Techspot: I have had my eye on the original Silverstone Raven RV01 for quite some time. Released in late 2008, the case quickly caught my attention because of its strange orientation that pointed the motherboard upward at a 90-degree angle, so the "rear" I/O panel was placed on top of the enclosure instead of behind. Silverstone dubbed this layout style the "stack effect".
The Raven's exhaust fans were located on top instead of in the back. The idea seemed simple: when the internal components such as the CPU and GPU start to heat up, that heat rises creating the stack effect. Rather than fight this natural phenomenon, Silverstone decided to work with it.
Benchmark Reviews: The Silverstone Raven RV02B-EW is the latest product in the very successful Raven line. Continuing with the 90-degree rotation of the motherboard Silverstone has improved upon the original Raven 1 and Raven 2 with the Silverstone Raven 2 Evolution. Silverstone has refined their revolutionary design even more making for an even more accessible product, while at the same time improving the cooling performance of the original Raven 2. This case is considered a evolutions of the Raven 2 and as such has some new additions including three of Silverstone's highly rated 180mm Air Penetrator fans, and hot swap drive bays. Benchmark Reviews will look at if these additions help improve Raven 2 design or if this "new" version is just being used to milk a very successful franchise.
