HYTE's Y70 Silver Wolf PC Case Is The Best Case I've Ever Built In

Without burying the lede, the HYTE Y70 Silver Wolf PC case is the best case I've ever built a PC within. It's huge, well-built, and incredibly easy to build inside. 

I hate building PCs generally, but it's not really the fact that it can be tedious, sometimes confusing, and frustrating when trying to cable manage all of the various power cables needed to power the rig. The biggest issue for me has to do with when I build a rig, I constantly feel like I'm dealing with claustrophobia in a crammed case. 

Admittedly, I could always just build in a larger case. And many times this is what I do. However, even cases that feel like they are going to have plenty of room for my fat fingers to poke around within oftentimes end up just as crammed as a smaller form factor.

This was the case when building my daughter's first PC a few years back, though it definitely is my fault for not buying a larger case at the time. Trying to save space in our shared office, I built their Ryzen 7 1700X-powered PC in a mid-sized NZXT H5 case, which served us well for years. 

However, six years later, with my daughter's PC starting to show its age, I decided it was time to build them a new one. With them wanting to do more streaming, as well as playing a bit more graphically demanding games, I knew I needed to upgrade the whole rig instead of just swapping in a part or two.

This meant I needed a new case. Thankfully, our friends over at HYTE were offering a limited edition version of their HYTE Y70 case for review, this one emblazoned with Honkai: Star Rail's Silver Wolf - who also happens to be my daughter's favorite character from this HoYoverse title. 

So, as far as the new rig goes:

• CPU: Ryzen 5 7600 X
• Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-P Wifi Motherboard
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 RAM 32GB @ 6000MHz
• Cooler: Corsair Nautilus 360 RS ARGB Liquid CPU Cooler
• Storage:
  • Samsung 990 NVMe 1TB m.2 SSD
  • Kingston NVMe 1TB m.2 SSD
• GPU: MSI Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super 16G Ventus 3X Black OC
• PSU: Corsair RM850X Gold 850 Watt Modular Power Supply

Full Disclosure: None of the products above were provided for this build other than the case to build within. 

First Impressions

When the HYTE Y70 Silver Wolf case first arrived on my doorstep, I was taken aback but just how big the box was. Even compared to my outrageously large ASUS ROG STRIX Helios ATX Tower Case our old Hardware Test Bench was built within, this was a massive box. Thankfully, this also should mean that, at least in theory, the massive case was also packaged well on the inside. And thankfully, HYTE doesn't disappoint. 

The case itself is  a combination of metal and glass, complete with a dual-chamber layout to make building and cable managing much easier. I absolutely love the three glass panels on the front of the case, which on a normal Y70 case would provide an incredible window at multiple angles into the build itself, while on the Silver Wolf version it provides a ton of real estate for the gorgeous artwork the case showcases.

Everything is also color matched to the artwork, giving the overall case this beautiful purple and black aesthetic - something I clearly forgot when I ordered a white Corsair Nautilus cooler. Oops.

While this version of the Y70 does not come with the LCD touch screen that can take up the spot of the corner glass in the front, you can still buy one and swap out the glass it comes with. 

However, while it's certainly a personal preference, I'm not sure why you would as it would break up the incredible artwork of the Honkai character that wraps around the front of the case elegantly. It's certainly a showstopper, and looks utterly incredible, especially when the PC is turned on and the glass is illuminated from the RGB inside.

The top and bottom of the case also come with dust filters which are easily removed for quick cleaning, but I also appreciated an additional feature: the top grate where cooling fans or a radiator might be mounted is removable to make installing hardware much simpler. The bottom also acts as its own chamber, providing the same ease of use at the top, removing any need to dig around the inside of the case to swap out a fan if need be.

This is also the first case I've built inside of that has a GPU riser. The PCIe 4.0 x 16 riser is also color matched to the case, keeping with the Silver Wolf theming, and made installing the RTX 4070 Ti Super much easier (and it just looks much cooler now).

Building The PC

As with all PC builds, I started by setting up the motherboard outside of the case, though I very easily could have done so with the motherboard installed inside the main chamber, there is so much room to work with. However, once I got the main board in there and started to screw in the ATX board. I just didn't feel cramped, if I dropped a screw it also didn't feel like the end of the world - I could very easily fish it out. 

I was very, very happy to see that, by and large, the case comes together without any screws. The glass, top, bottom and back panels all effectively pop out thanks to a tool-less design. As someone who constantly drops screws and loses them, this was a godsend. 

One of the spots that makes me feel the most cramped when building a PC is plugging in the CPU power connectors at the top, especially if I have case fans there to help with airflow. There is a ton of room in the Y70, though, which made this the easiest connection at the top of the board I've ever had. It helps, too, that you can angle the top fans to give even more clearance if you need to, which is a really nice touch.

The back chamber of the case is also rather large, with plenty of channels for cable management and additional SATA SSDs or hard drives (their trays are color-matched to the case, and the HYTE logo is cut out to give a stylized look). I also appreciated that there is a small riser keeping the PSU elevated off the case floor, providing a little bit extra airflow around the unit and from underneath. Included are HYTE velcro straps to help keep cables tight and bundled where they need to be, while the Y70 Silver Wolf also came with a bundle of zip ties to help tidy things up even more.

The HYTE Y70 Silver Wolf Edition case can be equipped with ten different fans, which for heavy builders who need all of the airflow, this is nice. There is room for a 360mm radiator on the top, side and bottom of the case, while rear of the case can hold a single 120/140mm case fan. One clear omission is that this case does not come with any case fans. Like, at all. I didn't realize this till I got about halfway done with the build and went to start installing them. 

In the end, I bought some Corsair 120mm RGB fans (too many, in fact - even with a smart fan curve, this is a jet engine ready for take off. I'm removing some of the fans this weekend), and I opted to install the CPU radiator in the side position, mainly to show off the cool fan covers inspired by Silver Wolf. The Y70's mesh panels at the top, side and bottom allow for good airflow, though don't be tempted to add as many as I did unless you really need them.

I don't think I can oversell just how much room there was to build inside the Y70. Seriously, when attaching the case I/O cables at the bottom of the motherboard, a process which usually takes me ten-plus minutes as I continually massage out the hand cramps that form while trying to make sure I have everything lined up properly, instead it took me about 30 seconds. Without the fans at the bottom of the case (and really, even the GPU in the PCIe slot above since I was going to take advantage of the riser), it was simple matter of just plugging in and moving on with my life. 

When all was said and done, the actual build didn't take more than about 30 minutes, even as I paid special attention to the cable management of all those wires in the back. The longest part of the build was going to a nearby Best Buy and buying case fans. This was all so seamless, devoid of the usual frustrations that come with building a PC. Instead, we were installing Windows and, eventually, Steam so my kid could start playing games again rather quickly. 

It is a huge footprint in the house, I'll admit. Especially the way we have it situated so the Silver Wolf artwork is on full display. But it is making for a beautiful addition to our office, and thanks to just how easy it was to build inside, I'm starting to think HYTE's Y70 is my go-to case for future PC builds. 

My fiance's build is due for an upgrade here soon as well, in fact.