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Riotoro CR1080 ATX CasingRiotoro is a new manufacturer on the blog, and I'll start by reviewing a small ATX casing from them named CR1080.
Founded in 2014, Riotoro strives to make the best high-performance PC hardware parts and accessories. As they develop things, they do their best to deliver the most satisfying products to those who want to build their own computer.
The packing and content. The box is a nice brown box with nice illustrations in black on the outside. Specifications and features are also listed around the box.
Inside the box, the casing is well protected by flamingo and a plastic bag.
Inside the casing itself, we find some bags of screws, some strips, cardboard with a link to the user manual and a magnetic dust filter. Actually, there were 2 dust filters in the casing, but I'll show that a little later.
The technical specifications. The casing is very small compared to, that it can contain a full ATX system. It is divided into two chambers so that you do not mix the motherboard and the drive / PSU part. It has a transparent side of plastic, but it has an explanation. Something you don't see so often is an external option for an optical drive, and there is room for a whole 4-5 drives in the enclosure itself. (I know the figure doesn't fit the specifications, but I'll show it later) No RGB light, but plenty of room for good cooling.
Details:
Expansion:
Cooling System:
Dimensions:
It is time for a walk through. The casing is a small chunky cabinet, with mirrored mounting. So you have the motherboard facing right of the casing, where you usually have it on the left.
At the top of the casing, we have the external connectors and the controls. There's a power button, audio jacks, drive activity diode, a pair of USB 3.0 connectors and a reset button.
On the metal front, there is a nice Riotoro logo. It looks pretty crispy, and I would have liked if the bull was here with a red background as well. Behind the grille is foam so that all dust is filtered here in the front and you can just remove it with the vacuum cleaner when it is needed.
On the sides of the front, however, we have the bull. However, it does not have the nice red background, which is a bit of a shame.
At the back of the casing, you can better see the chamber dividing of the casing. As you can see on the left, there is room for the motherboard and expansion cards. While on the right there is room for the power supply. Note the holes in the side panel. It is for the intake of the power supply, and this is where the small magnetic dust filter fits.
At the bottom of the casing, there is the possibility of mounting cooling and fans. There is also a magnetic dust filter for these holes.
If we remove the side panels, we can see that the acrylic panel is a bit smoky. Notice the bulge in the middle, it makes it impossible to make in hardened glass.
When all the sides are removed, we can see that there is plenty of room for cooling in the front. There can be 2 pcs. 120 mm fans, and there is also room for water cooling if needed. A fan is fitted from the factory, which is a 120 mm fan with red LED light.
Inside the casing from the motherboard side, there is nothing special show. There is plenty of room for cooling from the bottom and front (left) and generally good airflow around the casing. Note that there is no hole in the backplate, so you must mount the cooler before mounting the motherboard. It can make it a little problematic and requires a little planning and caution.
On the other side, something happens. Here we have the opportunity to mount all drives and the power supply. There is plenty of room for the cables at the power supply, and I can immediately count a little more drive spaces than what Riotoro informs. The flip-out bracket can hold a 2.5 "/ 3.5" on one side, while a 2.5 "on the other side. The drawer on the right can hold 2.5" / 3.5 "and beneath it in the 5.25" slot , space has also been made for a 2.5 "drive. So if you do not use optical drive, there is also an option there. That gives me 4 drives total, where the two of them are dedicated to 2.5" and the other two are combi of your choice.
The mounting. The mounting is painless and there is plenty of space and no crooked angles for the screwdriver. I have mounted an m-ATX motherboard with a 1060 GPU, and there is plenty of room for both larger motherboards and graphics cards. The cable holes, as always, do not fit with the ATX connector placement on the motherboard, but we are used to it.
Here comes the explanation of the bulge on the plexiglass side. There is simply no room for the graphics card in depth. They have solved that by making it bulge on the side panel. It's pretty smart.
And it doesn't actually look completely silly when the side panel is mounted. Riotoro can be proud of that solution.
Here I have mounted some drives and the power supply to illustrate how much space there is in the casing. And as you can see, there's actually plenty of room for cables all around the drives and down at the power supply.
The light. The power light is a red ring around the entire panel on top. It looks pretty awesome, and the bright spots aren't quite as powerful as it appears in the picture.
The drive activity diode is white and quite powerful. But I am pretty sure that it is not a problem for everyday life, because there you are busy looking at the screen.
What is the conclusion. The Riotoro CR1080 is a super-compact and stylish yet modern casing. There are good opportunities for cooling, both with water and air, and then there's plenty of room for hardware. I do not have any obvious complaints about the casing, as the mounting is completely painless and you should not think about space for cables behind the side panel, as the casing is split up as it is. I think Riotoro has solved all normal problems fairly well, and this applies to both mounting of drives and cooling as well as motherboards. In these RGB days, it might have been nice with RGB lights, but Riotoro has actually made another casing in the same series and size, which is just called CR1088. It's actually the same casing, just with a slightly different front and RGB light. That casing also don't have room for an optical drive, but it is probably the few that use it any more. CR1088 costs around DKK 650, which is also a good price. Most manufacturers also make tempered glass casings, which also could have been great here. But again, Riotoro has chosen the optimal solution, especially now that there must be the bulge on the glass side. They have then chosen to make the side in acrylic, which is actually a nice solution as long as you look after it. It is undeniably a bit more susceptible to scratches, compared to tempered glass. The price. The Riotoro CR1080 can be found online for 600 DKK. It is a pretty good price as you get a good product for the price. The assessment. If you take it all and compare with other casings and what you get in this casing. Then, I immediately can't give this casing anything but a nice GOLD star rating. The price and quality and features fit really well and the casing is really nice. Read more about Riotoro CR1080 here:
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