Rosewill Line-M Case Review: Wherefore Art Thou Micro-ATX?
by Dustin Sklavos on February 26, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- MicroATX
- Rosewill
Assembling the Rosewill Line-M
Provided you're at least prepared for it, assembling a system inside the Rosewill Line-M can actually be a fairly simple experience. Since it's such a small case and such a direct design, assembly is actually pretty self-explanatory. What you want to do is make sure you assemble things in the right order.
The first thing to go in is the motherboard, and Rosewill demonstrates why I'm starting to seriously bristle when manufacturers don't make some kind of allowance for motherboard installation. Despite being an inexpensive case, the Line-M comes with the motherboard stand-offs pre-installed. Snapping in the I/O shield was easy enough, but you'll have to tilt the board into the case if you're using a full-sized Micro-ATX board, as the drive cage overhangs the tray just a little. This also unfortunately makes one of the screws very difficult to install.
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Next you'll want to install the optical drive and the storage drives, as they're most liable to get buried under cables. The 5.25" bays employ a toolless clamp on the left side that's actually very effective, but you need to snap the front fascia off first. From there, just take the shield off and slide the optical drive in. The single 2.5" drive mounting point is just that, and not a bay. In the bottom floor of the case are four holes for screws to bottom-mount the drive. It's not ideal but it does get the job done.
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Expansion cards go in next, and the power supply goes in last. There are no expansion slot covers; the slots themselves have perforated metal that pops out, which is common with cases in this price bracket. Despite the fact that this is a budget case, it does benefit tremendously from a modular power supply. Modular power supplies aren't hard to get anymore; Corsair sells one for $50 that would be well-suited to the Line-M, but I must stress that you really are limited to 160mm of PSU depth unless you eschew using the 5.25" bays entirely.
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Cabling the Line-M is the most complicated part, due primarily to the limited space, lack of space behind the motherboard tray, and open fan blades of the front intake fan. I was able to do a messy job but nonetheless keep everything out of harm's way when assembling our testbed; there's really no way to not do a messy job with this case, though, so keep that in mind. Small cases are rarely clean.
The Rosewill Line-M actually isn't too difficult to assemble, and as far as servicing it goes, the worst part will probably be navigating the cable spaghetti (something a modular power supply helps mitigate tremendously.) I think I would've preferred some means of mounting the SSD up near the rest of the drives, though, as stretching the single SATA power lead down to the bottom of the case seems to needlessly complicate things.
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Retrophe - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Not a bad case. Would be fun to mod with a small window, sound deadening and better fans.Nice review as always.
Oh and nice wiring job Paul!
iTzSnypah - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
If you casually look at cases on newegg by number of reviews (and thus purchases), all the top reviewed cases have LED fans. AKA people are attracted to bright lights.It's weird though as the Rosewill's Line (ATX version) is offered in both LED and non-LED versions.
My only gripe with this case besides it's price is that I hate stacked side fan vents, I would much rather have horizontal ones.
DanNeely - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
The non-LED version is probably intended for the same (business) customers who want the padlock loop on the back. It's a trivial alternative to let them target two markets at once.ahar - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
I think the title would make more sense if wherefore meant where.beemeup - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Yeah, wherefore means "why" and not "where" as most people would think.It's a very deceptive word.
Silverkinggames - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Really? So when Shakespeare wrote "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Juliet was asking Why he was named Romeo and not where Romeo is? I understand this is a tech site but you may want to expand your knowledge some to understand the reference of the title.A5 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Yes, asking "why" he is Romeo is EXACTLY what she was doing.If he were not Romeo Monatgue, their relationship would not have any barriers or complications.
You should really learn the material before making fun of other people for not knowing it. Even the most basic reading of it would have taught you this.
thermopyle2 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Actually, Juliet wasn't asking why he was named Romeo, but why he IS Romeo. Basically her question was about why Romeo had to be who he is, instead of somebody not in a family hers opposed. "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" was a lament about her heart's poor choices, and the family he unfortunately belonged to.http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/262200.html
adityanag - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
"I understand this is a tech site but you may want to expand your knowledge some to understand the reference of the title. "Indeed.. you might even want to read Romeo & Juliet. It is why, not where.
This line made me laugh out loud. Silverkinggames, there is an expression that is extremely apt: "Hoist by his own petard"
:D
Sweepster - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Type in wherefore in Google and you get:Adverb
For what reason: "she took an ill turn, but wherefore I cannot say".
As a result of which: "truly he cared for me, wherefore I title him with all respect".
Synonyms
why
So I believe an apology is in order here.