SilverStone Technology Tek Raven Z Evolution Mini-ITX Small Form Factor Computer Case (RVZ01B-E)

After reading the numerous positive reviews and looking at professional review sites, I decided to purchase this.My build included:ASRock Mini-ITX board with 65W CPUSilverstone SFX-L 500W supplyMSI nVidia 9601x 3.5" drive1x 2.5" solid state driveNote that I did not include any additional fans or an optical drive (I'm moving to an external USB setup for the drive).I went slow with the build and it definitely took me a while. The procedure, as outlined in the manual and some other videos was straightforward save for a few points listed below. Step 1: Remove graphics card caddy and PSU cage. Step 2: add PSU and 3.5" drive to cage. I routed the front panel and USB 3 cables in the space between the side of the case and the power supply. Step 3: add the motherboard. Step 4: attach graphics card and 2.5" drive to the video card caddy. Step 5: attach/plug in the video card caddy.Overall, the system is quiet, runs okay, and fits where it needs to go. Now, to some of the "gotchas" (as is normal with any non-standard case) and improvements that could have been made.1) I find the USB 3 cable to be very long and the roundness doesn't lead to easy routing. This could be replaced with a flat style cable much like Corsair includes with their 200R case.2) Slot-load BluRay drives are RARE. I would have liked to see a removable faceplate to accomodate any 12.7mm tray mount drive instead.3) The 500W SFX-L power supply was chosen for the 120mm fan rather than the 80mm of other models. Theoretically, this should be quieter when spinning. But, there is BARELY any room between it and the mounting bracket for the video card caddy/3rd 2.5" drive. Using the SFX-L (longer) PSU will preclude the use of this spot for another 2.5" drive. You will be limited to two only.4) With 3 fan mounts, I would have liked to see 3 fans. Instead, there are only two.5) Running full out in gaming, the CPU temps were fine, but the GPU peaked at 75C. That's not a crisis, but it's warmer than I'm used to. I've mounted mine horizontally, but I've read that if the case is turned vertical, thermals are better. I just don't have the room for that.6) After cable routing around the PSU, I could not access the two screws between the front of the case and the PSU cage. These are currently unpopulated. Instead of screws, tabs could be placed to slip the cage in, then secure on the motherboard side.7) The manual was sorely lacking in how to mount the retention bracket for the video card. No clue as to which screws to use.8) The video card retention bracket doesn't fit the large cooler video cards well. The MSI 960 has extra "height" for heatpipes and little space to put the bracket without interfering with the fan. However, if there were more "pegboard holes" along the length of the video card caddy, I could have put the bracket between the two fans.9) Detachable feet for horizontal case mounting, rather than sticky ones would have been nice. These were included for vertical.10) The PCI-E signals have to run through three connectors rather than one. This is a tough one since I can't see how to really fix it without adding significant height. The one adapter to the motherboard is a flat PCB with a PCI-Ex16 card edge and an additional connector to form the right angle. The second adapter is another PCB card edge with a card-edge mounted PCI-E x16 connector to give it height. The extra connectors in the system do add significant impedance/inductance to the PCI-E communications lanes, so I wonder if there's enough signal integrity margin. But to remove that extra riser, you'd need to place the card closer to the motherboard and PSU compartment, which makes things even tighter.11) Be careful with your heatsink placement. there is no opening at the back of the case so you'll need to put any backplate on before you set the motherboard down.Why I chose the components I did:- Stock Intel heatsink. My motherboard is the ASRock Z77E-ITX. Any heatsink that extends beyond the mounting holes on one side occludes the PCI-E slot. Right now I'm using the stock one, but plan to search for a quieter one (if possible).- MSI 960. As it is, the temperatures seen by the video card are on the high side. Adding more power dissipation from a 970 or 980 could be problematic. An advantage of the MSI and ASUS video cards is that at idle, they fully shut down their fans resulting in a low noise system.- Silverstone 500W SFX-L power supply. I wanted the 120mm fan. The Silverstone unit will also keep the fan off until needed. The modular connectors do add to the length, but I also only needed just a few of them for this small system.Summary:Pros:- Fits an oversized dual slot GPU- Fits a 3.5" HDD and multiple 2.5" drives- Home Theater sized dimensions- Quiet at idle- Includes 4-wire 1->2 adapter (can run two fans from a single motherboard fan header)- For such a small case, it was one of the better experiences in assembly.Cons:- Slot load (or USB) optical drive only severely limits BluRay options- Some screws difficult to access- 2 case fans instead of 3.- Does cause elevated temperatures, but expected for a small case.Overall, I am EXTREMELY happy with this case. I was able to fit a very powerful PC designed for 1080p/60fps gaming into something just bigger than an XBox. And it's quiet when you want it to be.

