Our review of the GMC R-2 Toast, a compact mid-tower case that supports full ATX motherboards, thanks to a unique vertically-installed optical disk drive bay. Check it out!
In Figure 1, you see the R-2 Toast. It is available in a myriad of colors, including black, pink, blue, lime, orange, and other unusual colors for computer cases, and we reviewed the white version.
Figure 1: The GMC R-2 Toast
The front of the case has a clean looks, being a plain plastic panel with a power button (the power and hard disk activity LEDs are embedded inside this button) and a square black niche.
Figure 2: Font panel
The right panel of the R-2 Toast has only a small meshed area at the top front corner. This panel is not removeable.
Figure 3: Right-side panel
The left panel has two meshed areas, one with an air duct over the CPU area and another for cooling video cards, as you can see in Figure 4. There are no air filters or acrylic windows.
Figure 4: Left panel
In Figure 5, you see the top panel of the case, which is plain, with no openings.
Figure 5: Top panel
In Figure 6 you can check the small panel containing two USB ports, earphones and microphone jacks, and the reset button.
Figure 6: Connectors
The bottom panel of the case has a mesh where you can install an 80 mm fan (not included).
Figure 7: Bottom panel
The rear panel of the R-2 Toast is a quite conventional for a mid-tower case. The power supply is installed at the top, the case has seven expansion slots, a mesh above the slots, and there is room for two 80 mm fans, but the case comes only with one of them installed (it doesn’t support speed monitoring and the manufacturer doesn’t publish any technical information about this fan). As briefly mentioned before, the right panel (shown on the left in Figure 8) is not removable, but the left panel is secured by two silver thumbscrews. The rear panel and the interior of this case are not painted.
Figure 8: Rear panel
In Figure 9, you can take a look at the inner side of the left panel, with its air duct for the CPU. If you want, you can remove this duct and install an 80 mm fan here, blowing air directly on the CPU cooler.
Figure 9: Left panel
In Figure 10, you can see the interior of the R-2 Toast. Despite its relatively compact size, it has room for a full ATX motherboard. The motherboard tray is not removable, and there is no access to the solder side of the motherboard, so if you want to install or remove a cooler that uses a backplate, you will need to remove the motherboard from the case.
Figure 10: Inside the Toast
In Figure 11, you see the rear panel, viewed from inside. The Toast uses regular screws to fasten expansion cards to the chassis.
Figure 11: Rear panel
In Figure 12, you can check how the R-2 Toast looks with a complete system installed. We installed a microATX motherboard, but it is also compatible with full ATX models. Thanks to the position of the drive bays, there is a good available space inside the case, which improves the airflow and, thus, the ventilation.
Figure 12: Computer assembled inside the R-2 Toast
We measured the available space and the reviewed case supports video card up to 11″ (270 mm).
The R-2 Toast has two 3.5” internal bays and only one 5.25” external bay. The hard disk drives are installed vertically in the upper front side of the case. There are no screwless mechanisms, so you need to attach each hard drive to the hard drive cage using four regular screws, and the hard drive cage is attached to the case using two screws. In Figures 13 and 14, you can see these bays empty and populated, respectively.
Figure 13: The 3.5” bays empty
Figure 14: The 3.5” bays populated
The most unique feature of the Toast is its 5.25&rdquo
; bay. It is located on the front of the case, between the plastic and the metal front panels, and the optical drive must be installed in the vertical. Because of that, the tray of the optical drive opens upwards, coming out like a toast in a toaster, and hence the name of this case. In Figures 15 and 16, you can see this bay empty and with a DVD burner installed.
Figure 15: The 5.25” bay empty
Figure 16: The 5.25” bay populated
We made a short movie to show you how the optical drive opens after the computer is built, watch it below.
The GMC R-2 Toast case main specs include:
- Style: Mid-tower
- Application: ATX and smaller form factors derived from this one
- Power supply: Doesn’t come with the product
- Available colors: White, Black, LimeGreen, OceanBlue, Hotpink, Orange, and SkyBlue
- Side panel: Meshed
- Dimensions: 16.5 x 7.0 x 13.4 inches (420 x 180 x 340 mm) (H x W x D)
- Net weight: 7.7 lbs (3.5 kg)
- Gross weight: 9.3 lbs (4.5 kg)
- Bays: One external 5.25” bay, and two internal 3.5” bays
- Expansion slots: Seven
- Maximum video card length: 11” (270 mm)
- Maximum CPU cooler height: 5.9” (150 mm)
- Included fans: One 80 mm on the rear panel
- Optional fans: One 80 mm at the bottom panel, one 80 mm at the left panel (if the side duct is removed), and 80 mm at the rear panel
- More Information: https://www.gmc.co.kr
- Average price in the US*: USD 40.00
* Researched at Amazon.com on the day we published this review.
The GMC R-2 Toast is one of a kind. It is compact, but not slim: with only 13.4 inches (340 mm) deep, it will better fit narrow workbenches than most mid-tower cases, while supporting both full-sized ATX motherboards and long (up to 11” or 270 mm) video cards. Its looks are very nice and you have a lot of colors to choose from, so it is an excellent choice if you want to build a fancy-looking computer.
Strong Points
- Nice looks
- Attractive price tag
- Thumbscrews to hold the left-side panel
- Compact size for a full ATX case
- Unique position for the optical drive
Weak Points
- No eSATA port
- No air filters
- Sharp edges where you could cut yourself while building your PC
- Low number of hard disk drive bays (two)
- No support for 2.5” devices (SSDs or laptop hard drives)
- No screwless mechanisms for fastening 5.25” and 3.5” devices
- Poor ventilation, with no front fans
- Comes with only one fan
- No anti-vibration mechanism for the hard drives
- No thumbscrews for holding expansion cards
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