Fractal Fumbles: Mood Case Review, Thermals, & Design Oversights
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Date: 2024-07-09
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Comments and reviews: 20
zodwraith5745
We've all made the mistake of buying a shitty case for cooling because we liked the aesthetics. I'm using one right now that struggles with a 14700k which ended up making me just take off the pretty front to stop the impedance of airflow.
There's two problems that make this worse and worse every year:
1- Many people don't like the industrial look of perforated metal. PC gamers aren't all 15 anymore and some of us have a nice computing space and want our case to look nice too. Not cool or industrial. A big perforated metal cube stands out like a sore thumb.
2- PC parts have gotten so power hungry that traditional cases are horribly incapable of allowing enough airflow.
It's easy to find cases that perform well and look industrial or boy racer. It's easy to find cases that look mature or classy. It's nearly impossible to find one that covers both. And no, I don't want wood on my computer case.
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We've all made the mistake of buying a shitty case for cooling because we liked the aesthetics. I'm using one right now that struggles with a 14700k which ended up making me just take off the pretty front to stop the impedance of airflow.
There's two problems that make this worse and worse every year:
1- Many people don't like the industrial look of perforated metal. PC gamers aren't all 15 anymore and some of us have a nice computing space and want our case to look nice too. Not cool or industrial. A big perforated metal cube stands out like a sore thumb.
2- PC parts have gotten so power hungry that traditional cases are horribly incapable of allowing enough airflow.
It's easy to find cases that perform well and look industrial or boy racer. It's easy to find cases that look mature or classy. It's nearly impossible to find one that covers both. And no, I don't want wood on my computer case.
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roboman2444
I feel like adding holes to the two sides would've increased airflow enough. That would nearly triple the surface area of the fabric that airflow was going through, without changing the look at all. There could've probably been more ventilation intake straight though the bottom, possibly with a dust filter. The top mesh also looks restrictive.
The ssd and drive mounts could have slots or holes cut into them to help facilitate airflow while installed, too.
Otherwise, the case looks fantastic, and seems to be very high quality.
It would be interesting to see if just drilling 200 holes in the sides and top mesh, and then re-applying the fabric, would improve the airflow and thermals in a DIY way.
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I feel like adding holes to the two sides would've increased airflow enough. That would nearly triple the surface area of the fabric that airflow was going through, without changing the look at all. There could've probably been more ventilation intake straight though the bottom, possibly with a dust filter. The top mesh also looks restrictive.
The ssd and drive mounts could have slots or holes cut into them to help facilitate airflow while installed, too.
Otherwise, the case looks fantastic, and seems to be very high quality.
It would be interesting to see if just drilling 200 holes in the sides and top mesh, and then re-applying the fabric, would improve the airflow and thermals in a DIY way.
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nazgu1
As a huge Fractal fan (I have 20 different Fractal cases I built the systems in for myself and family/friends), I really hope this particular case flops HARD. I am 100% certain Fractal's engineers have shown exactly the same results during their testing, and most likely they suggested very easy ways to remedy the biggest problems (e.g. keep the full fabric coverage on the sides, but make the front be a fine metal mesh in the same color, with fabric strips on the top and bottom), but some idiot up the chain thought it didn't look cool enough.
We need Fractal to become the Noctua of pc cases, not the designers and marketers to take the lead and turn it into another Thermaltake or Cooler Master.
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As a huge Fractal fan (I have 20 different Fractal cases I built the systems in for myself and family/friends), I really hope this particular case flops HARD. I am 100% certain Fractal's engineers have shown exactly the same results during their testing, and most likely they suggested very easy ways to remedy the biggest problems (e.g. keep the full fabric coverage on the sides, but make the front be a fine metal mesh in the same color, with fabric strips on the top and bottom), but some idiot up the chain thought it didn't look cool enough.
We need Fractal to become the Noctua of pc cases, not the designers and marketers to take the lead and turn it into another Thermaltake or Cooler Master.
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knghtbrd
Not every experiment is going to be successful. I remember a time, not so long ago, when Fractal seemed mostly interested in trying to find out what everyone else was doing so it could follow the trends faster rather than set them. Then they started experimenting and they hit it out of the freaking park with the Torrent (even if I think it looks like an air conditioner, tbh) Now they're trying to make some stuff that looks more modern. The North was a hit, and quickly copied (except the copies are lame IMO)
This I don't think is going to be a hit for them. Not with this fabric, at least. I hope they continue to try and do new things though, because I'm sick of aquariums and O11 ripoffs.
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Not every experiment is going to be successful. I remember a time, not so long ago, when Fractal seemed mostly interested in trying to find out what everyone else was doing so it could follow the trends faster rather than set them. Then they started experimenting and they hit it out of the freaking park with the Torrent (even if I think it looks like an air conditioner, tbh) Now they're trying to make some stuff that looks more modern. The North was a hit, and quickly copied (except the copies are lame IMO)
This I don't think is going to be a hit for them. Not with this fabric, at least. I hope they continue to try and do new things though, because I'm sick of aquariums and O11 ripoffs.
