InWin Launches $95 Origami-Like Case That DIYers Get to Assemble From Scratch

InWin, popularly known for its extravagant PC cases, has developed an interesting idea for a computer case that allows avid DIY users to construct a case from the ground up. Hailing from the company';s iBuildiShare series, the POC case arrives unassembled and will have consumers crimping and folding its 0.8 mm SECC steel panels into it together. The manufacturer ships the POC in a compact box that represents 1/5th of the volume of typical packaging for a mini-tower. The POC's packaging assimilates a pizza box, intending to reduce shipping costs and environmental impact to a certain extent.

The POC is a mini-ITX case that measures 10.1 x 10.9 x 16.7 inches (256 x 278 x 432 mm) and weighs 8.82 pounds (4 kilograms). There are seven foldable panels that consumers must put together to form the case. It features a compact, vertical layout that helps minimize the case's space requirement. Being a mini-ITX case, larger motherboards are out of the question. Nonetheless, the POC provides enough spacing to handle the latest hardware. The case has three PCI expansion slots and will accommodate up to 3.5-slot graphics cards with a maximum length and width of 13.6 inches (346 mm) and 3.2 inches (82 mm), respectively. Therefore, the POC can handle beefy graphics cards, such as the GeForce RTX 4090, without a sweat. The graphics card resides in a separate chamber to isolate the heat from the rest of the system. As a result, InWin provides a separate PCIe 4.0 riser cable to connect the graphics card to the mini-ITX motherboard. On the power supply side, the case has enough reserved space for units up to 6.3 inches (160 mm) long.

One of the POC's drawbacks is the lack of support for liquid cooling. Owners are restricted to air cooling, preferably coolers less than 5.6 inches (142 mm) tall. There's only one 120 mm fan mount at the rear of the case. InWin includes the Luna AL120 addressable RGB fan with the POC. It's a PWM fan that generates up to 82.96 CFM of airflow with a typical noise level of 25 dB(a). At first glance, the absence of air vents on the POC may trouble some consumers. However, the case has small triangular vent tabs on the side panels that allow consumers to customize the ventilation. InWin also mounted some side handles on the POC for easy transportation.

Given the tight space, the POC only has a single 2.5-inch drive bay, so the case will only hold one SSD or a hard drive of the same size. However, it shouldn't be problematic since many mini-ITX motherboards come with two or more M.2 slots. SSD pricing has improved overall, but a SATA SSD is still the preferred secondary storage medium over M.2. The case lands with one USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and one 3.5 mm audio connector.

The POC comes in a vibrant blue and black (IW-CS-POCBLU) or a striking green and yellow (IW-CS-POCGRE) trim. The case retails for $95 before taxes and shipping, independent of the color theme. In addition, the modular design offers excellent replacement options. For example, owners can purchase a top panel, side cover, or motherboard place separately for just $18, while a replacement PCIe 4.0 riser cable costs $59. Unfortunately, InWin currently offers two color options for the POC, so there aren't many options for customization outside of manual paint jobs. Nevertheless, the idea has potential, and if given enough user acceptance, the POC ecosystem will likely grow.