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Today we have the compact Raven RVZ02 gaming case form Silverstone on hand for review. As the successor to the popular RVZ01 this latest model sports several refinements that make even better use of the limited space within the mini-ITX chassis… In the second quarter of 2014 we happened upon one of the best small form factor gaming cases yet, the Silverstone Raven RV01. The RV01 quickly gained recognition for being the ultimate Steam Machine enclosure as it is able to cram a fully-fledged enthusiast PC into an impressively small space. Despite weighing just 8.17lbs (3.71kg) with a tiny 14L capacity, the RVZ01 was destined for big things with support for enthusiast gear including a dual-slot GPU that's up to 13" (330mm) long -- technically leaving enough room for the GeForce GTX Titan X. For our build we went with a more wallet friendly GeForce GTX 760 and the results were still very impressive. The RVZ01 wasn’t just made practical as a Steam Machine due to its hardware support, but also the price which is quite reasonable at $100, not bad at all for such a unique computer case.  With some 16 months having passed since getting our first look at the RVZ01, Silverstone are back with another compact gaming chassis. Predictably named the RVZ02 this new model is even smaller than the original while still promising to support graphics cards up to 13” long. An impressive feat given the case is almost 15% smaller. Although high-end graphics cards will physically fit inside the RVZ02 we suspect this case might be aimed more at mid-range hardware. This is due to the fact that the case doesn’t come with any active cooling, though more to the point it doesn’t support case fans at all. Lacking the ability to install a case fan means that the RVZ02 relies entirely on the CPU, GPU and PSU cooling to move air in and out of the case. There are some limitations here also which we will discuss shortly. Silverstone believes that the RVZ02 is one of the easiest compact Mini-ITX cases to build a gaming system in and points out that installation is considerably easier than it was with the RVZ01. So this will be interesting to look at in our installation section of the review. Helping to determine just how easy the RVZ02 is to work with, we will be installing multiple hardware configurations ranging from mid-range gear all the way up to the extreme stuff. That being said, let’s move on to check out the RVZ02 in greater detail... |
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