Fractal Fumbles: Mood Case Review, Thermals, & Design Oversights
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Sponsor: NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU on Amazon geni.us/KvKlUi
The Fractal Mood Mini-ITX tower case was disappointing for us. When the Fractal Mood and its specs were first announced, using the fabric outer shell, we were excited about the mechanics of the case and the (if it worked) clever airflow design. Unfortunately, too many other details are missed in the design, leading to poor thermal balancing between the CPU and GPU chambers, annoying accoustical humming when using our liquid cooler with side-mounted fans, and problems with SSD sled design sometimes blocking exhaust. The Fractal Mood competes somewhat with the Cooler Master NCORE 100 MAX as an alternative, with the main differentiator being that Cooler Master forces a cooler and power supply combination.
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RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]
Fractal Mood on Newegg: howl.me/cmCujf1besR
Cooler Master NCORE 100 MAX on Amazon: geni.us/GL7u5l
Cooler Master NCORE 100 MAX on Newegg: howl.me/cmCuj8UzpMP
Fractal Terra on Amazon: geni.us/iahM
Fractal Terra on Newegg: howl.me/cmCujInYADR
Lian Li x DAN A4-H2O on Newegg: howl.me/cmCuma3sjWC
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Fractal Mood ITX Case Review & Benchmarks
01:18 - Specs & Attention to Detail
05:49 - Flow Restrictions
07:15 - Alternative to the Fractal Mood
08:25 - Build Layout & Cooler Clearance
12:18 - Oversights & Cooling Problem
13:03 - Test Setup & Methodology
13:59 - Thermals: CPU Full Load
15:42 - Thermals: GPU Full Load
17:56 - Thermals: RAM & VRM
18:18 - Acoustic Test Methodology
18:54 - Noise: Frequency Spectrum
19:51 - Noise Sample
20:17 - Conclusion: It's Critical
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Steve Burke: Host, Test Lead, Additional Writing
Jeremy Clayton: Writing, Testing
Vitalii Makhnovets: Camera, Editing
Tim Phetdara: Camera
Andrew Coleman: Camera 
Игры
Check out our recent Noctua NH-D15 G2 cooler review also! ruclips.net/video/heriTDWIU2g/видео.html
Or our Cooler Master NCORE 100 mini-ITX tower review: ruclips.net/video/xR1JIzdcVV4/видео.html
TY. Really does masquerade as an air purifier.
Completely off topic, but doesn't wendell look like the new iranian president?
@@dianaalyssa8726yeah, it almost makes you wonder if you could sacrifice even more thermals and test it as an air purifier 🤔 [Ziv struggles to put away wallet]
1/ My (big) air purifier is more quiet
2/ Both my air purifiers have better mesh than anything, it sounds like my small one at full blast
3/ My AIO is still full of dust
4/ Looks like a great case for modding, especially if it's one sale, since the fabric is going to be removed.
5/ I wonder how it performs with a-non RTX card since y all know they have quite a specific air pattern
CHeeRS ( USD very expensive recently )
very acoustical of you (1:24)
"Thats our only fan right?"
"Yeah"
"Lets put a drive sled over it"
And get it real close to the fan
Only fan. KEK
@@rezaimran98 *bonk*
Thought this was gonna be a dirty joke
Steve is not a Fan of this
From wood case to mood case. Next will be food case.
good dood!
I wonder when they will get to the good case.
For the hood
After that the poop dood case :)
Then itll be a rude case, where it would probably have a mechanism that would play a sound to curse at you when you move the panels
That noctua interview coming in handy for this review
Literally clicked on this video 58 seconds after it went live and the first comment I saw was from a bot called Zenia... What the heck RUclips? I'm just glad that you guys catch these bots so fast and delete their comments. Always going above and beyond! Keep it up, GN :)
YT leaves it to creators, it seems. We don't want them in our comments section, but we are outnumbered!
@@GamersNexus Some days when YT mangles their interface again or tries to shove adds in my face i get the feeling the whole site went from a good idea to a full on psychological torture experiment on "how far can we go before everyone flips us the bird???" ;)
I mean they had to give all those interns they got from Vault-Tec something to do didn't they?@@peterpain6625
@@GamersNexus just make your own bots, looking like Steve and call them, i dont know - clones? that will fight others. I'm sure nothing bad can happen.
Creators need more mods.
I watched other tech channels review this case.
They either didn't notice the flaws or they didn't want to point them out.
So either incompetence or bias sponsored review.
