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Honestly, we picked this to order for three main reasons:
Firstly, because I just wanted to see if this was a real case and what its quality may be. It's marketing is... interesting. We decided to take a shot on some random unknown brand. Speaking of the brand, as seen in the photos there is absolutely no branding on the PC case itself. The title of this listing calls it "Gabinete". The listing details call it "LINEDEPOT". The actual box delivered says "GameKM", and their website says "WJCoolMan". Not sure what the name of this case or it's brand actually is. It's a bit vague and unclear.
Secondly, for actual use. It has appropriate dimensions for a build I wanted to do (roughly standard Mid ATX sized, but smaller in the front-to-back dimension), and it was at a fair price (if it was as advertised), had 6 case fans for good airflow, looked competently designed on the major aspects, and looks nice based on the stock photos. So if it was a real product (was a legitimate question at the time of ordering an unknown product from an unknown company with 0 reviews ever at the time of ordering), and if it is as advertised, it would be a good choice for the build in question.
Finally, as a chance to be the first legitimate review of a product. Up until now, all the reviews we've done have been our own take on things that have had myriad reviews before. Doing an 100% fresh review on something is a nice way to prove we're not just copying other reviews but making our own.
This case is stored somewhere in a US warehouse and shipped quickly. Arriving to Alaska in just 4 days after ordering (and this is just basic shipping, not even Prime)!
First impressions are hopeful. The box itself is a very sturdy double lined cardboard. The "GameKM" brand with a skull logo makes us call this a GameKM case. But the website link to icepc.cn calls the brand "WJCoolMan". Further review of this website is minimal as it's all in Chinese, but we see evidence that they're using similar designs to Fractal Design, Jonsbo, and others. It is possible they're an integrator or distributor, but can't say for sure. Otherwise, very little on the box that is meaningful to us.
Packaging materials inside the box is two light pieces of semi-custom molded styrofoam and a thin plastic bag. This was enough to ensure the case was delivered safely only because of it's very lightweight construction. It was not damaged, dented, or scratched in any way during shipping. There was no manual or accessories included in the box.
We would definitely not recommend trying to pack an assembled PC back into this box for shipping; it wouldn't be adequate to protect it if it weighs much more. Still, there is no obligation for a manufacturer to ensure their packaging protects more than just their product. Their packaging was more than enough to make sure it got to us safely, and for that they get full credit.
First impressions after taking it out of the case were... less hopeful. As far as presentation, all of the front IO was loose in the inner case, tangled into a spider-web of confusion when the case was delivered. One fan (top front) was installed sideways so the RGB infinity mirror wasn't visible, and the three front fans were installed on the interior side of the front mounting points, not on the exterior side. This isn't a good or a bad thing, just an observation that all of their stock photography on the sales page shows these fans mounted on the exterior side, which means it's not plug-and-play; if you want to achieve the look in the stock images as presented on Amazon, you must manually remove and reinstall 4 of the 6 fans. The fans themselves are nice to look at, with an interesting blade shape that expands near the center similar to a butcher's knife, and the label applied in such a way that they must not be straight up and down, but sideways, when installed. Or else you cannot see the infinity mirrors. The plastics are fairly cheap to the feel, as expected at this price point, but no reason to believe they won't work for their intended purpose.
All six of the fans have two lighted infinity mirrors on opposite sides; one side that faces the glass side panel, and another that faces... the metal back of the case where it will never be seen. They also have an infinity mirror center on the intake side of the fan, also lighted with synced ARGB. Honestly, the fans do look pretty cool, especially for fans at this price point. They are also all PWM PST, with pass through ARGB cables as well. Meaning, all universal connections that daisy-chain to each other to maximize compatibility and use up a minimum of motherboard connections. All of the cables are adequately long to make it fairly easy to route and connect them to a variety of different places on the motherboard. Really, at this price point alone if the fans perform adequately the case is already worth it.
The build quality is about what one can expect in a budget case in this range. Thin cheap metal. Flimsy and floppy, would not recommend putting heavier components in it, though it's perfectly serviceable for budget or mid-range components. The plastics are all the cheap brittle kind of plastic that would hold up and service fine but you can tell it would crack and break relatively easily if subjected to blunt force.
The fans being universal makes it very manageable for most consumer marketed motherboards. The fans do get acceptably quiet on a fan curve but are never silent. The ARGB is bright and consistent across all fans equally. We did see the listing conflicting ideas of radiator support, so we decided to test it. We were able to successfully fit a radiator up to 360mm in the front, but it was a tight fit. Keep that in mind if you're looking for to build with a watercooler.
