A sub-$162 full tower chassis. Surely
there's a catch somewhere?
Already a massive player in the OEM case
market, In-Win has slowly been increasing its presence in the enthusiast market
these last few years. The $162 GRone is one of its latest efforts, featuring
five fans, extensive water-cooling support and space to house E-ATX boards.
The case's steel and plastic is finished in
metallic grey both internally and externally. The large, meshed front section
covering the three external drive bays and dual 140mm fan mounts is black, as
are the side sections of the roof panel. It also features a huge extruded side
panel for showing off your kit, which comes tinted blue an odd choice given
both front fans and the internal fan mounted to the top hard drive bay emit red
glows.
In-Win
Grone
The build quality for the most part is very
good, as there's little flex to the side panels or the case itself, it's very
sturdy on its feet and the interior is well-machined with rounded edges that
keep your fingers safe from unwanted cuts. However, the case lacks rubber feet,
which decrease its grip somewhat, and the side panels are slightly less firmly
attached than they could be. Finally, the removable dust filters on the bottom,
while a welcome addition, are terribly flimsy, and little more than paper thin
sheets of material that are a nuisance to reinstall.
With two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports
and audio connections, the front panel is well equipped. On the roof is a hot
swap bay for 3.5" and 2.5" drives, the bay of which also serves as a
useful place to rest a charging smartphone. You'll also find a single-channel,
dual-speed fan control switch, which is capable of controlling all five of the
case's fans.
As well as the three red LED fans already
mentioned, a 140mm sits in the exhaust position at the rear and another in the
roof. With two more roof mounts, two bottom mounts and a right-side panel mount
(all of which support 120mm and 1400mm fans), it's easy to relocate the default
fans or add more should you choose.
For fans of water-cooling, the GRone has
you covered too. The roof of the case can house a half-height triple radiator
with fans, and you can also mount a full-height double radiator with fans to
the floor of the case too, but you'll need to remove the lower drive bay to do
so. External setups are also catered for by the four tubing holes on the rear,
although the grommets on them are rather loose. The ability to build a high-end
water-cooling loop in a $162 case is very impressive.
Inside the E-ATX compatible GRone is nice
and spacious, and the sensible design makes building a system nice and easy.
The motherboard tray features a large cut-out for installing the back-plates of
large CPU coolers as well as numerous holes covered by rubber grommets which,
along with the ample space behind the tray, make cable routing an easy process.
The tool-free pins that lock optical drives
in place do a decent enough job, and the drive bays feature a nice, smooth
slide-out mechanism. Both the middle five and lower three internal drive bays
can be removed without affecting the internal fan, and every bay supports
2.5" and 3.5" drives. However, actually getting drives into the bays
is a bit of a pain, especially 3.5" drives, which have an irritating
tendency to displace the pins designed to lock them in place.
On low speed, the temperatures the case
produces in both the GPU and CPU areas are quite high - a consequence of the
low airflow. On the plus side, the case is nice and quiet in this mode. At full
speed, a distinct hum is produced, but the temperatures thankfully are lowered
to levels that are respectable for a large chassis. A fan controller with a
higher number of speed settings would make finding a compromise between noise
and temperatures easier, however.
A case like the Corsair Carbide 500R is
likely a better choice for ATX users, as it offers similar temperatures as the
GRone at a lower price while remaining quieter. However, the GRone is by no
means a bad choice, because it's well featured, sensibly designed and has
better water-cooling support than some full towers in the $244-plus range.
Therefore, for budget conscious folk looking for a good deal of room to play
with, the Grone would make a solid purchase.
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Details
·
Price: $162
·
Manufacturer: In-Win
·
Website: www.inwin-style.com
·
Required spec: E-ATX, ATX or micro-ATX
motherboard
Verdict
·
Quality: 8
·
Value: 8
·
Overall: 8
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