Gamer Nexus is the only actual review doing a good job. Once again proving why it is the only tech channel I trust.
Excellent work again Gamer Nexus
Must have been Hardware Canucks. They love every case they review.
Most things I saw on this case were not reviews but first looks from computex. If you can't properly test the case it's easy to be excited with looks, feel and quality
Gearseekers was pretty fair, they panned this case.
It's a callback to the 1970s when your grandparents were wrapping everything in wallpaper scraps.
Don't give them ideas, that'll be the next abomination from the industry. Especially with how wallpaper has been making a comeback, and not just for walls as people are putting that shit on reclaimed/refurbished furniture now, there's even 'rental friendly' peel and stick wallpapers now.
Sad to hear about this case. I had a small issue with the front of my fractal case. I emailed their support and they sent me a brand new front part free and it arrived within 3 days. was very good and easy.
Yeah, same experience here. Fractal support are amazing and their cases are typically brilliant, so shame about this one. That said, if there's one company I trust to listen to feedback it's them.
I recently noticed my Meshify 2 case's steel side panel was rattling intermittently which was noticeable during gaming a lot of times. I made a ticket and they sent me a replacement panel for free as well. I think I was within the warranty period, but still, it's not really a "functional" problem. New panel seems to have fixed it. They didn't even ask for the old panel back.
You love to hear it. Not every case needs to be a banger, but consistently good customer support is irreplaceable.
@@chancefreely Agreed. I have the Meshify 2 XL and the Pop XL Air. Both are excellent cases.
I also vouch for their support. I filed a ticket to replace the front bezel on my meshify 2 because I have actually broken it myself. They sent it without questions - turns out I mistakenly didn't mention I actually don't need the outer bezel but the internal part with dust filter. They didn't want the outer bezel back, told me to keep it and then sent the internal one as well without questions as well. I had 4 cases from FD already and whereas there are some imperfections, this level of customer support is what will probably make me stick to their cases for a long long time.
«The reason it looks restrictive to flow is because it is». This kind of logic is why I like Steve so much !
You can literally see it!
180 hz, 360hz, and 720hz (540hz is visible too) are actually the same tone, but octaves higher. This then becomes an exponential problem as the same tone is audible on several octaves. So on short: the tone is actually louder than what is shown on the db chart because it is a multitude of the same tone. If you want a quiet case, you definitely do not want this.
Thanks for that input and great points! It's cool to finally have some charts to start trying to understand why certain annoying noises happen. Can't wait to keep learning and expanding our analytical capabilities for them with comments like yours.
those are called harmonics and they happen with literally every sound that happens ever. if the energy that was going into making those harmonics all went into the fundamental frequency, it would have the same volume (although maybe a different loudness, hearing is weird). the conclusion is that these higher tones don't really matter for the "quietness" of the case as much as just how loud the sound is to begin with
Would it be tone or note? I think in music terms more so maybe it's just both a tone and a note octaves separate lol
@@mt180extras Not true. Sound volume is the sound amplitude. The more energy means more amplitude. If the energy is spread evenly across the frequency spectrum, the volume of any particular frequency would always be lower than if the same amount of energy was used in narrower band and measuring that.
Generally speaking more energy also means more loudness, but because it is much more complicated it is hard to predict what would happen in very particular non-generalized situation, so I won't make assumptions which way that would go.
@@hi_tech_reptiles "Note" is nothing more than a given name for particular tones and is dependant on what tuning system you are using. Every note is a tone but not every tone is a note.
But does it come with a HEPA filter?
And add another 10*C? No thank you!
@@SunnyHunny74 you don't seem to catch sarcasm lightly :)
@@ItsTharvas god damn it 😭
@ItsTharvas Those HEPA filters got really good!
@@SunnyHunny74no reason to take the Lord’s name in vain.
Steve, we admire your dedication to these reviews -- you even give your blood for them....
No one:
Fractal: "Let's do a Corsair ONE case, but wrap it in dentist's waiting room chair fabric."
oooof, the dentist's waiting room fabric -- hadn't thought of it that way!
I like the fabric..
me too 😅 @@eQui253
*the smell of burnt enamel dust wafting through the air* 😌
Because it's not black? The fabric looks like something from designer furniture in a modern home.
The air purifier comparison is on point, it's like a Corsi-Rosenthal box with computer parts inside.
The case looks good, I really like the aesthetic design.
I wonder if you could build a computer and ship it out of country and get around some of the tax issues by claiming it's a cheaper air purifier.
