In-Win GRone Case Review: Do Features Make the Case

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.

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.