Building a High-Performance PC Case: The "T1" Fractal Design Build

When it comes to building high-performance PCs, there are many factors to consider, including the choice of case, motherboard, power supply, and graphics card. In this article, we'll be exploring one such build that stands out from the rest due to its compact design and impressive performance capabilities.

The Case: A Customized "T1" Fractal Design Build

This build starts with a GPU, which is a bit unusual, but it uses a locking plate here which you need to screw in without the motherboard in place. In this case, we're using an RTX 490 Founders Edition, and on the other side of the case, we've got a Ryzen 7800x 3D plugged into the B650 Edge ITX from MSI. The latter is cooled by the noctua nh-l12s cooler, which comes in at 66mm in height.

As you can see from the image, this build is designed to make use of every millimeter available inside the case. The GPU clearance ranges from two slots up to four slots, and the CPU Cooler height ranges from 51mm up to 91mm. This means that even the most powerful cooling solutions will be able to keep pace with high-performance hardware.

The Motherboard: B650 Edge ITX from MSI

The Ryzen 7800x 3D is a highly capable processor, but it requires a motherboard that can support its power and cooling needs. In this build, we're using the B650 Edge ITX from MSI, which provides all the necessary features for high-performance gaming and content creation.

The Power Supply: Corsair SF750 Platinum

A good power supply is essential for any PC build, especially those with high-performance components like GPUs and processors. The Corsair SF750 Platinum is a highly efficient power supply that provides plenty of power to support our build's requirements. We've also added a custom 16-pin GPU cable from Mod DIY, which helps to keep the build looking tidy and organized.

The Cooling System: Noctua nh-l12s

One of the most impressive features of this build is its cooling system. The noctua nh-l12s cooler is highly efficient and provides plenty of cooling power for both the CPU and GPU. We've also added some custom case fans, including Arctic P14s, which provide excellent airflow throughout the case.

The Case: A Customized "T1" Fractal Design Build

Despite its compact design, this build has turned out to be surprisingly efficient, thanks in part to the careful planning and attention to detail. The side panels are not super breathable, but we've managed to offset that by installing three 140mm exhaust fans, which provide plenty of airflow throughout the case.

The Result: Impressive Performance Capabilities

In terms of performance, this build has exceeded our expectations. With temperatures ranging from 66°C to 67°C under heavy loads, it's clear that the noctua nh-l12s cooler is doing its job well. The GPU, in particular, has performed exceptionally well, with no signs of throttling or overheating.

The Conclusion: A Highly Recommended Build

While this build may not be for everyone due to its high price tag (€360), it's undoubtedly one of the most impressive and efficient PC builds on the market. If you're looking for a compact case that can handle high-performance hardware, then the "T1" Fractal Design build is definitely worth considering.