@@ulasht1 Technically, it can be. Just add air monitoring to it, and it CAN be classified as an air filter / Air monitoring system.
I remember seeing the Hardware Canucks video on this a week ago and thought, oh boy GN is going to have a field day with this.
I've had multiple cases lately have mesh filters built in where they shouldn't be. Even where they advertise you should exhaust.
one of the thermaltake cases i used had a filter for every opening regardless of if it was for exhaust or intake
Built in, not magnetic? If removable, I'd actually count that as a positive. More options is never a bad thing.
6:18 Me: "I think it looks great"
6:21 Me: "I've never felt seen and old so quickly in my life"
Still in love w/ my SSUPD Meshlicious - my favorite mini-itx airflow case...I liked the idea of what the Mood offered for the sake of improving my HTPC setup, but thanks to this review, I'll wait.
I kinda wish I'd bought the Meshilicious instead. I ended up with the Streacom DA6, and whilst beautiful, it was a nightmare to build (especially for a 1st timer)
@@joshuastedford1670 Why didn't you go with the Meshroom S? I have one (V2), and it is really great. The only problem some seem to have with it is the easy bending of the panels. But I've found they don't bend at all if you take some care with them, instead of ripping 'em of the case like a maniac😅
@@GamePat96 I've got a meshroom D and the biggest problem with bending is the top small panel. It's clamped in way too hard relative to the side panels
@@mmaayyssoonn8858 I've heard lots of bad things about the meshroom D, so i'm not supriced... There's an actual 3D printable tool, that looks like a flathead screwdriver, which helps to open the panel really easy without bending it what so ever. You could use a flathead of course, but i didnt want to scratch the paint of the case by accident, so i chose the 3D printed version. Maybe that helps you too :)
My takeaway from this is that the case is "fine" when you use air cooling and don't install the SSD plate. And adjust your expectation on what kind hardware you can use. I really like the form factor and it looks 100x better than the Cooler Master case.
I still like the fractal ridge much better aesteticly for a htpc vibe, plus thermal are fine on it .. but i think your right ! A 7600 with a -30 pbo and a 4060/4070 would probably be fine in this case if u vibin with the looks
Misunderstanding the purpose of this case. Clearly not intended for high end hardware - form over functionality. Therefore, it only has room for a dual-slot GPU.
@@AuDiGo6 Its has like 360mm of space for GPUs, and theres plenty of highend GPUs with two slots.
Also, medium or low end GPUs arent necessarily quieter than high end, they tend to have much more basic cooling solutions.
@@AuDiGo6 Well it fits the Small Form Factor 4080 Super cards just fine, so the only GPU you are absolutely locked out of is the 4090.
I have to say, even though i know im a rando comment/viewer in a couple million, i really like the way gamersnexus is headed as a channel. The changes and the direction that this channel is going is definitely something different and unique, in an amazing way. Live long and prosper gamersnexus.
Not gonna lie this is the best looking case I've ever seen, it's a shame about the noise and performance, though.
Tradeoff seems fine enough to me tbh. I feel like you gotta make sacrifices for a case too look like this and it had flaws but pulled it off pretty well.
As long as you aren't losing so much performance you're throttling/moving down a class. I'd dig it.
Aesthetics matter _too_ 🤩
yea, love the look of it. Kinda hope they do a 2.0 version or some revision on it to address the issues, cause the idea is cool. It's basically like a Series X lol
@@BeefIngot Tradeoff is definitely not fine for $150. Mini-ITX is already expensive to get into, this level of tradeoff is terrible.
Well hey, some people don't worry about the latter
@@BeefIngot Agreed. Use a 7800x3d instead of an intel volcano, put a low profile cooler, orient the gpu to blow up towards the top fan and i think a lot of the issues get resolved. The gpu thing might be an issue, not sure it can be done. Oh and it looks amazing in the black version too. Definitely a niche case.
Dang, kind of a let down. I guess even Fractal isn't perfect. Thanks for the honest review, even of a brand I think you guys really like too. Personally I wont buy any case that requires a PCI riser cable. And the one in the Mood was SUPER bent and looked forced in. Thats scary to me.
