Silverstone Fortress FT05 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction

There are few names in the chassis industry as big as Silverstone, they’ve dominated many sectors of the market with incredible products over many years, and it looks like that trend is set to continue with the latest entry in the Fortress series. The Fortress series has always been impressive, borrowing heavily from the interior designs of their gaming focused Raven series, the Fortress ditches the extreme external appearance in favour of a sleeker, more professional look.

Both Raven and Fortress are flagship product ranges from Silverstone, so you know you’re in for a real treat with their latest, the FT05. It’s packed full of all the latest and greatest features that Silverstone has to offer; both in terms of functionality and design. So let’s get right to it and take a close look at what this chassis has to offer.

First we can see that the design is pretty minimalist overall, but there are enough little touches on show to really make the chassis stand out. The side panels are finished in stealthy black, but finished with a mirror-like strip across the bottom that really helps the chassis stand out.

The right side panel is the same as the left, but if you look closely you can also see there is an opening at the bottom of the chassis, with a thick layer of sound dampening material in the bottom. There’s also a dust filter tucked under the full length of the base of the chassis. The FT05 draws the bulk of its airflow from the base of the chassis from these vents, giving it a bottom to top airflow pattern.

The front panel is just as bold, with a clean look and just two vertical lines down the front, as well as another small mirror panel. There’s a well-hidden slot-loading optical bay on the right side.

Around the back of the chassis, you’ll find a large vent for the PSU mount, as well as a large opening for pass through of all your cables to the motherboard and PSU. Silverstone includes a magnetic dust filter for the PSU vent in the box of the chassis.

The top has a heavily ventilated plastic mesh/guard that does a great job of hiding the back of the motherboard. It’s worth pointing out that the motherboard is mounted with the I/O facing upwards in this chassis.

Even the base of the chassis has a minimalist look, with just four thick rubber pads being the only thing you’ll find here.