**Fractal Design's A4 Mini Case Review: Cooling Capabilities and Acoustics**

In this review, we'll delve into the Fractal Design A4 mini case, specifically focusing on its cooling capabilities and acoustics. As a small form-factor enthusiast, it's essential to consider cases that can efficiently manage high temperatures without sacrificing performance.

The Fractal Design A4 features an open-air shroud design, which creates a vacuum effect when the side panels are off. This phenomenon forces the intake air from the bottom vents more effectively, potentially affecting the amount of air brought in by the fans. However, this theory is not entirely confirmed, and its impact on cooling performance remains uncertain.

One notable observation is that as the GPU temperature increases, so does the CPU temperature. With an open-air shroud design, hot air is ejected inside the case, which is then pulled in by the radiator fans being passed through the radiator fins. This creates a noticeable increase in CPU temperatures, even when the GPU temperature is only 3 degrees higher.

The Fractal Design A4 also features two side panel options: mesh and glass. While both panels were used in testing, with both side panels on the case was no easier for cooling than it was with the glass panel. The trade-off between noise and thermals is a crucial consideration. The mesh panel runs cooler but is slightly noisier.

In our testing, we found that under load, the system's acoustics can be a concern. With the components inside, it does get a bit noisy, like "teetering on the verge of annoyance." However, this may not be an issue for users who plan to use earbuds or headphones during gaming sessions.

Overall, Fractal Design has made a commendable effort with the A4 mini case. While there are some potential cooling limitations and acoustic concerns, this case is still a great option for small form-factor enthusiasts. With its unique design and open-air shroud, it's an exciting addition to the market. However, in a competitive landscape where other cases offer comparable performance and quality, Fractal Design must ensure that their product stands out from the crowd.

**Design and Features**

The Fractal Design A4 is designed for small form-factor enthusiasts who want to build compact systems. With its unique design and open-air shroud, it offers an interesting approach to cooling. The case features a sleek and modern aesthetic, making it a great choice for those who value aesthetics in their builds.

One of the standout features of the A4 is its ability to accommodate small components without sacrificing performance. Despite its compact size, Fractal Design has managed to include a number of features that make it an attractive option for enthusiasts.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the Fractal Design A4 mini case offers an exciting approach to cooling and acoustics in a compact form factor. While there are some potential limitations and concerns, this case is still a great option for those who value innovative design and performance. As with any case in this market, it's essential to consider the competition and ensure that Fractal Design is offering something unique and comparable.

**Additional Tips**

* When building in the A4, keep in mind the potential limitations of cooling and noise.

* Consider using high-performance fans to minimize noise output while maintaining good airflow.

* The mesh panel option may run cooler but is slightly noisier than the glass panel.

* The A4 is a great choice for small form-factor enthusiasts who want to build compact systems without sacrificing performance.

**Author's Note**

The author of this article acknowledges that Fractal Design has made an effort with the A4 mini case. However, as a enthusiast and reviewer, it's essential to consider the bigger picture and provide an objective review. The article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the case's features, cooling capabilities, and acoustics, allowing readers to make informed decisions about their builds.

