Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
About two years ago, I reviewed the In Win 303 computer case. The two cases are similar in terms of overall design. Like the In Win 303, the In Win 305 is also a virtually perfect cuboid that is made out of 1.2mm thick steel. I would say using 1.2mm thick steel is overkill for a computer case. However, it does give us an impression it is very sturdily built. Nearly the whole product is made out of steel and glass. The only exceptions are the two pieces of plastic stands, and maybe some of the clips and switches. It is like those cars designed in 1960s: All steel; even the bumper covers that are made out of steel with chrome. There is no opening on the front panel for the external 5.25" drives, which means internal CD/DVD drives cannot be installed. Well, if you happen to have an angle grinder, you may cut yourself a hole for an optical drive, but I will say that it is pretty hard to cut through 1.2mm thick steel, haha.
The most significant difference between the In Win 305 and the In Win 303 is the front panel design. The front panel of In Win 305 has two surface finishes. The majority of the front panel area is tempered glass, while the smaller area on the right side of the front panel has a brushed aluminum finish. A silver In Win logo is presented on the front panel, which is a nice touch on the nearly all-black computer case. Behind the front panel tempered glass is just solid steel. Therefore, no LED or RGB fans will be spotted from the front view of this case. In fact, for this product, the front panel is not for air intake at all. The power and reset switches, USB ports, and audio jacks are vertically lined up on the top side of the brushed aluminum part of the front panel. For the In Win 303, the front panel design is much simpler; it is just a flat piece of steel with holes for power switch, USB ports, and audio jacks.
Same as the In Win 303, the left side panel of the In Win 305 is made out of 3mm tempered glass, which I think is super thick for a computer case. The good thing is you will not need to worry about the rigidity of the relatively fragile glass panel. The downside is01 it is heavy. The glass is tinted black, so it matches to the rest of the case in appearance. I find the glass is pretty high quality, and there is no distortion I can observe. At the bottom of the glass panel, there is a plastic wrap with clips that hold the panel in position. To remove the glass panel, you just need to push the lock mechanism on the top, where you will also find an In Win company logo. I fouled both the bottom and top plastic wraps of the glass panel are made out of very high quality plastic. Yes, it looks to me they can last forever.
The top panel of the In Win 305 is one pure piece of metal, which is identical to the In Win 303. It is good news for customers if they like to put things on top of their computers. The overall structure of the In Win 303 and In Win 305 are the same. In the In Win 303 review, I claimed I could sit on the computer case. For the In Win 305, I can confidently say it can handle some weight as well. I know the weight handling should not be something people look at when reviewing a modern computer case, since we are not putting heavy CRT monitor on it. I just want to emphasize how sturdy the In Win 305 is. If the next time I could not find a chair or the previously reviewed In Win 303, I will just sit on my In Win 305. Since the top panel is a solid sheet of metal, there are no ventilation openings in it. To expel hot air from the case, there is a large hexagonal grille on the right side panel. This design and layout can prevent dust from getting into your computer when it is off, because dust is more likely to settle on the top of an object due to the gravity.
The power switch, two USB 3.0 ports, audio jacks for headphone and microphone, and two USB 2.0 ports are vertically lined up, respectively, on the brushed aluminum part of the front panel. Note the above photo was taken by putting the chassis horizontally on the ground. This is an unusual design for me, since most of the time, the ports and switches are horizontally located either at the top panel or at the top portion of the front panel.The good thing is, if you like to put your computer on your right hand side of the desk, then all the ports are placed in a handy location. On the other hand, there is no reset button on the In Win 305.
The back panel shares the same design as the In Win 303. There are four major sections at the back of the In Win 305; namely, the power supply mounting place, motherboard I/O backplate, rear exhaust, and expansion card slots. According to the shape of the power supply mounting place, it can be seen the power supply will be vertically mounted at the top section of the chassis. This is a rather unorthodox design in 2018, whether it is the placement or orientation of the PSU. Since the power supply has already taken the top position inside of the case, the motherboard can only be located under it. There are seven expansion slots available on the In Win 305, which is a standard design for an ATX mid-tower. As for the rear exhaust, as you can see from the photo above, there is no 120mm fan included from the factory. The advantage is people can just install their closed-loop radiator or high performance fan directly without removing anything, which is great. The downside is, of course, you do not have a fan from the factory.
There are two plastic stands on the bottom of the case to support the heavy In Win 305 and to rise the case up about 2cm on top of the resting surface for better ventilation. Just like the In Win 303, these stands on the In Win 305 are extremely strong. Four rubber bricks are provided to enhance the grip of the stands. These rubber bricks can offer enough friction to hold the case in position firmly, even though they are not big in size. You can also see from the above photo a giant washable filter is attached to the bottom grille of the chassis. The filter is reinforced by a hard plastic structure, and they are removable for cleaning as well. Note the power supply of this case is not bottom mounted, therefore the honeycomb ventilation area behind the filter is big enough to cover almost the entire bottom panel, such that the airflow from the bottom of the case is maximized. User can also put up to three 120mm fans on top of the bottom grille to help pump cool air into the chassis.
Overall speaking, the In Win 305 is one tough computer case that is made out of thick sheet metal and tempered glass. It is sturdily built, but it is not rough. The gaps between panels are small and even, which shows high level of assembly quality. The tempered glass also exhibits quality attributes in terms of distortion, or lack thereof. Everything on this case demonstrates the good quality of something labeled “Made in Taiwan”.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
