In-Win GRone Case Review: Do Features Make the Case
by Dustin Sklavos on September 18, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- In-Win
- ATX
- E-ATX
Conclusion: When Competitive Isn't Competitive
Let me be clear: the In-Win GRone is by no means a bad case. On the contrary, the performance potential is there and the features are there. I chafe a bit under the extensive use of plastic on the fascia and the odd mish-mash of colors used beyond the basic gunmetal-and-black aesthetic, but the case is fairly easy to build and In-Win has a few good ideas floating around in here. If the feature set is what you're looking for, I wouldn't fault you for eyeballing the GRone.
The problem is that I feel like for how well the GRone does perform, it doesn't perform well enough. It needs five fans to do the job of two or three in competing cases, and the fan controller doesn't offer the happy medium the case desperately needs. Instead of dual modes, either a middle mode or an analog control (similar to NZXT's Sentry Mix or Corsair's Obsidian 600T) seems to be the order of the day here to get the balance right between noise and thermals.
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What really hurts the GRone is the price, though. $160 is a reasonable price for some of the features, but not the build quality and mediocre acoustics. It's at this point that I'm going to trot out my favorite dark horse, the Rosewill Thor v2. Rosewill is willing to sell you a case that will perform better and quieter, with dual analog fan controls and roughly the same connectivity (you lose the SATA hotswap tray) for $30 cheaper. Meanwhile, watercooling ninjas are liable to be better served by either BitFenix's Shinobi XL or NZXT's Switch 810, both of which are price competitive with In-Win's offering.
The GRone isn't a bad case, but it's not a homerun and there are things beyond the price tag that need to be addressed in a revision. Until that happens, the one thing that can always be corrected is the price. If In-Win can get it down to around $130, the value proposition improves tremendously and it's at that point that I have a much easier time recommending it. Our old saw is "no bad products, only bad prices," and that's true here. With the GRone, I feel like that would make all the difference.
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randinspace - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
It IS big.cjs150 - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
Lets start with the obvious, the front is ugly. They have taken the original Centurion Stacker and then made it a bit bigger and ugly.Sure it takes EATX motherboards which is useful for those that need that level of power and flexibilty. But other than that what does it actually do better than cases designed 5 or 6 years ago.
There has been no thought applied to this case. Lets take some obvious ideas for improvement:
1. If a case is designed for that many hard drives why is there no hot swappable ability?
2. Similarly for that many hard drives it would be nice to see some thought applied to cable management and power distribution to the hard drives
3. If the cases is intended for air cooling then cable management is vital - where is it?
Antec 280 may not be my favourite case, but they thought about what market to go for and designed a case to meet that market. Fractal Design produces nice cases, with features thought through for a particular market (esp water cooling). Heck I even like Lian li for trying different things, even if they do not come off. And, despite some doubtful quality control issues, I own a Silverstone TJ07 and am about to buy the TJ08E.
Skidmarks - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
Although I haven't seen it in the plastic & steel yet, judging it by the pics it looks like a dreadful mess to me.rickon66 - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
As an Antec fan, 1100 still overall best buy.angrypat - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
It does seem to be in fashion for cases to be overdone and scifi comic book like, I would rather have understated looks and form following function. And no damn doors or hinged covers, if I want to open an optical drive or access a usb port I don't want to open a door first. The question I never see asked is why so few cases have an SD card reader, much more useful than a front ESATA port; storage for laptops, tablets, phones and cameras. Rear expansion slot mounted fan controls suck, very inconvenient, and they are tossed in with many cases. As for myself, I build a pc, then may tweak occasionally but I am not constantly working in it, after 40 plus builds no case has really annoyed me to work in whether it was $20 or $100. The delivery people beating the crap out of them on the way to my door is another matter of course! Outside of a media center case I don't see any reason to spend more than $100 unless you want to show off. Cooling fans can always be added or changed, run off the mobo or a fan controller. The most important thing is to know what you are building; gamer, media center, office, everyday web surfer or a serious number cruncher etc.Grok42 - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
The reason door and covers are used is they provide a clean look for the front of the case. Because case manufactures insist on putting 3 to 9 external 5.25" bays in the case they have to cover them up so the case doesn't look like crap. I agree, get rid of the door as they just require more case depth. Instead, just don't have any external bays and it's a win/win.They don't put a SD card reader in the case because it's like putting a VHS deck or DVD drive in a TV. Remember those? Why build a piece of dead tech into the case itself? I still have a 10 year old Lian-Li case as my main workstation. I'm sure glad they didn't build a zip drive in it. The days of sneaker netting data from phones, cameras, tablets, etc are long gone. If you still have a few devices you must do it with, that is what $5 USB card readers are for.
bwcbwc - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
I take it this should be pronounced "groan"?Unfortunately I fall into the hate it camp at least based on the front panel aesthetic - it looks like a prop from the original Battlestar Galactica. Other design choices are less "groan" worthy, but as you say there are other companies in this price range with alternatives I find more appealing.
Solidstate89 - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
The GRone case? Are you kidding me right now? Who in marketing thought that would make a great name?MeanBruce - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
Buy a man's chassis, the Corsair 650D was $161.99 a couple days ago on Amazon free shipping no tax. Stand Up Boy!Bonesdad - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
If you like the way this case looks, there is something wrong with you.