**Disclaimer**

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Fractal Design or other companies mentioned.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfractal made a new case and it actually looks like a new case for once they were really switching it up here this is the era ITX it's Mini ITX as the name suggests and look how tiny it is that oh it's so cute so it's actually a 16 litre case so it's fairly large for a small form-factor chassis for comparison I've got the Baron crochet 4 this is a 7 liter case and this is the one that I use for traveling around and stuff so yeah compared to some small form-factor cases out there particularly the ones that cater to the enthusiast crowd it is definitely a bit bigger you could still travel with about depending on your tolerance and stuff I probably wouldn't because I like to go really small like throw something in my backpack small where you definitely can't do it here but then again that's not really the point here fractal isn't trying to make a case that you take on the go but rather a case with a small footprint that's got a sleek and elegant design that sort of just blends in with the household on top of that though fractals also touting this as a capable water cooling machine because you can squeeze a 240 millimeter radiator at the top of the case and what will check that out more in just a bit but for now let's just admire the outside it kind of has this very sort of minimal but somewhat stylish aesthetic it's got this subtle diagonal line on three of the panels front panel i/o is pretty simple you've got a power button two USB 3.0 one USB 3.1 type-c and an audio combo Jack right there on either side of the case you get these thin ventilation strips it does have some removable pop-out dust filters on the other side that are really easy to to clean and remove for the top panel you get a couple different options right here we have the mesh panel that's installed it is it's tooless magnetic so that's kind of nice it comes off very easy and then we've also got a tempered glass option which may not fit the best because I still have the plastic on there you go you get the idea you can't really see much in there especially because the power supply mounts towards the front at the top of the case so you might be able to see a little bit of your motherboard here but it's just kind of like a sleek Hey look it's glass it's pretty and stuff obviously this is going to limit your air flow a lot more than the mesh top because you can see there's just barely there's a slight opening around the sides around the edges probably not the best if you're gonna stick hot running components in here but it is an option all the cases regardless of color because this thing comes in like five or six different colors all the colors will come with the mesh option but some of them will come with a tempered glass panel and others will come with like a wood veneer type type panel which which looks pretty cool on the back let's take a look at the back here say we do get oh it's a cute little baby fan 80 millimeter fan babies you're cute but they're also noisy so we'll see how that sounds in just a bit cut out for your motherboard I owe this I believe is a pass-through for your power supply since again PSU is at the front so there's gonna be a pass-through cable that routes here and then we've got a two slot design for GPUs not 2.5 not 2.75 two slots so we're gonna have to be a bit selective with the GPU we put in here today you'll notice the GPU is like right at the bottom of the case where you can mount two 120 millimeter fans if you don't have a GPU installed or if you only have a single slot GPU install but if you have a standard two slot card in here no fans will fit at the bottom even slim fans it's pretty much right up against the bottom which is a little concerning you can see there's zero ventilation at the bottom here instead we have the ventilation on this side which I think this is a great idea you know what I mean a lot of cases will have the actual ventilation on the flat on the bottom but depending on how tall the feet are that can limit your airflow I kind of like this design that they went with it's a really nice concept we'll see how it actually works in practice let's check these side panels off and take a look inside so first of all pushpin tabs that's that's smart so completely to list and here's those removable dust filters I was mentioning they pop out pretty easily probably much easier when you have two hands to work with there we go okay so easy enough that I mentioned the panels are aluminum yeah they're a little know they're very lightweight that they look really nice but they are fingerprint magnets and they look like they're probably prone to bending cuz it's a relatively thin piece of aluminum it probably wouldn't take much to put a dent in them which is yet another reason I wouldn't travel with the case but I think fractals intending this chassis to be in a desk environment anyway so let's take a look inside here the first thing I noticed is this removable bracket which is held in place by four Phillips head screws and this is for some drives you can mount a single three and a half inch drive or I believe two SSDs so you can mount an SSD here another one down there or you could pop one of these bad boys in something like like that except on the other side of the bracket to the right of that bracket you'll find another bracket slash cage that can house more Drive so you can put yet another three and a half inch drive in like that or it can house up to a pair of two and a half inch drive just to the right of this cage we actually have two power supply brackets this is one for an SFX or an SFX L unit and then we have one for an ATX unit so you actually have some flexibility here and what kind of form factor PSU you choose obviously if you go with