Rosewill Armor EVO Case Review: Sometimes Performance Isn't Everything
by Dustin Sklavos on January 23, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- ATX
- Rosewill
- E-ATX
Introducing the Rosewill Armor EVO
As NewEgg's house brand, Rosewill has been growing in very interesting ways. Being the house brand of a major electronics retailer means dipping your toe into a lot of different markets, and Rosewill has expanded dramatically, to the point where their products are starting to crop up on other vendors' sites. At the same time, those products are gaining attention in their own right. Rosewill's own Thor v2 may not be the best built enclosure, but it's a dynamite performer and can oftentimes be found at a bargain.
Rosewill has also been fairly aggressive about pursuing enthusiasts. It's not enough to simply have a product and offer it; you don't see Best Buy sending out Dynex or Insignia televisions to websites for review. There's also sweet money to be had in chasing mid-to-high end buyers, and that's where the Armor EVO comes in. The EVO is a fairly modestly sized tower capable of supporting E-ATX motherboards and promises healthy cooling performance. It also comes with an unusually optimistic MSRP: $119. Is it worth the money, or did Rosewill misfire?
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The company has made a habit of producing no frills products at competitive prices; their mechanical keyboards are absolutely killer deals for users who want a basic, comfortable keyboard but don't want to fork out the bread for a high end gaming keyboard. Their cases have been more hit and miss, though: the Thor v2 is fantastic, but the Ranger we reviewed left a lot to be desired. They're fairly young as a case manufacturer to be sure, and unfortunately with the Armor EVO, they may yet have a ways to go.
| Rosewill Armor EVO Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | Mini-ITX, Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 3x 5.25” (includes 5.25"-to-3.5" adapter) |
| Internal | 7x 2.5"/3.5" | |
| Cooling | Front | 2x 120mm intake fan (supports additional 2x 120mm behind drive cage) |
| Rear | 1x 120mm exhaust fan | |
| Top | 2x 120mm exhaust fan (supports 2x 140mm) | |
| Side | 1x 230mm intake fan (supports 4x 120mm) | |
| Bottom | 1x 120mm/140mm fan mount | |
| Expansion Slots | 7 | |
| I/O Port | 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | Standard ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 170mm |
| PSU | 220mm | |
| GPU | 320mm | |
| Dimensions |
8.62" x 18.58" x 22.4" 219mm x 472mm x 569mm |
|
| Weight | 21.6 lbs. / 9.8 kg | |
| Special Features |
USB 3.0 connectivity via internal headers Toolless 5.25" drive bays and 3.5" drive sleds Support for 240mm/280mm radiator in top of enclosure Toggleable red LED lighting on front fans |
|
| Price | $114 | |
What's important to note about the Armor EVO is what's specifically missing from the spec table: a fan controller. You can turn the LEDs on and off, but you can't actually control the multitude of included fans. This is not the EVO's biggest problem, but it is definitely a problem because as you'll see later, the EVO has a tremendous amount of thermal headroom.
One of the other things the EVO has to worry about is another case in Rosewill's own stable: the Thor v2. I don't have comparison results for it as the Thor v2 was reviewed on our old testbed, but on the spec table, the only thing the EVO can consistently beat the Thor v2 with is size.
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max347 - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Second paragraph, second sentence, seen->see*? ReplyCommunism - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Hopefully more manufacturers get the picture and release more Antec 1100 wannabees like this case is.Then maybe we can see something handily beat it :D.
As it is, it seems that the Antec 1100 would probably beat it with 1 or 2 more fans, assuming the only fans in the tested configuration were the stock 120mm on rear and 200mm on top.
I agree with Dustin that this case would be worthwhile if they fixed the fan mounting on the top and lowered the price to match Antec's 1100.
Antec 1100 +1 to 3 fans = $100 + ~$20
Rosewill Armor Evo = $120 Reply
SunLord - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
You know what I would like to see in case reviews photos of the case with different size motherboards. I don't care about them testing the case with all the different sizes but it would be nice to see what a Full ATX and an E-ATX would look like installed in the cases that support them using a MicroATX MB is nice for a constant variable in testing across all cases but gives you zero clue on how well a motherboard you would actually use in this case would fit or look ReplySabresiberian - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
I agree here. I understand the reson to stick with one size mainboard for all testing, but I'm very skeptical of the clams of some of these case manufacturers when they say their case will hold "XL-ATX" and "E-ATX". Get one of those EVGA SR-2s and slap that baby in there, heh. ReplySabresiberian - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
reason*; claims*. Sheesh, my error checker was way on the blink on this post. ReplyBarbarossa - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
The SR-2 is HPTX, most cases don't claim compatibility with that.By E-ATX most people mean a Rampage or Maximus board from Asus or similar, which isn't actually the same as the TRUE E-ATX spec.
XL-ATX is kind of a made-up spec, but it was used to define longer than standard boards (more than 8 slots). Reply
ForeverAlone - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
It's nice to see that twin-120mm fans on the front are standard now. Replynumber58 - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
I noticed that the numbers from the recently reviewed phantom 630 were not in the tables to compare with this case. Any particular reason? Replyvol7ron - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Not sure this would have much of an impact on results, but do you take ambient temperature before/during (maybe even after) tests? Replypensive69 - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
how about a marriage between a small home or dorm room fridge maker and a case maker? you'd be able to do your install INSIDE an actual fridge with insulation and temp controls provided in a system designed to work at 35 - 45 F anyway?ambient air solutions start around 30 - 40 F higher out of the box Reply