Silverstone Redline Series RL04 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

The RL04 is a rock solid entry to the budget friendly end of the market, so much so that I’m amazed that it costs as little as it does. Silverstone have gone the extra mile here to cram in as many features as possible for as little money as they can and normally you would expect there to be some big sacrifices in build quality to ensure you get everything within a certain price range, however that really isn’t the case.

There are a couple of minor issues of course, no case is perfect! The inclusion of only one fan seems a little odd to me, having an intake fan is fine and sure the case is well ventilated but a 120mm exhaust fan couldn’t have hurt one bit. Of course this is a double-edged sword because if you put in a pair of good fans, that knocks the price up, if you put in cheap fans your going to want to upgrade them after you buy the chassis. I guess this one will be different for every user, but keep in mind that you may need to buy an extra fan when purchasing, dependant on your setup of course. The next issue is the snap-off design of the expansion slot covers, I’ve never been a fan of them and much prefer the re-usable ones, yet again I understand that this is likely a step to reduce cost and its hardly a deal breaker.

Yet while those two (possible) cost saving method have been taken, there are some fantastic features to be found that generally don’t come on a chassis within this price range. There is a slide out dust filter for the PSU, most common a feature on chassis that cost twice as much as this one. There is a 280mm magnetic dust filter for the exterior of the chassis, which is something I’ve never even seen before and its a cool feature to have, there is room for a little water cooling, plenty of fan mounts, a snazzy power button, USB 3.0 support, cable management, slide out hard drive trays and even an interior paint job.

Overall Silverstone are giving you a big return for your money and the feature set is backed up by Silverstones reputation for great build quality, flawless finish and well thought out designs. I think this chassis has more than won our eTeknix Bang For Buck Award, this is one of the best value cases on the market.