Jul 5 2011, 01:29 AM, updated 15y ago
After some researches and discussions in this thread, I finally made my decisions to buy the Raven 03 due to the unique designs and possible improved cooling for my trifire setup. I will be taking this review from the point of view of someone who only assembled 3 complete pc (ie a noob)
. 
The gold panel fits since I have a Noctua cooler which fan is a brownish in color
Pre assembling:
The box was nice and sturdy, the box plus the casing is surprisingly light. Took out the casing and the gold color strips gave me the idea to spray it to another color to make it look nicer. It is also quite short and almost as tall as my old casing which are one of the reason I bought it. Edit: I guess my Noctua cooler complement the gold panel so may keep the original color
The gold panel fits since I have a Noctua cooler which fan is a brownish in color
Assembling:
The first complain would be the screws since they were just mixed together in a bag which kind of searching for the right one took some time. Wish they could separate them properly. The mobo installation is pretty standard but the hard disk took some time since it is positioned in a unique way. The tricky part was the psu cables since I was expecting some kind of holder like my older casing for the cables but since there is none, I have to compromise by pushing it to corner and forcing the back plate on it but it still do a beautiful job by hiding the cables. The sata cable was a bit tricky due to the orientation of the mobo. The last part was the plugging of the psu to the wall socket. Somehow it was not mentioned in the guide and spend a few minutes to look for the male port. Overall it took me longer than standard casing.
Big enough to leave the 6990 a few inch of space
The hard disk area came with anti shock build
The PSU is located in the front
Post assembling:
My first complain is the lack of the usb port in front of the casing and although it says USB 3.0, it actually just an adapter that you will connect to the USB 3.0 on the I/O of my mobo although the mobo have a free internal 3.0 support but it is not such a big deal since my existing ports are already enough for me. And aesthetically, the gold strip ruined it since the hard disk indicator is red in color. The need to take of the top cover everytime need to access the usb is kind of a hassle. But other than the minor complains, it perform well above expectation with the fans was very silence even though set to 100% speed using the in built fan controller. The cooling factor also shows up here with my trifire manage go to cooler than the old casing. The lack of cluttered wires on the floor also helps in making things look organized.
No more dangling wires at the back of the casing
The spaces at the top is big enough to put most usb devices
Cooling factors:
After a few days of using this casing, I opened up the casing and realised that I didnt plug in the second fan which is below the graphic cards. At that time, with afterburner setting, the max temperature when testing in extreme mode is 85oC for both card. Turning on the second fan gave me max 67oC for the 6970 and 75oC for the 6990
. Although further testing need to be done but its safe to say for now the cooling works. 
Pro:
1) Medium sized with full tower spaces
2) Good cable management
3) Light weight
4) Spacious, can fit in both 6970+6990 without feeling crowded
5) No more cables mess at the back of the casing
6) Silent (until the 6990 starts wailing during intense gaming)
Cons:
1) The gold panelings make it hard to match with a theme
2) Unusual orientation of casing makes it a bit hard to assemble
3) The psu makes it hard to find the plug in area (its under the casing)
4) Plasticky feeling (doesnt matter much to me but may put off other people
This post has been edited by RyuKageX: Jul 16 2011, 09:23 PM
Quote
oh well
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