First Look: SilverStone Raven RV01

Deeper into darkness

In order to cut the aggressive-looking scoop from the rear panel, the side of the case bows in at precisely the point of the upper cable hole. With the motherboard sitting so close to this bowed wall, there’s no room between the edge of the motherboard and the bowed wall for a cable to pass through.

While we’re talking about the rear wall of the Raven, it has two holes cut for tubing to allow an external radiator. These holes lead straight into the solid plastic panel of the rear however, and this doesn’t come off unless you tear half the case apart.

Apart from this small problem, there’s also the question of where you’d attach an external radiator – there’s not a triple 120mm radiator-length flat surface to be found. With little spare internal room for decent reservoirs and pumps, the Raven is really an air-cooling case only.


The Raven uses a variation on the push-pull fan arrangement, though obviously rotated by 90 degrees. Two 180mm 700 RPM fans are positioned between the lower PSU bay and the main chamber of the case, one pushing air into the main motherboard chamber and the other blowing air over your hard disks.


The floor of the Raven is mainly vents; the one below the PSU bay has a removable dust filter, while the other is fixed. That the floor has a vent means that a PSU with a bottom-mounted fan can suck cool air in from beneath the case and exhaust it directly out the back. Click on to see how we got on when installing our demo PC.