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BeefIngot
You know what, this case looks so good, I think the tradeoffs seem pretty acceptable.
I've never seen a case that made me think Damn, that looks good like this case does.
As long as things aren't supremely throttled, it seems like an OK case. The space is already not where you got value for money so this is just an increased tradeoff there and it's something that can't show up objectively (aesthetics to tradeoff ratio)
As a small note, I do wish that even while not recommending a case a more typical use case could be shown so people could see like the real world performance trade off in terms of actual percentage lost because I'm just guessing here based on the data.
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You know what, this case looks so good, I think the tradeoffs seem pretty acceptable.
I've never seen a case that made me think Damn, that looks good like this case does.
As long as things aren't supremely throttled, it seems like an OK case. The space is already not where you got value for money so this is just an increased tradeoff there and it's something that can't show up objectively (aesthetics to tradeoff ratio)
As a small note, I do wish that even while not recommending a case a more typical use case could be shown so people could see like the real world performance trade off in terms of actual percentage lost because I'm just guessing here based on the data.
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FrancisFjordCupola
I have a Fractal Era right now. I recall people while about it's thermals not being perfect for overclocked top-of-the-line stuff. I don't want my computer to consume more than a vacuum when I'm playing games. I think this design is pretty interesting. Wonder if there are still 35W Intel CPU's and Alpine passive blocks. In combination with a (terrible performance wise for AAA-games) passive cooled Palit 3050 6Gb. And a Seasonic PSU that does passive operation for all the wattage that set-up would normally pull. The problem is not with the case. The problem is with excessive power consumption and warmth production by the CPU and GPU.
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I have a Fractal Era right now. I recall people while about it's thermals not being perfect for overclocked top-of-the-line stuff. I don't want my computer to consume more than a vacuum when I'm playing games. I think this design is pretty interesting. Wonder if there are still 35W Intel CPU's and Alpine passive blocks. In combination with a (terrible performance wise for AAA-games) passive cooled Palit 3050 6Gb. And a Seasonic PSU that does passive operation for all the wattage that set-up would normally pull. The problem is not with the case. The problem is with excessive power consumption and warmth production by the CPU and GPU.
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Demonoid1990
I wish there were more case options designed with a horizontal motherboard layout in mind. I've certainly had my own idea's for one. I've been half tempted to draft it up and try pitching it to some case manufacturers or fabricators lol..
Something of the sort would be much more ideal for my situation, building a desktop PC, an MATX build, to go in my semi truck. My two biggest concerns being road vibrations and rough driving conditions eventually damaing the GPU PCIe connector or an dual tower style CPU cooler. At least I have some time to figure out some solutions, Arrow Lake and RTX 5000 don't release for a little while still.
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I wish there were more case options designed with a horizontal motherboard layout in mind. I've certainly had my own idea's for one. I've been half tempted to draft it up and try pitching it to some case manufacturers or fabricators lol..
Something of the sort would be much more ideal for my situation, building a desktop PC, an MATX build, to go in my semi truck. My two biggest concerns being road vibrations and rough driving conditions eventually damaing the GPU PCIe connector or an dual tower style CPU cooler. At least I have some time to figure out some solutions, Arrow Lake and RTX 5000 don't release for a little while still.
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mexicanhalloween
for a v2 of this case that would actually have cooling they need to abandon intake through the cloth and just have it pull air through the bottom like the old Silverstone Fortress cases. if I were to modify this case as it is I would use one of my SFF tricks, removing the IO shield to use as an airflow path. I would also see if I could make a gap between the feet and the case to allow air in. if that angled foot piece just had a steeper angle and attached closer to the center it could allow some room for ventilation on the bottom to be pulled up along the angled foot piece.
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for a v2 of this case that would actually have cooling they need to abandon intake through the cloth and just have it pull air through the bottom like the old Silverstone Fortress cases. if I were to modify this case as it is I would use one of my SFF tricks, removing the IO shield to use as an airflow path. I would also see if I could make a gap between the feet and the case to allow air in. if that angled foot piece just had a steeper angle and attached closer to the center it could allow some room for ventilation on the bottom to be pulled up along the angled foot piece.
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Tynted
Although I'm not interested in this and I'm not the target audience, I actually think this is salvageable for Fractal if they keep iterating on the idea. They could sell this to quite a few A E S T H E T I C lovers if they fix some of the glaring issues with cooling and those noise frequencies generated at load. I don't think the mesh restriction would be too bad to overcome if they would make all of those metal panels mesh instead of having two solid ones. Oh yeah, and move that friggin' SSD bracket out of the way of the only fan
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Although I'm not interested in this and I'm not the target audience, I actually think this is salvageable for Fractal if they keep iterating on the idea. They could sell this to quite a few A E S T H E T I C lovers if they fix some of the glaring issues with cooling and those noise frequencies generated at load. I don't think the mesh restriction would be too bad to overcome if they would make all of those metal panels mesh instead of having two solid ones. Oh yeah, and move that friggin' SSD bracket out of the way of the only fan
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seanohlinger8582
Great review, as always!
