InWin A3 and A5 Review

1. Introducing InWin A3 and A52. Taking a closer look at the A3 and A53. Thermal testing in the A34. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

InWin has taken the essence of the Mini-ITX A1 and expanded the design to produce the Micro-ATX A3 and E-ATX A5 cases.

The common theme is a sealed front panel that is aesthetically pleasing and functionally useless, other than to carry the InWin logo. Cooling air flows in from the floor of the case, passes upwards and is then exhausted to the rear by the single 120mm fan and can also pass out through the filtered top panel. The open chamber design means the power supply hangs in the front of the chassis and the only drive mounts are behind the motherboard tray.

The A3 and A5 cases look very similar and we find the styling is pleasing to the eye. This is good news as the styling is the main selling point of the InWin A series however it adds limitations in other departments. There are minimal options for storage, the case gets noisy if you ramp up the fan speed and the cooling is fairly marginal.

That is a reasonable trade-off if you are smitten by the attractive and understated looks however there is a sting in the tail for we Brits. InWin has no distribution in the UK so the only outlet is their own eStore in mainland Europe which means that interested customers face a hefty carriage charge.

In fact, just 90 minutes before this review was scheduled to go live, InWin emailed us to let us know the original prices we had been told were incorrect and had to be increased as they had not factored in ‘taxes' to the original figures. We were told the A3 would cost 95 EUR, but now it will cost 115 EUR. The A5 was meant to be 105 EUR but will now cost 127.50 EUR. This has reduced the overall appeal of both chassis markedly, and they are now only worth considering if you are very keen on the aesthetic and don't mind the unimpressive thermals.

You can buy the InWin A3 for 115 EUR (approx £97.50) direct from InWin HERE.

You can buy the InWin A5 127.50 EUR (approx £108) direct from InWin HERE.

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Pros:

• Neat styling.
• Decent construction.
• Open interior.

Cons:

• Heavily tinted glass panel makes RGB a virtual necessity.
• Thermals are unimpressive.
• UK pricing and carriage charges are a bit very steep after a last-minute increase.

KitGuru says: InWin has expanded its A series with A3 and A5 which major on looks rather than airflow. A last minute price increase means these case are Worth Considering.

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