SilverStone FT01-W

Verdict: The FT01-W really is 'for the win'.

Long before the FT01-W was given its official name, it was known by the Custom PC team as the mini-TJ07 after we saw an early prototype at the Computex trade show earlier this year.

It earned and still retains this nickname; like the TJ07-W, the main body of the FT01-W is made from a single U-shaped sheet of aluminium. Aluminium needs to be very thick if you're going to bend it into a U-shape and retain structural integrity and, like the TJ07-W, the FT01-W is built like a tank. Using a single sheet of aluminium means that the FT01-W has no annoying joins or splits in its front panel and as a result, it looks great. Our review model had a large window in the left side panel - hence the '-W' in its name - but a window with a solid side panel is also available, along with a silver version.

The FT01-W is smaller than the TJ07-W, so it can only accommodate motherboards up to ATX size. The motherboard tray is also fixed in place, so it's slightly harder to build a PC inside this case than in its larger forebear. Although there's no obvious cable management system, a large hole in the motherboard tray near the roof provides a good space for hiding cables, such as the 8-pin EPS12V power connector.

There are five 5.25in drive bays integrated into the front panel and seven 3.5in bays inside the case mounted at a 90-degree angle to the front of the case. These limit airflow directed into the case by the large 180mm intake fan buried inside the front panel, but this problem isn't insurmountable. The 3.5in bays are split over two cages, with the upper cage holding four drives and the lower cage the remaining three drives. If your PC has less than four hard disks, you can remove the top cage, allowing more air to enter the case.

Hot air is blown out through the back of the case by a 120mm fan and another 180mm fan mounted in the roof.

The PSU bay is positioned in the bottom rear corner of the case, and has a large air intake vent with a dust filter in its base.

The FT01-W proved to be more than a match for our intensive one-hour stress test, keeping the system stable and cool. By the end of the test, the CPU had reached 92ûC while the GPU peaked at 100ûC, a couple of degrees warmer than the same components in the Antec Twelve Hundred. Meanwhile, the hard disk reached 49ûC.

However, the FT01-W achieves these results with far fewer fans and therefore less noise than the Twelve Hundred.

The infrared photo revealed just how well the single intake fan/dual exhaust fan cooling system of the FT01-W works. The entire front and top of the case are comparatively cool - so much so that the incredibly sensitive camera managed to detect the heat generated by the motor of the front-mounted 180mm intake fan.

Conclusion

As so few cases passed our intensive stress test by maintaining system stability for the entire hour, any case that did so deserves recognition. Whereas most of the cases that passed are either huge, such as the Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package, or hideously expensive and weird, such as the Lian Li PC TYR PC-X2000, the FT01-W is relatively compact. It may not provide such effective cooling as the Antec Twelve Hundred, but neither does it look like the front of a giant air-conditioning unit. It also provides a tantalising glimpse of how SilverStone can improve the two-year-old TJ07-W.