an ATX full size unit you are gonna encroach a bit on whatever space is down here so it might interfere more with your graphics card assuming you have a longer GPU but what is kind of cool is if they have these PSU brackets on rails so you can actually adjust them move them up as you see fit right now the ATX brackets in its topmost spot with the SFX in the bottom most spot and depending on your configuration what you're trying to do that can come in handy one thing I forgot to mention about the top panel is that once you've removed it you actually have access to a removable dust filter about a Bing badda boom just like that now you can see that we've got adjustable mounting strips for a 240 millimeter radiator or dual 120 fans it's worth noting that having the PSU at the front of the case isn't going to affect air flow much because there's nothing going on here I mean there's no ventilation there's no mounting points or fans in fact the only mounting points for fans again are the top the rear and the bottom of the case and you can't even use bottom fans if you're planning to install a full-length graphics card in here that's two slots since that's bound to be a very popular configuration for a lot of people a lot of users are going to have to rely solely on the top and rear the case for active cooling as there's really nowhere else in the case to mount fans in that situation it makes me a little concerned for the graphics card because I feel like the natural path of air flow would be kind of like like right around here right maybe a little bit coming in or out from from the side panels but then like the GPU seems a little bit isolated down here like it's kind of in this foreveralone corner where not much action in terms of air flow is happening so it'll be interesting to see I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet we'll see we'll see how effective these little ventilation strips are all right let this bad boy off really quick all right so here's a better look at our only pre installed fan in the case this little 80 millimeter guy at least it's all black and has a black cable that's nice this is a three pin three pin connector there it is adjustable so you can move it up or down depending on your needs the motherboard tray also has a very generous cutout so if we wanted to get access to like a CPU cooler backplate or an m2 SSD that was mounted behind the board we can definitely do that because that pretty much spans the entire almost the entire dimension of mini-itx board that being said there isn't a whole lot of room behind the motherboard tray for routing cables like this screwdriver standard number two Phillips head screwdriver the width of the screwdriver that's about how much space you get so most of the cable management I would assume is gonna be done just kind of right here out in the open maybe it does look like there is a velcro tie is a velcro strap back there so most of us cables are just gonna be bunched right here out in the open which isn't a huge deal depending on who you ask especially because this case has no side panel window it's pretty much closed off and that could be a blessing or a curse I mean if not being able to see inside your system might allow you to buy cheaper parts that don't really look as nice but it doesn't really matter because no one can see them kind of depends on how rigid you are about aesthetics did I mention the fan mats at the bottom of the case are dual 140 s and not 120 s I can't remember if I said that but I did now and the way that you would actually install those is by removing this bottom panel looks like there's a couple Phillips head screws right there that you remove take the panel off and then install the fans but again you can't you can't do that if you have a big GPU all right I'm gonna stop blabbing about this empty case and do the build so I can continue blabbing about a fully loaded case three two one all right the build is complete it went pretty smoothly I do have a couple notes though first off I wanted to mention really quick that my sample did not come with the PSU extension I thought it was gonna be in like the accessory box but it wasn't don't worry about that the retail version will come with this pre-installed in the case but they had to ship it to me separately so just something to note there everything else is good so let's talk about this really quick so for starters everything fits more or less comfortably in here you can see we've got a 240 millimeter liquid area which is terribly scratched up that's from a different project so that has nothing to do with this case this case did not do that I had no problems getting it in on however the AO tubes if you've got some longer tubes to deal with they may slightly interfere with the reor 80 millimeter fan this one's fine it's just barely a couple millimeters away but something to be aware of you could also some time so they're out of the way something like that this power supply is a corsair SF 600 so this is an sfx unit this is not sfx l it is just a standard sfx so it's actually shorter than sfx out it's about as short as they come in terms of supported PS use in this case and you can see we actually have quite a bit of clearance here between the PSU and radiator fan you can see the PSU extension is right angle so that helps keep it low profile we did still have to mount the PSU bracket at its lowest point however bottom clearance is looking good too we have plenty of room between the GPU and the cables here if you're using an SF XL or just a standard full-size ATX PSU then you definitely start to encroach on this area a bit something to keep in mind there's not a whole lot of room for managing cables behind the motherboard tray so larger cables like your 24 pin ATX will probably have to go directly from the PSU straight to the connector so if you wanted to if you