However, if budget is a concern, there are plenty of other options available that offer similar performance capabilities at a lower price point. In our opinion, an ASUS M2 is still one of the best PC cases on the market, offering excellent build quality and user experience without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, whether or not this build is right for you will depend on your specific needs and budget. But if you're looking for a highly efficient and compact case that can handle even the most demanding hardware, then the "T1" Fractal Design build is certainly worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhereas normal PC cases have side panels and all of these separate pieces this case just has one complete shell what's so special about that well because there are no separate panels here there are no panel gaps there are no creases on the outside there's no visible screws or anything like that and there's also no color matching issues or anodizing mismatching between the panels because it's all just one giant piece it's called the Thor Zone Nano Q the one that I have here is the larger R variant in silver which looks absolutely unreal in person I have to say it just looks supremely overkill for a PC case there really aren't many interesting PC cases coming out these days I just honestly skip most of them but yeah this is one which I've been waiting to see and build in in person the main question I have though is the fall zone actually better than the end case M2 because I've just put them side by side here and they're really not that different when it comes to size both come in around 16 L the th zone is a little bit longer while the NK 72 is a bit taller but yeah both are really trying to do the same thing which is be an Ultra Premium desktop enclosure for your Mini PC yeah let's talk more about this Thor Zone and specifically this exterior shell which is let's be honest the main event here if you're looking to buy this case this is pretty much the reason for it it looks unreal in person and it is actually just one giant piece there's no trickery or joins happening here I'm guessing this is extruded metal which has then been cnced it's also nicely concaved at the edges which gives it a nice kind of unique touch but yeah just mega mega overkill for a PC case which is what makes it so special now as for how you actually climb inside this thing and start building your PC because again there is actually no screws on the exterior at all the interior actually slides out and then you've got this convenient frame that you can now build your PC on to but this is where I do have to be a little bit more critical this exterior shell honestly one of my favorite things I've seen on a PC case in a very long time but this gliding mechanism it needs a lot of work for Zone have actually been making these external shell capsule style PC cases for a few years now and they still haven't quite figured this out sometimes it's a really smooth operation other times there's like this metal on metal contact which is just so cringey to listen to and then other times it just straight up gets jammed because they're using a low friction tape on the inside of the corners which can tend to like fold on itself and just block up the entire mechanism the one that I'm holding here actually just eventually peeled itself off I do actually have a couple of the first batch Nano Q cases here as well and these don't have that low friction tape on the inside so there's no issues with it getting like jammed up or anything like that but then on the other hand it's just a pure metal on metal sound it is not nice to listen to at all now I did notice on the edges there are these little cylinders which I think are made of like a nylon or a really hard plastic I think the idea is to have this low friction plastic to guide the frame on the inside of the corners there's like a little divot on the inside of the shell as well but they just don't do enough and with how good the rest of the case looks this experience of gliding the shell in and out does not match at all what I am super impressed with though is how these two pieces lock together so that you know your PC doesn't accidentally slide out when you're moving it so again there's only one visible screw on the exterior but this is a completely tooless mechanism you've got these struts on the front here and the two that are aside from the one in the center they actually move up and down like this and that is what locks the two pieces together it's just one movement which locks it at both ends which I think is pretty clever you know it would have been super easy just to implement a couple of screws at the back and then call it a day but yeah this over engineering is something that I personally really enjoy but what can you actually fit inside here how good is the space optimization well it's a sandwich layout which means your motherboard and power supply are on one side and your GPU is on the other and just like the form T1 and the fractal Terror you can actually shift the interior portion to favor more clearance for either your CPU or your GPU so the GPU clearance ranges from two slots up to four slots and CPU Cooler height ranges from 51 mm up to 91 mm let's just say we're about to make use of every millimeter available building in this case actually starts with the GPU which is a bit odd but it uses this locking plate here which you need to screw in without the motherboard in place but yeah easy enough and here I'm going with an RTX 490 Founders Edition and then on the other side we're going with the ryzen 7800x 3D plugged into the b650 edge ITX from MSI and that's cooled by the noctua nhl12s this cooler comes in at 66 mm in height and honestly I did not know whether it would fit I did a quick little test fit here of the external shell and it just fit there's literally no clearance left on the CPU side and there's maybe 1 mm left in front of the GPU but yeah this is super satisfying to look at the power supply is next Corsair sf750 Platinum along with a custom 16 pin GPU cable from Mod DIY which I always use for these super compact builds surprisingly I was also able to offset the power supply away from the rear fan on the 4090 this way it can just breathe a little bit better and then finally we've got the case fans I've got some 140 mil Arctic p14s here which should move a ton of air but I did have a bit of trouble with these for some weird reason regular case fan screws don't fit through these holes here on the case which is super weird Thor Zone's own custom screws do but they're not long enough for the 140 mil Arctic which I'm