Page 3 – Physical Look – Inside
After removing the side panel, you can see the internal design of the SilverStone Redline RL07. On initial glance, the internal layout is practically the same as the SilverStone Primera PM02 we reviewed previously. To be consistent with the exterior, the interior of the case is also painted matte black. The paint is sprayed evenly inside the chassis. At bottom of the case, there is a power supply chamber with SilverStone company name and logo on it. Not only is it designed to shelter the power supply, the chamber is also the place for you to put up to three 3.5" HDDs. The cool air for the power supply can be blown into the case through the dust filter protected ventilation holes at the bottom of the case directly. If your SilverStone Redline RL07 is fully loaded with fans, graphics cards, and long radiators, cool air can be pumped by the fans of up to 360 mm radiators into the chassis through the air filter at the front panel, hit the graphics card, and be expelled out through the exhaust grille at the back panel. Since no 5.25" drive bay is present in the product, there is nothing to obstruct airflow.
As a mid-tower that pushes the size envelope, the SilverStone Redline RL07 can support ATX sized motherboards and, of course, smaller boards such as micro ATX and mini ITX. All motherboard risers were not screwed on to the tray from the factory. Users need to apply the required risers according to the size of motherboard that will be used. After bolting the motherboard into position, the heatsink or water cooler block can then be easily installed and removed, thanks to the big rectangular opening on the tray. From the above photo, you can see there is a 140 mm fan from the factory on the case’s rear exhaust opening. If the user wants to use a closed loop water cooler system, it requires an extra step to install the radiator directly onto the chassis, which is to remove the preinstalled fan. The expansion slot covers of this chassis feature slotted holes to allow better ventilation, but I would prefer it to be a solid piece for better dust prevention, since I really doubt it makes a significant difference to just have several small holes here.
5.25" drive bays have been on personal computers since early 1980s. Now it is the time to get rid of them, since we have the internet, and for everything else we cannot, there are USB flash drives, which can be used for installing the operating system. As such, the SilverStone Redline RL07 has no 5.25" drive bays. I like this design a lot, since it means better airflow and a generally cleaner appearance. From the above photo, it can be seen the place has enough room for up to three 140 mm fans behind the front panel. However, not a single fan is provided by the SilverStone. I would like to see at least one fan is installed by the factory there. Keep in mind the SilverStone Redline RL06 Pro has three LED fans behind the front panel. To keep the computer components clean, a washable dust filter is provided to cover the ventilation holes on the front panel. In the RL07, the dust filter for the front panel is big enough to cover the area of three 140 mm fans, and it has really good built quality. The case can fit graphics cards up to 415 mm long. For those long and heavy graphics cards, no accessory GPU holder for additional support is available in the RL07.
Upon removing the right side panel, you will see the other side of the basement chamber and the motherboard tray. Three 3.5" HDD trays are located to the left side of the power supply area for easy installing and removing of the hard drives. For the 2.5" drives, you do not even need to use one screw to install them onto the trays. The 2.5" drives can be clipped into position if you flip the trays up. As you can see from the above photo, up to three 2.5" drives can be installed on the motherboard tray. Regarding cable management, RL07 did a fairly good job here. Between the motherboard tray and the right side panel, the room for cable routing is about 15 mm, which can be tight. According to the above picture, two Velcro straps are included, which can provide for better cable management. Meanwhile, there are two long openings with rubber grommets to route and the cables. There is no need to worry about the safety of the cable or your fingers during installation, while it should hide any excess cables.
Generally speaking, the interior design of the SilverStone Redline RL07 is pretty good. All of the components you need for building a computer can be nicely accommodated and kept cool. The paint job quality of the interior is also good. More importantly, you do not to be an expert to route cables to do a good job, since there are big openings to allow easy cable connection from the PSU to the motherboard. The product could definitely be more attractive if air intake fans for the front panel were included and if the gap between the motherboard tray and right side panel is increased.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