wanted the inside of this case to look pretty at all not that it would matter to some because there's no window in the side panel but if you did you definitely want to go with a custom length cable for it to look its best i stashed the rest of the excess cables more or less in front of the GPU and behind it it's to go look back here so you can see I just crammed a bunch of stuff down here because there's really not a whole lot this is very unforgiving you see these couple like you know a i/o and fan cables that's about as much cabling I would suggest putting on this of the tray remember these side panels are pushpin so any sort of resistance against them will cause them to not stay flush with the case it also brings up the 8 pin cable for our CPU I would have loved to route it in between the motherboard and the motherboard tray and then again through here to make it cleaner so it's not on you know the front of the motherboard but I could not fit the a pin connector through here I tried to split it into 1/2 went through but the other half that actually has the locking pins to connect the 2 4 pin connectors would not clear this space so I would suggest if you are installing a 240 millimeter radiator in here to install that in the fans first power supply second and then once you have your 8 pin cable routed where you want it to be then you mount the motherboard on top of it that way you have a cleaner routing job in the end I also want to point out that large generous cutout is looking pretty good plenty of access to the the CPU backplate and I would ever MDOT to slot maybe behind here last thing to point out here is that the GPU went in pretty easy it is a two slaw card which is the max this case supports it's an RT X 27 T super founders Edition you can see this card fits comfortably in here but there's not a whole lot of extra room if you were to go with like an Adam board Partner card that had a larger cooler on it so you definitely want to make sure that you check your clearances before you purchase a graphics card for this case on that note I think we're ready to test temperatures and noise let's do it okey-dokey artichokey x' I just spent the last couple hours testing and I've got some interesting results for you but first specs we have arisin 930 900 x12 core 24 thread processor on an asus rog strix x4 70 i gaming motherboard 16 gigs ddr4 3600 speed in an RT x 2070 super founders Edition I tested the case in three different configurations the first of which was mesh top panel and no side panels that means the right panel and the left panel were completely removed next one was simply slapping both side panels on and keeping the mesh top panel on as well and then the third test was both side panels on with the glass top instead of the mesh so let's talk about the CPU temperatures first the way I tested CPU temps was in Adobe Premiere Pro I did a basic render test 4k h.264 took about 10 to 12 minutes with the 3900 X to render that file our max template the first configuration of no side panels was 71 degrees C so actually not too bad but once I through the side panels on with the mesh top that increased to 74 C so did get notably hotter it is measurable but not a whole lot hotter like I actually expected it to get much warmer than it did and I was equally surprised by our third result when I put the glass top on that we only increased by two degrees hitting a max temp of 76 C so really not too bad there for a 3900 x12 core processor you know I was really expecting a little bit worse I am pleasantly surprised for our GPU thermal testing I ran Unigine having 4.0 for 20 minutes for each test the first test which is no side panels and mesh top resulted in a max GPU temperature of 81 degrees C so not not so hot I'm actually actually very hot but you know what it means this confirms my suspicions from earlier that the GPU ventilation at the bottom here without any sort of active cooling is just not quite as efficient as it could be what's really interesting though is that when I did the second test with the side panels on and mesh top that our temperature actually decreased by 3 degrees hitting 78 C my theory is that since the GPU is somewhat recessed or at least the GPU fans are somewhat recessed to the bottom of the case that putting the side panel on actually forces them to intake air more effectively from those bottom vents whereas with the side panel off you don't really have a vacuum being created as strongly and that could potentially affect the amount of air that those fans are bringing in just just one theory I'm not exactly sure if it's correct or not and finally with both side panels on and the glass top we did see a max temperature of 80 degrees C so still one degree cooler than when we had no side panels at all but definitely not super favorable for as far as GPU temperatures are concerned the other behavior I observed is that as the GPU temperature increases so does the CPU temperature because with a card like this with an open-air shroud it's kind of ejecting all of its hot air inside the case which is then being pulled in by the radiator fans being passed through the radiator fins and that obviously heats up your CPU a bit so when our GPU temp from 78 to 80 C our CPU temp also jumped from 67 to 70 C so it would actually increase the CPU temperature by 3 degrees just from the GPU heat now the temperatures in the era I TX are definitely not fantastic obviously we're dealing with a small form-factor case here but I think there are a couple of ways that fractal could have made things a little cooler if you're not throwing powerful hot running components in here it's obviously less of a concern but then again if you're spending the amount of money on this case but what is a hundred and fifty nine u.s. and a lot of users are probably wanting to stick an eight or twelve core CPU in here with the high