Rosewill Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case Cases Thor V2-W Black, White

I don't know if it's simply boredom from being retired and a lot of home-boundedness, but I decided I'd blow a big part of my $1400 stimulus check on upgrading my existing mini-tower computer. I've built/upgraded my own computers maybe a dozen times or more since my first Intel 386 chip that I couldn't hide the upgrade from my wife. I've built and maintained perhaps another 20-30 computers for friends as well.So, after deciding on an AMD 3800x 8 processor 16 thread upgrade to my mildly overclocked AMD FX-8370 with suitable ASUS motherboard and 16gb PC-3600 RAM, next up was get a box to put it into. By the way...I've built with nothing but AMD processors and ASUS motherboards since 1989! Never, repeat, NEVER had any fail!Why a new box? My 8 year old mid-sized tower was simply not able to provide sufficient airflow to keep the FX-8370 cool over 4.66ghz which it would hit while doing video processing. My 'simple' overclocking lets the processor decide how fast to go, as well as all the way down to 1.5ghz when idle. Although I'm hard of hearing, I don't want to be listening to roaring fans, etc. as I usually listen to downloaded music videos while at my computer. I can hear the fans speed up when the CPU starts working hard.So, in looking for a new box, I needed front panel accessible SSD, HDD, and DVD bays. Since my Windows 98 days when I 'discovered' removable hard drives in 'carriers', I've had slide in/out everything ever since. That way, I can clone/backup drives at will and remove/replace them in under 15 seconds without opening the case after powering down. I make weekly clones of my operating system SSD and monthly clones of the 3TB HDDs. I also make extra copies of the SSD before I doing more tweaking Windows to remove it's useless garbage and get under 25 second power up-to-desktop screen times as a result.What stunned me is the almost complete lack of cases that had any front access to its drive bays! After perhaps 30 minutes of going through cases here on Amazon, I finally bought this Rosewill Thor V2 case. I considered one or two other contenders, but in doing 'due diligence' looking at the reviews on Amazon as well as elsewhere on the web (mostly Youtube), the Rosewill was clearly the winner.Only one of the video reviews of the Thor V2 I saw mentioned that it was 'not designed with top radiator liquid cooling in mind', or something to that effect. So, I naturally waited until the case arrived and using measurements for the Cooler Master ML360 Mirror cooler I was planning on, I went ahead and ordered it, too. Why a 3 fan cooler? Because the 2 fan cooler for the FX-8370 was more than adequate except when I REALLY pushed it and it would speed up past 4.7ghz and the temperatures over 65C, 'my' keep it cool limit.Back in 2016, when I decided to try overclocking, I bought a name-brand 2 fan AIO and simply replaced the 'stock' air fan that came with the FX-8370. Unfortunately, in a mid-tower case, it was not possible to have clearance between the radiator and fan together and the pump on top of the CPU. I had to mount the radiator in the case and the fans on top 'pulling' the air through. It worked, but could also be partly responsible for my thinking the 2 fan job was sometimes not sufficient.Being this is my 2nd AIO installation, I decided I wanted to put the cooler in the case first, then the mobo with CPU installed. The cooler went in without a hitch per the instructions. Like most new mobos, it took some 'pushing' the mobo towards the rear to get the first mounting screw in (hint, do rearmost 'bottom' screw first then swivel the mobo into the back plate). What I DIDN'T expect was that putting the screws in at the 'top' of the mobo would be almost under the AIO fans! If I didn't already have an 8" long Phillips screwdriver handy (required for changing batteries on a friends' mobility scooter), I would have had to remove the cooler to install the mobo. As it turned out, after dropping the screw closest to the rear connectors a couple of times, I finally removed that fan as working around the pipes and the fan simultaneously proved impossible.Next up was install the DVD drives. I decided to go with two as I sometimes copy one to another for non-commercially made DVDs, usually my own of friends, etc. Guess what? There's no room for the DVD drive in the top drive bay with the 3 fan cooler mounted! THAT possibility never dawned on my as I was so focused on using a 3 fan AIO. Scratch that bay, although it may be possible to mount