Excellent cases from an unexpected source - Rosewill

[Zepper]

(Info updated 11/8/2007)

Review of R5605 version posted:
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/...x.php?x=reviews&id=673

Thanks to NTCompatible.com for the heads up!

(Info updated 8/12/2007)
New model in the R5600 series, the R5605. The 5601 is still the best overall designed bezel (except for the dedicated floppy bay), but you might like the lower cost or looks or generic 3.5" external bay of the others.

.(Info updated 11/06/06)
Also new color schemes and R6As without doors (like the Compucase 6A19s) [/b]

Full review of R5604 now posted on http://www.techimo.com/reviews/

Preliminary review of my R5604 that came today (from Cal. so I don't feel ripped on the shipping - if they'd shipped from NJ, I might feel a bit warm) is posted a ways down the thread. Enjoy!


- Sorry if this reads like an ad, but I'm enthused...

Rosewill has either got something figured out over there or all of this casitude is just accidental. We all should know that Rosewill is a packaging division of Newegg so I don't suppose you'll see much Rosewill other than at Newegg and ChiefValue and perhaps M&P shops.

First they snap up some Yeong Yang cases (two color schemes of 5601 and one 5604) and now they've got the R6A series with three styles. I don't know the origin of those yet, but they have slides for opticals, 0.8mm SECC steel, grommets for HDDs (the HDD cage is the correct orientation), mostly toolless, looks like it will fit 120 f/r, the ports panel is not ALL the way at the bottom, and ridiculously cheap! These could be 3000B killers. They have front doors - a warning for those of you who don't like doors. Holy Crap! I just figured out who makes these - the same company that makes 'em for Antec and Compucase/HEC. Identical inside! Man, I thought those insides looked familiar...

The R560x series also has HDD grommets in rails, sidesaddle HDD bays, ports panel on top, 120 F/R, mostly toolless, has door. Excellent price with Instant Discount - unfortunately the solid black one doesn't get the I-D anymore (but not hard to make the Black/Silver one All Black if you want... A bit higher priced than the R6A series

None of these new boxes have side windows, but that's not hard to fix if you want.

Link to Rosewill cases at Newegg:

.bh.

PS: Thanks for reminding me G-Y,
. None of them come with PSUs - which is just the way I like it (except for the Arctic Cooling Silentiums that come with Seasonic!)!

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

They look decent. The ones with 120s front & rear don't come with Rocket's Red Glare PSUs.

I will keep these in mind for the fellas that want SLK3000 like cases.


...Galvanized

 

[RallyMaster]

http://images10.newegg.com/New...mage/11-147-037-08.JPG <- is that a removable motherboard tray I see in there?!!!

 

[VinDSL]

Don't mean to be threading crap, but I *think* I commented on a Rosewill case earlier this week. Yes, they look VERY nice! Never paid any attention to them before. When it comes to cheap cases, I prefer Enermax!

Used to be, all I cared about, with a cheap computer case, was that it didn't slice my hands up, installing the drives. Remember those days? That's what first got me interested in Enermax -- no sharp edges!

Heh! Gawd, some of those old cases... it was always 'fun' seeing how long it took to draw 'first blood'...

 

[OBCT]

I just bought a Rosewill power supply a few weeks ago. Haven't hooked it up yet, but reviews are good and it looks awesome! Plus, modular cabling and black sleeving for all included cables.

 

[Zepper]

Yes, Vin - but that was buried down in another thread. I thought they were worthy of their own thread and the R6A cases weren't there then either. Who was aware that they were YY cases? Hmmm....

Many of the Rosewill PSUs are rebadged Coolmax.

IDK about a removable mobo tray in the YY cases - but I'll know for sure Tuesday latest when my 5604 comes in.

.bh.

 

[Zepper]

Exploded diagram of YY-5604 shows no removable mobo tray. Picture is sure a teaser though... And Tom's Hardware did a review of the 5601 and I don't recall any mention of one there either. But the folks at THG aren't very observant anyway...


.bh.

 

[furballi]

R6A looks like an Antec SLK3000B clone! It may also accept a front 120 x 38 mm Panaflo, just like the 3000B. Not sure if the side duct is adjustable. Good price but shipping is a little high, especially with Newegg's fixed shipping fee. The R5601 is too expensive for me.