They are still my favorite case builder, going with the North for my next build (I’m 39, past the whole RGB rave PC cases)
As someone who's been eyeing the North and will probably get the back connector version when it releases, it's not a perfect case either. The PSU shroud (which is part of the structure of the case and therefore shouldn't be removed) is inexplicably shaped in a way that prevents some thicker fan/rad combos in front, seemingly without providing any extra structural integrity. Some people have even modded the shroud to make room for their particular fan/rad setup. 😆
Built a pc with the northxl white. Its so good. I dont get tired of looking at it ❤
The only one I feel comfortable with is the Hyte since it’s reinforced and screwed in place
Need an air intake on the bottom. Rotate the mobo and have the I/O rear facing or the left panel towards the back.
Movable spine for larger GPU support.
Nah the mobo situation is perfect. This shrouds and protects thumb drives and 2.4ghz wireless dongles from cats and errant elbows. It's my favorite layout.
I saw this case in ETA Prime's video the other day and thought, "Ew. Fabric = Bad thermals. I hope GN reviews it soon." Thanks for continuing to reqd my mind, guys! It's great for my ego and bad for my paranoia.
when i first saw this case i was already suspicious of its performance and sound
Any SFF fan could see that from miles away... this is clearly a form/aesthetics over performance...
I think everyone was
a pc in air purifier
One thing I'd like to see from them is an audio test in their semi-anechoic chamber called the "corner test." Bring in two temporary walls made with the typical sheetrock and indoor house paint and then place a desk right up against those walls. Then run a series of audio tests while the device is on the desk. I'm curious not only about the sound waves that are coming from the device itself, but the increased peaks and valleys we might experience as the sound waves reflect off of the wall materials and propagate. The hemi-anechoic chamber is handy at removing all background noise, but the temporary walls would provide a more real-world environment so we can get a sense of what kind of noise it's going to add in a typical home or office environment. I imagine they're going to discover that those propagating sound waves cause problems that are just as annoying as the beat frequencies caused by out-of-sync fans.
@@oRicardoHetfield Not really. That large of a fan should in theory allow for lower RPM's. As the chimney effect SHOULD allow for easier cooling, The issue is the fabric material that was picked....they picked.....poorly. A thinner fabric should help aleviate this issue. I would be curious on the results of ripping all the fabric off and putting the stuff that is normally on speakers around this thing. What the results would be.
And this is why you should always wait for 3rd party review before purchasing something. Also why you should never pre order. I was hyped for this when it was announced, but now I'm not planning on buying it anymore.
Fractal nostalgia baiting with cases that are sharp enough to cut you to ribbons. Ahh, I miss those times.
A new system build is never complete until the blood offering has been made.
Sharp edges and stuck IDE cables were the bane of my existence.
Back to you Steve
i just wanted Fractal to present Define 8
Agreed - Define 8 and Meshify 3 would be a excellent one-two punch to the ATX scene
Another great review, I have seen other reviews and they talk about the poor thermal performance but I hadn't seen anyone talk about the SSD mount or remove the fabric on the motherboard side.
I mean are we really surprised? This case is all about form > function and it excels at that. Planning to build my Living Room PC in the Mood. It will go great beside my TV console.
That's precisely why I'm considering this case. There aren't many others on the market that can blend in with a modern living room without screaming "Look at me! I'm a computer in the living room!"
headphones not included, lol. /sarcasm
if ye can keep the guts low enough watts, maybe it won't be making the heat that necessitates fast moving fans. A passive cooled GPU or just use the iGPU in the CPU may be best for that location. Same applies to recording studios as well.
You mean the case excells at being bad at functioning?
Getting cut on a case,.reminds me of the old Packard Bell desktops. There was a chassis brace running across the top that was like a dull razor blade. Harmless with the cover on but hazardous for those working on it.
Old Compaq servers. The chassis were made of razor blades. I may have left bloody fingerprints in every one I've ever worked on. :)
Im torn.
Fractal has some of the best staples in the industry, define literally defines the black box standard. Meshify is meshified define. Node makes for some great compact storage, core is cheap black boxes (and the core 500 is interesting if you can find one), and the focus series is very not cheap for being low cost.
Fractal has been experimenting a lot recently with newer case designs, and i respect the fact theyre willing to take risk unlike some other case manufacturers. But i feel like these newer case sre risky and the risk isnt paying off. Hopefully they make enough to keep the quirky development going.
You're saying it's not paying off but their latest cases, (this one not included) are the best cases on the market objectively.😂
You don't have to be torn haha. Good companies can have bad products. This one might be a "meh" on the functionality side. But I bet lots of people will still buy it.
Regardless of how anyone feels about this particular experiment, Fractal makes some really good cases.
