Inside the RIOTORO CR1280
To begin looking at the interior we of course need to remove the side panel, which features an edge-to-edge plastic window, and a unique beveled design at the top.
The side panel has a seamless appearance when installed, and the construction is solid – especially considering this side is mostly a plastic window.
Now we'll take our first look inside the enclosure's interior:
That now-typical open layout shared by so many enclosures offers a lot of room for components and cooling.
Looking closely to the right, at the front of the enclosure, we see the included RGB intake fans.
To the rear we have a single 120 mm exhaust fan and the expansion slots. This rear panel is well vented to aid in exausting warm air.
Looking down at the floor of the enclosure – which isn't really the floor at all, and just the top of a partition hiding the PSU – we see an additional mounting points to add fans/radiators.
Up top, with the plastic window panel removed, we see another well-ventilated area for mounting fans and radiators. There is a filter up here, which is held in place with magnets:
On the subject of filters, we take a look inside the front panel – which is easy to remove by simply pulling it out.
This panel has a foam lining to help keep dust from the system inside. I would prefer a removable filter, as the perforated outer surface should allow for a lot of airflow – and dust. I was sorry to see that this foam was not removable, though the front panel could be vacuumed or taken to the air compressor easily enough.
Finally, we have the lower filters, which slide out to the front and back of the enclosure.
As we removed the front panel, here's a look at the front intake area. This also provides a look at the enclosure's steel internal construction:
The back of the enclosure has a solid steel side panel, and behind this we see mounts for SSDs and hard drives, as well as control boards (one is behind a magnetically-attached shroud) for fans and lighting.
Next we'll go over the build process with the PRISM CR1280.
I need at least nine 5.25″
I need at least nine 5.25″ drive bays in a full tower case for a file server, I currently use a Raidmax ATX-902WR but it’s showing its age, this move towards bay-less cases is depressing. That translucent top is nice though.
Yes! I bought three of the
Yes! I bought three of the iStarUSA BPN-DE340SS drive cages when they were on sale for $40~ each. I was gonna pick up a full size atx case with 9-10 5.25 inch bays, but there isn’t much choice out there. I have packed as many drives as I can in my Cooler Master CM690 II.
At least there are larger
At least there are larger drives to fit in whatever room your case has. 🙂
But I agree. Many people want a smaller form-factor case, but I think this has been exaggerated a bit, there are still plenty of us that want larger cases. Give me 10 slots. Give me capacity for the largest mainboards. Give me room to work in. And give me room for hard drives so I can store videos with back-ups.
We know that there tends to be a trade-off when it comes to cooling vs noise – but that really only applies when you use the same sized fans. Want better cooling with less noise? Use larger fans and spin them slower. Small cases don’t allow for that. Certainly cases have come a long way in the last 15 years, their cooling solutions used to be more of an after-thought than actually beneficial, but there is that third factor in the cooling vs noise balance, which is case size. While many people don’t have room for a huge case, and it’s great that there are getting to be more options for them, I do, and would like more options that would fit my usage better as well.
Looks nice but given the size
Looks nice but given the size of the case why run with 120mm fans? They look tiny on the front of the case. Twin 180mm fans would be a better option
I can’t seem to figure out
I can’t seem to figure out how to power the RGB lighting and front LED fans. The installation manual says to use a 4-pin molex from the PSU, but doesn’t specify where to plug it in….any help would be greatly appreciated.