Silverstone launches FT03 Mini Fortress around £139

One of the most popular choices among enthusiasts is Silverstone. For a relatively small company, they have – over the years – released a number of surprising/amazing/desirable chassis. For 2012, they have decided to pack the goodness and style of the FT03 into a much smaller package.

KitGuru shouts “I shrunk the back, sides and lid” and jumps on board for a fantastic voyage.
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At CeBIT 2012, Tony Ou took us around an early engineering sample of the FT03 Mini and – true to his word – Silverstone are now launching, exactly on time.

We can't be sure it was Tony who was sitting in Silverstone's board room – surrounded by his company's greatest ever creations – when the penny dropped and he began to wonder, “Can we take one of these SG mini PC chassis and turn it on its side?” – but whoever had that inspiration was a clever person.

To this day, we're not sure why more chassis manufacturers don't follow the laws of physics and position their internal layouts vertically – so hot air can simply LEAVE the case. The highly successful Raven series bred the initial FT03, which won a glut of awards from journalists across the industry.

Now that creation has been shrunk.

So what do you get inside?

Here's a list of the coolest [pun city – Ed] features:-

• Support for graphic cards up to 10″ long (25.2 centimetres) – like the GTX 680
• CPU coolers up to 78mm high
• Space under the mainboard for routing
• Enough mounting space for a pair of 2.5″ drives and a full sized 3.5″
• Full size, 140mm, Air Penetrator fan at 1,500 rpm – as well as support for entry level liquid cooling
• Dual, front mounted, USB 3 connectors with easy access for users

Naturally, the powerful fan drives dust, as well as cool air, into the chassis – so there is an easy to remove filter in the bottom of the case, which pops out for periodic washing.

Users will also be able to order a slot-entry optical drive, low-noise-short-cable 450w PSU and a handy carry bag – should you wish to make all your mates jealous at a LAN party.

KitGuru says: With an expected UK price of around £139 inc vat, the FT03 Mini looks like a great choice for a full-power, small-footprint system. As soon as we have taken one apart in the KitGuru lab, we will let you know if the build/thermals/noise are as attractive as the external design.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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