MaximumPC 2008 07

IN WIN F430

Vroom. Vroom vrooom. The unholy sound of this case will

haunt you in your nightmares

ROSEWILL R5604-TBK

Small and simple, but just so-so

We don’t just want to give a 1 verdict to the per-

son responsible for the power-on mechanism in

this Ferrari-themed case. We want to strap him to

a jet engine. Harsh words,

but you too will be

driven to undertake

such bold action

once you hear the

ear-splitting rev of a

car engine aft er you

hit the F430’s power

button. You can dis-

able this “feature”

by pulling the plug

on the front panel,

but hearing this

noise even once

is too much.

Deafness

aside, the case

has a few other design quirks. For starters,

the snap-locking side panels are a wee

bit ugly, but they do allow for superfast

entry into your rig’s guts. The case off ers

a healthy mix of front-panel connections

(four USB, one FireWire, standard audio),

but the cables for them run in front of

the drive bays—an odd choice that limits

internal cable management options and

looks unattractive. The case uses screws

to hold up to three hard drives in place and rails

for up to four 5.25-inch devices. In practice, we

found that the latter—such as an optical drive—

tend to sit a little more recessed from the front

panel than what we fi nd aesthetically pleasing.

The case comes with a single 12cm fan in the

rear and no cooling whatsoever for the boister-

ous side panel exhaust system or front drive

bays. But this, as well as the tight space around

the hard drive bays, is forgivable. The F430 is

pretty and functional and comes with more

front-panel connection options than most cases

in this roundup.

Rosewill tackles the low, low end of the cheap

case spectrum with its $65 R5604-TBK chassis.

But save for a few minor oopsies, the case

makes for a breezy installation of all your

computer parts. There’s nothing fancy about

the R5604-TBK, no lights or other arcane

mechanical trappings. It’s just a no-frills,

screwless enclosure—you get an interesting

industrial-style locking mechanism for the

side panel, but that’s its most daring attribute.

The four 5.25-inch and six 3.5-inch bays

all come with rails that you attach to your vari-

ous devices before

sliding them into

place—we just

wish the rails fi t

the drives better.

It’s a nitpicky

note, but just as

with the case’s PCI

holder—which

pushes a bit too

fi rmly against add-

on cards—a little

more engineering

would have gone a

long way.

While we are

using an over-

size PCI Express

card in our tests—the GeForce 8800 GTX—the

R5604-TBK would be cramped with most any

build. Hands-down, this chassis comes with the

least amount of space to work in of any of the

sub-$100 cases we’ve reviewed. The hard drive

bays jut out just far enough to limit your options

when customizing your system’s internals.

The R5604 comes with a 12cm fan at both

the front and rear and front-panel FireWire

support is an extra-special treat. Now if only

the case came with front-panel HD audio

support, as well.

Ihe ;4(0És front-eanel JSB connectors selit the

grounding wire, making them more annoying to

connect to your motherboard.

*+| MAXIMUMPC | JUL 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

VERDICT

$98, http://www.in-win.us ,

IN WIN ;4(0

VERDICT

$65, http://www.rosewill.com +

ROSEWILL R*+04-IB@

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• closures

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