@@dianaalyssa8726yeah, it almost makes you wonder if you could sacrifice even more thermals and test it as an air purifier 🤔 [Ziv struggles to put away wallet]
1/ My (big) air purifier is more quiet 2/ Both my air purifiers have better mesh than anything, it sounds like my small one at full blast 3/ My AIO is still full of dust 4/ Looks like a great case for modding, especially if it's one sale, since the fabric is going to be removed. 5/ I wonder how it performs with a-non RTX card since y all know they have quite a specific air pattern CHeeRS ( USD very expensive recently )
Literally clicked on this video 58 seconds after it went live and the first comment I saw was from a bot called Zenia... What the heck RU-vid? I'm just glad that you guys catch these bots so fast and delete their comments. Always going above and beyond! Keep it up, GN :)
@@GamersNexus Some days when YT mangles their interface again or tries to shove adds in my face i get the feeling the whole site went from a good idea to a full on psychological torture experiment on "how far can we go before everyone flips us the bird???" ;)
@@GamersNexus just make your own bots, looking like Steve and call them, i dont know - clones? that will fight others. I'm sure nothing bad can happen.
I watched other tech channels review this case. They either didn't notice the flaws or they didn't want to point them out. So either incompetence or bias sponsored review. Gamer Nexus is the only actual review doing a good job. Once again proving why it is the only tech channel I trust. Excellent work again Gamer Nexus
Most things I saw on this case were not reviews but first looks from computex. If you can't properly test the case it's easy to be excited with looks, feel and quality
@@christopherjames9843 I stopped watching hardware canucks a while ago. I can't remember the last time they actually gave any product proper criticism.
Sad to hear about this case. I had a small issue with the front of my fractal case. I emailed their support and they sent me a brand new front part free and it arrived within 3 days. was very good and easy.
Yeah, same experience here. Fractal support are amazing and their cases are typically brilliant, so shame about this one. That said, if there's one company I trust to listen to feedback it's them.
I recently noticed my Meshify 2 case's steel side panel was rattling intermittently which was noticeable during gaming a lot of times. I made a ticket and they sent me a replacement panel for free as well. I think I was within the warranty period, but still, it's not really a "functional" problem. New panel seems to have fixed it. They didn't even ask for the old panel back.
I also vouch for their support. I filed a ticket to replace the front bezel on my meshify 2 because I have actually broken it myself. They sent it without questions - turns out I mistakenly didn't mention I actually don't need the outer bezel but the internal part with dust filter. They didn't want the outer bezel back, told me to keep it and then sent the internal one as well without questions as well. I had 4 cases from FD already and whereas there are some imperfections, this level of customer support is what will probably make me stick to their cases for a long long time.
@@iaia5368 Obviamente não ouviu o vídeo que demonstra claramente que o fluxo de ar é restringido pelos dois painéis maciços e pelo painel revestido por um tecido pouco permeável, além dos acessórios que bloqueiam a circulação do ar.
180 hz, 360hz, and 720hz (540hz is visible too) are actually the same tone, but octaves higher. This then becomes an exponential problem as the same tone is audible on several octaves. So on short: the tone is actually louder than what is shown on the db chart because it is a multitude of the same tone. If you want a quiet case, you definitely do not want this.
Thanks for that input and great points! It's cool to finally have some charts to start trying to understand why certain annoying noises happen. Can't wait to keep learning and expanding our analytical capabilities for them with comments like yours.
those are called harmonics and they happen with literally every sound that happens ever. if the energy that was going into making those harmonics all went into the fundamental frequency, it would have the same volume (although maybe a different loudness, hearing is weird). the conclusion is that these higher tones don't really matter for the "quietness" of the case as much as just how loud the sound is to begin with
@@mt180extras Not true. Sound volume is the sound amplitude. The more energy means more amplitude. If the energy is spread evenly across the frequency spectrum, the volume of any particular frequency would always be lower than if the same amount of energy was used in narrower band and measuring that. Generally speaking more energy also means more loudness, but because it is much more complicated it is hard to predict what would happen in very particular non-generalized situation, so I won't make assumptions which way that would go.
@@hi_tech_reptiles "Note" is nothing more than a given name for particular tones and is dependant on what tuning system you are using. Every note is a tone but not every tone is a note.
Don't give them ideas, that'll be the next abomination from the industry. Especially with how wallpaper has been making a comeback, and not just for walls as people are putting that shit on reclaimed/refurbished furniture now, there's even 'rental friendly' peel and stick wallpapers now.
