Rosewill Thor v2: The God of Cooling and Silence?
by Dustin Sklavos on August 24, 2011 2:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Full-Tower
- Rosewill
Conclusion: Rosewill Comes Out Swinging
I'll make this clear: despite my quibbles with the case's build quality, Rosewill's Thor v2 made me a believer. The thermal and acoustic performance of this case just can't be understated: Rosewill has somehow managed to make $150 for an enclosure seem like a bargain. At this price point you'll have a very hard time beating the performance, and that's ignoring the stellar expansion and just general size of the thing. If you're looking for a full tower and don't want to spend up, Rosewill's engineers have produced an enclosure that hits a reasonable price point while not being particularly ostentatious.
Of course, there are some sacrifices to be made, because yes, that build quality may be problematic for some users. Most of the users on NewEgg seem very happy with the Thor v2, and I can see why, but the plastic used for the enclosure ultimately does feel pretty chintzy, and the mounting system used for the 5.25" drive bays needs a lot of improvement. The top vent doesn't feel that cheap, but it doesn't make sense either: there's no other way for that top fan to exhaust if it's not open. And then the rubber grommets in the motherboard tray aren't held on with any glue or anything at all, and they pop out at the slightest provocation.
Rosewill has a stellar rough draft with the Thor v2. Thicker, better building materials would be appreciated but aren't top priority: what they need to do is glue in the grommets, replace the 5.25" drive bay locks with more secure designs, swap the 5.25" bay shields with classic style "snap-in-snap-out" shields, and kill the hinged vent at the top of the enclosure entirely. While we're building a wish list, switching the USB 3.0 routing cables to a motherboard header would be appreciated, and I'd actually rather see a top-mounted hot-swap drive bay than an eSATA port if possible.
If you think you can deal with the rough edges of the design, or if you want the most case you can get for the least money, the Thor v2 should definitely be on your short list. Able to compete even with enclosures nearly twice as expensive, I'd actually take it over Thermaltake's Level 10 GT just due to the comparative ease of assembly coupled with the less garish appearance. It's a better performer both acoustically and thermally than Corsair's 650D or 600T, too, at roughly the same price. Rosewill's Thor v2 isn't a homerun, but it's a very solid base hit, and there's no reason to think one more revision couldn't make it a top flight enthusiast case.
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black44dog - Friday, September 7, 2012 - link
I know this is an old article.. But i wanted to let everyone know the updates this Case has gotten since the article has been written.I just put together my Rosewill Thor v2 case with these parts:
Asus Sabertooth Z77 mobo
Intel Core i5 3570k
g-skill 16mb ram x2 8gig chips
CM Hyper Evo 212 CPU Cooler
LG Blu-ray burner
OCZ Vertex 4 128gig SSD
EVGA GeForce GTX660 TI 2GB
I purchased the case for 103.99 on newegg last week. It was on sale for 129.99 plus had a 20% off promo code.
The USB 3.0 pass through no longer exists. They replaced it with an ACTUAL USB3.0 Connector to the motherboard header. HUGE upgrade there..
The grommets are still flaky.. not a big deal.
Everything fit perfectly and looks amazing with the Sabertooth's Thermal Armor.
Hope this helps others looking into reviews for this case.
Horrabin - Saturday, January 12, 2013 - link
with the original V2 I've had for close to a year has been entirely positive. I consider this to be the best case I've ever used for a build in its price range (and one or two more "upscale" in the past). I really like all the the ports for cable management (aside from the grommets, as has been mentioned). I have 2 graphics cards, 6 HD, a DVD burner, a card reader, and an add-on 3.5 USB3 front panel that came with my motherboard, and still have plenty of room unimpeded by the usual cable spaghetti if I want to add anything else, although I'm pretty maxed out of stuff I'd want to put in. Since this fits (barely) under my table I keep the top grille open so the cat's not a problem... I actually like the back-routed USB3 setup. The onboard header is used for the add-on unit, which gives me 4 front USB3 ports. I did notice from the beginning that the fan control system didn't seem to do much about noise levels, but I'm not that bothered by fan noise anyway. The stock fans included with the case provide enough cooling and airflow, with the cables all tucked away behind the motherboard, to keep all my temps generally in the low 30's at idle and about 15 degrees higher when I'm running games (Crysis, Rage, FC3, Borderlands 1 & 2,etc). The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 cpu cooler fits with room to spare. Asrock 990FX Extreme 4 with Vishera 6-core, 16GB GSkill 1866, and dual AMD 5775 cards (those are somewhat dated, but enough in CrossFire for me on my budget). I would buy this case again for any other full-tower system I'd want to build.jlpurvis - Monday, March 11, 2013 - link
I just received y Thor V2 in the mail last week, and it is a very solid, good case. Just a heads up, they did replace the USB 3.0 connector with an internal motherboard header, so I don't have to hook it up in the back, but directly onto the motherboard. Also, the rubber grommets feel very secure, and the fan knobs don't feel clunky, or loose. I believe they fixed your biggest complaints about the case.PA Systems1 - Sunday, June 23, 2013 - link
I've just purchased this case from Newegg. Bought it for its size and cooling capabilities. I do have one question that the article doesn't seem to answer. If the front USB cables do not connect to the USB 3.0 headers on the mobo how are they connected to the system and powered? Before reading this article mentioning that I thought I would absolutely need a mobo with USB 3.0 internal headers. To be honest I haven't looked inside it YET because the other parts to my new build are waiting on price drops from Newegg. It could be a slow process but this case and some other components came on Newegg as deals first.frostshoxx - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - link
Where exactly is the reset button? I can only find the power button.