using here really hope they fix this For an upcoming batch because it just should not be a problem so yeah I had to use small zip ties for the top two and then double-sided tape for the front it is super janky I'm not proud of it but but there's not really any other option at the moment but that is absolutely everything and it looks super dense a 16 L case with hopefully some unreal performance as well the exterior sh by the way does tend to catch on the GPU cable and the Riser cable but so long as you guide them through there's not too much of a problem as for the temperatures and the cooling this actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting this isn't advertised as a very high performance Ultra optimized PC case or anything like that the side panels are not super breathable as you can see but I'm guessing the fact that you can install three 140 mil exhaust fans in this thing just offsets that difference both the CPU and gpus side get their own isolated cool air through the side panels which is immediately pulled out of the case through the top and the front those 140 mil Arctic p14s are no joke with a room temperature of just below 20° C the 490 was topping out at roughly 66 to 67 while drawing 400 WS in cyberpunk using the r tracing Ultra preset with no DLS the 7800x 3D was also sitting around that same level which is also pretty typical and this was with the case fans set to just 1100 RPM you won't get this level of performance however if you go with a top mounted liquid cooler since you'll be blocking a lot of that GPU exhaust airflow with a radiator you'll also have to use less powerful fans the 7800x 3D here anyway has plenty of cooling with that l12s so if you're planning on building in this thing yeah I can highly recommend this setup now if you're wondering why I've been so picky about this thing it's because of the price I mean you just take one look at this thing you know it's going to be expensive it is really expensive €360 is what this one cost which is the bigger model here that does include free shipping but man I mean still that is very very expensive that's pretty much double what an nase M2 costs even after you factor in shipping to most regions out there so look if it's my money I'm sticking with an enks M2 it's way more optimized in terms of layout options the build quality is the best on the market undisputedly and the user experience does seem to be thought of a little bit more but at the same time if you're already building with like a 490 it is very easy to take one look at this thing and be convinced in a heartbeat because there's no other PC case that looks like thiswhereas normal PC cases have side panels and all of these separate pieces this case just has one complete shell what's so special about that well because there are no separate panels here there are no panel gaps there are no creases on the outside there's no visible screws or anything like that and there's also no color matching issues or anodizing mismatching between the panels because it's all just one giant piece it's called the Thor Zone Nano Q the one that I have here is the larger R variant in silver which looks absolutely unreal in person I have to say it just looks supremely overkill for a PC case there really aren't many interesting PC cases coming out these days I just honestly skip most of them but yeah this is one which I've been waiting to see and build in in person the main question I have though is the fall zone actually better than the end case M2 because I've just put them side by side here and they're really not that different when it comes to size both come in around 16 L the th zone is a little bit longer while the NK 72 is a bit taller but yeah both are really trying to do the same thing which is be an Ultra Premium desktop enclosure for your Mini PC yeah let's talk more about this Thor Zone and specifically this exterior shell which is let's be honest the main event here if you're looking to buy this case this is pretty much the reason for it it looks unreal in person and it is actually just one giant piece there's no trickery or joins happening here I'm guessing this is extruded metal which has then been cnced it's also nicely concaved at the edges which gives it a nice kind of unique touch but yeah just mega mega overkill for a PC case which is what makes it so special now as for how you actually climb inside this thing and start building your PC because again there is actually no screws on the exterior at all the interior actually slides out and then you've got this convenient frame that you can now build your PC on to but this is where I do have to be a little bit more critical this exterior shell honestly one of my favorite things I've seen on a PC case in a very long time but this gliding mechanism it needs a lot of work for Zone have actually been making these external shell capsule style PC cases for a few years now and they still haven't quite figured this out sometimes it's a really smooth operation other times there's like this metal on metal contact which is just so cringey to listen to and then other times it just straight up gets jammed because they're using a low friction tape on the inside of the corners which can tend to like fold on itself and just block up the entire mechanism the one that I'm holding here actually just eventually peeled itself off I do actually have a couple of the first batch Nano Q cases here as well and these don't have that low friction tape on the inside so there's no issues with it getting like jammed up or anything like that but then on the other hand it's just a pure metal on metal sound it is not nice to listen to at all now I did notice on the edges there are these little cylinders which I think are made of like a nylon or a really hard plastic I think the idea is to have this low friction plastic to guide the frame on the inside of the corners there's like a little divot on the inside of the shell as well but they just don't do enough and with how good the rest of the case looks this experience of gliding the shell in and out does not match at all what I am super impressed with though is how these two pieces lock together so that you know your PC doesn't accidentally slide out when you're moving it so again there's only one visible screw on the exterior but this is a completely tooless mechanism you've got these struts on the front here and the two that are aside from the one in the center they actually move up and down like this and that is what locks the two pieces together it's just one movement which locks it at both ends which I think is pretty clever you know it would have been super