 

[Zepper]

Hey furball,

Did you bother to read the OP??? At least they don't have the same curved gills that all the other Antec clones seem to have - even the Compucase 6A series has a family look to it. You wouldn't know these were identical until you look inside.

.bh.

 

[furballi]

I did. Would be a super deal if I could pickup a few for $30 OTD. Definitely much better than the hyped DELL BTX 9150 case with the dorky hinge.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Most of their cases don't look much better than cheap raidmax cases, but the 560x ones look really good. Not quite what I want, but I'm sure they match some others ideals especially at the price they're at.

 

[tommyncal]

I was looking at these cases for replacing a generic case with very poor air circulation. But then saw newegg has the CM centurion 5 on sale for $67 (shipped). Anyone have any experience with the centurion 5?
Ayashi?...why do you say they (rosewill's) look cheap? It is hard for me to tell from newegg's photos, have you ever had a rosewill? This is not intended as a put down...just curious what to look for in a case.
Anyone know if the Rosewill R6 cases will accept a front intake fan, it looks like it has side vents but the front looks solid?

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: tommyncal
I was looking at these cases for replacing a generic case with very poor air circulation. But then saw newegg has the CM centurion 5 on sale for $67 (shipped). Anyone have any experience with the centurion 5?
Ayashi?...why do you say they (rosewill's) look cheap? It is hard for me to tell from newegg's photos, have you ever had a rosewill? This is not intended as a put down...just curious what to look for in a case.
Anyone know if the Rosewill R6 cases will accept a front intake fan, it looks like it has side vents but the front looks solid?

I bought a centurion 5 @ compusa for $75($5 difference from newegg). My god, it's wonderful and it beats the crap out of my old Rosewill case too !

like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147007

I used the old case for almost a year and a half, it served me well but the hot weather and other stuff inside caused alot of vibration and noise because of this flimsy case. Anyways...

lol the irony

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: tommyncal
I was looking at these cases for replacing a generic case with very poor air circulation. But then saw newegg has the CM centurion 5 on sale for $67 (shipped). Anyone have any experience with the centurion 5?
Ayashi?...why do you say they (rosewill's) look cheap? It is hard for me to tell from newegg's photos, have you ever had a rosewill? This is not intended as a put down...just curious what to look for in a case.
Anyone know if the Rosewill R6 cases will accept a front intake fan, it looks like it has side vents but the front looks solid?

Mostly because the 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 bays look like they were ripped right out of cheap raidmax cases. Also over half of the rosewell cases have either no place in the front to draw air or very obstructed places to draw air. The r5601s and r604s look to be very good for their price.

 

[tommyncal]

thanks for the replys..I like the 2-120mm fans in the Rosewill 5601 & 5604, but didn't really want any swinging front doors and the Centurion is only $5 & $10 more than the Rosewill's. This case is not for heavy gaming so I'm hoping the 80mm intake fan on the centurion will be enough. Gonna order the centurion 5. thanks again

 

[Zepper]

Yup, most of the Rosewill cases are junkbuckets, but these models they recently added to the line are several orders of magnitude better than any of the others - and according to the Rosewill site they have a slew of new models coming.

The R6Axx series will be great for those that would have bought an Antec SLK3000-B but wish it didn't look like most of the other Antec cases made in the 21st century. Well, this Rosewill variant doesn't share little family resemblance until you look inside - where it counts.

.bh.

 

[Zepper]

Well, I received my R5604 today. It got here in excellent shape - very thick foam end caps. I'll be doing a full review in the near future to post on http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ (as usual) when it's done.

In the meanwhile here are some points:

1- Very well engineered - three things would I change: one is that the side panels need to hold themselves in place without the screws (panels are very floppy without the screws, so you have to use them - left panel comes with normal screws, right has thumbscrews), two is just an appearance aid, three is that the plastic guide posts and latches on the bezel are not filleted - so they are weaker than they need to be. Any beginning draftsman should know that inside corners should be filleted and not square.

