A Closer Look
I am a firm believer in expecting to get what you pay for, and anything above that is icing on the cake. I don’t have high expectations for a case in this price range, so keep that in mind while reading this review.
The Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P YE is very light, made of 0.6mm steel rather than the normal 0.8mm. Though made of this very light material, it does feel pretty sturdy, no play or sway with the side panels on. The overall color is black in a matte finish. Everywhere not black is totally unpainted, and is shiny. The side panel has two vents, one in the CPU area, and one in the PCI card area.
The bezel is totally made of plastic, though it looks like it is made of metal, with faux “bolts” around the edges, and modder’s mesh in the center. This gives the case a much more expensive look. This particular model of the case is considered “yellow” due to the yellow outside of the bezel. The yellow doesn’t really look bad at all, it isn’t a particularly bright shade, and there isn’t enough of it to really make it noticeable, if you’re like me and don’t care for bright colors on a case.
With the controls nearer the bottom of the case, it is designed as much for being placed on the desk as below. All of the cases I’ve had recently were designed for under-desk placement, with all controls and ports on the top of the case.
The bezel door does have a fairly cheap feel, it is very light and only opens 90 degrees. It opens to the left, with no ability of changing the direction. The audio connectors are located under the door. I never use these myself, so that really doesn’t matter to me, but it could be a pain to someone that games a lot.
The I/O and reset switches are something I’ve never seen on a case before. They are accessible from either outside or inside the door. The plastic is slit in a backwards “S” fashion, and the switches are beneath the outer curves of the “S”. The plastic is flexible there, press on the “curve” and you activate the switch. This provides a very clean, unique look. Actually, I had to look for a short while to realize there were any switches on the bezel at all.
The rear of the case is typical, the rear fan venting has nice large openings. The PSU opening is a little different though, I’ve never seen one curved to accommodate a rear 80mm PSU fan. The rear is shiny unpainted steel. Of note, the side panels are secured by four included black thumbscrews. Sadly, I’ve had cases costing five times as much as this case that had no thumbscrews included.
