Silverstone Fortress Series FT04 Chassis Review

Complete System

Total build time on the FT04 was 35 minutes, not exactly quick but not slow either. This chassis did require a little more care and attention that our usual builds and its unique installation process and configuration is easy enough to handle for those familiar with system building.

Overall the design looks stunning, and while some may be thrown by the upside down layout, I think it looks great and there is loads of space in here for airflow. Keep in mind that we have two 180mm fans pushing a wall of air over our GPU and PSU.

The corsair H80i looks a little odd here, but I’m happy to see that it fits without any issues, I could have gotten a push-pull fan configuration if I wanted, but it would put a little more strain on the coolant pipes.

I’ve mounted our HDD in the right bay, and if you look closely you’ll notice a fair amount of clearance below the drive, this space can be used to mount two 2.5″ drives directly to the chassis (demonstrated in the left bay), Silverstone even sell a hot swap adaptor for this purpose. Both bottom hard drive bays have this functionality.

With the hard drive bay removed, we get a great look at the back of the front fans, which feature fins designed to channel the airflow, but also do a great job of stopping cables and connectors from getting jammed in the fan.

The PSU bay has extensive space for cable routing and you could easily tie up any excess cables here.

With the top panel in place you can see where the fan takes its airflow from above the chassis.

And of course with the last top cover in place the PSU is almost hidden behind the air filter.

All panels reinstalled and finally get to see the FT04 in all its glory, The smooth reflective surface of the front panel catching a glimpse of the sun set outside my office, and the clear view side panel window giving us a great view of the build, not to mention getting to see the fancy side of the graphics card when I’m so used to just seeing the back PCB from time angle.

Overall a rather epic looking build, so long as you have enough room next to your desk to accommodate it of course.