I wanted to Set some things straight especially to some who were probably looking at a M-ATX case and looked at this and may have gotten turned off a bit. also i was a little Inspired to do a build log after i saw Mistery Angel's Build on the Forum :)
i just changed my case from a Bitfenix Prodigy M to This Case.
This is how the Internals Look also it does come with Dust Filters As well and the Case only Uses Positive Air Pressure (Sorry I Didn't take a picture of the internals myself)
Most people who look at this case and ask this question...
Does this case fit two GPUs?
How is Airflow?
"Whats this? I don't Even.......
Here was My Original Build.
The Arflow in the Bitfenix Prodigy M is awesome. However as you go Crossfire or SLI. airflow gets more and restricted. something i hated when i originally had a Crossfire setup.
The Original Specs were as Follows
- i5 4670k OC to 4.2 GHZ on an Noctua L9i
- ASUS R9-270x OC to 1150mhz (I Had Upgraded to An EVGA 770 Classified 2 days ago) however this was my original build i was running)
- Z87 Gryphon M-ATX Motherboard
- 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LP Ram
Personally I am a Minimalist I like clean looking cases and what struck my eye was the Silverstone FT03 - Black.
Now I've Looked around on YouTube I've Seen Dozen's of Videos on this case. mostly reviews, and some builds however from what I've seen from my experience there hasn't been any real world builds with a case like this in my opinion.
This is how the cases look Side to Side
Excuse the mess I messed my room up when the FT03 Came in the Mail lol.
The Silverstone Appears Taller however the Foot Print is Smaller.
I bought the Silverstone FT03. and Got rid of my Bitfenix Prodigy M, Upgraded my GPU and CPU Cooler and this bought some Noctua Case Fans and this was the Result :)
This Case is Probably one of the most DIFFICULT Cases to build in. and i almost had a BLOODY Heart attack when i thought my Mobo didnt fit in the case. however the motherboard wasn't in all the way and the stand off screws finally were in the right position so i can put the screws and mount the MOBO in place. (NOTE : Stand off Mounts are Already Built in, You don't need to mount stand off screws yourself unless you probably have an old motherboard)
Now for the GPU upgrade [Also I am selling that R9-270x soon i'll probably put it up on the forum for a reasonable price later]
HOLY BALLS this card was massive when i first got ahold of this GPU. i did get this on sale for $380 so it was an excellent steal.
I put the Card in the case. and connected everything up. (The Hard Drive is mounted in the Back of the Case and My Cable Management is a bit atrocious cause i was rushing a bit.)
This is the Final Product :)
Now You're Probably Wondering How the Temps are after an Overclock.
So I overclocked my GPU to about 1300mhz on the Core and boosted the Memory Clock to about 7400mhz. Keep in Mind that i Used the LN2 Bios (Btw this Card was Stable at this Oveclock before I put in this case
Overclocked my 4670k to 4.7ghz at 1.2v and here are the temps
I ran AIDA64 for about 6 minutes and the GPU Stood in the high 70s in the Silverstone FT03 with the CPU Running on average in the Mid 70s.
THE PROS:
- Airflow is awesome if you know how to setup the case.
- If you remove the Bottom Fan that comes in the case and install 2 80mm fans you can fit any GPU of Any Length.
- YES You don't need to Use blower style GPUs. and be worried how bad the heat my be. the temps were about 4 or 5 degrees higher under a stress test and a gaming load than when i had the GTX 770 in my Bitfenix Prodigy M 2 days ago which kept around the 70s under a stress. and likewise with a gaming load. (HOWEVER Temps did fluctuate/ some games made the GPU run hotter than others. however overall i never seen this GPU go Past 79 degrees in both cases (Bitfenix Prodgy M and the Silverstone FT03)
THE CONS:
- If You use a MASSIVE CPU Cooler like in my build right now If you see in the pictures above its almost next to impossible to remove the GPU for Future Upgrades unless you use a long Screwdriver to push the switch down on the PCI Express Slot cause you can't reach it and its hard to see.
- The Case only has 4 Slots for PCI Expansion so if you plan on running 2 gpus and a soundcard or whatever you wish you are boned. cause there is no more room.
- This is more of a mixed portion but the Case Sidepanels are difficult to close in my opinion. and people that were complaining its that the top plastic mesh holds them side-panels from opening in place they are dead wrong. cause without the Mesh the Case does close and is not easy to open unless you actually open the case the way it was made which is grabbing the side-panel pushing up.
- The USB 3.0 Plug - Luckly My case came with a USB 3.0 Plug that connects to the motherboard so the USB Ports above the case can be used. however some cases come with the USB Port to USB plug so that it connects to your back of the iO Shield thingy so you are stuck with 2 less USB ports instead of 2 more USB ports.
So Anyone who may be looking at a Case upgrade or is building a PC and looking for an AWESOME minimalistic M-ATX case into this case cause its awesome.