a small panel in there like more USB ports, but what for? Fortunately, I still have 3 bays available for the two HDD slider bays and double SSD slider bay.As seen in the accompanying photos, there's only 5/8" inch between the top of the topmost DVD drive and the bottom of the frontmost fan, which is partially 'suffocated' by the DVD drive. I figured I'd put the least used, therefore the coolest drive under the fan rather than 'adding heat' from a spinning HDD or an 'active' double SSD unit.Also....One more 'Gotchya' with the case...only 3-pin fans come inside it. There's 3 200mm fans and 1 140 fan in the case. There's also 2 fan speed controllers on the top, each with a 3-fan splitter attached to them. As 3 pin fans are not speed controllable by the motherboard & CPU, I replaced them with 4-pin versions, but only needed 2 of the 200s as the AIO takes the place of the third one. Also note, the top and side panel 200mm fans and rear 140mm fan do NOT have LED lighting. Only the bottom front fan does and the color (red only) is turned on/off by a small button hidden in the vanes on the lower right side panel 'vanes'.Finally, I got to the point of shutting down my old computer one last time and moving the 2 slide-bay hard drives and the double slide bay SSD drives and the power supply. Note that I did NOT put the cooler on the CPU just yet to provide maximum arm/elbow space while putting in the drives.Installing my thoroughly proven and more than sufficient 500 watt power supply became another unexpected problem. It wouldn't fit! There were two raised portions on the backplane of the case that prevented it from fitting! When did they change power supply dimensions? Or was I simply trying to put it in wrong? I don't know. So I flattened the portions and put in the power supply. THEN the real nightmare hit! The 8 pin power connection near the CPU was UNDER the first fan of AIO! Right next to the troublesome mobo mounting screw! I had no choice but to remove that fan once again, plug in the connector, and put the fan back...albeit with only 3 of the 4 screws. The power cable fits between the 'wings' of the fan and forces the fan to be about 1/4" away from the radiator. Such is life. As it turned out, I happened upon a Thor V2 AIO installation story yesterday that showed the radiator on top of the case and the fans below. Why didn't I think of that? Or even like I had on the other case with the fans on the top pulling air through the radiator? Old age, I guess.All my 'top' of the mobo screw and power cord problems would have been 100% alleviated if Rosewill simply had the mounting for the motherboard about 1" lower than it is. I considered doing it myself but I'd have to completely empty the case to cut and drill and tap as needed. I decided it was 'too late' in the build process, so I didn't move the mobo.Routing the modular power cables through the case and to the components went easily. My next step was to mount the AIO per instructions that came with it. That's when I discovered my mobo didn't have a secondary CPU fan connector which, for my cooler, would be used to power the pump. That's what I get for buying an under $125 mobo, I guess. So I connected it with an adapter directly to a 12v line from the power supply, so it runs at full speed all the time. At pretty much idle right now, my CPU is running 31 degrees. I'll take it.Now it was time to put the top on the case and route all the cables. I removed all venetian blinds as closing those, even by accident, could spell fried CPU in no time flat. In looking at all the cables coming out of the top, and after reading a number of descriptions and reviews of the case, I decided that the first 12v Molex connector was dedicated to the top light that I didn't want and the second one I finally figured out...THAT is the power for the 2 fan control rheostats I'm not using as I switched to 4 pin fans. So, I don't need either one. As seen in the pictures, I simply zip tied them and left them in the open bay.I also decided that the 'group' of smaller wires to the power on switch, reset, power on LED, etc should be bundled together with zip ties every 4-5", and the others bundled as well to simply feeding them under the fan into the mobo 'compartment'.After saying a couple of prayers, I finally pushed the power button for the first time. There was a fairly loud sound of something hitting, or maybe a bad bearing? I shut it down and while manually spinning each fan by hand, I discovered it was the bundle of cables from the top/front panel hitting the front fan of the cooler. Fortunately, there