I have to say, even though i know im a rando comment/viewer in a couple million, i really like the way gamersnexus is headed as a channel. The changes and the direction that this channel is going is definitely something different and unique, in an amazing way. Live long and prosper gamersnexus.
Still in love w/ my SSUPD Meshlicious - my favorite mini-itx airflow case...I liked the idea of what the Mood offered for the sake of improving my HTPC setup, but thanks to this review, I'll wait.
I kinda wish I'd bought the Meshilicious instead. I ended up with the Streacom DA6, and whilst beautiful, it was a nightmare to build (especially for a 1st timer)
@@joshuastedford1670 Why didn't you go with the Meshroom S? I have one (V2), and it is really great. The only problem some seem to have with it is the easy bending of the panels. But I've found they don't bend at all if you take some care with them, instead of ripping 'em of the case like a maniac😅
@@GamePat96 I've got a meshroom D and the biggest problem with bending is the top small panel. It's clamped in way too hard relative to the side panels
@@mmaayyssoonn8858 I've heard lots of bad things about the meshroom D, so i'm not supriced... There's an actual 3D printable tool, that looks like a flathead screwdriver, which helps to open the panel really easy without bending it what so ever. You could use a flathead of course, but i didnt want to scratch the paint of the case by accident, so i chose the 3D printed version. Maybe that helps you too :)
I saw this case in ETA Prime's video the other day and thought, "Ew. Fabric = Bad thermals. I hope GN reviews it soon." Thanks for continuing to reqd my mind, guys! It's great for my ego and bad for my paranoia.
Dang, kind of a let down. I guess even Fractal isn't perfect. Thanks for the honest review, even of a brand I think you guys really like too. Personally I wont buy any case that requires a PCI riser cable. And the one in the Mood was SUPER bent and looked forced in. Thats scary to me.
As someone who's been eyeing the North and will probably get the back connector version when it releases, it's not a perfect case either. The PSU shroud (which is part of the structure of the case and therefore shouldn't be removed) is inexplicably shaped in a way that prevents some thicker fan/rad combos in front, seemingly without providing any extra structural integrity. Some people have even modded the shroud to make room for their particular fan/rad setup. 😆
Tradeoff seems fine enough to me tbh. I feel like you gotta make sacrifices for a case too look like this and it had flaws but pulled it off pretty well. As long as you aren't losing so much performance you're throttling/moving down a class. I'd dig it. Aesthetics matter _too_ 🤩
yea, love the look of it. Kinda hope they do a 2.0 version or some revision on it to address the issues, cause the idea is cool. It's basically like a Series X lol
@@BeefIngot Agreed. Use a 7800x3d instead of an intel volcano, put a low profile cooler, orient the gpu to blow up towards the top fan and i think a lot of the issues get resolved. The gpu thing might be an issue, not sure it can be done. Oh and it looks amazing in the black version too. Definitely a niche case.
Another great review, I have seen other reviews and they talk about the poor thermal performance but I hadn't seen anyone talk about the SSD mount or remove the fabric on the motherboard side.
My takeaway from this is that the case is "fine" when you use air cooling and don't install the SSD plate. And adjust your expectation on what kind hardware you can use. I really like the form factor and it looks 100x better than the Cooler Master case.
I still like the fractal ridge much better aesteticly for a htpc vibe, plus thermal are fine on it .. but i think your right ! A 7600 with a -30 pbo and a 4060/4070 would probably be fine in this case if u vibin with the looks
Misunderstanding the purpose of this case. Clearly not intended for high end hardware - form over functionality. Therefore, it only has room for a dual-slot GPU.
@@AuDiGo6 Its has like 360mm of space for GPUs, and theres plenty of highend GPUs with two slots. Also, medium or low end GPUs arent necessarily quieter than high end, they tend to have much more basic cooling solutions.
Need an air intake on the bottom. Rotate the mobo and have the I/O rear facing or the left panel towards the back. Movable spine for larger GPU support.
Nah the mobo situation is perfect. This shrouds and protects thumb drives and 2.4ghz wireless dongles from cats and errant elbows. It's my favorite layout.
I appreciate the pointing out of flaws that other channels missed or didn't want to comment on. I don't think every case needs to be equally performant. You can put in less hot hardware into the Mood and enjoy the smaller footprint and esthetics. But still, the actual performance, whether one considers them a shortcoming, a flaw, a compromise, or just a characteristic, should still be pointed out. I still like cases like the Mood or the Q300 and Q500. They aren't the ultimate powerhouses, but they are fine for what they are.
