Ballistics Report

Pros

Unique Cooling Design: The unique way in which Silverstone has oriented the motherboard makes it perfect for tower air coolers. Utilizing the stack effect actually works pretty well to keep all our components nice and cool. Silverstone has a taken a risk with changing the way they mount the motherboard, but it appears to have paid off.

Cable Management: Cable management with the Raven is excellent as there is lots of room for proper wiring and the running of power cables. The included SATA connector in the first hard drive slot works great to ease installation as well, so we are grateful for that. The holes in the motherboard tray can be a little tight for running power connectors, but once installed, everything works really well to keep your cables in order.

Easy Access: Getting in and out of your case has never been easier, as two quick releases drop the side panels in no time. Also, the front door is a neat way to have a good looking case without the need to worry about swing clearance, as on traditional case doors. The self closing feature is a geeky touch, albeit one that is still pretty cool.

Tool-less Design: Aside from the motherboard and power supply, the Raven is pretty much as tool-less as we’ve seen them. This makes adding components really easy for the end user. We really liked the built-in SATA adapter and hope that Silverstone includes it in future cases, albeit in greater quantities as the Raven only sports one.

Cons

Big and Heavy: Although full tower cases are hardly known for portability, the Raven goes just a little bit too far. Weighing at 40lbs fully loaded, this is not a case you will be inclined to take to your next LAN party. Heck, you probably won’t even want to move the thing once you have it up and running. It’s also somewhat larger, sticking out from beneath my desk about 6 inches. This made me prone to almost swiveling my chair into the case on more than one occasion during testing.

Motherboard Connector Issues: If you plug in a lot of devices into the rear of your system, you will probably find re-installing the top cover somewhat of a pain due to the bulky cables sticking out. Between audio, DVI, network, and a multitude of USB cables, we were afraid of breaking the cabling since you have to pull the cover forward and against them to snap it into place. It’s a shame the cover doesn’t have a little bit more room for cabling, which would alleviate this issue somewhat.