This case is beautiful but ssd that the performance is so poor and that audible profile is so distant lawnmower!
I wonder if the audio profile would be better with the cpu aio set to exhaust instead. Additionally, since the top exhaust fan had little impact on over thermals (as seen when turned off) would turning it to intake help push air out elsewhere better Are there better 180mm fans for static pressure
Just thoughts for testing, wish i had one to play around with!
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Great review, as always!
This case is beautiful but ssd that the performance is so poor and that audible profile is so distant lawnmower!
I wonder if the audio profile would be better with the cpu aio set to exhaust instead. Additionally, since the top exhaust fan had little impact on over thermals (as seen when turned off) would turning it to intake help push air out elsewhere better Are there better 180mm fans for static pressure
Just thoughts for testing, wish i had one to play around with!
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mattmunroe4928
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.
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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.
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AxR558
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.
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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.
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terror2thecore
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.
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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.
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davidwilson6577
We can't objectively comment on the aesthetics...
But you already did! The weave being misaligned is an objective aesthetic feature that your unit possesses. Whether it's positive or negative or nothing is subjective, but you objectively pointed out that there will be people who dislike it. You can talk objectively about stuff like this, never forget it!
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We can't objectively comment on the aesthetics...
But you already did! The weave being misaligned is an objective aesthetic feature that your unit possesses. Whether it's positive or negative or nothing is subjective, but you objectively pointed out that there will be people who dislike it. You can talk objectively about stuff like this, never forget it!
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ctrlaltdel02
I duno, really like the looks of it. If not getting top end components inside, I think temp wise it will be ok too. But with such restrictive material like cloth, I think they shoot themselves in the leg. I think it would be far better to make mesh all around and just let the air get inside as much as it can, not trying to restrict and guide it.
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I duno, really like the looks of it. If not getting top end components inside, I think temp wise it will be ok too. But with such restrictive material like cloth, I think they shoot themselves in the leg. I think it would be far better to make mesh all around and just let the air get inside as much as it can, not trying to restrict and guide it.
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springvice
I think it's not the problem with the performance, but rather that Fractal is marketting it for gamers'. I would still buying this case because it looks beautiful and I'll be using it for simple office task or casual gaming. Definitely not a gamery case like, come on, look at how it looks, and yet someone was coping enough and seeing it as one.
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I think it's not the problem with the performance, but rather that Fractal is marketting it for gamers'. I would still buying this case because it looks beautiful and I'll be using it for simple office task or casual gaming. Definitely not a gamery case like, come on, look at how it looks, and yet someone was coping enough and seeing it as one.
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j.ianmichel3059
I know this would be unconventional but if this was set sideways and the CLC and GPU were set as front and back, set to blow our, and the top fan set to intake. Would this be a usable set up Any better than vertical set up I also understand that would defeat the purpose of the vertical SFF.
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I know this would be unconventional but if this was set sideways and the CLC and GPU were set as front and back, set to blow our, and the top fan set to intake. Would this be a usable set up Any better than vertical set up I also understand that would defeat the purpose of the vertical SFF.
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Foxhood
Sometimes you make a case or two that makes your name as ubiquitous as Lian Li. Other times you make...this.
Still respect them for trying novel structures though.
I think this case could work if they made a XL edition that is less generous on the fabric and added some room for bigger GPUs.
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Sometimes you make a case or two that makes your name as ubiquitous as Lian Li. Other times you make...this.
Still respect them for trying novel structures though.
I think this case could work if they made a XL edition that is less generous on the fabric and added some room for bigger GPUs.
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TheYear-dm9op
The Terra absolutely looks like a toaster or an AC outlet xD .
The Mood case is really a no compromise case. No compromises made towards cooling to achive the best...smart speaker() look.
Case manufacturers should pay GN for testin and noise testing their junk :D .
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The Terra absolutely looks like a toaster or an AC outlet xD .
The Mood case is really a no compromise case. No compromises made towards cooling to achive the best...smart speaker() look.
Case manufacturers should pay GN for testin and noise testing their junk :D .
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reyunn5795
gamersnexus im suprized that you didn't mention the corsair 2000D which is imo the best thermally preforming case of this style. That and you can get custom fit cables if you get cables from pslate cables for the raw s1 case which cables fit the 2000d perfectly
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gamersnexus im suprized that you didn't mention the corsair 2000D which is imo the best thermally preforming case of this style. That and you can get custom fit cables if you get cables from pslate cables for the raw s1 case which cables fit the 2000d perfectly
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