end GPU so it is something to be and the other thing to keep in mind is that with rising temperatures also comes increased noise output we did one test with the mesh panel and the other with the glass panel obviously both side panels were on the whole time but as you might expect the case was no easier with the mesh panel than it was with the glass panel so the trade-off here is noise versus thermals the mesh panel runs cooler but it's also a bit noisier here's a listen and if you just want my subjective statement of the acoustics on this system with the components that we have inside under load it does get a bit noisy like Wendell from level one set it's like teetering on on the verge of of annoyance but it's you know it really depends on who you ask it's a little bit loud for my liking I will admit at the same time if you're the type of person that's like hey I'm only gonna fire this up when I'm gaming and when I'm gaming I'm wearing a pair of can so you know I've got some headphones and I'm just listening to in-game sound I can't hear hear the case anyway then it's not gonna be much of an issue for you so it really just depends but that said it can get a little noisy if you're pushing it hard overall it's a pretty neat case and I'm glad fractals trying something new I do like this case it's fun to build in there's some other possibilities here that I haven't really explored today in terms of you know component selection and layout at the same time I do think there were a couple of missed opportunities when it comes to cooling which is obviously important in a case like this people spending this kind of money on a chassis a lot of small form-factor enthusiasts out there gonna want to cram hot running components in here and are no doubt going to be looking for a way to keep thermals in check this is also a very competitive market the fractals getting into here there's a ton of really good small form-factor enthusiast cases now that cost in the same ballpark hundred and fifty two hundred dollars plus that darh just really good solid cases the damn case a4 is one of them you've also got the end case m1 the sidearm t1 there's so many options now that fractal has to be looking at their competition closely make sure they're offering a comparable amount of performance and quality with their own products but overall not a bad case good good attempt on a first sort of mini ITX like really mini ITX much more small form-factor than the define an OS which is also a great case but kind of in a different niche there so great job fractal you guys let me know what you think about this case down in the comments below and yeah thanks for watching hustle like on this video if you enjoyed it get subscribe for more tech content on the way check out vivid on tech our merchandise store we've got a lot of stuff there to buy and we're thank you guys so much for your support there feel free to check it out apart from that thank you guys again for watching have a good one and I'll see y'all in the next videofractal made a new case and it actually looks like a new case for once they were really switching it up here this is the era ITX it's Mini ITX as the name suggests and look how tiny it is that oh it's so cute so it's actually a 16 litre case so it's fairly large for a small form-factor chassis for comparison I've got the Baron crochet 4 this is a 7 liter case and this is the one that I use for traveling around and stuff so yeah compared to some small form-factor cases out there particularly the ones that cater to the enthusiast crowd it is definitely a bit bigger you could still travel with about depending on your tolerance and stuff I probably wouldn't because I like to go really small like throw something in my backpack small where you definitely can't do it here but then again that's not really the point here fractal isn't trying to make a case that you take on the go but rather a case with a small footprint that's got a sleek and elegant design that sort of just blends in with the household on top of that though fractals also touting this as a capable water cooling machine because you can squeeze a 240 millimeter radiator at the top of the case and what will check that out more in just a bit but for now let's just admire the outside it kind of has this very sort of minimal but somewhat stylish aesthetic it's got this subtle diagonal line on three of the panels front panel i/o is pretty simple you've got a power button two USB 3.0 one USB 3.1 type-c and an audio combo Jack right there on either side of the case you get these thin ventilation strips it does have some removable pop-out dust filters on the other side that are really easy to to clean and remove for the top panel you get a couple different options right here we have the mesh panel that's installed it is it's tooless magnetic so that's kind of nice it comes off very easy and then we've also got a tempered glass option which may not fit the best because I still have the plastic on there you go you get the idea you can't really see much in there especially because the power supply mounts towards the front at the top of the case so you might be able to see a little bit of your motherboard here but it's just kind of like a sleek Hey look it's glass it's pretty and stuff obviously this is going to limit your air flow a lot more than the mesh top because you can see there's just barely there's a slight opening around the sides around the edges probably not the best if you're gonna stick hot running components in here but it is an option all the cases regardless of color because this thing comes in like five or six different colors all the colors will come with the mesh option but some of them will come with a tempered glass panel and others will come with like a wood veneer type type panel which which looks pretty cool on the back let's take a look at the back here