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LAS VEGAS—If you know, you know: InWin’s PC cases are like none other in the PC industry. They stand apart with their oft-unique designs and excellent, heavy-metal build quality. At CES 2025, we went to see what the company had on hand, and InWin did not disappoint.
The InWin suite was dominated by its bread-and-butter server chassis and rackmount gear (all well out of our price league and industrial-looking), but one table was taken by its two consumer-minded stars of CES: a fancy mirrored PC case dubbed Prism (which has something of a history among PC enthusiasts), and an open-frame PC case, the Shift, that made our eyes bug out. Both are launching later this year.
InWin Prism: Your PC Build, Reflected Back at You
InWin's Prism PC case is an evolution of an earlier case design that InWin made years ago called the “Tòu.” InWin is known for its Signature case series—ultra-high-end PC chassis that are very limited editions and, some, borderline works of art—and the Tòu was an imposing tower that was sided by mirrors for most of its panels.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)InWin noted to us that its superfans have been asking for the long-sold-out Tòu for years, so the company decided to bring it back in a much more accessible form. The original Tòu was around $800, when you could get one at all. The new Prism, in addition to having a more straightforward name for English speakers (the original Tòu's accent mark has it pronounced "Toe," Mandarin for "transparent"), will be available at a far lower price ($130) and, presumably, for much longer.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)Like the Tòu, the Prism has a unique exterior with simple geometric angular panels. Some of them function as two-way mirrors. When your PC is off, it looks like the side panels are simple opaque mirrors. It is instantly eye-catching (and gets smudged up if you look at it so much as sideways), so you'll want a wipe cloth handy.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)When the PC is turned on, though, any lit components inside the case shine through the surface, revealing the interior. This is a case that looks spectacular under all conditions—but rather different whether it is on or off.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)
(Credit: Mark Stetson)Due to its unique design, the Prism could easily attract some new converts. Plus, the chassis will be very spacious, with room to mount up to 11 fans (with mesh filters to catch dust), and support for 360mm water coolers. Expect it sometime in Q2 of 2025.
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The InWin Shift: I’ll Take Two, Please
The other new case that InWin showed off is the Shift, and while it’s arguably less eye-catching, certain users will find it the answer to a far more pressing problem: testing PC parts. (If anything, it resembles, when it is lying down, a replicator robot from the sci-fi show Stargate.)
(Credit: Mark Stetson)The Shift is the rare PC case we are desperate to get our hands on, not to use to build an elaborate desktop for fun, but because this looks like a great lab-work chassis. [I’m still regretting I didn’t walk out with the display sample under my arm, like I owned it. —Ed.]
(Credit: Mark Stetson)The Shift is designed as an open-frame, open-air chassis that can be positioned vertically (in a hardware "display" mode) or horizontally (workbench mode). The case is made of lightweight, sandblasted aluminum, which helps make moving it around easier, a key point when you have test-bed systems in a PC lab. You need to be able to move your cases, and most open-frame cases are flat-out awkward beasts. This one even has a handle, which helps when you need to pivot it between standing up and lying flat.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)Now, why is this kind of case ideal for lab work? Thanks to the open design, you always have easy access to the internal components to make changing parts quick. That, as you might expect, is something we greatly value when we review PC components.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)The Shift is also highly configurable, with support for two power supplies (they mount under the main deck), multiple potential GPU mounting positions via a riser card, and side wings that can hold fans or a water cooling radiator. You can adjust the angle of the wings, too.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)
(Credit: Mark Stetson)Serious show-offs may be dazzled by the Shift in vertical orientation, but anyone in the habit of changing out their hardware on a regular basis, or who partakes in extreme overclocking, will appreciate the workbench mode. Do you care about all that? Then you definitely want to take a closer look at one of these.
(Credit: Mark Stetson)InWin had no pricing information yet on Shift. (Indeed, the InWin reps were polling us for a likely MSRP, and we suggested $250 to $350, given the other options on the market.) Nor do we know when the InWin Shift will go up for sale. But you can bet we’ll be watching for when it's ready, fingers poised over the pre-order trigger.