Zalman unsheaths the R1 white: The best case you have never heard of

[vt3c]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9hmNrUNP4Y

[brownninja97]

That's actually super nice. I would pay more for a higher end version with rubber grommets and a slightly bigger size for 140mm fans.

For once im complaining that this is too cheap, they have done well with the design but its bottlenecked by its own price.

[Liam-McShane]

For once im complaining that this is too cheap, they have done well with the design but its bottlenecked by its own price.

Yeah but i suppose it's the market Zalman has always been in. Shame really.

[Malandrix]

At first I was thinking it was pretty meh, then I saw that price tag.

[brownninja97]

That's not necessarily a bad thing for the consumer, it's just kinda makes it seem like Zalman are running out of ideas. 

Well my guess is that they realized there are no R4 clones in the cheap tier of cases, most cases that sell well get clones, another exmaple is the H2 or the H230 or thermaltakes urban series of cases. None of those cases are in the £30 tier, zalman thought its worth a shot, there is less design time with saves money/ Honestly i dont mind, people should be aware that the quality of  this case will not come close to that of a fractal case due to the price and nature of Zalman 

[brownninja97]

At first I was thinking it was pretty meh, then I saw that price tag.

One would think that looking at the features they would price it stupidly and put it up for something like £50-60 which would of made this a pathetic case tbh. I wonder how much profit they would get from something like this. 

[Nomy]

Im not sure if you guys are happy or sad about that, its half the price albeit with less features but bang for buck is pretty impressive

Oh don't get me wrong, it's in no way bad. The case looks beautiful and as you said, the price is very tempting.

It's the build quality that has me a little concerned because of that fantastic price. We'll see when the reviews start rolling in.

[Mooshi]

I wonder if Zalman will ever return to making something like this again instead of plastic laden budget.

 

[patrickjp93]

If it doesn't have a 140mm back fan then it's not a case I will ever want.

[brownninja97]

Oh don't get me wrong, it's in no way bad. The case looks beautiful and as you said, the price is very tempting.

It's the build quality that has me a little concerned because of that fantastic price. We'll see when the reviews start rolling in.

ive done a review for the black version well in fact im sadly the only person who has done a review http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/210817-zalman-r1-the-review-its-a-straight-1010/

 

The black and white versions are the same just colour differences.

[brownninja97]

I wonder if Zalman will ever return to making something like this again instead of plastic laden budget.

 

 

Likely never, they make so much more money in the budget sector, they sell a lot of z11 and z9 cases. they attempted to try and go back with H1 but the sales for that case were not very good so I think they will stick with the low end stuff.

[Mooshi]

Likely never, they make so much more money in the budget sector, they sell a lot of z11 and z9 cases. they attempted to try and go back with H1 but the sales for that case were not very good so I think they will stick with the low end stuff.

 

For the price, this is a nice looking case. I kind of would like another niche case with thick alu panels just for the sake of it.

[Octagoncow]

That's a steal. Hopefully the case dominates the competition so other companies will start to make cases like this.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

If it doesn't have a 140mm back fan then it's not a case I will ever want.

 

It looks like it only has a 120mm fan size available for the rear. the case also looks too narrow for a 140mm in the rear so it would be difficult to mod one in. It possible maybe be able to have a 140 at the top, but in my opinion it looks to narrow.

[Rovert19]

This reminds me more of the Define r3 than it does the Define r4.

[pit5000]

impressive, but looks very cramped inside

 

modular cabling recommended?

 

if I were going for this case, I'd even go for PCIe SSD's and absolutely no SATA devices

[patrickjp93]

It looks like it only has a 120mm fan size available for the rear. the case also looks too narrow for a 140mm in the rear so it would be difficult to mod one in. It possible maybe be able to have a 140 at the top, but in my opinion it looks to narrow.

I'm still from the old school which hangs radiators off the back to remove as much heat as possible instead of front or top mounting, but that's also because my family still builds in old Lian LI cases we recycle every build.

[Floppy Kant Fish]

impressive, but looks very cramped inside

 

modular cabling recommended?

 

if I were going for this case, I'd even go for PCIe SSD's and absolutely no SATA devices

 

You could go non-modular and pick up a piece of aluminum and a can of spray paint at home depot for like $25. The piece of aluminum could be bent to cover the power supply area. <- thats what I did with my rosewill Challenger.

[daemonowner]

Cooling:

5 fan positions (3 included).

           -2 front 120mm fan mounts (1 included).

           -2 top 120mm fan mounts (1 included).

           -1 rear 120mm fan mount  (1 included).

 

Exterior Design and Function:

Has an acrylic window.

And dust filters.

 

Internal Structure:

Noise dampening material preapplied to front panel.

Removable top fan cover.

Graphics card not included.

Tool-less 3.5" caddies and 5.25" bays.

 

FTFY Zalman.

 

120mm fan mounts means poor CPU air cooler compatibility. Restrictive front airflow. Front panel noise dampening foam won't mean shit when the top fan cover is removed to install a radiator. LED front fan. Rivets rather than screws. Non-removable bottom 3.5" cage. Crappy PSU dust filter.

 

GPU clearance should be adequate. No side panel fan mounts. Removable top fan cover is a good idea, at least in theory if not in practise. And of course it's exceptionally cheap, which allows us to forgive Zalman for many of the issues with the case. Good very low budget option. Could be much worse. It's a $35 case with dust filters and some noise dampening foam ffs. Also, DeepCool, take a lesson from Zalman. This is how you give consumers the option to install several ODDs as well as 2 front fans.

[Analog]

All of that case for only 30 euros, DAMN! If this thing is at least remotely nicely made it will be a big competition to the other leading manufacturers and will possibly drive the prices of a lot of cases down significantly.  

[Tycho]

first i thought it was nothing special, until I saw that price tag and it suddenly became awesome!

[Snadzies]

I'm not digging it having more exhausts than intakes.

[pit5000]

You could go non-modular and pick up a piece of aluminum and a can of spray paint at home depot for like $25. The piece of aluminum could be bent to cover the power supply area. <- thats what I did with my rosewill Challenger.

got a pic of it?

[Floppy Kant Fish]

got a pic of it?

 

I don't. I can't right now either. The fan on my graphics card died, I had to remove the "shelf" inorder to fit a plastic cup inside the case that holds up a 140 mm fan to the heatsink of the gpu. The "shelf" would have lifted the cup and fan up just enough so that the side panel wouldn't close. The edge of the fan was touching a pci slot. I ended up loosely wedging the fan and cup under a pci slot, then controlling the fan with a fan controller.

 

Heres my build, I actually should update it with more pictures because these pictures where created very early, its got and lost a few parts. 

[Dabombinable]

That case looks almost sterile. I wonder what science lab they pulled it from.