I mean are we really surprised? This case is all about form > function and it excels at that. Planning to build my Living Room PC in the Mood. It will go great beside my TV console.
That's precisely why I'm considering this case. There aren't many others on the market that can blend in with a modern living room without screaming "Look at me! I'm a computer in the living room!"
headphones not included, lol. /sarcasm if ye can keep the guts low enough watts, maybe it won't be making the heat that necessitates fast moving fans. A passive cooled GPU or just use the iGPU in the CPU may be best for that location. Same applies to recording studios as well.
I really like this style of case. I often 3d print my own cases for electronics, small computers etc, and i fell in love with this design after seeing the playstation (or xbox?) with that big fan. It makes accessibility so easy, and cooling is very effective even for some with no experience in designing air flow, like me. One factor i dont see mentioned often, is that some configuration for the direction/position of the fan are absolutely annoying for dust. I did some experiments, and putting the fan at the bottom, pushing hot hair downward was very effective at: 1. Keeping the fan clean and quiet, since its away from the intake and mesh 2. Keeping dust away from the bottom of the computer (😂dont blow on this! It's very annoying having to dust under a computer) 3. Centralizes the air intake, making it a single point that needs to be taken apart And cleaned. This is very specific, but keeping electronics low maintenance is a key point for for me, and this "one big fan tunnel" design is great at it Oops i forgor my main point. Since you have way more experience and equipment (and computer boards worth testing) do you think you could try testing the possible configurations for this kind of design? I would be interested to know the effects on noise/cooling of the various combinations of 1.fan at the bottom with positive or negative pressure 2.fan at the top with positive/negstive ... Of course it might be a big bother, and there's gonna be 4 people in the world who even care, but who knows 🥺
One thing I'd like to see from them is an audio test in their semi-anechoic chamber called the "corner test." Bring in two temporary walls made with the typical sheetrock and indoor house paint and then place a desk right up against those walls. Then run a series of audio tests while the device is on the desk. I'm curious not only about the sound waves that are coming from the device itself, but the increased peaks and valleys we might experience as the sound waves reflect off of the wall materials and propagate. The hemi-anechoic chamber is handy at removing all background noise, but the temporary walls would provide a more real-world environment so we can get a sense of what kind of noise it's going to add in a typical home or office environment. I imagine they're going to discover that those propagating sound waves cause problems that are just as annoying as the beat frequencies caused by out-of-sync fans.
@@oRicardoHetfield Not really. That large of a fan should in theory allow for lower RPM's. As the chimney effect SHOULD allow for easier cooling, The issue is the fabric material that was picked....they picked.....poorly. A thinner fabric should help aleviate this issue. I would be curious on the results of ripping all the fabric off and putting the stuff that is normally on speakers around this thing. What the results would be.
0:16 I don't see the problem, that thing sounds right at home providing the AC sounds for my Peterbilt in American Truck Simulator. Granted they got the temperature of the air wrong...
this looks like it could be a really cool case, I hope they address a lot of these issues because the form factor could actually make it suitable for a living room setup
Removing the top mesh and front foam filter on my meshify c resulted in a significant improvement in fan speeds and temperature. I was getting 10 degrees cooler temperatures with them off, with my fans at a consistent speed for testing.
Getting cut on a case,.reminds me of the old Packard Bell desktops. There was a chassis brace running across the top that was like a dull razor blade. Harmless with the cover on but hazardous for those working on it.
The look and the maintainability is absolutely the whole point of this case. People who buy this want a PC that doesn't ruin the specific vibe of wherever they put this. The shape isn't the point so just "other vertical cases" aren't really the alternatives but other cases that kinda look like good-looking, normal-people furniture are. It's not my vibe but I can see where they come from and it legitimately makes sense. If you spend money for a place you can feel good hanging out in. You want the stuff to look nice and classy. Some people are much more sensitive to it than others. They obviously care about the enthusiast because of the attention to detail you mentioned and how easy they made it to maintain. It's too bad about the fabric quality and the noise it ends up making. It makes you wonder what kind of fabric could be used so airflow is less obstructed, or what changes need to be made without sacrificing its main focus. It's not even a matter of "you just shouldn't be putting high-power components in there". Because someone who does care enough about looks to spend that much on a looks-based case, is possibly, even if not always, going to try to put the most baller machine they can in there too. That top SSD mount is just straight up a bad design though.