You can't expect too much from SFF cases, they'll always have drawbacks, and building in highly compact SFF cases requires a lot of part and usage consideration. It's not just something you can throw parts in and expect to work fine, SFF cases can be pretty picky.
That, and this is probably best for lower-powered builds.
@TheAmazingCowpig I've been torn between this case and the asrock deskmini x600 specifically for my living room APU build. Also torn between getting the 8700G soonish, or waiting for the eventual Strix Halo desktop chip.
Sales from the North alone are probably enough to sustain the company for years given its trend setting popularity
As a mechanical engineer I really get mindboggled by some of the case designs...
As a non-engineer I also get puzzled that they would literally block off the air exhaust.
Bruh its crazy what passes these days for a viable product.
You must be young. This case looks pretty
It was probably designed by some art major lmao
@@user-ym5mc Shows you what kind of people are building computers these days. A case should be about function.
i really appreciate the graphic that shows that the item was provided by manufacturer. chefs kiss!
Man... I really loved the look of this case, but was concerned about the performance loss caused by the fabric... Thanks for the deep, fully uncovering that! Maybe they'll redesign it with all mesh and it'll look just as good or better in a revision ^_^
I think both the Mood and Terra were really interesting, but they just have some small quirks that needed to be worked out. I hope we can see secound generation versions of both because I really want this formfactor.
Removing the top mesh and front foam filter on my meshify c resulted in a significant improvement in fan speeds and temperature. I was getting 10 degrees cooler temperatures with them off, with my fans at a consistent speed for testing.
Probably one of the best case reviews you guys have done so far.
Nice work yo 🤙
Stella job as always, thanks for the review. Been waiting for this!
Between the Terra and this I'm starting to become skeptical that Fractal even _does_ any acoustic testing.
Any what testing??
5:09 I thought it looked like a fabric series X, mainly the black version though they are also doing that white version soon too.
Funny how I was considering this case for my first build and GN comes with the review right on time.
Great review ! It reminded me of an old a/c unit in hotel room. Ty for sharing !
Thanks, Steve.
A metal mesh version would be an excellent compromise for this case. I do wonder if the cooling performance is improved at all by using a downdraft CPU cooler. I also wonder (with the right application of skill/effort) if re-wrapping the case with something more like speaker cloth would make a decent improvement to airflow as it is designed to have minimal impact on air movement.
I appreciate the pointing out of flaws that other channels missed or didn't want to comment on. I don't think every case needs to be equally performant. You can put in less hot hardware into the Mood and enjoy the smaller footprint and esthetics. But still, the actual performance, whether one considers them a shortcoming, a flaw, a compromise, or just a characteristic, should still be pointed out. I still like cases like the Mood or the Q300 and Q500. They aren't the ultimate powerhouses, but they are fine for what they are.
Thanks for the thorough review. I wanted to like this case, but it's off my shopping list now.
It's interesting that the internet acts like the NZXT H1 never existed. Yes, I know that they fumbled the riser recall. I've been using one for the last 3 years and still loving it.
Current build has a Ryzen 7950x3d and a EVGA 3090 running cool and quiet with undervolt tuning. Use as a workstation with near constant 100% loads. Love the form factor.
Was hoping for more similar options on the market.
A company loses trust when they're willing to burn your house down to save pennies.
Considering noise and aesthetics + GPU size limitations (2-slot) I'm thinking this is more geared towards if you want a pretty Media PC next to your TV, a NAS or something along those lines. Not for gaming and the top of the line GPUs anyway. It's meant to look pretty, therefore be in view and also that gives it a more "Just look nice while being functional" and I wouldn't make it into something that does heavy gaming. Just my two cents. I quite like it myself. More PC's that can actually be disguised and fit into other arrangements are welcome.
It is a terrible case for a NAS. Works great for an all-M.2 SSD gaming rig. If you want lots of hard drives, mini-ITX cases are not the way to go.
The look and the maintainability is absolutely the whole point of this case. People who buy this want a PC that doesn't ruin the specific vibe of wherever they put this. The shape isn't the point so just "other vertical cases" aren't really the alternatives but other cases that kinda look like good-looking, normal-people furniture are. It's not my vibe but I can see where they come from and it legitimately makes sense. If you spend money for a place you can feel good hanging out in. You want the stuff to look nice and classy. Some people are much more sensitive to it than others.
They obviously care about the enthusiast because of the attention to detail you mentioned and how easy they made it to maintain.
