TAIPEI-If you’re a PC enthusiast familiar with the company Fractal Design, you probably know it for its popular line of PC cases in the North. Nordics are decorated with wood and have inspired a design trend over the past few years. Before going all arboreal, Sweden-based Fractal was already well-known for spare-looking, Scandinavian-style PC cases that emphasize quality materials, mostly hard edges, and minimalist motifs.
Great mood! Fractal brings textiles to its line of computer cases
Fractal Design was true to this trend at Computex 2024 with a new case called Mood. This is a fireplace-style vertical mini-tower with a super clean exterior, designed to fit into one of those impossibly idealized IKEA-style living rooms you see in catalogs that emphasize pale wood and sleek surfaces, and usually, almost no property. . (It’s sure to look great even in your messiest, least-coordinated living room.) The difference with Mood is that the outer surface isn’t metal, but a woven synthetic cloth stretched over a frame. It evokes a warm and homely sensibility while still looking sophisticated. It remains to be seen if the fabric will have any marked sides for airflow versus the hard sheet metal.
(Credit: John Burek)
You can remove the entire outer frame of the Mood as a single piece, sliding it over like a sleeve. (The back face is an easily removable grille.) As you’d expect from the shape and size, the case only uses Mini-ITX motherboards and only works with SFX and SFX-L power supplies. (The enclosure footprint is only 8.4 by 8.4 inches and the body is 17.8 inches long.) You get room for tall video cards with two wide slots (up to 325 mm) mounted vertically.
(Credit: John Burek)
Surprisingly, the case can support a 240mm radiator (also mounted vertically, of course), only under certain conditions. A front disc holder, which is removable, takes up some of the radiator space and limits radiator installations to 140mm if used. The case can accommodate a single 3.5-inch drive, plus two 2.5-inch drives.
(Credit: John Burek)
More about cooling. The main fan here, included, is a large 180mm high rotor. If you’re strictly air-cooled and want to install a pair of 120mm or 140mm front fans, they can go where a radiator would go. As for the CPU, the case can take a CPU air cooler up to 114mm high.
The front-panel port layout (centered on the bottom “leg” of the chassis) includes a single USB Type-C (of the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 20 Gbps variety), plus a pair of Type-A ports and a combo jack headset/microphone. . The fabric shown in the video above is what Fractal calls light gray; the company also offers a charcoal version.
(Credit: John Burek)
The case complies with Nvidia’s new SFF-Ready guidelines, also announced at Computex, for mounting components in small chassis. Check out Mood, available now, priced at $149.99, and watch the video above for a guided tour of Mood and Fractal’s upcoming new case: Era 2.
New Age 2: Broadcasting a great case
As for the Era 2, Fractal Design went back to the drawing board on a previous case, the Era ITX, which received lukewarm reviews. The original Wind was a nicely crafted Mini-ITX metal case that just needed better thermals and a bit more space inside to build. Era 2 uses the same basic exterior sculpt, but adds a load of creature comforts and attacks those complaints head-on.
(Credit: John Burek)
For starters, the top panel of the Era 2 is made of slotted walnut. The panel is machined by a CNC milling process to give the wood part a wonderful set of ventilation for a well-crafted look. (It pops right up, attached with magnets.) The rest of the middle case, like the Mood’s outer chassis, is mostly a one-piece, perforated construction. If you remove the lower air filter from the box, this acts as a release mechanism and you can lift the sleeve, which is made of anodized aluminum, straight out of the box for access from all sides to the complete interior.
(Credit: John Burek)
The interior of the Era 2 is a partially modular frame. With the outer shell of the Era 2 off, you can snap a few keys on top of the frame and also remove the top of the frame for even better access to the interior. Furthermore, the motherboard tray inside the case can be repositioned to the left or right to accommodate thicker or thinner graphics cards, which are mounted vertically, perpendicular to the motherboard.
Fractal put extra effort into venting Era 2, given the shortcomings of the original Era. The Wind 2 is ventilated on five sides and the case can take up to a 280mm radiator. Dual fans on the bottom of the case ensure initial airflow, and the radiator, if any, is mounted for a long time on the top of the case. Like Mood, it’s all about up and down airflow.
Expect the Era 2 in Q3 for $199 in a choice of charcoal, blue, or white.
Recommended by our Editors
All Ears: Fractal Design enters the gaming headset market
A new product category for Fractal Design is gaming headsets. The company’s new Scape model, also shown at Computex for the first time, has a number of clever design ideas.
Fractal intentionally reduced the size of the batteries in this wireless headset to keep the headset light. To compensate for this, he created a cradle where you place the headphones whenever they are not in use. That way, it stays charged for all those marathon gaming sessions or epic, mind-numbing Zoom calls.
(Credit: John Burek)
However, headphones aren’t just about gaming. The Scape has a detachable boom mic that emanates from one of the ear cups. If you flip it up, a red light on the boom indicates it’s muted; flip it down and it’s active. If you want to ditch the boom, it’s also possible to use the Scape’s built-in microphone in the ear cups. In a brief wear session, the Scape headphones really felt very comfortable in my ears, with the memory foam ear cups filling them.
Connectivity will be via Bluetooth or what Fractal calls a “low-latency dongle.” The drivers for the headphones will offer three calibrated presets. Expect them to drop to $199.99 later this year, with the base included. The fabric will come in light and dark options, with adjustable ambient lighting on the earcups between the foam cushions and the body, if that’s your thing. We liked the Scape enough to call it our newest gaming headset of the Computex show.
(Credit: John Burek)
Most recently, the company showed off its initial efforts on a gaming chair, called the Refine and also due in the third quarter. A $599.99 model will feature mesh and soft foam, while an $899.99 luxury model will be trimmed in Alcantara fabric. Expect perfection in white, black and grey. The chair is designed to be extra adjustable, with seat height and depth, lumbar support, headrest height and backrest angle all customizable, along with a four-way armrest.
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