14 DAY TRIAL // Swooping may or may not be bad, depending on context, but SilverStone wants to make it good when it comes to its third-generation Raven, though strictly in a metaphorical sense, what with the product being made of steel and hardly aerodynamic.
Birds, mythical beasts, anything in the animal kingdom, even things from various mythologies have, so far, ended up as the source of hardware or PC names.
Once a certain product is made to fit into a certain performance range, or high according to any other sort of classification, special names are what their makers look for.
SilverStone may not have chosen the name of a god or afterlife realm for its cases, but the raven has its own share of legendary attributes in various cultures.
Specifically, SilverStone has an entire series of PC cases dubbed Raven, and it looks like the third-generation model has been completed and put up for pre-order.
The newcomer is a steel enclosure (0.8mm) and is large enough to house even motherboards with the extended ATX form factor.
There are seven exposed 5.25-inch drive bays with tool-free installation, enough room for up to ten 3.5-inch storage drives (adapters make it six) and even for a pair of 2.5-inch units.
This means that even the most hardcore of enthusiasts can have more storage space than he or she could ever need, even very fast data rates, courtesy of SSDs (even SATA 6.0 Gbps ones).
That said, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface is present, in the shape of two ports on the I/O panel, which is set at the top.
Furthermore, there are two fans at the bottom, both of the 180mm, Air Penetrator variety whose maximum rotary speed is 1,200 RPM.
All of these features are packed inside a frame of 235 (W) x 522 (H) x 570 (D) mm and which has a total weight of 11.4 kilograms.
Finally, SilverStone implemented a 90 degree-angled motherboard mounting system, as well as a matte black coating, both on the inside and outside.
Shipments of the Raven RV03 should start on April 18, 2011, though pre-orders can already be set for $139.99.