The Core 500: A Mini ITX Case Review

As a mini ITX fanatic, I was thrilled to get my hands on the new Core 500 from Fractal Design. The case has been touted as a game-changer for small form factor builds, and I was eager to put it through its paces.

Upon first glance, the exterior of the Core 500 is a solid steel body with a plastic front panel, complete with a brushed faux aluminum finish that's sure to appeal to fans of the brand. The top of the case features a 5 and 1/4 inch drive bay, which is a great addition for users who need extra storage space. The sides of the case are adorned with mesh accents, which appear to be ventilated but are purely for aesthetic purposes.

The front IO panel is located on top of the case and features two USB3 ports, an audio jack, and power and reset buttons. On the left side of the case, users will find generous ventilation that nearly spans the entire depth of the case, making it ideal for dedicated GPUs. The rear of the case also features equal amounts of ventilation for dual radiators.

One notable feature of the Core 500 is its magnetic dust filters, which are removable from inside the case and can be placed on either side to direct airflow where needed. The bottom of the case features four rubber feet and a dust filter for the PSU, which tends to slide out of place when carrying the case. The rear exhaust fan is a 140mm unit with mounting holes for a 120mm radiator, providing ample cooling capabilities.

The interior of the Core 500 is where things get really interesting. The case features a rigid steel frame and a radiator bracket with flexible mounting strips for either a 240mm or 280mm radiator. This allows users to customize their cooling setup to suit their needs. Beneath the front panel, there's a stealthy location for a 2 and 1/2 inch drive when mounting it right-side up.

However, there is one major limitation to consider: having a 240mm radiator installed will block your 5 and 1/4 inch bay. On the other hand, a 280mm radiator requires you to remove the bracket entirely, which can be a bit of a pain. If you're planning on using an AIO or discrete video card, there's no need for cable management, but if you do plan on doing water cooling, it's essential to consider your cabling needs.

Speaking of cabling, the front panel cables seem slightly longer than necessary, and I would have liked to see some tie-down points going across the wall at the front of the case to keep them from getting nicked by the radiator fans. However, users can easily avoid this limitation by flipping their drive upside down and threading the cables through the small cutout on the bottom left.

In terms of power supply support, the Core 500 accommodates ATX power supplies with an AC pass-through that routes to the back. However, Fractal recommends using SFX or micro-ATX power supplies due to the case's compact size. The build process itself can be a bit of a challenge, but it's definitely doable with some patience and elbow grease.

Overall, the Core 500 is an impressive mini ITX case that delivers on its promise of fitting full-size ATX hardware into a small package. While there are a few areas for improvement, this case has been the most promising release so far from Fractal Design's often overlooked cor line of chassis.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enoffering only the finest in PC Enthusiast apparel awesome sauce shirts are not only threaded they're hyper threaded and come factory overclo get yours today at the awesome sauce store what's up guys today I'm checking out the new core 500 from fractal design being the mini ITX fanatic that I am I was pretty excited when fractal unveiled this case at computex and now that I finally have one in my hands let's see if this new addition to the Cor series was worth all of my childlike gtin starting with the exterior we get a solid steel body with a plastic front panel incorporating the brushed faux aluminum finish that we're used to seeing by now from Good Old FD at the top is a 5 and 1/4 in Drive Bay and you get some mesh accents on the sides which appear to be ventilated but are purely for aesthetic purposes talk about meshing around H don't laugh at that don't stop it our front IO lies on top of the case and includes two usb3 audio jack and power and reset buttons on the left side you get generous ventilation that nearly spans the entire depth of the case for a dedicated GPU and on top is an equal amount of ventilation for a dual radiator that will Circle back to later both vents also have their own magnetic dust filters which are removable from inside the case you also get some breathing holes on the right side for your power supply exhaust at the bottom are four rubber feet and a dust filter for the PSU that tends to slide out of place when carrying the case from the bottom it's like somebody dipped it in 409 the core 500's only included fan is this 140 mm rear exhaust with mounting holes for a 120 if you're so inclined here we also see two expansion slots and four thumb screws for removing and receding the case enclosure crowbar not included okay so it's not that bad but after seeing the awesome tooless side panel on the Define R5 I think it's time fractal whips up a similar solution for these Mini ITX cases to save us all from those few seconds of pain and Agony under the hood we see a rigid steel frame and a radiator bracket with flexible mounting strips for either a two 40 or 280 mm radiator that can be removed with four Philips head screws for easy installation just beneath has a bracket for the 5 and 1/4 in Bay that also houses a single 3 and 1/2 in Drive keep in mind that having a 240 mm radiator installed will block your 5 and 1/4 in Bay but a 280 mm radiator requires you to actually remove the bracket entirely this is done by popping off the front panel and undoing the four screws I'd personally suggest removing this piece unless you absolutely need it since it takes up more space than GTA five underneath the front panel you'll also find a stealthy location for a 2 and 1/2 in drive when mounting the drive right side up you'll have to reserve the 5 and a/ Quin Bay for cable routing but you can easily avoid this limitation by flipping the drive upside down and threading the cables through the small cutout on the bottom left here's a quick look at the front panel cables which seem slightly longer than necessary and I really would have liked to see some tie down points going across the wall at the front of the case to keep them from getting nicked by the radiator fans looming above the core 500 supports ATX power supplies with an AC pass through that routes to the back but fractal recommends units 160 mm or shorter as to not interfere with longer video cards while full- sizee ATX compatibility is appreciated I would urge those with fully loaded systems to consider using an sfx unit instead since you'll need all the extra space you can get when it's time to manage those cables you get four pre-installed motherboard standoffs with support for CPU Towers up to 170 mm tall and dual slot video cards up to 310 mm long on on the right side of the case is a mounting wall for 2 2 and 1/2 in and 2 3 and 1/2 in drives granting you a total of six drives in total totally total the 3 and 1 half in drives have rubber pads and use four screws to mount directly to the bracket while an SSD can be installed with a combination of tooless mounting pegs and screws I would say this bracket accommodates two drives comfortably but add a third or a fourth and it begins to feel like a storage Fest especially with all the SATA cables touching tips at the center icky speaking of which the overall Cable Management capability ities in the core 500 largely depend on several factors including how much Hardware you want to cram into it the physical size of that hardware and How likely it is that the hardware will be gone in the morning and never call you again wait what are we talking about for the purpose of this video I built a moderately full system using a discrete GPU albeit a short one a 240 mm radiator a full-size ATX power supply one SSD and one hard drive while you do get several tie downs at the bottom of the case under the GPU and a few at the front most cables still had to be routed in the troughs between the motherboard and power supply and all the excess length was essentially then crammed into a ball besides the graphics card as I mentioned before it would have made sense to also include tie down points across the front wall and even along the PSU bracket to run some cables directly above the power supply fortunately cabling should be much easier for those omitting the use of an AIO or discrete video card if you don't plan on doing any water cooling however I would suggest introducing one or two intake fans at the top of the case for some healthy airf flow so to some up ladies and gentlemen it appears that the objective fractal had in mind when designing the core 500 was to fit all of today's popular full-size ATX Hardware except the motherboard of course in the smallest case possible and based on my findings today they've succeeded at doing exactly that just know ahead of time that you'll have to pour some blood and sweat into the build process to get everything fitted nice and proper but as is often the case when dealing with mini ITX while there's still certainly some things I'd like to see changed with the 2.0 version this is still one of the most versatile small form factor cases to date and in my opinion has been the most promising release so far from fractals often overlooked cor line of chassis\n"