It's too bad about the fabric quality and the noise it ends up making. It makes you wonder what kind of fabric could be used so airflow is less obstructed, or what changes need to be made without sacrificing its main focus.
It's not even a matter of "you just shouldn't be putting high-power components in there". Because someone who does care enough about looks to spend that much on a looks-based case, is possibly, even if not always, going to try to put the most baller machine they can in there too.
That top SSD mount is just straight up a bad design though.
Yeah was thinking the same thing while watching the review like as long as you do air cooled you take like a 4 degrees hit for the fabric which doesn't seem too bad.
The top SSD mount is terrible yeah.
Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to you guys doing a review of the upcoming Fractal Era 2.
The urge to build a mini pc
About to build one in a deepcool ch 160, too bad deepcool not available in the US anymore.
@@nitrowarrior-lj5ipthey look SOOOO fun to do. And yea wtf ??? Deepcool as a whole is banned.
@@nitrowarrior-lj5ip I'm not from the US but you can't even ship their stuff from overseas?
@@SunnyHunny74 Perhaps if the USA customs does not know it is a deepcool product but I don't know how such system works.
Do it! I have an NR200, it's not the smallest of SFF cases but I just adored building in it as a first-timer. It was well worth the extra money and research
If it is this bad at thermals for a starting point, imagine how bad it would be after a couple weeks of dust building up.
this looks like it could be a really cool case, I hope they address a lot of these issues because the form factor could actually make it suitable for a living room setup
I’ve never come across a case yet that wasn’t a vampire. Keep up the good work
Hey Fractal, please don't mess up the ERA 2, thanks.
I agree, from the introduction of the new cases I was never interested in the Mood but the Era 2 looks simply sublime : )
Would have been leagues better if they mad it a bit taller and had an intake at the bottom of the case.
That's been my thoughts as well. An intake fan on the bottom and exhaust on top. Movable spine for GPU and CPU spacing. Move the bracket to a side wall or something.
even just having some holes punched into the bottom would proabaly help alot, lol. They really shot themselves in the foot with the wraparound fabric.
Where you put I/O ?
Watching this video makes me want to have GN stickers on the back of my laptop so it may be graced with Steve's majesty
*_temperature drops 10 degrees_*
Great vid as usual, no need to go anywhere else for a proper honest review.
I really like the design. Hopefully the next iteration will not be as garbage.
wow, shame, I bought myself white fractal torrent and i love it all the way, its simply beautiful and the fans do their job. Hope for a good revision or something else i guess
The Torrent is a great case! Here's hoping they do a refresh.
@@GamersNexus Preferably with the power-supply not on top of the case. At least that's my only real criticism for the Torrent.
Great review. I like your approach! Not too bummed about its performance since I was more interested in the Era 2, but this doesn't bode well.
I really like this style of case. I often 3d print my own cases for electronics, small computers etc, and i fell in love with this design after seeing the playstation (or xbox?) with that big fan. It makes accessibility so easy, and cooling is very effective even for some with no experience in designing air flow, like me. One factor i dont see mentioned often, is that some configuration for the direction/position of the fan are absolutely annoying for dust. I did some experiments, and putting the fan at the bottom, pushing hot hair downward was very effective at:
1. Keeping the fan clean and quiet, since its away from the intake and mesh
2. Keeping dust away from the bottom of the computer (😂dont blow on this! It's very annoying having to dust under a computer)
3. Centralizes the air intake, making it a single point that needs to be taken apart And cleaned.
This is very specific, but keeping electronics low maintenance is a key point for for me, and this "one big fan tunnel" design is great at it
Oops i forgor my main point.
Since you have way more experience and equipment (and computer boards worth testing) do you think you could try testing the possible configurations for this kind of design? I would be interested to know the effects on noise/cooling of the various combinations of
1.fan at the bottom with positive or negative pressure
2.fan at the top with positive/negstive ...
Of course it might be a big bother, and there's gonna be 4 people in the world who even care, but who knows 🥺
Oh boy the noise lmaooo
Fractal has its priorities right for this case to be honest. Yes, the fabric does compromise temperature to a degree, but think about it this way: If you put the person who buys this kind of case in front of the choice to sacrifice looks (assuming this is indeed the look they want) or sacrifice some performance, what will they do? I'd wager they WOULD sacrifice some performance if it means the looks stay perfectly clean, as long as the performance is still adequate for what they want to do with the PC. Maybe in the future Fractal will find a different kind of fabric that is less restrictive, and if they do, that will be a good second generation of this. But assuming this is close to the best you can do with a fabric that looks like this, they probably compromised the best they could, given the visual design.