say we do get oh it's a cute little baby fan 80 millimeter fan babies you're cute but they're also noisy so we'll see how that sounds in just a bit cut out for your motherboard I owe this I believe is a pass-through for your power supply since again PSU is at the front so there's gonna be a pass-through cable that routes here and then we've got a two slot design for GPUs not 2.5 not 2.75 two slots so we're gonna have to be a bit selective with the GPU we put in here today you'll notice the GPU is like right at the bottom of the case where you can mount two 120 millimeter fans if you don't have a GPU installed or if you only have a single slot GPU install but if you have a standard two slot card in here no fans will fit at the bottom even slim fans it's pretty much right up against the bottom which is a little concerning you can see there's zero ventilation at the bottom here instead we have the ventilation on this side which I think this is a great idea you know what I mean a lot of cases will have the actual ventilation on the flat on the bottom but depending on how tall the feet are that can limit your airflow I kind of like this design that they went with it's a really nice concept we'll see how it actually works in practice let's check these side panels off and take a look inside so first of all pushpin tabs that's that's smart so completely to list and here's those removable dust filters I was mentioning they pop out pretty easily probably much easier when you have two hands to work with there we go okay so easy enough that I mentioned the panels are aluminum yeah they're a little know they're very lightweight that they look really nice but they are fingerprint magnets and they look like they're probably prone to bending cuz it's a relatively thin piece of aluminum it probably wouldn't take much to put a dent in them which is yet another reason I wouldn't travel with the case but I think fractals intending this chassis to be in a desk environment anyway so let's take a look inside here the first thing I noticed is this removable bracket which is held in place by four Phillips head screws and this is for some drives you can mount a single three and a half inch drive or I believe two SSDs so you can mount an SSD here another one down there or you could pop one of these bad boys in something like like that except on the other side of the bracket to the right of that bracket you'll find another bracket slash cage that can house more Drive so you can put yet another three and a half inch drive in like that or it can house up to a pair of two and a half inch drive just to the right of this cage we actually have two power supply brackets this is one for an SFX or an SFX L unit and then we have one for an ATX unit so you actually have some flexibility here and what kind of form factor PSU you choose obviously if you go with an ATX full size unit you are gonna encroach a bit on whatever space is down here so it might interfere more with your graphics card assuming you have a longer GPU but what is kind of cool is if they have these PSU brackets on rails so you can actually adjust them move them up as you see fit right now the ATX brackets in its topmost spot with the SFX in the bottom most spot and depending on your configuration what you're trying to do that can come in handy one thing I forgot to mention about the top panel is that once you've removed it you actually have access to a removable dust filter about a Bing badda boom just like that now you can see that we've got adjustable mounting strips for a 240 millimeter radiator or dual 120 fans it's worth noting that having the PSU at the front of the case isn't going to affect air flow much because there's nothing going on here I mean there's no ventilation there's no mounting points or fans in fact the only mounting points for fans again are the top the rear and the bottom of the case and you can't even use bottom fans if you're planning to install a full-length graphics card in here that's two slots since that's bound to be a very popular configuration for a lot of people a lot of users are going to have to rely solely on the top and rear the case for active cooling as there's really nowhere else in the case to mount fans in that situation it makes me a little concerned for the graphics card because I feel like the natural path of air flow would be kind of like like right around here right maybe a little bit coming in or out from from the side panels but then like the GPU seems a little bit isolated down here like it's kind of in this foreveralone corner where not much action in terms of air flow is happening so it'll be interesting to see I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet we'll see we'll see how effective these little ventilation strips are all right let this bad boy off really quick all right so here's a better look at our only pre installed fan in the case this little 80 millimeter guy at least it's all black and has a black cable that's nice this is a three pin three pin connector there it is adjustable so you can move it up or down depending on your needs the motherboard tray also has a very generous cutout so if we wanted to get access to like a CPU cooler backplate or an m2 SSD that was mounted behind the board we can definitely do that because that pretty much spans the entire almost the entire dimension of mini-itx board that being said there isn't a whole lot of room behind the motherboard tray for routing cables like this screwdriver standard number two Phillips head screwdriver the width of the screwdriver that's about how much space you get so most of the cable management I would assume is gonna be done just kind of right here out in the open maybe it does look like there is a velcro tie is a velcro strap back there so most of us cables are just gonna be bunched right here out in the open which isn't a huge deal