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
- Rosewill
- ATX
- E-ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
If the Rosewill Armor EVO has one thing going for it, it's that it's a smaller ATX enclosure that's packed to the gills with fans. It's well ventilated, and that should allow it to produce some really good thermal performance. The weak point is the same one that hampers Antec's otherwise excellent (but also year old) Eleven Hundred: no fan controller.
Ambient temperature during testing was ~21C.
It's surprising to see a case beat the Antec Eleven Hundred, but there you have it. The Rosewill Armor EVO simply pushes more air, a frankly ridiculous amount of air, just like the Thor v2 does.
Fan speeds are competitive. The Eleven Hundred seems to be able to run its CPU fan a bit lower, but the Armor EVO is still keeping the CPU cooler overall.
Unfortunately noise is a serious problem, so while the Armor EVO is able to beat the Eleven Hundred in thermal performance, the Eleven Hundred is able to do its job more quietly.
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max347 - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Second paragraph, second sentence, seen->see*?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 lookSabresiberian - 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.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
reason*; claims*. Sheesh, my error checker was way on the blink on this post.Barbarossa - 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).
ForeverAlone - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
It's nice to see that twin-120mm fans on the front are standard now.number58 - 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?vol7ron - 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?pensive69 - 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
Beenthere - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Some of the PC case makers seem to have lost the plot...There is a reason why the original tower PC cases were built the way they were with no openings in the top of the case. Here's a hint: what blows out can also fall in...
While in theory an open top allows warm air to escape easily, it also allows dirt/dust/liquids/small objects, etc. to enter - even when unintended or unwanted. Thus top openings in PC cases are a bad idea on several fronts including NOISE, for those who don't already know.
As far as buying this Rosewill case based on it's "thermal headroom", that is a sick joke. It hardly matters if your OC'd CPU runs at 49C or 51C as either is well within the low end of the operating range for ANY CPU. Hell 59C isn't even an issue.
With all of the disadvantages to this case design be it the top opening, which being raised is REALLY bad, the noise, the shoddy construction, the excessive fan noise, the screened side panel and the excessive price, this unit can hardly be recommended for anyone with a clue. Yes some folks will buy it for it's "stealthy" look or it's pretty LEDs but not anyone with a clue, especially when you can buy a quality conventional PC casr for ~$70.
It's actually quite silly what the PC case market has become in recent years to entice the 13 year old kids. I'm surprised they aren't selling PC cases with tit and arse plastered on the outside of them - aka Lara Croft/Anjie Jolie, like they do GPU cards. Those would fly out the door faster than they could produce them. The 13 year old kids could have their favorite fantasy babe half naked sprawling all over the outside of their PC case. Oh baby, I can't wait for these...soon to be on shelves no doubt. :(