I chose this case after looking at a large number of different ITX cases due to its ability to fit a full-size graphics card while also using a standard SFX power supply (instead of the 1U units that a couple cases like the EVGA Hadron use). This is achieved by mounting the video card parallel to the motherboard through the use of a riser unit. You plug your card into the riser, which itself mounts on top of the motherboard and plugs into the motherboard's PCI Express slot.This layout reduces the case width to about 4.25", great for fitting it into a media center as an HTPC-- the case volume is only 14 liters, compared to the EVGA Hadron (16 liters) or the Bitfenix Prodigy (36 liters). The case can sit horizontally (and looks like an audio receiver when you do) or vertically, with rubber feet included for both orientations.Valve's reference Steam Box is even smaller (only about 7 liters), but uses the same Silverstone riser card system, so this is a pretty good approximation. The tradeoff of a larger size is not having to use custom cabling like Valve did and an overall easier build, plus room for better cooling.The case is roughly divided into two halves. The left side holds the video card and accommodates anything up to a Titan. The video card screws into a large support bracket which you remove from the case for easy installation. On top of the support bracket there are mounting areas for two 2.5" drives and one slimline slot-load optical drive. (No external eject button, so ejecting will be software-only.) The right side fits the motherboard, SFX power supply, and one 3.5" drive on top of the power supply mounting bracket. There is a small space near the power supply bracket where you can stuff unused cabling if your power supply is not modular.In what seems like good ventilation for a case this size, there are three 120mm cutouts; one above the CPU cooler and two on the reverse side above the video card. There's a smaller cutout on the bottom that vents the PSU fan. Be careful what cooler you try to use; you've got about 85mm of clearance to work with between the CPU and the top of the case, so taller tower coolers are a no-go. I attempted to use an Antec Kuhler 650 but its total combined mounting height was almost 25mm too much.In keeping with the lower price of this case as compared to its sibling the RVZ01, no fans or dust filters are included, so you can pick your own if you'd like to use them. I'm running a comparatively low-power system in this case and didn't even add any extra fans. You have room for a 25mm thick fan above the CPU, but I don't think I'd be comfortable with anything over 15mm fans on the video card side as it's a pretty close fit depending on what you have mounted to the card.Build quality seems reasonable and the interior of the case is all matching black. I have a side panel that doesn't fit completely flush but they're not the thickest material to begin with. That keeps the case light, I guess; I can easily put it under an arm and go.Cons / Warnings:- The USB3 cables from the front panel header are ridiculously long. They could have been 1/3rd the length and still reached to the farthest edge of the motherboard.- I would have liked to see one of those small front panel header pinout boxes that allow you to connect all of the LEDs / power buttons to a single board, which then plugs into the motherboard. Lots easier in such a small space and they cost a few cents.- If your motherboard has side SATA ports, you'll be hard-pressed to access them. Right-angle SATA plugs would be wise.- The "VGA support bracket" (a small plastic clip that you're supposed to attach after your video card is mounted in the riser) doesn't seem to come with any screws that will let you mount it. I left it off and that doesn't seem to have hurt anything.Using an ASRock Z87E-ITX and an EVGA Geforce 750 Ti with the 300W SFX PSU (non-modular) made by Silverstone.