easy just to implement a couple of screws at the back and then call it a day but yeah this over engineering is something that I personally really enjoy but what can you actually fit inside here how good is the space optimization well it's a sandwich layout which means your motherboard and power supply are on one side and your GPU is on the other and just like the form T1 and the fractal Terror you can actually shift the interior portion to favor more clearance for either your CPU or your GPU so the GPU clearance ranges from two slots up to four slots and CPU Cooler height ranges from 51 mm up to 91 mm let's just say we're about to make use of every millimeter available building in this case actually starts with the GPU which is a bit odd but it uses this locking plate here which you need to screw in without the motherboard in place but yeah easy enough and here I'm going with an RTX 490 Founders Edition and then on the other side we're going with the ryzen 7800x 3D plugged into the b650 edge ITX from MSI and that's cooled by the noctua nhl12s this cooler comes in at 66 mm in height and honestly I did not know whether it would fit I did a quick little test fit here of the external shell and it just fit there's literally no clearance left on the CPU side and there's maybe 1 mm left in front of the GPU but yeah this is super satisfying to look at the power supply is next Corsair sf750 Platinum along with a custom 16 pin GPU cable from Mod DIY which I always use for these super compact builds surprisingly I was also able to offset the power supply away from the rear fan on the 4090 this way it can just breathe a little bit better and then finally we've got the case fans I've got some 140 mil Arctic p14s here which should move a ton of air but I did have a bit of trouble with these for some weird reason regular case fan screws don't fit through these holes here on the case which is super weird Thor Zone's own custom screws do but they're not long enough for the 140 mil Arctic which I'm using here really hope they fix this For an upcoming batch because it just should not be a problem so yeah I had to use small zip ties for the top two and then double-sided tape for the front it is super janky I'm not proud of it but but there's not really any other option at the moment but that is absolutely everything and it looks super dense a 16 L case with hopefully some unreal performance as well the exterior sh by the way does tend to catch on the GPU cable and the Riser cable but so long as you guide them through there's not too much of a problem as for the temperatures and the cooling this actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting this isn't advertised as a very high performance Ultra optimized PC case or anything like that the side panels are not super breathable as you can see but I'm guessing the fact that you can install three 140 mil exhaust fans in this thing just offsets that difference both the CPU and gpus side get their own isolated cool air through the side panels which is immediately pulled out of the case through the top and the front those 140 mil Arctic p14s are no joke with a room temperature of just below 20° C the 490 was topping out at roughly 66 to 67 while drawing 400 WS in cyberpunk using the r tracing Ultra preset with no DLS the 7800x 3D was also sitting around that same level which is also pretty typical and this was with the case fans set to just 1100 RPM you won't get this level of performance however if you go with a top mounted liquid cooler since you'll be blocking a lot of that GPU exhaust airflow with a radiator you'll also have to use less powerful fans the 7800x 3D here anyway has plenty of cooling with that l12s so if you're planning on building in this thing yeah I can highly recommend this setup now if you're wondering why I've been so picky about this thing it's because of the price I mean you just take one look at this thing you know it's going to be expensive it is really expensive €360 is what this one cost which is the bigger model here that does include free shipping but man I mean still that is very very expensive that's pretty much double what an nase M2 costs even after you factor in shipping to most regions out there so look if it's my money I'm sticking with an enks M2 it's way more optimized in terms of layout options the build quality is the best on the market undisputedly and the user experience does seem to be thought of a little bit more but at the same time if you're already building with like a 490 it is very easy to take one look at this thing and be convinced in a heartbeat because there's no other PC case that looks like thiswhereas normal PC cases have side panels and all of these separate pieces this case just has one complete shell what's so special about that well because there are no separate panels here there are no panel gaps there are no creases on the outside there's no visible screws or anything like that and there's also no color matching issues or anodizing mismatching between the panels because it's all just one giant piece it's called the Thor Zone Nano Q the one that I have here is the larger R variant in silver which looks absolutely unreal in person I have to say it just looks supremely overkill for a PC case there really aren't many interesting PC cases coming out these days I just honestly skip most of them but yeah this is one which I've been waiting to see and build in in person the main question I have though is the fall zone actually better than the end case M2 because I've just put them side by side here and they're really not that different when it comes to size both come in around 16 L the th zone is a little bit longer while the NK 72 is a bit taller but yeah both are really trying to do the same thing which is be an Ultra Premium desktop enclosure for your Mini PC yeah let's talk more about this Thor Zone and specifically this exterior shell which is let's be honest the main event here if you're looking to buy this case this is pretty much the reason for it it looks unreal in person and it is actually just one giant piece there's no trickery or joins happening here I'm guessing this is extruded metal which has then been cnced it's also nicely concaved at the edges which gives it a nice kind of unique touch but yeah just mega mega overkill for a PC case which is what makes it so special now as for how you actually climb inside this thing and start building your PC because again there is actually no screws on the exterior at all the interior actually slides out and then you've got this convenient frame that you can now build your PC on to but this is where I do have to be a little