IN WIN D Frame Computer Case/Chassis Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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IN WIN D Frame Computer Case/Chassis Review - The first BlowHole system we ever built back in 1997 was hacked out of what was a very sturdy In Win steel case and I could still stand on top of it when it was done. Today's In Win Case, the "D Frame" is incredibly sturdy as well, but certainly brings with it a "less is more" theme considering it is lacking a traditional enclosure...as well as some other things.
 
Disappointing about the temps, I was eyeballing this for my next case as its close to a true open air case. Will look elsewhere. Thank you very much for taking the time to review this!
 
Orange is ugly! The red is a little better, but powdered black with the tempered glass sides would've looked great. Maybe army green too.
 
I love the looks, but that price tag.... Being tig welded alum may justify the high price though... Maybe.
 
What a bizarre looking case. Perhaps this will inspire some people to go to Home Depot and buy a bunch of raw pipes and create their own.... probably for 1/10th the cost.
 
400 bucks for metal tubing that isn't even assembled, I am laughing my fucking ass off. I can buy a trailer for less than that with 400 pounds of the same metal and assemble it in the same time. They're out of their fucking mind.
 
too pricy for what it is.. Otherwise I dig the Red/Black... I like the orange too, but the blue pieces on it disgust me (I despise both the denver bronco's & the BSU bronco's & wont get anything with both there colors on it)
 
I like the orange too, but the blue pieces on it disgust me.

I would have preferred orange black but the company said it was a no go. Having said that, modding some black hose into feet and rubber mounting pads shouldn't be a problem.
 
I guess I'll buck the trend and say I'd buy it. I already have tons of 120mm fans, so who cares about not including any. I always replace stock fans with better ones anyway and wire them up to my controller. But, I don't really like the orange and blue. They should have gone with yellow tubing and black connectors to make it look like a construction vehicle. The red and black looks good though. Tempting...
 
Cost and the color of the frame really are a turn off.

However its something outside the "box" so props for the idea. Now to take it , improve it and make it cheaper and you'll have a winner.
 
Honestly, I think this is pretty cool.:cool:

There are a zillion different ways you could put a system together with this cage system.

Your review was well done, especially pointing out what not to do.
I like putting things together, so big deal. Generally when I buy a new case, I tear the whole thing down and modify it anyway.
No fans....meh.....I have a drawer full. I usually replace the stock ones anyway.


The blue rubber/plastic thingys suck though.;) But that's why we have spray paint.
 
It's a must-have for Ducati riders. Well, for all but Panagale owners. :)

Monster_FR3-4.jpg
 
The look of the case is just "OK"--not bad...interesting, etc. The color choice is strange--I mean, the colors are fine if you intend to put your box on the highway and want to make sure it is visible to other motorists from max distance...;)

For $400, yes, it should have been shipped 95% assembled. The choice of the glass side door is weird when everything else is wide open--makes no sense, and I bet it didn't help with the temps as measured, either. For $400 it should have included a nice fan with every bracket, too. Side door should be a $25 option.

People expect cases costing $400 to have lots of bells & whistles--not "bling" but neat, functional, quality accessories--like a ~1000W PSU, and the fans, for starters. How about some dust magnets cleverly arranged around the case to mute the considerable dust issue an open chassis creates? No thought seems to have been expended on these matters.

OTOH, if you want to sell an unassembled, bare-bones, off-color, paint-chipping case (which is what this looks like) then it needs to cost $75 max, imo. The company should have done much better for this pricing bracket.
 
People call Lian Li overpriced. Lol. At least they come with fans and filters. Oh and assembled too.
 
$400 price tag.. hideous color.. no room for watercooling etc.

what a joke

There's plenty of room for my Swiftech H220 radiator. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow.

400 and it requires assembly.. no thanks

My 14 y/o put it together. It's a piece of cake.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?286079-INWIN-D-frame-build.

Got to laugh about people whining about a $400 dollar case. Meanwhile how many cpu's, motherboards and vid cards has everyone gone through over the years? Add that one up.
 
It's a lot of labor to weld all those joints, but it still looks like a recycled child's jungle gym.

I think [H] should pick a couple quiet 120mm fans and add them in instances where a case only has one fan or no fans. I don't think this review reflects how anyone is actually going to use the case.
 
There's plenty of room for my Swiftech H220 radiator. I'll Got to laugh about people whining about a $400 dollar case. Meanwhile how many cpu's, motherboards and vid cards has everyone gone through over the years? Add that one up.
The problem with that statement is that you can buy VERY good cases for 200$ and lower. This is a unique case but it is not a good case.

This case is also not for everyone, when you need to assemble it and it doesn't include some basic stuff for expensive cases like watercooling mounting points. So yes, assembling it shouldn't be a problem when you need to assemble the PC itself anyway, but for this kind of price, I disagree. I also don't like you are instructed to use cable ties to mount watercooling solutions. This all seems so unprofessional and lacks well thought-out solutions.
 
The problem with that statement is that you can buy VERY good cases for 200$ and lower. This is a unique case but it is not a good case.

This case is also not for everyone, when you need to assemble it and it doesn't include some basic stuff for expensive cases like watercooling mounting points. So yes, assembling it shouldn't be a problem when you need to assemble the PC itself anyway, but for this kind of price, I disagree. I also don't like you are instructed to use cable ties to mount watercooling solutions. This all seems so unprofessional and lacks well thought-out solutions.

