Rosewill is a brand name well known for putting out good budget products. They have a new offering called the "Future" that is targeting that budget gaming case market. This is an extremely competative market with low profit margines, plus we gamers are a funny breed. We'd rather drop our gear into a case that's going to offer us superior performance at the cost of the looks of the case. With all the experience that Rosewill has in the budget case market, they've got a good feel for what the market wants. Will the Rosewill Future hit that mark? Let's find out.
Product Name: Rosewill Future
Review Sample Provided by: Rosewill
Review by: Shane Ede
Pictures by: Shane Ede
Specifications
Material | Steel Body |
Dimensions | (W)7.48 x (H)16.93 x (D) 19.29 inch |
Net Weight | 10.52 lb |
M/B Type | Micro-ATX / ATX |
5.25” Drive Bay | 3 External2 Internal |
3.5” Drive Bay | 1 External6 Internal |
Cooling System | Top: 120mm fan x1 + 1 optionalFront: 120mm Blue LED fan x2Rear: 120mm fan x1Side: 120mm x 2 optional |
Expansion Slots | Standard x7 |
I/O Panel | USB 3.0 x1, USB 2.0 x1, Audio in/out x1 |
Packaging
If you're looking for fancy, you'll have to open the box first. All you get on the plain brown cardbord box is the name of the case. Not even the standard black line drawing of the case. Inside, the case is wrapped in the standard plastic to protect it's surface and the standard Styrofoam endcaps for shipping protection.
Design
Inside: The drive bays are tool-less, but you'll need a screwdriver to tighten down the PCI card retainer clip and the cards themselves. Also, you'll need a pliers to pull the blanks out as you need them as they are the attached style blanks that have to be removed. The tool-less optical drive bays have the standard twist clip retainers on the left side, but have springy retainers on the right making it possible to install and remove 5.25” drives without opening up the right side of the case. The front fans are tool-less as well, making it easy to replace them with aftermarket fans, for performance, or different color LED fans, to customize the look of your box.
Outside
All black, inside and out, the Future also has a faux carbon fiber accent along both sides of the front bezel giving it a bit more flash than your typical budget case. The front fan grill has a industrial design, and the power button, reset button, and HDD status light are built into the grill and the whole thing is back-lit by the dual blue LED 120mm fans that come pre-installed. The 5.25” blanks on the front bezel are angled and mesh. The top fan grill is built in and has room for a second 120mm fan if you so choose. There's a grill for the PSU fan, but no dust filter like there is in the front bezel. The front bezel is a bit difficult to get off, as you have to take the left side off to get to the clips that hold it in.
Installation
Installation into the case was hit or miss. There are several things that make this a very nice case to install into, but then it has it's downsides that make it difficult to use too. Do enough installs, and you're bound to find a feature that you just don't like. For me, it's the attached blanks. I don't know why manufacturers still do this. Just spend the extra bit of money to make some replaceable blanks, please. If your install is a permanent one that isn't likely to add or remove extra cards, it probably doesn't annoy you as much as it does me. It took me almost 5 minutes to get the front bezel open. Not the biggest thing, but I've gotten used to just pulling the front off. Here, you've got to open the case, and pop the retainer. The top and back fan stuck out a bit from the frame of the case making it almost impossible to put in the retainer screws for the motherboard with the PCU cooler installed. Not a huge deal, unless you've got your cooler pre-installed on the board, like I do. The bays for the 3.5” drives have retainer clips that hold the drives and make it nearly impossible for them to ever slide out when you don't want them to.
Performance
It comes with four 120mm fans, and room for three more, so cooling shouldn't be a problem. It's got a nice deep cable management channel that should be able to handle just about anything you throw at it. It's deeper than some budget cases you'll find, so it'll fit a longer graphics card. (Up to 11.4” if you take their word for it.) The case felt solid all the way through, and should hold up to most usages, and even some LAN party travels if you don't throw it around. (You wouldn't do that anyways, right? )
Conclusions
In case you couldn't tell, Rosewill was going for a futuristic look with this case. With the faux carbon fiber front bezel accents, and industrial angles and front grill, I think they hit their mark. It's not the most aggressive looking case I've seen, but it's still edgy enough to not get you laughed out of your next LanOC LAN party. The downsides are pretty minimal, and I couldn't find a problem with it functionally. If you're looking for a gaming case that will hold your stuff, and still look pretty good doing it, you might want to add this case onto your list. The fact that they included front panel USB 3.0 adds to its value for future builds.