depending on who you ask especially because this case has no side panel window it's pretty much closed off and that could be a blessing or a curse I mean if not being able to see inside your system might allow you to buy cheaper parts that don't really look as nice but it doesn't really matter because no one can see them kind of depends on how rigid you are about aesthetics did I mention the fan mats at the bottom of the case are dual 140 s and not 120 s I can't remember if I said that but I did now and the way that you would actually install those is by removing this bottom panel looks like there's a couple Phillips head screws right there that you remove take the panel off and then install the fans but again you can't you can't do that if you have a big GPU all right I'm gonna stop blabbing about this empty case and do the build so I can continue blabbing about a fully loaded case three two one all right the build is complete it went pretty smoothly I do have a couple notes though first off I wanted to mention really quick that my sample did not come with the PSU extension I thought it was gonna be in like the accessory box but it wasn't don't worry about that the retail version will come with this pre-installed in the case but they had to ship it to me separately so just something to note there everything else is good so let's talk about this really quick so for starters everything fits more or less comfortably in here you can see we've got a 240 millimeter liquid area which is terribly scratched up that's from a different project so that has nothing to do with this case this case did not do that I had no problems getting it in on however the AO tubes if you've got some longer tubes to deal with they may slightly interfere with the reor 80 millimeter fan this one's fine it's just barely a couple millimeters away but something to be aware of you could also some time so they're out of the way something like that this power supply is a corsair SF 600 so this is an sfx unit this is not sfx l it is just a standard sfx so it's actually shorter than sfx out it's about as short as they come in terms of supported PS use in this case and you can see we actually have quite a bit of clearance here between the PSU and radiator fan you can see the PSU extension is right angle so that helps keep it low profile we did still have to mount the PSU bracket at its lowest point however bottom clearance is looking good too we have plenty of room between the GPU and the cables here if you're using an SF XL or just a standard full-size ATX PSU then you definitely start to encroach on this area a bit something to keep in mind there's not a whole lot of room for managing cables behind the motherboard tray so larger cables like your 24 pin ATX will probably have to go directly from the PSU straight to the connector so if you wanted to if you wanted the inside of this case to look pretty at all not that it would matter to some because there's no window in the side panel but if you did you definitely want to go with a custom length cable for it to look its best i stashed the rest of the excess cables more or less in front of the GPU and behind it it's to go look back here so you can see I just crammed a bunch of stuff down here because there's really not a whole lot this is very unforgiving you see these couple like you know a i/o and fan cables that's about as much cabling I would suggest putting on this of the tray remember these side panels are pushpin so any sort of resistance against them will cause them to not stay flush with the case it also brings up the 8 pin cable for our CPU I would have loved to route it in between the motherboard and the motherboard tray and then again through here to make it cleaner so it's not on you know the front of the motherboard but I could not fit the a pin connector through here I tried to split it into 1/2 went through but the other half that actually has the locking pins to connect the 2 4 pin connectors would not clear this space so I would suggest if you are installing a 240 millimeter radiator in here to install that in the fans first power supply second and then once you have your 8 pin cable routed where you want it to be then you mount the motherboard on top of it that way you have a cleaner routing job in the end I also want to point out that large generous cutout is looking pretty good plenty of access to the the CPU backplate and I would ever MDOT to slot maybe behind here last thing to point out here is that the GPU went in pretty easy it is a two slaw card which is the max this case supports it's an RT X 27 T super founders Edition you can see this card fits comfortably in here but there's not a whole lot of extra room if you were to go with like an Adam board Partner card that had a larger cooler on it so you definitely want to make sure that you check your clearances before you purchase a graphics card for this case on that note I think we're ready to test temperatures and noise let's do it okey-dokey artichokey x' I just spent the last couple hours testing and I've got some interesting results for you but first specs we have arisin 930 900 x12 core 24 thread processor on an asus rog strix x4 70 i gaming motherboard 16 gigs ddr4 3600 speed in an RT x 2070 super founders Edition I tested the case in three different configurations the first of which was mesh top panel and no side panels that means the right panel and the left panel were completely removed next one was simply slapping both side panels on and keeping the mesh top panel on as well and then the third test was both side panels on with the glass top instead of the mesh so let's talk about the CPU temperatures first the way I tested CPU temps was in Adobe Premiere Pro I did a basic render test 4k h.264 took about 10 to 12 minutes with the 3900 X to render that file our max template the first configuration of no side