Rosewill Challenger / NZXT Beta Evo

[Hogan773]

I'm eyeing the Rosewill Challenger and NZXT Beta Evo in terms of looks. Antec 300 is the "go-to" I'm aware, but I saw it in person and the inside seemed pretty basic and old school. I like the clean look on the outside though, but prefer the sideways drive cages, black interior, eSata and attempt at tool-less design on the Challenger or NZXT.

I am not a gamer so may not even have a GPU at all.....prob going SB 2500k or 2600k with an H67 mobo and using integrated graphics. I DO want to use the Hypermaster 212+ that I got on sale to allow me to OC the SB, so I need a case that will fit it (therefore I think microATX is prob out, plus I'm not sure a microATX offers as much future flexibility if I decide in 3 yrs that my new mobo is a standard ATX, for example). But I also don't want a giant monster case....just something nice, clean, understated.

Anyone have experiences with the Rosewill or NZXT? Any other similar ideas?

Thanks

 

[killster1]

i bought a few them challenger rosewill for 35 shipped i think.. Was very cheap and i love the cases as far as features / price. Even has back of mobo tray cut out for ez change of cpu coolers.

 

[stargazr]

Never checked out the Rosewill Challenger but I have the Destroyer. Pros are looks good, black interior, overall good build quality. Cons are the front panel wires are pretty short, meaning when you pop it off you can't move it very far. If you change drives often, it's a hassle because you have to unscrew the HD cage and pull it out through the front. The HD activity light is very dim, almost useless. Also when I installed my MB, it didn't fit! It was tight against the I/O shield and I had to slightly bend out the back panel for the screw holes to line up. A few reviewers on Newegg said the same thing. I must have just ended up with a bad one though because there are a lot of good reviews too. Cable management isn't too great either. I just put together an AMD machine with an NZXT M59 and what a difference. There's a space between the mb and side cover for cable management. Also the drives clip into a tool-less cage from the side making it very easy to swap drives, if that's important to you. I like it so much I'm tempted to get another one for my machine. I think it's on sale now at Newegg.

 

[Hogan773]

Never checked out the Rosewill Challenger but I have the Destroyer. Pros are looks good, black interior, overall good build quality. Cons are the front panel wires are pretty short, meaning when you pop it off you can't move it very far. If you change drives often, it's a hassle because you have to unscrew the HD cage and pull it out through the front. The HD activity light is very dim, almost useless. Also when I installed my MB, it didn't fit! It was tight against the I/O shield and I had to slightly bend out the back panel for the screw holes to line up. A few reviewers on Newegg said the same thing. I must have just ended up with a bad one though because there are a lot of good reviews too. Cable management isn't too great either. I just put together an AMD machine with an NZXT M59 and what a difference. There's a space between the mb and side cover for cable management. Also the drives clip into a tool-less cage from the side making it very easy to swap drives, if that's important to you. I like it so much I'm tempted to get another one for my machine. I think it's on sale now at Newegg.

Thanks. Its a little hard to compare Rosewill products since they are Newegg's "private label" brand and therefore are made by various mfrs. Like the Challenger is the same as the NZXT Gamma, but the Destroyer may be made by a different company.

I've read lots of positive reviews of the Challenger.....think that is my #1 right now, just waiting to see if I might get another shot at $35 shipped! (vs 50)

 

[RavenSEAL]

I have a challenger and i'm very pleased with it, lots of room for air to flow (added 2 LED fans for fancy), doesn't seem to gather a lot of dust, been pretty clean for the past 3 months...As mentioned above though, the only annoyance is the hard drive cage. Overall, for $40, it was a pretty good deal.

 

[stargazr]

[Thanks. Its a little hard to compare Rosewill products since they are Newegg's "private label" brand and therefore are made by various mfrs. Like the Challenger is the same as the NZXT Gamma, but the Destroyer may be made by a different company.][/quote]
I didn't know that, interesting!

 

[Hogan773]

[Thanks. Its a little hard to compare Rosewill products since they are Newegg's "private label" brand and therefore are made by various mfrs. Like the Challenger is the same as the NZXT Gamma, but the Destroyer may be made by a different company.]

I didn't know that, interesting![/QUOTE]


Yep - its not just a coincidence that the only place you can generally buy Rosewill is at Newegg. Its like WalMart's "Great Value" or Target's "Up and Up" brands. In Rosewill's case however, my strong guess is that many of their products are actually basically the same as the name brand product. I got a Rosewill HDD dock a year or so ago and it appeared to be exactly the same product as the Thermaltake version, just without the name.

 

[stargazr]

I didn't know that, interesting!

Yep - its not just a coincidence that the only place you can generally buy Rosewill is at Newegg. Its like WalMart's "Great Value" or Target's "Up and Up" brands. In Rosewill's case however, my strong guess is that many of their products are actually basically the same as the name brand product. I got a Rosewill HDD dock a year or so ago and it appeared to be exactly the same product as the Thermaltake version, just without the name.[/QUOTE]

Agreed - generally Rosewilll stuff is pretty good. I really liked my case when I got it. It's exactly what I wanted in terms of appearance and height (I have it in a computer desk opening and many cases are too tall). At the time I did look at the NZXT but thought it looked a little weird (It's actually pretty cool). The thing is I've been changing drives a lot lately, and the NZXT was for my girlfriend's build and outside of hardware problems I won't need to go poking around inside. I guess I'm a little jealous she got the more user-friendly case with cable management! 😡 I also have a Rosewill single drive enclosure RX-358-U3S (USB3) and it's a great product-not many enclosures have a fan w/ switch & power switch.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

sometimes you can pick up the challenger on chiefvalue for a little bit less than on newegg.

cheapest i've seen was @ $35 for a shell shockerdeal at the egg. Hasn't been less than 50 something since then.

 

[stevech]

Rosewill - isn't it just a paste-on logo for whatever has a good spot price from over there?