When you say "a more traditional mesh case would be better" all I can think is DUH but the person who cares more about that would buy a mesh case which is obviously not what this is. Different audience, different priorities. This review lacks a bit of thought into what the audience of the case is. You say the Ncore 100 pulled off this concept better, but the Ncore 100 didn't pull off the same concept _at all_, since almost nobody who would seriously consider the Mood would even consider the Ncore 100 because of its looks.
For a case like this, in a review, the question "what could you improve airflow wise if you compromise the looks to a degree?" is pretty much irrelevant, the relevant question to the audience that might consider this case is "could they have improved airflow while maintaining this look?". The question you answered is a question that only matters to people who never would have considered the case in the first place.
It's a shame it can't handle gaming PC requirements, but it still totally works as an office PC, which was most likely the target audience.
Ultimately thermals only matter to the point that nothing is throttling or getting dangerously hot. It doesn't matter if your CPU is running at 60C or 80C under load as long as it's hitting advertised clocks. It might boost a bit less but the difference will likely be negligible and worth it to the type of person who wants a case like this.
Noise is a bigger issue here, because the kind of person who wants a clean minimal case like this probably also doesn't want it to sound obnoxious when the fans are running. Fractal made a name for themselves with quiet, noise-treated cases and this kinda falls flat in that regard.
@@guesswho2337 Agreed, noise issues are an extremely valid criticism for this kind of design. Noise is likely a top priority for the target audience here. Thermals/performance only to a degree. They need to be good enough for what they are doing, they don't need to be optimal.
@@LordDragox412What makes you think it can't handle tht?
@@BeefIngot The video.
Love how this case looks but have been highly skeptical of its cooling. Been waiting for a proper review 🙏
I've been dreaming of a case like this since the H1 first came out. But no one seems to figure out the airflow problem! Put the power supply flat facing down and use large vents on the sides right above it, so that fresh air comes in on the sides. There's nothing stopping them from getting the air there and not through the bottom. And then all that fresh air goes straight over large semi-passive heatsinks for CPU and GPU. If you need to mount a drive, use the space around the PSU to mount them. 180 mm is also the perfect size for it, based on the dimensions of ITX.
I died laughing at the air purifier comment at the start! It 500% looks exactly like one. Was hoping this case would be a good option…alas another small case…another airflow and design challenge
I don't like fabric on consumer electronics in general. Estethically it seems like a good idea, but in reality it will look very ugly very quickly. Fabric will gain stains over time, either it will blacken slightly from repetetive fingerprints or it might get dirty from a tomato sauce related accident (yeah I speak from experience). Unlike your clothes, you will never get your fabric-case clean again.
I was really looking forward to this review, bummed that it didnt turn out the way we hoped.
I love that the thumbnail is an accurate representation of the video
Like with ANY mini-itx case, i would never even consider using one for high performance pc. But for average adult consumer low/mid tier office setup (most likely designed for that purpose) that don't need massive cooling, this is perfect. I have always loved how Fractal cases look.
Yeah it's a fine media or game streaming PC, but cleaning that fabric over time would get annoying and eventually would get clogged up unless carefully vacuumed.
Lol, you can use ITX cases very well for any high performance part as long you have direct air access to the outside....
@@Quast Where you going to put the 10Gb nic?
@@wojtek-33 You'd probably need a USB peripheral.
For a gaming pc? My 3.9l build has no need for one. Most people on most networks have zero need for a NIC.
But I designed my partner's custom 14.6l chassis (still significantly smaller than this case) specifically to take a WiFi card and ATX board alongside the GPU, if it helps.
Something to consider mentioning in your case reviews is *how much* the temperature difference matters, i.e. how much performance is being left on the table? I know that can be somewhat hard to assess because 'it depends' on a lot of things, but I think trying to give some rough numbers, even if you did a 'standardized' set of components where you understand the scaling really well would help to illustrate the difference a good case makes. Basically you are trying to answer the question "why should I care about a 4°C difference?"
We did mention the frequency drop, FWIW.
Great review and thanks for saving me the money I was fixing to drop on this to replace my Asus itx case.
thank you very much for the video. I will leave it on the shelf.
This is good info, but I would 100% still build in it. I know its bad at CPU temps so ill build with that in mind. I'll use a 65watt or even better something like the minis forum mobile AMD/Intel motherboard. This is perfect for my living room pc build. I love the North, Terra, Ridge and this Mood case keeps up the interesting designs.