Yeah was thinking the same thing while watching the review like as long as you do air cooled you take like a 4 degrees hit for the fabric which doesn't seem too bad. The top SSD mount is terrible yeah.
I've been dreaming of a case like this since the H1 first came out. But no one seems to figure out the airflow problem! Put the power supply flat facing down and use large vents on the sides right above it, so that fresh air comes in on the sides. There's nothing stopping them from getting the air there and not through the bottom. And then all that fresh air goes straight over large semi-passive heatsinks for CPU and GPU. If you need to mount a drive, use the space around the PSU to mount them. 180 mm is also the perfect size for it, based on the dimensions of ITX.
Im torn. Fractal has some of the best staples in the industry, define literally defines the black box standard. Meshify is meshified define. Node makes for some great compact storage, core is cheap black boxes (and the core 500 is interesting if you can find one), and the focus series is very not cheap for being low cost. Fractal has been experimenting a lot recently with newer case designs, and i respect the fact theyre willing to take risk unlike some other case manufacturers. But i feel like these newer case sre risky and the risk isnt paying off. Hopefully they make enough to keep the quirky development going.
You don't have to be torn haha. Good companies can have bad products. This one might be a "meh" on the functionality side. But I bet lots of people will still buy it. Regardless of how anyone feels about this particular experiment, Fractal makes some really good cases.
You can't expect too much from SFF cases, they'll always have drawbacks, and building in highly compact SFF cases requires a lot of part and usage consideration. It's not just something you can throw parts in and expect to work fine, SFF cases can be pretty picky. That, and this is probably best for lower-powered builds.
@TheAmazingCowpig I've been torn between this case and the asrock deskmini x600 specifically for my living room APU build. Also torn between getting the 8700G soonish, or waiting for the eventual Strix Halo desktop chip.
Man... I really loved the look of this case, but was concerned about the performance loss caused by the fabric... Thanks for the deep, fully uncovering that! Maybe they'll redesign it with all mesh and it'll look just as good or better in a revision ^_^
It's interesting that the internet acts like the NZXT H1 never existed. Yes, I know that they fumbled the riser recall. I've been using one for the last 3 years and still loving it. Current build has a Ryzen 7950x3d and a EVGA 3090 running cool and quiet with undervolt tuning. Use as a workstation with near constant 100% loads. Love the form factor. Was hoping for more similar options on the market.
And this is why you should always wait for 3rd party review before purchasing something. Also why you should never pre order. I was hyped for this when it was announced, but now I'm not planning on buying it anymore.
Fractal has its priorities right for this case to be honest. Yes, the fabric does compromise temperature to a degree, but think about it this way: If you put the person who buys this kind of case in front of the choice to sacrifice looks (assuming this is indeed the look they want) or sacrifice some performance, what will they do? I'd wager they WOULD sacrifice some performance if it means the looks stay perfectly clean, as long as the performance is still adequate for what they want to do with the PC. Maybe in the future Fractal will find a different kind of fabric that is less restrictive, and if they do, that will be a good second generation of this. But assuming this is close to the best you can do with a fabric that looks like this, they probably compromised the best they could, given the visual design. When you say "a more traditional mesh case would be better" all I can think is DUH but the person who cares more about that would buy a mesh case which is obviously not what this is. Different audience, different priorities. This review lacks a bit of thought into what the audience of the case is. You say the Ncore 100 pulled off this concept better, but the Ncore 100 didn't pull off the same concept _at all_, since almost nobody who would seriously consider the Mood would even consider the Ncore 100 because of its looks. For a case like this, in a review, the question "what could you improve airflow wise if you compromise the looks to a degree?" is pretty much irrelevant, the relevant question to the audience that might consider this case is "could they have improved airflow while maintaining this look?". The question you answered is a question that only matters to people who never would have considered the case in the first place.
Ultimately thermals only matter to the point that nothing is throttling or getting dangerously hot. It doesn't matter if your CPU is running at 60C or 80C under load as long as it's hitting advertised clocks. It might boost a bit less but the difference will likely be negligible and worth it to the type of person who wants a case like this. Noise is a bigger issue here, because the kind of person who wants a clean minimal case like this probably also doesn't want it to sound obnoxious when the fans are running. Fractal made a name for themselves with quiet, noise-treated cases and this kinda falls flat in that regard.
@@guesswho2337 Agreed, noise issues are an extremely valid criticism for this kind of design. Noise is likely a top priority for the target audience here. Thermals/performance only to a degree. They need to be good enough for what they are doing, they don't need to be optimal.
