Fractal Design Core 3000 Case Review

Fractal Design’s aim with the Core 3000 was to produce a no-nonsense case which offered elegant aesthetics and plenty of cooling options. We feel that the elegance is most definitely apparent and the cooling capability is extremely impressive for a mid tower case but some of the key features that should definitely exist on a £50/$75 case are missing.

Aesthetics are extremely likeable. An all black exterior with the exception of white PCI shields is a very appealing style which lacks the bright LED fans or flashy lights which are hated by many enthusiasts. Internally, the all black trend is further continued with the exception of the white HDD trays and fan blades. Fractal Design deserve great credit for not taking the easy and cheap option that many case manufacturers love to by using an ugly silver metal interior. Well done Fractal.

The quality of the case itself is a little hit or miss. The cheap side panels are very awkward to remove and easy to bend which is a contrast to the sturdy feel of the chassis itself. The steel used is an absolute fingerprint magnet which is annoying but is the case with so many black cases in this day and age. A task which should always be so simple; installing the motherboard stand-offs, wasn’t due to the poor quality of the holes they were intended for. Thankfully, no sharp edges whatsoever were located on the interior. Another disappointing factor was the struggle which we went through removing our graphics card. The card was physically locked in position and determined not to move unless we spent over 5 minutes wiggling the PCI bracket and removing the seemingly intrusive screws located next to the DVI port.

A case’s expansion is a subjective matter and something that only a buyer can decide is acceptable or not. 6 3.5/2.5″ HDD trays should be plenty for almost all users in the market for a mid tower case. Only 2 5.25″ bays may be a deal-breaker for some people, but 2 is probably enough for a large proportion of mid-tower buyers. The included 5.25 to 3.5″ adapter is a very useful accessory which this editor wishes his NZXT Phantom had been supplied with. ATX, m-ATX and m-ITX compatibility as well as 7 PCI slots are expected.

Cooling options are vast in this mid-tower case. A total of 7 fan mounting locations and 3 included fans ensure that even the hottest of hardware won’t run toasty in the Core 3000. The side panel and bottom fan mounts should have definitely included some type of dust filter as these are likely to hold intake fans which will definitely blow a large amount of dust into the PC. While case cooling is very impressive, the CPU cooler support could be slightly better. Fractal Design state that coolers under 160mm in height will fit meaning that the current air cooling beasts such as the Phanteks PH-TC14PE and Noctua NH-D14 will fit, but some of the high performance single tower CPU coolers such as Cooler Master’s V6GT are too tall. Even though a 240mm radiator and fan set-up such as the Corsair H100 seems to fit in the top of the case, you will be running into clearance issues with RAM modules and VRM heatsinks due to the lack of space between the motherboard and top fan.

Cable management is mediocre at best. A single cut-out allows all of the cables exiting the PSU to be routed behind the motherboard tray while 2 cut-outs are employed to aid in routing the main cables intended for the busy motherboard area. Fractal Design creatively decided to include cut-outs on each HDD cage which is very useful for keeping the SATA and fan connections away from the highly populated area behind the motherboard. The lack of a hole for the CPU power cable is something which really shouldn’t happen on a £50 case along with the lack of hole for front panel cables, which is slightly less of an issue. Only 1.5cm of room is allocated behind the motherboard tray with a slight increase for the 24-pin or PCI-E cables. This just wasn’t enough space for even our modest amount of cables positioned there, meaning that the closing the side panel was a very awkward procedure.

At £50/$75 we feel that the Core 3000 is overpriced by £5-10/$10-15. It is an elegantly designed case which offers excellent cooling capabilities and relevant expandability options, but its mediocre cable management and on times, cheap feel definitely act as a hindrance to the success of this mainstream contender. The Core 3000 is a worthy contender to the competitive mainstream greats such as the HAF 912 Plus, CM690 II Lite and Lian Li PC-K58 but it isn’t always the better choice and on times has a difficult time keeping up the pace.