In-Win GRone review

Performance Analysis

With its fans on low speed, the GRone is certainly a quiet case, even though it houses five fans. Despite the absence of noise dampening foam, it's able to contain sound fairly well, which coupled with fans spinning at low RPMs makes for a pleasing audio experience.

At this speed, the results weren't amazing, although they rarely are. The CPU delta T of 55°C and the GPU delta T of 50°C remained constant with or without the middle drive cage installed, suggesting that airflow at this speed setting is low enough for it to not make a difference. These delta T results left the GRone towards the lower end of the cooling charts on both counts, and were higher than those of the Carbide 500R on minimum speed by 3°C on the CPU and 5°C on the GPU.


Switching the fans to maximum to see what the GRone could really do, the noise output rose to a distinct hum, although we'd still refrain from calling it loud or distracting. With the increased airflow, the GRone dropped its CPU delta T by 4°C to 50°C and its GPU one by 3°C to 47°C, and shed a further 1°C from each result with the drive cage removed.

This is a much better result, with the CPU obviously benefiting from the roof and rear exhaust combo. Its delta T dipped below that of the Carbide 500R on maximum speed and left the GRone much closer to the top of our chart. Sadly for In-Win, the 500R's massive side panel fan meant that it was able to post a better GPU delta T than the GRone, even at low speed. That said, the internal fan on the GRone was still evidently fairly effective at cooling the GPU, and it was able to beat the Cooler Master HAF XM in this arena by 4°C.

Conclusion

We have to say that overall we're fairly impressed with the GRone. It has an impressive feature set for a £100 chassis, and unlike the Ironclad before it they're actually well implemented. USB 3, fan control, numerous SSD mounts, removable dust filters and five fans out of the box represents stonking value, and though a few corners have been cut (the dust filters are especially tacky) the case is generally solidly built and is easy to work with.

However, the GRone faces some stiff competition, most noticeably from the Corsair Carbide 500R, which costs around a tenner less at the moment and is able to post roughly similar temperatures on its quietest setting as the GRone is at its loudest, and features a more advanced fan controller too. Both are solid choices then, but for anyone looking to build a predominantly air-cooled system, the Corsair case is the better choice. However, those looking for a little extra room to play with and significantly more options as far as water-cooling goes, the GRone would make for a good investment.