Rosewill Throne Case Review

While my experience with the Rosewill Throne was admittedly colored somewhat by the quirks of my review unit, testing has nonetheless left me with mixed feelings all around. Life is simpler when you can recommend a product without hesitation, and that's unfortunately not a possibility here.

First, we'll talk about what's good about the Throne. Rosewill has once again produced a fairly solid value contender. $159 isn't cheap per se, but you're getting a case that will hold pretty much any motherboard spec and system you want to build without issue and offer tremendous cooling performance to boot. You get fader-style fan controls; I'm a huge fan of these because the traditional 5V, 7V, and 12V steppings of switchable fan controls can often miss the inflection point on fans where additional rotation and noise offers very little performance gain.

You also get a beastly amount of connectivity in the top of the case; I personally feel four ports is about the right number, but I'm not going to complain about having six. Whether or not the hotswap bay is a selling point will depend on the individual user; I know I installed one in my Nanoxia Deep Silence 1, so take that for what it's worth.

The problem the Throne has is that it's not entering the same market the older Thor v2 entered. If you explicitly need the oversized form factor then it's settled, and I'd take the Throne over even Rosewill's flagship Blackhawk Ultra. But if you're still hanging out in ATX territory, the Throne suddenly looks far less compelling, and Rosewill loses their budget edge. At that point they're competing with the beastly NZXT Phantom 630, which offers comparable thermals at substantially lower noise levels. The Throne is easier on the eyes than SilverStone's oddly goofy Raven RV-04, but the RV-04 can do with two fans what the Throne needs six to do, and it's a lot quieter to boot. Finally, down at $129, the unique and completely awesome Corsair Carbide 540 serves as a major spoiler, offering competitive thermals and a slicker chassis at a lower price.

No option here is strictly superior to another (except, arguably, the Throne to Rosewill's own burly Blackhawk Ultra), so it does come down to what you feel like you need. If from this review and from the specs, the Rosewill Throne looks like the best fit for your build, I can recommend it without much hesitation. Just be sure to weigh your options carefully; most standard ATX builds are going to be better off with the NZXT Phantom 630 at the same price. And hey, if you're on a budget, the Thor v2 is still around.