bit more critical this exterior shell honestly one of my favorite things I've seen on a PC case in a very long time but this gliding mechanism it needs a lot of work for Zone have actually been making these external shell capsule style PC cases for a few years now and they still haven't quite figured this out sometimes it's a really smooth operation other times there's like this metal on metal contact which is just so cringey to listen to and then other times it just straight up gets jammed because they're using a low friction tape on the inside of the corners which can tend to like fold on itself and just block up the entire mechanism the one that I'm holding here actually just eventually peeled itself off I do actually have a couple of the first batch Nano Q cases here as well and these don't have that low friction tape on the inside so there's no issues with it getting like jammed up or anything like that but then on the other hand it's just a pure metal on metal sound it is not nice to listen to at all now I did notice on the edges there are these little cylinders which I think are made of like a nylon or a really hard plastic I think the idea is to have this low friction plastic to guide the frame on the inside of the corners there's like a little divot on the inside of the shell as well but they just don't do enough and with how good the rest of the case looks this experience of gliding the shell in and out does not match at all what I am super impressed with though is how these two pieces lock together so that you know your PC doesn't accidentally slide out when you're moving it so again there's only one visible screw on the exterior but this is a completely tooless mechanism you've got these struts on the front here and the two that are aside from the one in the center they actually move up and down like this and that is what locks the two pieces together it's just one movement which locks it at both ends which I think is pretty clever you know it would have been super easy just to implement a couple of screws at the back and then call it a day but yeah this over engineering is something that I personally really enjoy but what can you actually fit inside here how good is the space optimization well it's a sandwich layout which means your motherboard and power supply are on one side and your GPU is on the other and just like the form T1 and the fractal Terror you can actually shift the interior portion to favor more clearance for either your CPU or your GPU so the GPU clearance ranges from two slots up to four slots and CPU Cooler height ranges from 51 mm up to 91 mm let's just say we're about to make use of every millimeter available building in this case actually starts with the GPU which is a bit odd but it uses this locking plate here which you need to screw in without the motherboard in place but yeah easy enough and here I'm going with an RTX 490 Founders Edition and then on the other side we're going with the ryzen 7800x 3D plugged into the b650 edge ITX from MSI and that's cooled by the noctua nhl12s this cooler comes in at 66 mm in height and honestly I did not know whether it would fit I did a quick little test fit here of the external shell and it just fit there's literally no clearance left on the CPU side and there's maybe 1 mm left in front of the GPU but yeah this is super satisfying to look at the power supply is next Corsair sf750 Platinum along with a custom 16 pin GPU cable from Mod DIY which I always use for these super compact builds surprisingly I was also able to offset the power supply away from the rear fan on the 4090 this way it can just breathe a little bit better and then finally we've got the case fans I've got some 140 mil Arctic p14s here which should move a ton of air but I did have a bit of trouble with these for some weird reason regular case fan screws don't fit through these holes here on the case which is super weird Thor Zone's own custom screws do but they're not long enough for the 140 mil Arctic which I'm using here really hope they fix this For an upcoming batch because it just should not be a problem so yeah I had to use small zip ties for the top two and then double-sided tape for the front it is super janky I'm not proud of it but but there's not really any other option at the moment but that is absolutely everything and it looks super dense a 16 L case with hopefully some unreal performance as well the exterior sh by the way does tend to catch on the GPU cable and the Riser cable but so long as you guide them through there's not too much of a problem as for the temperatures and the cooling this actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting this isn't advertised as a very high performance Ultra optimized PC case or anything like that the side panels are not super breathable as you can see but I'm guessing the fact that you can install three 140 mil exhaust fans in this thing just offsets that difference both the CPU and gpus side get their own isolated cool air through the side panels which is immediately pulled out of the case through the top and the front those 140 mil Arctic p14s are no joke with a room temperature of just below 20° C the 490 was topping out at roughly 66 to 67 while drawing 400 WS in cyberpunk using the r tracing Ultra preset with no DLS the 7800x 3D was also sitting around that same level which is also pretty typical and this was with the case fans set to just 1100 RPM you won't get this level of performance however if you go with a top mounted liquid cooler since you'll be blocking a lot of that GPU exhaust airflow with a radiator you'll also have to use less powerful fans the 7800x 3D here anyway has plenty of cooling with that l12s so if you're planning on building in this thing yeah I can highly recommend this setup now if you're wondering why I've been so picky about this thing it's because of the price I mean you just take one look at this thing you know it's going to be expensive it is really expensive €360 is what this one cost which is the bigger model here that does include free shipping but man I mean still that is very very expensive that's pretty much double what an nase M2 costs even after you factor in shipping to most regions out there so look if it's my money I'm sticking with an enks M2 it's way more optimized in terms of layout options the build quality is the best on the market undisputedly and the user experience does seem to be thought of a little bit more but at the same time if you're already building with like a 490 it is very easy to take one look at this thing and be convinced in a heartbeat because there's no other PC case that looks like this\n"