In-Win GT1 product reviews

The In Win GT1 mid tower ATX /micro ATX form case has everything going for it. Sharp looks, customisable front panel hexagonal inserts, turbo and quiet built in fan speed controller, USB 3 and USB 2 on the front panel, E-Sata hot-swappable drive bay recess on the top plus a large clear generous side panel to allow you to view your built in creation.

This case comes in striking white and killer black. This review is for the black case.

The box is not a generic carton 1 of 50 from China. It is printed in 2 colour, on double walled cardboard. The screw kit inside comes with a previously omitted Phillips to hex tool converter, 3 cable ties and a mobo piezo. On all of the previous build I have done over the years I have never got these items before.

The on/off button has a protective plastic cover as does the Perspex side window. The front panel outs also are protected with plastic. Once removed the case looks amazing. Removal of the perspex side cover and the blank side cover is facilitated simply with 4 thumbscrews. Previous builds have seen only the windowed cover supplied with convenient thumb screws. Another great point of difference.

None of the mobo standoffs were needed as the ATX mobo I used bolted up directly to the raised mounts on the inside of the case. The engineering of the case is superb. The panel work all fits together beautifully without needing to force or coax anything to fit. The rectangular hole for the mobo kit supplied break out panel is perfectly measured. The mobo breakout panel snapped into place snugly easily, and sat firm.

4 screws saw the mobo secured, again with all holes lining up perfectly. The supplied interconnecting cables and connectors are pre routed and tied out of the way, even the pre installed 2 x 120mm fans wiring is cable-tied neatly out of the way. Connection of the front panel USB 3, USB 2, power switch, reset switch and the audio connectors is easy to work out with the printed designations on the plugs.

The case comes with 6, 3.5" / 2.5" HDD bays and one dedicated 2.5" bay for SSD drives. I utilised one 3.5" drive bay when I installed the 1Tb HDD. This case has the power and SATA connections coming out the blank side of the case, other cases I have built into has the connectors on the perspex window side. This is important because to replace or move the drives, you need to take both side covers off. You cannot mount the HDD the other way around in the drive bay tray. The HDD is held securely in the tray by flexing the tray around the HDD.

The top 3 drive bays are for 5.25" DVD drives. The top metal blank out panel is already removed leaving only the lower two to be removed by easily twisting the panel until it breaks free. I slid a standard sized off the shelf DVD writer in and without looking at the screw holes in the rack and I lined up the front of the DVD drive with the front of the case. What I loved was that the holes were perfectly lined up. Again excellent engineering. Utilising the single turn mounting system I clamped the drive in place and it sits very firmly. Only one side has the twist lock drive clamp mechanism.

The lower part of the case has a huge area for the biggest of PSU you may wish to install. This case would run a 450W perfectly but I fitted a Silverstone 750W beast. It takes a lot of the space but as you can see in the review it does not take it all. The 4 screw holes on the rear marry up perfectly with the power supply and if you did opt for a smaller PSU you could fit a 120mm fan to the bottom.

The case is designed to allow cold air to be drawn in from the bottom and the front and then have the airflow come across the CPU fan and drawn out the back. If you fitted upper case fans these would act to pull heat out of the case also. The case comes with 4 sturdy feet that are pre-fitted and hold the case about an inch off the ground, perfect for airflow in from the bottom.
When the unit is powered up in quiet mode, the fans are whisper quiet and the lighting from the red rear fan is not too bright but still might keep you awake at night. When you switch over to the turbo fan mode, the light almost doubles and the fan speed increases as does the noise. The fans running at full speed are still not that much of a major noise.

If you connect the E-Sata to the wrong port on your motherboard it will freeze your OS and crash it every time you plug or remove a drive. The MOBO used in the review has an E-Sata port and once up and running it works like plugging in a USB flash drive. Fast and effective. There was no obvious external noise generated with the 5400rpm drive spinning up outside the case either. The 3.5" drive sits neatly in the angled recess bay on the top and again the engineering of the case has the drive slotting into the port on the top with no forcing. In the past I have actually run a SATA lead outside my case to do the same thing but it was nowhere near as tidy and effective as this.

Overall I rate this case very highly in the ultra competitive price bracket this case is in. I give it a solid 9.5 out of 10, dropping half a point purely because I was missing a MOBO screw in the supplied fittings and the red hexagonal customisation pieces do not fit the top of the case which looks identical to the front of the case. There are 20 red customisation pieces supplied and only 18 are needed so there are 2 spare in case you ever lost some or they break.

I would definitely recommend this case.