- Micro ATX Mini Tower
- Front I / O Ports
- Dual Fans
good, but some issues
12/08/2013
This review is from: Rosewill FBM-02 - Dual-Fan Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Pros:
First off, I hate it when people review things not regarding the price. Don't give it a one egg review since it is a cheaper product than your $200 lan party case. Be fair to the price in your review. That being said, I am reviewing according to the price as advertised, rather than what I paid on sale. I have purchased 5 or 6 Rosewill cases over the past 6 years or so and I can say that they impress me with value for their price range. They seem to dominate the quality in the $40-$60 price range, Antec and Coolermaster in the $60-$150 (if you want steel), and Lian Li for super quality aluminium cases. Being fair, they are cheaply built, but come with a lot of extra features that you don't expect for the price.
The location of the power button is a plus...unless you want to add a DVD drive. See cons for more details.
It has risers (standoffs) that you have to screw in (I don't like the built-in punch-outs) Have a 3/16" driver ready for them and DON'T overtighten them since the steel is thin. If you know what you're doing, you shouldn't have any problems by stripping them out, but be careful since you only strip a thread once and you're done.On the other side, don't undertighten them either (i.e. only finger tighten) since when you go to unscrew the mobo, you will only unscrew the risers from the case instead.
It comes with enough hardware for your whole build in you fill every slot and screw in everything with the max number of screws (4-per dvd/hard drive)
Two hard drive slots, three if you use your 3.5" external as an internal, and one on the bottom if you'd like to put one there, especially useful for 2.5" laptop hard drives or SSDs.
comes with two fans! at this price range, that is unnecessary and unexpected. The front fan is a 120mm, but the rear is 80, even though they have drilled holes for 90mm as well. I'd like to see 90 for the added airflow since they went through the trouble drilling holes for it.
Cons:
Here's my biggest gripe. front panel cables are long enough, but are designed for terrible cable management. The case has some holes for better routed cables coming down the front (rather than through what would have been the top 5.25" external bay), before entering the case, but this only works if you don't use a disc drive. The best I could do is route them behind the MoBo on the right side of the case and then back into the main area before being plugged in. This didn't work for the front audio since the cable is too short, I needed to run that one right across the motherboard and just around the processor heatsink.
The side panel doesn't have screw holes for fans. If you want to add some to cool your graphics card or processor better, be prepared to drill.
SHARP SHARP SHARP. They roll some steel, fine, but where they drill holes, the back side of the hole burred so badly ended up cutting myself, though I blame my dry skin more than the sharp edge. It is as if they were saving some money by not changing tools when they should have or quality control to check through the edges before shipping. There are little holes under the hard drive rack, those were the sharpest, even though they were unnecessary to begin with.
Power supply rack in not super sturdy. Don't put a 1000 watt PSU on it and you'll be fine. Also consider that this is a mini micro-ATX case and the dvd drive doesn't have a lot of room behind it if you go with a deeper PSU rather than a standard nearly square one.
Watch out what order you install everything in. If you like to put your processor and heatsink on before mounting your MoBo to your case like I do, then put the hard drive(s) in first unless you're going with a 2.5" SSD mounting to the bottom of the case. for the same reason, don't buy RAM with tall heatspreaders, they will get in the way of your hard drive(s).
No USB 3.0, but I didn't need that since I put old hardware in it.
The front panel is attached to the front USB, audio, and power/reset buttons. This is a con since when you take the front panel off (to add a dvd drive or to clean the front fan), it is tethered to the motherboard. Expect it on any case at this price, but nevertheless it is an annoyance if you take the front off a lot. That brings me to another point, be careful when removing the front panel as to not break the plastic. It hasn't been an issue for the user. Who honestly opens up his own case? Mostly he'll call me up and pay me a few dollars for a good cleaning once a year.
I'd expect none of these cons if I were paying $100. That being said, I can't deduct more than one egg for all of them since this is not, nor never was intended to be a $100 case. Being fair, it is a very basic and solid case for the price, I am just letting you know of the potential issues before you purchase.
Overall Review:
A good alternitive to this case is Rosewill's RANGER M with dual fans as well (if you like blue glowing fans). I have a review on that case too and I was a little more impressed with Rosewill's quality there.
This is the cheapest case I have ever purchased due to what I paid on sale. For full price I may have gone with a different model. Rosewill's got some good stuff out there, just look around. I still see this case as an incredible value, I was just a little upset at the sharp edges that I've come to not expect from them at any price.
I haven't tried using the USB and the front audio at the same time and can't say if they share a ground or not. Many cases at this price do and you get an electrical whine in your ear when using both.
I got this case to put some spare hardware a buddy of mine gave to me when I upgraded his computer from the one I build in 2009 for him to a new system. I needed something cheap in order to make any money off of it and this fit the bill.
If you like my review, I like to see when it was helpful to you since I rely so heavily upon product reviews before I make purchases too! ;)
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- Rebecca W.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 week to 1 month
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