Yeah, sorry Steve but I'd rather take this with slightly worse performance than a fishtank, gamer metall box or the classic RGB heavy cases with ugly ext/interior.
That was my thought. 8700G was made for this.
“bUt iT’s aEstHeTic!”
It hurts me when "aesthetic" is used like that, hahaha
Optimum has joined the chat
That's a perfectly legitimate argument. It's not like the case thermals throttles components.
The world isn't black and white.
This is legitimate.
There isn't any reason someone can't be willing to leave a little bit of noise/thermal performance on the table for aesthetics, in fact if all we cared about was thermals and noise we'd have completely open cases with mufflers on the fan.
Basically we all care to varying degrees for varying purposes so it seems reasonable that many might take the tradeoffs here if they don't mean throttling, and this looks acceptable in a living space vs a gamer PC.
@@BeefIngot you can get aesthetic pc cases that have good noise and cooling. This is a nothing burger of an argument
Looking forward to your Era 2 and Light Base reviews when those cases are out.
Cooler Master HAF XB. Now that WAS a good case layout. Wished that trip down nostalgia lane would come alive in a new version.
The best usage of this is to make your expensive PC look like a cheap bluetooth speaker so burglars won't bother with it.
I love how a 25 minute video has over 30 likes after less than a minute. Don't people at least watch the video first?
I liked your comment before I read it.
I usually like the video first, if the video is awfull i dislike it,if i think it doesnt deserve a dislike but i didnt enjoy the video i leave nothing
I like all videos of content creators I regularly watch. Even if I don't have time to watch a video or I'm not interested in it. They still benefit.
That's nothing new
I'm weird and use my liked playlist as a sort of watch later playlist. Yes I know RUclips has a watch later feature. I prefer my method
Here's to actually thinking of getting it when I saw it in the showroom..! I probably might still get it.
When Steve gave that look right after "The reason it looks like it's restrictive to flow.." i think quite a few of us knew *exactly* what was coming :p
Thanks Steve!
Great video GN! I appreciate the honesty regarding your finger, Steve. A case that makes holes in you is already a fail and something that small has excuse doing so. That case would be better as the basis for building speakers into. Add a USB hub and USB sound card to drive the speakers, headset jack and external USB ports.
Personal am a huge fan of the look of the mood. Sad it isn't performing well. Absolutely would love this as a home entertainment PC in my front room. Looks incredible.
hey, is any case review comming soom with 5.25" bays? the newest cases i know of are the pop air/xl
I could see these types of cases used in tournaments and assemblies, a handle on top is a must have feature for traveling.
For me it's just got perfect living room PC vibes, just wouldn't want to pack it with a 14900k 4090 combo as it'd be quite a loud living room after that.
So would overall performance be best with an additional fan exhausting from the top mount on the CPU side? My thought is that it could generate more negative pressure and give a clear path to the PSU exhaust.
I wonder if another 180 on the bottom of the case would help. Intake or outlett? Btw, if pressure goes down with fan size, wouldn't 4 90mm fans be better?
It feels like Fractal changed a lot since they made the Define R5. Still rocking a few of those cases.
V2 of this should be insanely good. There’s a lot of potential here imo. Maybe not a buy now but hope they keep working on it. The manual and accessibility is aspirational.
Can you reverse the top fan and make it blow down on the system, would that allow it to cool better?
Would love to know how this performs with a nh-l12 or 14 and add case fans to the motherboard side to pull in cool air.
6:05 "The reason why it looks restrictive to flow..." creates suspense, "it's because it is".
LOL (I literally broke into laughing)
Great review as usual!! However, there is a use case for this and that is as an HTPC where your are just suing it for streaming to a large flat panel screen. If you are not gaming, this type of case would be fine and it fits in nice with lots of living room decor. Last year, I moved my setup which was in an old and clunky looking Fractal Core 500 to a Hyte Revolt 3. This was before either the Fractal Terra or this one were available. Had they been on the market I would not have any hesitation from using one of them for my HTPC.
I would love a Sharkoon REV300 review/benchmark. Definitely a different layout than all the other cases.
Thanks Steve nice video.
Fractal Design back to the drawing board - maybe add another 180mm fan to the other side - push pull setup
Hey Steve, just for fun would u swap the top 180mm fan for 4x 90mm to see if their higher static pressure (i think?) would work better?
your cat will love this thing