Fractal Design Core 3000 Case Review

Fractal Design have definitely achieved their goal of designing a simple and elegant case. The non dust-filtered 140/120mm fan mount is the only interference to the appearance of the left side panel. Thankfully, the fan mount is low enough on the side panel to avoid interference with the CPU cooler or a wide graphics card heatsink such as our Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro. Fingerprint resistance however isn’t one of the strongest aspects of the steel used.

The simple styling continues to the plain right side panel and mesh, dust filtered front panel. Only 2 5.25″ bays are available which is a little worrying for people using more than 2 devices such as an optical drive, fan controller and card reader. The Fractal Design logo is located above the uppermost 5.25″ bay.

A total of 4 USB 2.0 ports with good spacing between them make up the front panel connection along with the 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone jack, power button, reset button, HDD activity and power LED. Something as small as the power button can easily be looked over by case manufacturers, but thankfully, Fractal Design’s button is very rewarding to push and feels as if you are powering something meaningful, just as it should. Another 2 140/120mm fan mounts are located on top of the case, with a single 1000RPM, 140mm fan included.

The 3.5″ external bay adapter works perfectly, fitting in with the appearance of the rest of the front panel and allowing the use of devices such as card readers and USB 3.0 hubs.

The final 120mm fan mount is located on the bottom of the case. An odd decision by Fractal Design was to not include a dust filter for this dust-drawing fan mount, even though the PSU fan location features a dust filter. 4 rubber-based feet elevate the Core 3000 slightly off the ground allowing cool air to reach the PSU and lower fan, should you choose to install it.