was enough room alongside that fan to reroute both bundles and then I zip tied them into the top 'grid' to make sure they didn't move.Extra 'niceity' of the case? On the 'backside' of the mounting platform where the cables get 'hidden', are 3 small loop/push outs that can be used to zip tie one or more cables into place.As I'm an old-schooler and don't like the flashing lights (I had more than enough of them in my IBM-360 assembler days when stopping the computer and manually changing registers, etc was a way of life!), I naturally have fans that don't light up, except for the cooler pump, which can be turned off. At least the lights on the RAM don't flash, etc. As for the power on and HDD active lights on the top/front panel? They're 4" long rows of LED on each side of the top/front panel with them both being solid red for power on and flickering orangish for the bottom half indicating HDD activity. I covered the left one completely with black tape and the top half of the right one with black tape. The bottom 1" worth of right LED strip is shows me what I want to know.In conclusion...I wish I knew 'up front' what I know now about this case and the AIO problems I'd have to deal with. Even so, this case exceeds my expectations for usability, durability (it's built like a tank!), flexibility, and sound deadening (I don't hear fans at all!). Should I ever want to buy another case, I'd definitely buy the Thor V2 again!

Pros:Price - This case is on the lower end of the Full Tower case prices, but the plastic and steel are definitely not cheap and don't feel like I can easily bend/break it. As such, I'm sure it will last me for years and that I won't have to worry about damaging it.Size - This case has a lot of extra room especially if you have an ATX motherboard so that you can easily fit custom water cooling equipment and pipes in the empty space, which I plan on doing. They also say it fits up to a 330 mm GPU but since mine is nowhere near that yet (I couldn't get the GPU I wanted since my previous case wasn't large enough) I don't know if that holds true or not. I'll update if and when I get a GPU closer to that size.Fans - They give you all the fans you need, but their design allows you to put multiple 12 0mm and 140 mm instead of the provided 230 mm fans. As my computer stays cool under load (CPU has dedicated pre-built water cooling) I see no reason to switch out the huge fans at this time. Also, the 2 fan speed controllers work well, but aren't really necessary with the large fans since they're very quiet at full speed anyways. If I replaced with higher airflow fans the fans speed controllers (2 which can each support 3 fans) would probably be more useful/noticeable. Only gripe in this regard is only 1 provided fan has red LEDs (very very tiny gripe)HDD Mounting - Their metal sliders already include 2.5 SSD mounting slots and hardware so no extra adapter needed which was nice for me.Cable Management - They put ample space behind the motherboard and provide you with cable ties and anchor points for them so if you're really anal you can have everything tied down very cleanly and nicely.Cons:Dust Screens - Only the front and bottom has dust screens of any kind. As I live with animals and in dusty environments at college, this could mean cleaning it out much more often.Fins - They look really cool, but honestly being able to control them is pointless. They should have just made them solid and open but it's pretty minor that they're not.Disk Drive - The tool-less mounting is nice, but their opening is just big enough to fit a disk drive from the front and the screws that they mount their tool-less push button locks scratch the side of the disk drive. Not a big deal but it made getting the drive in harder than it should have been.Final Thoughts:None of the cons were enough for me to knock a star off, but mostly just things you should consider somewhat when comparing it to other cases. As this is not my first Rosewill case or product, I'm extremely happy with the quality and price. Nothing was missing and all the cables were correctly marked so even an inexperienced builder shouldn't have trouble putting components into the case. Also the simple front panel lighting for HDD activity and the lit THOR logo are really cool looking, but not obnoxious or too bright and because of it's name, my computer is now named Thor (seriously she names everything) courtesy of my Fiance. Finally, everything is working great and I absolutely love it.

Full tower sized case, fit all my components for my PC build great with even some room to spare.