No need to use cable ties. I just extended the fan bracket outward with 4 motherboard posts then mounted the radiator to it. Yes granted there should be a better water cooling solution but a little improvising keeps the professional look. Not the clearest pic cause I didn't bother to take the glass off but you get the point.

 
I think [H] should pick a couple quiet 120mm fans and add them in instances where a case only has one fan or no fans. I don't think this review reflects how anyone is actually going to use the case.

We evaluate products as they ship. We do not add to / take away from any product for the sake of getting better/worse results (that may / may not be repeatable) in our reviews.

While it is unfortunate that IN WIN chose not to include fans with this case, at least you know know that these are the worst case scenario temps thanks to the lack of fans.
 
^^ That is why [H]ardOCP is the first stop to look for product reviews. Integrity runs high.

$399 is a put-off for me considering the case doesn't come with any fans and the paint chips off. Assembly doesn't bother me at all. Would have been nice if the aluminum metal plate was anodized.

Thanks for the review, [H].
 
The assembly isn't a big deal, but it's $400, I have to put it together, and it still manages to be a bare bones case regarding features, and in a garish color scheme...

No thanks.

If this were half the price,it would be neat for modding potential. But at $400 you might as well just put something together from scratch and get it powdercoated whatever color you want.
 
I sure wish I could mod a home depot sign, such style, how aesthetically pleasing!



Or maybe make a small form factor HTPC with this open air case:




Just making a point that they used a somewhat unusual concept: Open Air, but didn't go way out there on the design.
 
Actually, that light might mace an interesting mini itx case.Add a bunch of HDD mounts below the "light' that would contain the mobo, run wireless adapter antennae through the handle and you could have a sweet looking portable NAS.
What for? I don't know.
 
I sure wish I could mod a home depot sign, such style, how aesthetically pleasing!



Or maybe make a small form factor HTPC with this open air case:




Just making a point that they used a somewhat unusual concept: Open Air, but didn't go way out there on the design.

You mean like they typical cereal box with a side window? Cause that's pretty much what 97% of everyone's cases looks like.
 
$400 and not even powder coated, what a letdown. makes me want to weld my own case, I bet there are plenty of small time shops that could make a killing off of something similar to this for a fraction of the price.
 
Should not this be called a frame? To call this a case as it is, seems just wrong. BTW, nice review, you guys get the best of all the crazy gear out there..:p:p:p I'm trying to imagine this 'frame' with transparent 'walls'(panels?) and top/bottom, with a good fan setup, could be a modders dream..?? Mb...but you need to find a way to hide those freakin' cables....have that side made of some super shiny Lian Li style thin steel..but then the orange...not an admirer of bright colors when it comes to PCs....PCs are dark, foreboding creatures - well, some of their users are:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Anyway, gl selling these, unassembled(no, it's not a word, bl, you know what I mean), overpriced with overly strict tolerances that will frustrate drunk system assemblers to no end and lets face it, we have all had a drink and messed with our PCs at one time or other - and if you are too young to drink, ignore that but believe it....
Thank you again for your 'research' and review, please send me the review unit when you have finished...;););););););)


PS - @ Rob94hawk - I didn't see your picture before I posted - read the review though :0 - Anyway, yours is sorta what I was thinking - any chance you might try the above, same as yours, just with a steel panel on the flat side?? Just had a longer look @ your rig - I actually think it has a certain 'industrial' look, whether intentional or not, the more I look at it the better I like it, wd for taking the punt, I might suggest this 'case' to a client but not one I would have bought for myself...besides, my T-bird only needs an old case or it would feel...lonely:confused::confused:
 
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PS - @ Rob94hawk - I didn't see your picture before I posted - read the review though :0 - Anyway, yours is sorta what I was thinking - any chance you might try the above, same as yours, just with a steel panel on the flat side?? Just had a longer look @ your rig - I actually think it has a certain 'industrial' look, whether intentional or not, the more I look at it the better I like it, wd for taking the punt, I might suggest this 'case' to a client but not one I would have bought for myself...besides, my T-bird only needs an old case or it would feel...lonely:confused::confused:

In my opinion it was money well spent. Love the case the minute I saw it reviewed on Anandtech. Take a look at a few other's that have this case in the link below:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?286079-INWIN-D-frame-build
 
Not really commenting on this case/frame but I'm running an open air platform (over 3 years now) and I swear by it. I'm one of those narly dudes who likes to see what I spent my money on rather that looking at a box. The more raw and exposed the better. A comment about keeping it clean as some think open air gets dirtier than a closed in case. Nothing can be further from the truth. A case is essentially a big vacuum cleaner, open it up after a few months and you see all the accumulated dust (way more than you would think). With open air you see the dust as it comes and can easily blow it away leaving everything always looking like when it was first installed (not counting the benefit of how easy working on it is when I need to change something). The downside of my setup is I can't quickly move it but I could care less as I don't go to lan parties anyway. Anyway this wasn't a pitch for this particular frame but a pitch for open air. Mine is called WTF cause that's what people say when they see it. Heh heh fits me perfect.

 
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