I'm not a fan of non-classic build cases but this thing... looks really cool! Temps are fine, this isn't overclocking equipment nor enthusiast one. I like it.
A metal mesh version would be an excellent compromise for this case. I do wonder if the cooling performance is improved at all by using a downdraft CPU cooler. I also wonder (with the right application of skill/effort) if re-wrapping the case with something more like speaker cloth would make a decent improvement to airflow as it is designed to have minimal impact on air movement.
6:55 I can say for certainty that the Inwin 305 with wood accent did come out, because I had one for several years.. It was just a white 303 with slightly different front faceplate, otherwise identical
Considering noise and aesthetics + GPU size limitations (2-slot) I'm thinking this is more geared towards if you want a pretty Media PC next to your TV, a NAS or something along those lines. Not for gaming and the top of the line GPUs anyway. It's meant to look pretty, therefore be in view and also that gives it a more "Just look nice while being functional" and I wouldn't make it into something that does heavy gaming. Just my two cents. I quite like it myself. More PC's that can actually be disguised and fit into other arrangements are welcome.
Rather than an air-humudifier, personally I was thinking oversized bluetooth speaker! I respect Fractal for trying new materials. No accounting for taste of course.
It's aesthetic reminds me of old Altec Lansing PC speakers from the 90's, so maybe it's made for those who yearn for the days of noisy beige computers where you could hear them working 😅
I think both the Mood and Terra were really interesting, but they just have some small quirks that needed to be worked out. I hope we can see secound generation versions of both because I really want this formfactor.
When Steve gave that look right after "The reason it looks like it's restrictive to flow.." i think quite a few of us knew *exactly* what was coming :p Thanks Steve!
I died laughing at the air purifier comment at the start! It 500% looks exactly like one. Was hoping this case would be a good option…alas another small case…another airflow and design challenge
Personal am a huge fan of the look of the mood. Sad it isn't performing well. Absolutely would love this as a home entertainment PC in my front room. Looks incredible.
Do it! I have an NR200, it's not the smallest of SFF cases but I just adored building in it as a first-timer. It was well worth the extra money and research
That's been my thoughts as well. An intake fan on the bottom and exhaust on top. Movable spine for GPU and CPU spacing. Move the bracket to a side wall or something.
the wraparound outer shell is very 386-era PCs, but thank god for modern chassis engineering design it's no longer a struggle anymore. That relic of case design can at least come back today, and could've made cleaning easier.
wow, shame, I bought myself white fractal torrent and i love it all the way, its simply beautiful and the fans do their job. Hope for a good revision or something else i guess
I don't like fabric on consumer electronics in general. Estethically it seems like a good idea, but in reality it will look very ugly very quickly. Fabric will gain stains over time, either it will blacken slightly from repetetive fingerprints or it might get dirty from a tomato sauce related accident (yeah I speak from experience). Unlike your clothes, you will never get your fabric-case clean again.
I kinda like this case. If I was building and needed something to blend in and it can run at like 90C, this is perfect. E.g. I might use this in a build for my parents.
Like with ANY mini-itx case, i would never even consider using one for high performance pc. But for average adult consumer low/mid tier office setup (most likely designed for that purpose) that don't need massive cooling, this is perfect. I have always loved how Fractal cases look.
Yeah it's a fine media or game streaming PC, but cleaning that fabric over time would get annoying and eventually would get clogged up unless carefully vacuumed.
For a gaming pc? My 3.9l build has no need for one. Most people on most networks have zero need for a NIC. But I designed my partner's custom 14.6l chassis (still significantly smaller than this case) specifically to take a WiFi card and ATX board alongside the GPU, if it helps.
Sad to see this misstep from Fractal, but with their reputation I would not be surprised to see them take this feedback to heart and attempt to rectify these issues.
Something to consider mentioning in your case reviews is *how much* the temperature difference matters, i.e. how much performance is being left on the table? I know that can be somewhat hard to assess because 'it depends' on a lot of things, but I think trying to give some rough numbers, even if you did a 'standardized' set of components where you understand the scaling really well would help to illustrate the difference a good case makes. Basically you are trying to answer the question "why should I care about a 4°C difference?"
Honestly. Been dreading this review. I knew it was going to have problems, but didn’t realise they would be so bad. I’ve just parted out and sold my old PC to upgrade to a new system, with the intention of getting this case as the main part. As it will be living in my living room, it would’ve looked the part. But I don’t think I can live with a noisy case because it can’t cool itself effectively. I could gamble and try to find a high pressure top fan to replace the fractal one. Or just grab the competitor case you highly recommended.
