 9.25x20.5x22.5 inches, it's bigger than many mid-towers but doesn't have the ungainly and proportionally unappealing profile of most full-tower cases. Using the 90-degree motherboard orientation from the original Raven, this case offers a lot of cooling and storage options, eight expansion bays that will support the largest multi-GPU graphics solutions, and a new look.
The aggressive styling is a significant departure from the earlier Ravens, but inside, the Raven 3 will support most any size motherboard you'll be likely to want to install and three big fans are included (along with support for up to a total of seven 120mm units,) to keep virtually any hardware set comfortably cool. We'll be going over all this in more detail as we proceed, but I like what I see so far.
PRODUCT COMPOSITION
SilverStone doesn't expend a lot of resources making the box pretty, but there are some limited specification and feature lists on the exterior. It's plain, serviceable and keeps unit costs down. If you're like me, box appeal isn't real high on my case requirements, and reviews like this one will let potential customers find out what's inside, anyway. Speaking of which, SilverStone uses the tried and true packing materials we see with the vast majority of cases we get here at the Tweaknews labs. It works great, as the case obviously had a rough trip, yet arrived in pristine condition. A strip of green tape keeps the bay covers in place and plastic film protects the side window from damage, as well.
As we'll see, the design of the Raven chassis makes it significantly different than your ordinary, run-of-the-mill case and one of these differences is the way in which the side panels come off. Fortunately, SilverStone ships the excellent manual outside the case, along with a bag of installation hardware, a fan power adapter cable and the dust filters for the bottom intakes. Now, let's take a closer look at the Raven 3.
