The Riotoro Prism CR1280 Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 26, 2016 9:01 AM ESTConclusion
The Prism CR1280 is not meant to be subtle, with Riotoro trying to make the CR1280 as attractive as possible without making it kitschy. Still, the CR1280 is clearly designed with home users or, more specifically, gamers in mind. It could also appear to some professionals that require very powerful systems and are not concerned about the lack of external drive bays, such as some artists and engineers. Due to its size, appearance and cost, it is unlikely that the Prism CR1280 will appeal to anyone beyond these target groups.
Riotoro did a fine job with the quality of their first design. The overall mechanical strength of the Prism CR1280 is very good, with a strong steel chassis and good quality plastics. There are no sharp edges or other issues that would indicate a bad/cheap design. The paint job is very well applied and the Plexiglas panels appear to be of good quality. That being said, the CR1280 is certainly not the most durable case that we have ever tested, but its quality is more than acceptable for its price range and class.
As a design, the thermal performance of the Prism CR1280 is great, easily competing with other cases of similar size and price. However, the stock 120 mm fans were, in our opinion, a poor design choice, as the use of 140 mm fans would increase the stock thermal performance and lower the generated noise without adding much to the cost. Furthermore, as the RGB lighting of the case is essentially based on the front intake fans, these cannot be replaced without essentially disabling the RGB capabilities of the case.
That being said, the implementation of RGB lighting using LED fans is clearly problematic. It limits the cooling options of the user, who is forced to use these fans somewhere in the case, and has the lighting coming from only the area where the fans are installed, leaving many spots in the dark. We would clearly prefer the lighting to be entirely independent of the case’s cooling system, such as, for example, LED strips across the bottom and top of the system area or a LED lamp at the front top corner of the case. However, such options were likely to push the Prism CR1280’s retail price significantly higher and Riotoro had to keep their first case cost-effective. Perhaps we will see such lighting options applied to future, more expensive designs of the company.
In summary, the Prism CR1280 is a product of fine quality, very spacious for powerful systems and with good expandability options. It is not a subtle product, clearly designed to attract attention, unsuitable for spaces (and users) that dictate understated designs. The MSRP price of $140 is reasonable and we expect the retail price to be lower than that, making it an appealing option to advanced home users and gamers that want a spacious, high performance case, especially if they have RGB peripherals to match.
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SaolDan - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Neat!!Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
You might be able to set the BIOS to power on after power loss and then use the switch on the PSU or an external switch.plopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Speaking about cases , anyone know of a 5.25"front panel expansion with a new power button/reset button. I know Lian li and Scythe used to have some models but either very hard to get or extremely expensive because comes with lot of extras.<rant on>
Maybe I am just unlucky, or it is Antec but goddammit do power button on cases get crappier and crappier these days and every time I look at a review of cases these days the words "flimsy/weak" tend to be used or quality is ignored. On the plus side cooling and noise are properly reviewed.
Also quiet common to find the problem on the internet with following solutions :
-get new front panel if the case still made
-get new case("I GO UUURGRH inside")Speaking about cases , anyone know of a 5.25"front panel expansion with a new power button/reset button. I know Lian li and Scythe used to have some models but either very hard to get or extremely expensive because comes with lot of extras.
<rant on>
Maybe I am just unlucky, or it is Antec but goddammit do power button on cases get crappier and crappier these days and every time I look at a review of cases these days the words "flimsy/weak" tend to be used or quality is ignored. On the plus side cooling and noise are properly reviewed.
Also quiet common to find the problem on the internet with following solutions :
-super glue
-horrible mess because the enteir panel is one big hump of glued together plastics
-get new front panel if the case is still made
-get new case("I GO UUURGRH inside")
So in the end I was thinking of drilling a hole in a 5.25"bracket and putting for example one of these in it
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phobya-system-cabinet-but...
Sometimes I wishes the reviewer of a PC case put a robot on the button until it breaks :P.
PS Luckely it isn't all bad , there actually still cases to be bought where the idea is not look as a neo lighted up brothel with a stealth fighter crashed into it.
<rant off>
Sorry I will stop being grumpy now , I tend to get grumpy when a easy problem turns into a day of googling !
So in the end I was thinking of drilling a hole in a 5.25"bracket and putting for example one of these in it
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phobya-system-cabinet-but...
Sometimes I wishes the reviewer of a PC case put a robot on the button until it breaks :P.
PS Luckely it isn't all bad , there actually still cases to be bought where the idea is not look as a neo lighted up brothel with a stealth fighter crashed into it.
<rant off>
Sorry I will stop being grumpy now , I tend to get grumpy when a easy problem turns into a day of googling !
plopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Woepsplopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
I kinda went a bit crazy with copy paste after logging inMurloc - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
yeah it kinda makes you look cray-cray.I don't push the button more than once a day but I've never had or heard of any issues with cooler master cases.
fluxtatic - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
That would have been pretty much exactly what I would have suggested, drill a hole in one of the 5.25" blanks and put in vandal-resistant switch.On another note, I think it's you - I've never had a problem with a power switch in any case I've ever owned.
JohnMD1022 - Saturday, June 4, 2016 - link
I only power off/on once a month or so.Valantar - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Any idea if Riotoro will expand distribution to Europe in the near future? For my next platform upgrade, I want a smaller chassis, and their CR1080 seems to be the _only_ compact, full ATX + full length ATX PSU case out there that doesn't look like utter sh*t. I don't mind moving to mATX, but the selection there isn't that much better, tbh. The Kimera Cerberus looks awesome, but it's not available (yet, perhaps ever), and $250 is a lot for a case.britjh22 - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Wow, having just built a system in a Zalman H1, I really wish I had seen this case first. I love the placement of the 2.5 & 3.5 drives.