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Rosewill has been in the PC game for a long time. They're one of the OGs from the early 2000s, from before companies we've done reviews on like Hyte, NZXT, GameMax, and Okinos. Originally established as a Newegg White Label brand (think, "Kirkland Signature" is Costco), Rosewill grew to pretty good heights fairly quickly due to their quality and affordability. It's been a while, unfortunately, since they've been an important part of the PC building scene and we took this opportunity to take a look at their new case. Newegg has gone downhill and become less about the value to the end user in the last decade or so, so we can see if Rosewill followed suit or stayed more true to their original mission.
As always, we start with the box. Can't see the case until we get through the box keeping it secure. On the front we get a nice lined graphic of the case itself. On the back we get a pretty thorough list of the relevant case specs, a trend we're glad to see growing in popularity. Posting the specs plainly helps users know up front if the case they're considering will fit their GPU, or CPU cooler, or other such needs. Opening it up, the box is a very thick and sturdy dual layered. The black soft polyfoam inside is of the high quality, spongy, can take a beating and keep on coming variety. I would definitely trust shipping an assembled PC in this box, should it be needed.
Opening it up and taking it out of the box, we get the first look at the case. Well... it does match the image on the box. A glass side panel, a perforated plain black front panel, metal on plastic. 3 clearly distinct fans in front and another on the rear exhaust.
The case itself is very plain. There's not much to the design. If you're going for a simple, plain, unadorned black box, then this is perfect! If you want a little more oomph to the most important visual aspect of your case, then this won't do it for you. No amount of carefully chosen components inside will make the case exciting from the outside.
To be clear, this isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of people who do not want a showy, flashy computer. If you need no pizzazz in your computer case, that's perfectly valid and this could be just what you need!
Inside the back panel we find... not much. All the front panel cables, the fan cables, and a small baggie of essential hardware is tied together. The manual was also in the basement here.
The manual is pretty good, better than nothing that comes with most cases these days, but could do with more clear instructions to compliment the diagrams. The hardware is nothing special, just the necessary screws and a few cable ties.
The cable channel in the rear is big and accommodating, and there are plenty of tie-downs in different spots which allows for a variety of cable routing and management options. The side panel itself is flat, so there's only about ~1/2 inch of physical space on the midframe before a risk of bowing out the back panel comes into play, but there's enough options and space for routing things that this is unlikely to become an issue. Really would be troublesome if trying to organize and cable manage dozens of cables for extra drives or RGB setups. But this case is not built for those things in the first place, so it's unlikely to bother someone building in this case.
If we look at the top, we see a simple magnetic dust filter here. Something to stop dust falling into the case from above and make it a bit easier to clean. This is a good thing. The front I/O has a prominent power button next to a smaller reset button. Both buttons click well and satisfyingly, for a case like this. A power LED and HDD activity LED sit between them. Next we have 3 USB ports, 2x USB-A 2.0 and 1 USB-A 3.0, and in the center of it all split headphone and microphone ports. This front I/O looks familiar, and we will touch on that later, but for now we just note it's a little disappointing but not really a bad thing. Somewhat expected in the budget market.
If we look at the bottom, we see another dust filter just held in by some frame clips, and the adjustable HDD caddy, which comes from the factory in the further back position. It's nice that this is adjustable to accommodate different build needs. Again, something seems familiar here.
If we go around to the back, we find the unfortunate standard of budget cases, breakaway PCIe brackets. Yes, I understand they're more economical but that doesn't change the fact that we just hate them. A slide-away PCIe screw cover is also here, room for a 120mm fan up top with ~1/2 inch of play in it, and mounting holes that mean only 1 PSU orientation is supported.
On the front it's quite tough to get the front panel off, but when we do we see the 3 fans are mounted to the outside of the main frame, and they're just simple, plain black airflow fans. There are also some routing holes here, and a couple other things on the front and back were enough to figure it out... we've built in this case before. This exact same case!
Compare to the Okinos Cypress 5.
The Cyprus 5 is the case we use in our budget pre-build, Fireweed.
All throughout building in this case, it's felt eerily familiar. This is a brand new case that has been on the market less than a month, and yet.... Well, it should be familiar, as we've built in the Cypress 5 around a dozen times and currently have a Fireweed in this exact same case on the shelf right now. We pulled it off the shelf, and sure enough. Line up all 6 sides side-by-side. The base case itself, the metal frame made of a few sheets of stamped steel, powder coated black, bent, folded, and riveted into shape, drilled and secured down? That is the same! From tells such as screw holes in one case where no screw goes but matches the screws on the other to machining marks from the stamping process along the fine edges. It's the exact same.
To be clear, there's nothing wrong with this. Manufacturers across this industry and most others have long reused base components. This is not inherently a bad thing. Keeps base frameworks consistent and reliable, especially on good quality foundations. This is a good budget foundation. The other major benefit is that doing this means manufacturers can produce new products at lower costs, which means they can pass the savings onto consumers. Meaning you and I get better deals on good quality parts!
This is the exact same case, at it's core. They changed all the removable, external aspects. They're separate and distinct. Except... cheaper. I could go over everything in detail, but this is not a comparison. So, to summarize:
The front panel is plastic and metal and has no real wood. The front fans are plain black without any ARGB. The top dust filter is a cheaper filter without the easy pull tag. The top I/O replaces the Type-C with Type-A. The front side glass panel is a single thin sheet of glass instead of a thicker glass with painted edges and bonded metal. The rear PCIe slot cover is a thinner, flimsier piece of metal. And all the included screws are cheaper, softer metal. In essence, the same core framework and cheaper "everything that gets attached to that core framework". Which would usually mean a cheaper end result for the end user... but it's the same price. Very disappointing.
But I digress.
Moving on, inside the case is pretty roomy. Full support for ATX motherboards and multiple cable routing options for all the various cables needed. Different power supplies have different cable lengths, and you can utilize different routing options with ease. A benefit of the comparison photos is that you can see how cables can be well routed with shorter or longer options.
The case is roomy enough to support the majority of cooler heights and GPU lengths, and has a healthy compliment of versatility and adaptability for someone building a case with different parts.
Building in this case is a smooth experience. The top mounting points are far enough away from the top of the case that a screwdriver is easy to navigate. The only hard to access is the top left screw, which is somewhat impeded by the pre-mounted rear exhaust fan. We recommend removing this when building in it. Otherwise, no complaints. A fairly standard, simple, smooth build process.
The front fans provide plenty of airflow evenly distributed throughout the case. Not the best in the business, but this setup is a classic for a reason; it's more than sufficient for most builds that aren't using the most powerful, biggest heat generating components. You'll get plenty to keep fresh air over every component you use.
The fans themselves are a new Rosewill fan that we haven't seen before, featuring a pretty nondescript orange triangle/hexagon logo that is pretty reminiscent of, but distinct from, various others in this space. We've never seen this before and searching up Rosewill logos doesn't produce this result, so not sure what it's doing here. Maybe they're testing a new logo before adopting it in full?
Again, the rear cable management is a breeze and we do truly like this case design for the veritable plethora of cable routing options. If there can be such a thing as too many options for cable management, we have not seen it yet. So far, more is always better, and this has much more than most other cases at this price point.
Overall, for someone shopping for a budget case, it's a better airflow solution that you would likely need just using the stock, out-of-the-box fans.
Really, there's not too much more to this case than that. It's a classic, plain black box PC case. It may seem strange to give the design both positive cheers and negative jeers, but here we are. It's a classic design, and that design is classic for a reason. It works. But it is also plain and boring, in a market heavily saturated with many more interesting styles. If you want plain, get it. If you prefer something more exciting on the outside, or if you just want the best value for your money, this isn't it.
All of that brings me to the cost. This PC markets at a retail cost of $60. To be clear, $60 is a good price for a decent budget ATX gaming PC case. The issue arrises when we look back at our previous comparison. It's the exact same case as the Okinos Cypress 5. The front panel is different, and the side glass panel is different. The rest of the case, 90% of the underlying metal and framework? 100% the same. They did not need to pay for design and tooling and testing. They took an existing $60 case design, stripped out the most costly parts of the case, and charged the same for it. Replacing RGB with plain black? Cheaper. Replacing a solid wood panel with plastic? Cheaper. Replace a Type-C front header with a Type-A? Cheaper. Replacing a metal and glass married and painted side panel with a plain glass one? Cheaper. End result? Same price for the end user.
Rosewill took out the best, premium features of the Cypress 5, replaced them with cheaper alternatives, kept the price the same, and called it a new product. That's not right. Knock the price down by $5-$10 and we'll be on board. You're giving your customer less than a newer, smaller brand is doing. It's just not right. In the end, unfortunately much like Newegg, it looks like Rosewill is still delivering quality products, just no longer at the good value they used to.
Again, the only other issue we have with this case is it's looks. To put it simply, it's plain. Basic. Boring. There's nothing wrong with that, if you just want something simple, but it's not a positive aspect. Overall, we do like this case, and would recommend it if you think the style matches what you're looking for! Just know you're not getting the best value for your dollar.
If you're interested in buying one for yourself or learning more from the official listing, you can read all about the more technical specs or order your own on Amazon here.
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