This is legitimate. There isn't any reason someone can't be willing to leave a little bit of noise/thermal performance on the table for aesthetics, in fact if all we cared about was thermals and noise we'd have completely open cases with mufflers on the fan. Basically we all care to varying degrees for varying purposes so it seems reasonable that many might take the tradeoffs here if they don't mean throttling, and this looks acceptable in a living space vs a gamer PC.
Fractal pulling a DarkFlash DLH21. At least the DLH21 is cheaper, you don't need to destroy anything to improve airflow (just remove the magnetic mesh), and you don't need a PCIE extention cable. I still think positive pressure is better for these. Like a Silverstone SG15 with rotated so the front becomes the bottom and there is a bottom intake fan going up. In the DIY scene some people do these for a smaller vertical case. They use a custom front face so the USB ports and the buttons are on the side while the bottom is purely just for the fan.
The frequency stacking is usually caused by resonance of the case. In this instance, because it is a square tube in shape, the fan is resonating and bouncing on 4 outer walls before exiting out through the fan or side panel. If they made this same tube, but rounded just one of the sides, (even if only on the inside), much of this resonance would be dissipated.
Title me crazy, but I have a couple of ideas with a chance to be quite interesting. What if you measured temps in the following configurations: 1.) AIO side exhaust / Fan top intake / Cover top fan's coverage on the GPU side, only allowing air down the CPU side. (Assumes the GPU intake is right up against the fabric panel.) 2.) AIO side intake / Fan top intake / Cover top fan's coverage on the AIO side, only allowing air down the GPU side. (Seems wonky for the GPU but intrigued none the less.) -I don't surmise either method would be a magical solution; However, it could make this chassis a viable option for configurations on the edge of being practical/viable.
Additionally: Forgot to add that both configurations are without the sled... I was too overly focused on keeping my config details maintained to a single line; while still detailed. 😅
I hope Fractal makes a revision with more airflow, because I really wanted to like this case. If they act like they did with the Torrent, they should come out with one quickly and in good faith.
This week I put together a SFF build with a Sapphire Nitro+ 7900XTX (larger cooler than 4090FE) in the SAMA IM01 (~$55). The case footprint is basically exactly the same size as the GPU, but I have room to mount four 120mm exhaust fans, or alternatively a 240mm AIO on the top mount. The SAMA IM01 is 22L vs. the featured Fractal Mood at 20L.
"We can't objectively comment on the aesthetics..." But you already did! The weave being misaligned is an objective aesthetic feature that your unit possesses. Whether it's positive or negative or nothing is subjective, but you objectively pointed out that there will be people who dislike it. You can talk objectively about stuff like this, never forget it!
My guess is the thermal issues with the front intake is essentially caused by internal air recirculation on the AIO. This has as much to do with the front fan mount not being sealed to the front of the case as the fabric covering the intake. Basically, because the front intake is restrictive, and the fans can simply pull air from around the sides of the radiator, the path of less resistance is to recirculate air vs draw it into the case through the fabric. I'd be interested to see how results change if you seal the radiator to the front of the case using tape. The case has a pretty good seal where the frame meets the cover, so you could use tape to ensure that the front of the radiator is sealed to the frame, effectively preventing air from being recirculated. Intake air temp is directly related to water temp. If that intake temp is 30-35C due to air recirculated, that would have a much larger impact that overall airflow across the radiator.
The decorative exterior also doubles as a blanket to help keep thermals in -- wait a minute... And, it can also be used by any cats as a scratching post.
The one thing I figured out really quickly looking at this case is that because the sides are perffed, it is very likely that the exhaust fan will be pulling from the top of the perf more than anything. By the time you get to the CPU, I doubt there is very much going on. This case would likely work a lot better with LESS side vents and much more open at the bottom to force the air to travel through. Like it is, I am thinking 50% or more of the cooling is lost pulling air from near the top of the case over the edge of the power supply and right out.
Great review as usual!! However, there is a use case for this and that is as an HTPC where your are just suing it for streaming to a large flat panel screen. If you are not gaming, this type of case would be fine and it fits in nice with lots of living room decor. Last year, I moved my setup which was in an old and clunky looking Fractal Core 500 to a Hyte Revolt 3. This was before either the Fractal Terra or this one were available. Had they been on the market I would not have any hesitation from using one of them for my HTPC.
