Nevertheless, there are still a few unfixable design choices about this mid-tower chassis that leave us a bit bewil-dered. We definitely recommend skip-ping this case in its first iteration; as to how Rosewill will let its customers know whether they are purchasing a fixed ver-sion of this jet-black steel case, that's anyone's guess.
The spacious case feels a bit stout when you pull it out of the box but, trust us, it's just short. The case's depth is hardly different than most mid-tower chassis you're used to and, to Rosewill's credit, the case's shorter height does lit-tle to impact its overall capacity. You get three free, screwless optical drive bays to play with, alongside seven hard drive bays - which still force you to screw the drives into removable trays, but at least you can do that outside of the case itself.
To get to the bays, you have to confront Armor Evolution Problem Number One: The case's side panels can be a pain in the butt to remove, thanks to fairly flimsy locking tabs that bend out of place. break, or otherwise force you to exert more oomph than you ever would expect to get the panel off. The panels themselves are flimsy too, easily bulging in and out at the center with the lightest of touches. We don't like the hole motif of the left panel's grill (we get it; they're fan mounts. Lordy), nor do we like the very, very tight amount of space Rosewill puts between the rear of the motherboard tray and the case's right side panel.
We would normally love the fact that Rosewill packs the Armor Evolution to the gills with fans—six in total, including a huge 23crn fan on the left side panel and two 12cm red LED fans on the case's front. This chassis is as cooled as cooled can be with air, and it doesn't explode your eardrums when you have all of the blades a-spinnin'.
We don't particularly care for the tiny button that Rosewill puts on the under-side of the case's front panel—the one that lets you toggle the case fans' light-ing on and off. Unless you enjoy lifting your case each time you want to flip on the light show, this could not be any more annoying a setup. Until you hit the case's insides, that is: For whatever mystifying reason, Rosewilt decided to make it so that you screw into rubber grommets for the case's two top fans. This makes both fans easy to jostle out of security with but a bump; we'd be absolutely terrified to at-tach a heavier radiator to the case's top, which makes its support for liquid cooling fairly nonexistent.
Everything else about this chassis is fairly nondescript: two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports on the case's top, plenty of rubberized cable-management holes on the tray, a decent amount of screw-free upgradability. In other words, the case runs average-to-good if you take all of its critical flaws and push them aside.
Assuming Rosewill does that by employing promised fixes, and cuts the $120 chassis price a bit, the Armor Evolution would be worth a spot under your desk. Otherwise, aim for a less-sloppy, sub-$100 case like the Corsair Carbide 200R, to name one.
Rosewill Armor Evolution
Price: $120, rosewill.com