2- Design executed very well - even the bottom is covered with a black dress panel. Only on the back and behind the bezel do you see the gray chassis color. The user guide was pretty useless - just a feature list for both the 5601 and 5604 models. It's more of a sales tool than any kind of instructions. Got a key, but this one has no lock.. Oh, there's the lock. It's in the left side panel - but you still need the screws to hold the side panel in place.

3- No removable mobo tray - goes full length of the case front to back - makes for strength. But there's room to put the mobo straight down in w/ very little angling except to feed the ports thru the I/O shield.

4- My power and reset switches both worked fine (someone posted that one of theirs didn't). The header connectors are very tight - so make sure they seat fully.

5- Skimpy on the screw count, you get just enough for a recommended installation - you may wish you had your own stash of spares.

6- Almost everything they try to make easy for you can be done the old way if you want - that's called flexibility.

7- Front fan mount can take 120x38mm fan if you want. Came with two Jamicon 120x25 fans - haven't looked up the specs on them yet. But I put my Sanyo 120x38 in the back and I'm temporarily using a Jamicon in the front 'til I can find some no. 8 screws to mount my NMB with - heck I may just drop it into the front cage (yup, snap-in plastic cages both front and rear, but they only take 120x25mm fans ). Right now I'd rate it quieter than mostly the same parts in the Berserker.

8- The silver painted parts of the bezel are REMOVEABLE - thus easy to make all black if you want with a can of spray paint (plastic-safe).

9- As per another review I read, the top USB ports are kind of close together so some thumb drives won't fit if something else is plugged in. I may need to invest in a short extension just in case...

10- I had pretty high expectations for this case and it exceeded them by a fair margin. Attention to detail is as good as I've seen. Found an Austrian review and that said $70. Euros (they scored only one category at less than 90, and that was 80) - wish I could read German, so were getting a very high value here. Yeong Yang's captive retailer (GigaCase) lists the case at $79. I only wish the tip-resistant feet were standard instead of optional (but the rubber feet are screwed rather than glued - more attention to detail). I'd rate it 9/10.

.b.h.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

I'm glad your happy with this new case. Please do bump this thread when your review is
posted over at TIMO with a link.
We know you have plenty of extra screws

Ever since Zap had the hair pulling experience with the bad power-on switch, I have checked
all switches in new cases with an ohm meter prior to assembly.

I have heard it said, that Jamicon 120x25 fans look/feel like gift toys given with Mc Happy Meals


...Galvanized

 

[Zepper]

I checked my switches with my meter too. Both tested fine and work fine. Very convenient right there on top with the ports. More attention to detail: the reset switch button is recessed even though it's up top with the power switch where it is unlikely to ever get pressed accidentally. So you have to use a pen or straightened paper clip to press it. The LEDs are just right - not too bright (like the Rheobus), and not too dim.

The Jamicons are light but they have a very small hub which helps with cooling the sidesaddle drive bays - the hub on the S-Ds block more than one whole bay... Specs: 12V, .14A, 1500rpm, 54 CFM, 27.5 dB. Not bad if anywhere near accurate. Does move some air. Got to get it alone in a quiet room for more testing...


The NMB has a much smaller hub too (but not as small as the Jamicon) - soon as I get a connector on it, it'll go in there. I might even use the plastic cage...

.bh.

 

[imported_wicka]

I've never used a Rosewill case, but none of them look really nice to me. I'm ordering one for my dad soon, so we'll see how it goes. I just hope it's better built than the last budget case I got, the front panel shattered off.

 

[Zepper]

I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. Mine was very well packaged and arrived in perfect condition.

.bh.

 

[Zepper]

Bump for new eyes.

.bh.

 

[SantiClaws]

Well, just ordered the 5604. Zepper, I'm holding you personally responsible for my case.

 

[Zepper]

Well, Santi, if you read all that I wrote here about it plus my review on TechIMO, then you won't have any surprises at all. Enjoy it!

.bh.

 

[Zap]

I'm still using my CompuCase 6A19 case (system I'm typing this on) though I sold off the HEC 300W PSU a long time ago. got the stuff from Newegg BITD for $30 plus shipping with PSU. Modded it by cutting out the rear fan grill. No door over drive bays. Black/silver. No holes whatsoever in side panels so nothing to interfere with my Scythe Ninja. One of the best case purchases I've ever made. :thumbsup: