The GRone is In Win’s latest entry into the PC enthusiast case market. The company has a history of churning out great computer chassis, so we’re excited to see that this new one has to offer.
The GRone (G.R. One and not “groan”) is available in white, black or metallic gray. We received a bright white sample, which really makes the black accents visually pop out.
Features
- 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower
- USB 3.0 x 2 (Internal Connector)
- USB 2.0 x 2
- HD/AC’97 Audio
- Fan Speed Controller Front Ports
- 3 External 5.25″ Drive Bays
- Internal 3.5″ x 8 or 2.5″ x 8 Internal
Specifications
| Name | GRone |
| Case Size | Full Tower Chassis |
| Material | 0.8mm SECC Steel |
| Drive Bays | External 5.25” x 3 Internal 3.5” x 8 or 2.5” x 8 |
| M/B Form Factor | E-ATX (12” x 13”) / ATX / Micro-ATX |
| Power Supply | ATX 12V, PSII Size and EPS |
| I/O Expansion Slots | PCI-E / PCI / AGP Slot x 8 (Supports up to 365mm) |
| Front Ports | 1. USB 3.0 x 2 (Internal Connector) 2. USB 2.0 x 2 3. HD/AC’97 Audio 4. Fan Speed Controller |
| Top Ports | 3.5”/2.5” SATA HDD EZ-Swap x 1 |
| Thermal Solution | *Cooling Fan Supports up to Total 120mm or 140mm Fan x 10 (Different Regions May Carry Different Specifications) 1. Front: Supports up to 120 or 140mm Red LED Fan x 2 2. Rear: Supports up to 120 or 140mm Fan x 1 3. Side: Supports up to 120 or 140mm Fan x 1 4. Top: Supports up to 120 or 140mm Fan x 3 5. Bottom: Supports up to 120 or 140mm Fan x 2 6. HDD Cage: Supports 120 or 140mm Red LED HDD Fan x 1 *Water-Cooling 1. Top: Supports Water-Cooling Radiator up to 360mm 2. Bottom: Supports Water-Cooling Radiator up to 240mm (Bottom HDD Cage Must be Removed) 3. Rear: Water-Cooling Hole Ready |
| Fan Technical Data | GRone Metallic Grey 14cm Red LED Fan (140*140*25mm)/ 1200RPM ± 10%/ 23 ~27.8dBA 14cm Black Fan (140*140*25mm)/ 1200RPM ± 10%/ 23 ~27.8dBAGRone White 14cm White LED Fan (140*140*25mm)/ 1200RPM ± 10%/ 23 ~27.8dBA 14cm White Fan (140*140*25mm)/ 1200RPM ± 10%/ 23 ~27.8dBA (Subject to Regional Specification) |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 562 x 245 x 593mm (22.1” x 9.6” x 23.4”) |
On the next page we look at the outside features…
The case consists of 0.8mm SECC steel and a thick plastic front bezel. The color is applied with a durable powder coat and is not merely painted like cheaper cases. The left side of the case features a transparent blue window, which is curved to extend out of the case a little bit. The right side of the case is rather featureless, save for a stamped grill that allows air to the underside of the CPU.
The front of the case is dominated by a large thick plastic bezel, and doesn’t feel flimsy at all like some other “beefy” cases we’ve reviewed before. The top part of the bezel features a power and hard drive activity LED, a large white power button and a fan control switch that toggles the pre-connected fans between “silence” and “turbo” modes. Beneath that are two sets of USB ports, a bank of regular USB 2.0 ports, and USB 3.0, which are colored blue. There are also two 1/8″ jacks for a standard PC microphone and headphones. I’m very glad to see that these are black and not the godawful puke green and pink “standard” colors.
Below the control panel is what appears to be a column of black mesh bay covers. Don’t be fooled, as only the top three can be removed individually. The five below that are actually one large piece that can be unlocked and removed by pressing at the top center of the piece (the 4th “bezel” down).
The back of the case is rather standard, as it features a motherboard I/O port, 140mm stamped fan grate (with white fan pre-installed), eight motherboard card slots, and an area to accomodate a standard power supply. The top of this panel features four grommeted circular holes to allow wires or watercooling tubes.
One of the more innovative features of this case is on the top. Hidden underneath a rubber protector is a standard SATA port. This bay is slanted and will accept any standard desktop, laptop, or solid-state drive that has a Serial-ATA interface. This is by far one of the cleverest features I’ve seen in a desktop case. Depending on your motherboard, you may have to have the drive attached before booting in order for the hard drive to mount.
The bottom of the case features four long plastic feet that are screwed in place. There are also pre-installed plastic dust filters for the power supply area and a bottom-mounted radiator. These thin filters are held in place by tabs stamped out of the case itself. I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this. On one hand it feels very cheap, but on the other hand they are very thin and easily removable.
On the next page we crack open the case…
With the window removed we can see the inside of the case, which has also been given a lavish powder-coat treatment, which will certainly stand up to the scrapes that one is sure to implement during installation.
The very top of the main area has a pre-installed 140mm exhaust fan, which does not come pre-wired to the fan controller. The case also has pre-stamped holes for two more fans. You can install either 120mm or 140mm fans in all of these spots. You can opt to install a liquid cooling radiator up to 360mm long.
The case also has a feature that we almost missed. The case comes with a hole for a padlock to prevent unauthorized opening of the window panel, but you can push this out by sliding a tab inside the case.
There is a huge main area that will accept even the largest ATX motherboard, and has all of the standard pre-threaded screw holes. There is an abnormally large rounded cut-out that will allow access to the underside of your motherboard’s CPU area. This will make changing out heatsinks very easy, even those that require stabilization plates on the motherboard’s underside.
There are also four rectangular wiring ports that have been grommeted. Thankfully, all of the pre-installed equipment has already been threaded properly, and looks very clean. The cables from the I/O panel are a blue internal USB 3.0 cable, two standard USB 2.0 internal cables, a SATA data and power cable, and motherboard HD-Audio port.
While I’m happy to see cases finally use internal USB 3.0 ports, they still exclude motherboards and add-on cards that were early adopters of USB 3.0, which only have external ports. I’ve seen some cases come with “external-to-internal” adapters, but this was left out. This really doesn’t matter if you have a newer motherboard with internal Hi-Speed USB ports, though.
The bottom of the main area has a raised cutout for a power supply, but it is not protected with rubber, vinyl or any other cushioning agent. Not only does this ommitance potentially introduce vibration, but you can easily scratch up the underside of your power supply. Since the cutout is raised, then PSUs that take fresh air in through the bottom can be cooled as they were originally designed. Alternately, the PSU can be installed with the fan facing upward.
The drive column has room for four 5 1/4″ drives, such as BluRay, DVD/CD drives, or fan busses and card readers. The top bay does not have access to a front panel, so any device here must be internal, such as a reservoir for a watercooling setup.
The lower part of the drive bay can take up to eight internal drives, but we’ll cover that in the Installation section
The internal drive bay is cooled by two 140mm fans on the front. The back of the drive bay (the side facing the motherboard area) has a clear 140mm fan to blow air over add/on cards such as a high-powered video card.
On the next page we install some stuff…
As mentioned previously, the main motherboard area is huge. Some cases have standard motherboard installation holes labeled, so you know where to place the standoffs without having to “eye” your mainboard in the case. With a little effort the standoffs were secured and the motherboard placed inside. The large hole in the motherboard tray allows access to the underside of the motherboard, which is handy for heavy heatsinks that require a backplate.
A lot of work has already been done for us, as the wiring for the front panel has been thoughtfully placed through the installation holes to hide the wires. Once you attach these cables to your motherboard you can then stuff the excess back through the holes.
The pre-installed fans have also been pre-wired, so all you really have to do is plug it into a power source. As I’ve mentioned on many, many, many previous case reviews, I absolutely hate pre-installed fans that use large, old 4-pin Molex connectors. All of the pre-installed fans use standard 3-pin fan connectors (although the RPM pin has been removed), which makes for a very happy installer.
You must apply power to the front panel (and thus the attached fans) with a single Molex connector from your power supply. The pre-installed fans even include female 3-pin fan ports to attach to your motherboard.
The pre-wiring job is excellent and practically unheard of, and I haven’t seen such thoughtfulness in cases that were priced at $400 or more.
This case is also very watercooling friendly. You can install a radiator up to 360mm long in the top part of the case, and the first 5.25″ drive bay could take a reservoir. The back of the case can also take four tubes for liquid (0.8″ or 21mm), should you choose to have a reservoir installed elsewhere.
You can also install a radiator in the bottom of the case underneath the drive cage. The drive cage must be first uninstalled, but once the radiator is mounted you can secure the cage back with screws.
Installing drives needs some explanation, so we do that on the next page…
Installing 5.25″ devices is pretty standard fare. The case comes with pull-and-push tabs for “quick installation”, but I’ve never been a fan of this method as drives still feel loose. To really secure the drive you must remove the right panel and secure the other side of the drive with screws.
The case will support video cards up to 13.5 inches long (342mm), but if for some reason you need more room you can remove the fan on the lower drive cage. Honestly I don’t think this fan is necessary as the fans on the front of the drive cage do an adequate job.
The lower part of the drive column can take up to eight standard hard drives. The pre-installed drive trays are made of plastic and rather thick, but have a little bit of flex to them. A 3.5″ hard drive can be installed by removing the green neon-colored tabs and then inserting them into the drive’s side screw holes. The drive is set down in the tray, then the pins are pushed into the fully-open holes. Then the drive can be locked in place by shifting the drive toward the front of the tray.
2.5″ drives such as laptop drives and SSDs can also be installed by using two of the pins in the same manner, but then securing the drive with screws from the underside of the tray.
The drive tray can then be inserted into the drive column. It’s not an absolute secure fit, and can take a little fidgiting to get it to set right and click into place. The drive tray also does not “pop out” upon unlatching the lever mechanism as is expected with most drive tray bays.
Additionally, there is no PCB or backplate to the internal drive column of any kind. You must still connect all of your drives with cables, so this case is not as “hot swap friendly” as it would first appear.
Our verdict is next…
The In Win GRone case has a lot of great features that PC enthusiast and gamers will like. There is lots of room to install hardware, so it’s very expandable. The case is also very flexible with how you want to cool your rig. It is large enough for some of the largest air-cooled heatsinks. You can also install a full-blown watercooling system, as a radiator can be mounted in the top or bottom of the case, and there is room for a reservoir as well as features to accommodate liquid tubing.
The integrated top panel is a winner. The included external SATA bay is very clever and makes for easy mounting of drives. The two banks of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports is great, although motherboards without internal Hi-Speed headers will need to find an adapter.
The large window is great and allows you to see all of your hardware inside. Unfortunately, the blue tint will not work with every lighting color scheme. The included clear fan has red LEDs, which really doesn’t match the aqua tone of the window. Those with blue, green, or UV lights should find it appealing.
The case is very solid and durable. The case is constructed well with thick steel and is powder coated to resist a lot of scrapes and scratches. The white color of this case makes the black accents really stand out and is a sure looker.
2 Comment
Best case I have ever owned. Would like to have a instruction on hooking up the fans to the switch on the front panel.
The case should have come with instructions. Basically just connect your case fans to the 3-pin leads coming from the front panel. You'll find these leads when you take off the back panel.