Fractal Design's Core 3000 Case Looks Promising
Fractal Design's Core 3000 Case Looks Promising
Posted 02/07/2011 at 6:52am
| by Paul Lilly
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Fractal Design's new Core 3000 is an attempt to offer a "unique combination of design, features, cooling performance, and value," areas mostly represented by the bullet list of features. Chief among them is the ability to outfit the chassis with up to 7 fans of various sizes, and it even includes a fan controller for the three pre-installed fans. Here's how the cooling situation shakes out:
- Fan controller for 3 fans included
- 1 front mounted Fractal Design 140mm fan (1000RPM)
- 1 rear mounted Fractal Design 120 fan (1200RPM)
- 1 top mounted Fractal Design 140mm fan (1000RPM)
- Additional 4 fan slots available for optional fans; 1x120mm in front, 1x120mm in bottom, 1x120/140mm in top, and 1x120/140mm in side panel
There's lots more here that goes beyond cooling. Dust filters come pre-installed on the removable front panel, and the nearly all black interor is flanked by six white-painted HDD trays (compabitlble with SSDs) with anti-vibration silicone grommets and white expansion slots. You can rotate or remove the upper HDD cage to accommodate longer graphics cards, and one of the two 5.25-inch drive bays comes with a 5.25-inch to 3.5-inch converter.
Two things are curiously missing. There are no USB 3.0 ports (though it does include 4 USB 2.0 ports on the front panel), and there's no mention of price.
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NanoTech
February 07, 2011 at 1:47pm
Here is a link to the fans that will be installed in the Fractal Core 3000
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=4&prod=18
As for the case it self it reminds me of the Antec 400 but mixed with the corsair obsidian.
Better quality features then the Antec but still probably at a reasonable price of less then $150.
Fractal makes some nice stuff.
Obsidian
February 07, 2011 at 2:50pm
Those case fans are like the fans I would by if I were building a system. Pending a full review of this case and price, I'm in for one.
Depending on the visability through the mesh and cleanable filters; it might be odd to have white case fans and white-painted hard drive trays glareing through the vents and offset the black externals of this unit. Still, it's better than LED lights and acrylic windows I suppose.
I have an odd 'need' for my computer cases to be able to be placed on their sides. They don't need the feet on the side, but it has to work in a way that won't interfere with anything on the motherboard side. I stopped mounting my cases as towers and stuck them into an audio rack.
Obsidian
February 07, 2011 at 10:53am
So, this think looks like an Antec 300 but shorter. It had better have a price that follows that, because the Antec offering is already pretty inexpensive by today's case standards. I have built 3 systems in Antec 300 cases and have to say that they are great for the $50-$70 I paid for them.
Like someone else said, the problem is often the fans. If the fans are crap, I'll end up replacing them with quieter ones anyway, driving the cost to own the case up even higher.
Without a full review this product advertizement is mostly useless.
Ruins
February 07, 2011 at 10:39am
It would be nice if case manufactures would publish the decible levels their fans produced. I am tired of building systems that sound like a 747 taking off. Usually I have to replace the manufactures case fans with quieter fans, such as Noctua.
mgalletly
February 07, 2011 at 7:18am
Re-read the last paragraph--
"Two things are curiously missing. There are no USB 3.0 ports (though it does include 4 USB 2.0 ports on the front panel), and there's no mention of price."
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