panels was 71 degrees C so actually not too bad but once I through the side panels on with the mesh top that increased to 74 C so did get notably hotter it is measurable but not a whole lot hotter like I actually expected it to get much warmer than it did and I was equally surprised by our third result when I put the glass top on that we only increased by two degrees hitting a max temp of 76 C so really not too bad there for a 3900 x12 core processor you know I was really expecting a little bit worse I am pleasantly surprised for our GPU thermal testing I ran Unigine having 4.0 for 20 minutes for each test the first test which is no side panels and mesh top resulted in a max GPU temperature of 81 degrees C so not not so hot I'm actually actually very hot but you know what it means this confirms my suspicions from earlier that the GPU ventilation at the bottom here without any sort of active cooling is just not quite as efficient as it could be what's really interesting though is that when I did the second test with the side panels on and mesh top that our temperature actually decreased by 3 degrees hitting 78 C my theory is that since the GPU is somewhat recessed or at least the GPU fans are somewhat recessed to the bottom of the case that putting the side panel on actually forces them to intake air more effectively from those bottom vents whereas with the side panel off you don't really have a vacuum being created as strongly and that could potentially affect the amount of air that those fans are bringing in just just one theory I'm not exactly sure if it's correct or not and finally with both side panels on and the glass top we did see a max temperature of 80 degrees C so still one degree cooler than when we had no side panels at all but definitely not super favorable for as far as GPU temperatures are concerned the other behavior I observed is that as the GPU temperature increases so does the CPU temperature because with a card like this with an open-air shroud it's kind of ejecting all of its hot air inside the case which is then being pulled in by the radiator fans being passed through the radiator fins and that obviously heats up your CPU a bit so when our GPU temp from 78 to 80 C our CPU temp also jumped from 67 to 70 C so it would actually increase the CPU temperature by 3 degrees just from the GPU heat now the temperatures in the era I TX are definitely not fantastic obviously we're dealing with a small form-factor case here but I think there are a couple of ways that fractal could have made things a little cooler if you're not throwing powerful hot running components in here it's obviously less of a concern but then again if you're spending the amount of money on this case but what is a hundred and fifty nine u.s. and a lot of users are probably wanting to stick an eight or twelve core CPU in here with the high end GPU so it is something to be and the other thing to keep in mind is that with rising temperatures also comes increased noise output we did one test with the mesh panel and the other with the glass panel obviously both side panels were on the whole time but as you might expect the case was no easier with the mesh panel than it was with the glass panel so the trade-off here is noise versus thermals the mesh panel runs cooler but it's also a bit noisier here's a listen and if you just want my subjective statement of the acoustics on this system with the components that we have inside under load it does get a bit noisy like Wendell from level one set it's like teetering on on the verge of of annoyance but it's you know it really depends on who you ask it's a little bit loud for my liking I will admit at the same time if you're the type of person that's like hey I'm only gonna fire this up when I'm gaming and when I'm gaming I'm wearing a pair of can so you know I've got some headphones and I'm just listening to in-game sound I can't hear hear the case anyway then it's not gonna be much of an issue for you so it really just depends but that said it can get a little noisy if you're pushing it hard overall it's a pretty neat case and I'm glad fractals trying something new I do like this case it's fun to build in there's some other possibilities here that I haven't really explored today in terms of you know component selection and layout at the same time I do think there were a couple of missed opportunities when it comes to cooling which is obviously important in a case like this people spending this kind of money on a chassis a lot of small form-factor enthusiasts out there gonna want to cram hot running components in here and are no doubt going to be looking for a way to keep thermals in check this is also a very competitive market the fractals getting into here there's a ton of really good small form-factor enthusiast cases now that cost in the same ballpark hundred and fifty two hundred dollars plus that darh just really good solid cases the damn case a4 is one of them you've also got the end case m1 the sidearm t1 there's so many options now that fractal has to be looking at their competition closely make sure they're offering a comparable amount of performance and quality with their own products but overall not a bad case good good attempt on a first sort of mini ITX like really mini ITX much more small form-factor than the define an OS which is also a great case but kind of in a different niche there so great job fractal you guys let me know what you think about this case down in the comments below and yeah thanks for watching hustle like on this video if you enjoyed it get subscribe for more tech content on the way check out vivid on tech our merchandise store we've got a lot of stuff there to buy and we're thank you guys so much for your support there feel free to check it out apart from that thank you guys again for watching have a good one and I'll see y'all in the next video\n"