Speaking of the front panel, it comes off tool-less and has no I/O connections integrated into it, so pulling it off to change fans or clean dust is quick and easy. The geometric triangles are obviously inspired by (or possibly stolen from) Fractal Design's Meshify PC cases, but the rest of the specific design elements seem to be unique from what we can tell.
The back panel is pretty thin and has minimal clearance, so if you have thick power cables, or many other cables (say, a lot of Fan+RGB cables), you may have trouble getting the back panel put on if you've done any good amount of cable management. There's a single good channel for routing cables near the front, but it can be difficult (if not impossible) to route every cable through this one area.
The rear of the case has breakaway PCIe slot covers, and the top slot is completely void entirely. Not even a "slot cover broke off accidentally before it was packaged" kind of thing. There never was one there at any time. The front glass panel is very thin and feels fragile, though it made it to Alaska shipped with no issues.
Really, most of that is as expected (or even slightly better than expected) when considering real world expectations of the budget. There are a few bizarre design and assembly decisions that aren't, however. The basement is perforated to allow for airflow and has mounting points to support 2 120mm fans, just as 2 fans are shown there in many of the stock images, such as the one attached to the review banner at the top of this page. However, there are also... extra mounting points raised out of the basement. Meaning if you tried to mount any fans there, the blades would catch on these raised bits and not spin. They would be completely useless to mount any fans, and there is no explanation or obvious reason for the other mounting points anyway. Again, no manual was included with this case, so... why?
Included accessories include a single small plastic baggie tied to the inside of the basement. It's hiding in the back corner and hard to see, so don't miss it. It includes the exactly the right number of screws/standoffs necessary for mounting an ATX motherboard, and just 5 screws with 6/32 thread (presumably that would be 4 for the PSU and 1 for a PCIe slot). 4 more screws would support mounting up to 1 HDD/SSD in the bottom bay, and that would be it. Bare minimum, but they did meet the expectations/requirements there. Underneath, there is a clear cutout for a dust filter underneath the PSU's home, but there is no dust filter found there.
But we did fine one major problem that could spell disaster for a first-time PC builder; the Front I/O.
The front I/O has separate Aux ports (that's good), 3x USB-A (2x 2.0, 1x 3.0), and three buttons: power, reset, and LED. The problem being this case does not have any kind of LED controller, and this connector is not something to plug into a motherboard. Inexperienced builders could plug this header onto their motherboard somewhere and short it out. This is a MAJOR issue; this case can kill your PC if you don't know what you're doing. This header looks exactly like a "power sw" or "reset sw" header, so it's an easy mistake for a new PC builder to make by mistake. This alone means we cannot recommend it. ESPECIALLY not for a first-time PC builder. If this "LED sw" button didn't exist, or if it included an ARGB controller that this plugged into so a rookie wouldn't accidentally blow up their computer, this would be an easy recommendation. All of the other issues combined are minor and expected at a budget case from a new builder, but not likely to damage or destroy other hardware.
Parts designers have a responsibility to know their customer base and design their parts in such a way that a customer cannot make a genuine, honest mistake and end up destroying something as a result. That was not done here, and it is a huge problem. Some of the other things we've mentioned are questionable design. This is outright irresponsible design.
Still. All that being said, for the budget it's at, including 6 PWM PST ARGB fans, and a fully usable case. Plus it really does look good, too! With a pseudo-meshify front panel, 6 fully controllable ARGB fans, glass side panel, actual attention to airflow in most respects, and pretty ubiquitous overall design, the style fits right in with what most gamers are looking for these days. It's a genuinely good value if it's the kind of case you're looking for.
I can't say for sure, it's beyond my pay grade, but if I had to guess I would say this case is an experiment by a new company trying out their hand at these things, seeing what works and what doesn't. And, possibly, a new company that is ripping off designs from bigger, more established companies, without fully understanding why things are made the way they are. If you're looking for a perfect case at a perfect price, this isn't it. Even if we're ignoring the "this is a cheap price so you can expect cheap quality" type of minor issues, the bizarre design decisions and the absurd inclusion of a useless, possibly dangerous LED switch make us not recommend this for an inexperienced PC builder.
Still, if you're aware of these limitations and can work around them, this is a good value. And at a purchase price of just $70, we do think it's a good buy for the right person. We're still not sure what the "correct" name for this is, but we're going with the "GameKM ATX PC Case", and you can read all about the more technical specs or order your own on Amazon here.
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