Silverstone Fortress FT03-MINI PC Chassis Review

Today we’re taking a look at the FT-03 Mini PC chassis from Silverstone, the latest edition of their competent range of super compact PC cases. The FT-03 is a welcome addition to the market given the recent rise in popularity for the smaller M-ITX and M-ATX form factors and no one knows M-ITX better than Silverstone who have one of the most competent ranges of small chassis designs on the market.

The important thing to remember though is that there is no “standard” size for any pc chassis, it’s quite possible to fit an m-itx board to something like a mid-tower should you wish to do so and save on space inside the chassis, something that is clearly true in the M-ITX chassis category, while there are M-ITX chassis on the market right now that are in fact quite large, the FT-03 is focused around space saving solutions and getting the components into as small a space as possible, which of course not compromising on component compatibility and the most important factor in a small build, heat. All of which I’m sure their engineers would tell you, is no easy task.

Silverstone are masters of the fine detail and when it comes to making a PC with a small footprint, they really are top of their game.  With the Silverstone clocking in at 17.6 liters in size it will be interesting to see just how well it handles our test components in the build section. Does less space really mean you have to make sacrifices on your components? Well we’re going to attempt to fit out FT-03 with a GTX 560 Ti & Intel Core i5 2500k regardless, so come and take a look at the next few pages to see if good things really can come in small packages.