Fractal's ITX Masterpieces - ERA 2 & MOOD
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Fractal has been just owning lately in the case market and the new Mood and ERA 2 ITX cases might be their best SFF PC designs yet. These things take small form factor cases to the next level. But are the ERA changes enough to improve its airflow and overall performance? And the Mood....well its amazing.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - A New Era…
7:27 - I’m in the Mood for Fractal
12:22 - Time to Scape
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#hardwarecanucks - Наука та технологія
Whoever designed these cases , Give them a raise.
like making everything round like every company is doing
I was excited for the Mood until I heard him say it only takes a 2 slot graphics card.
That would be me, thanks. I already own the company but appreciate the feedback. Enjoy.
@@dageta7742like i agree like with what you said because like it is round but like square. Like.
for real though
I feel like Fractal have perfected their design language, neutral, high quality, aesthetically pleasing.
Especially their ITX offerings in the last year or so, the ridge, terra, era 2 (good sequel) and the mood are just great
Fractal by IKEA
@@scofind1139 Nah, much closer to Sverre Fehn's design language
I use to call them Fractal all the time, but I guess they are really insisting upon the "Design" in Fractal Design. Good. I love adult cases.
The Raspberry Pi case is so cute! 😍
that "moving away from software" and configuration using webapps is so amazing, love it, more companies should adopt this
That Lian Li moving their software to one uniform app that controls everything. Not 3 different software running in the background.
@@georgejones5019I'm not a fan of installing bloated software with features and aspects that I don't need.
@@georgejones5019 Corsair did the same thing ages ago.
Totally agree, being a linux user! This means any OS is compatible.. I've seen this with some keyboards also - using web based 'software'.
Going to voice my dissent and say I hate it. When my keyboard forgets all its custom hotkeys because someone else's server connection has a hiccup, or their login server has a meltdown and keeps asking me to log back in every minute (never buying Razer again), I get annoyed; having a couple extra programs running in the background to guarantee a reliable user experience is much more preferable to me.
The Era 2 is an amazing comeback story.
Totally!
-D.
I just started planning an ITX build a few months ago, and Fractal was going to be one of my choices but now look what we got!
Just built my first PC in a Terra. It's so nice
@@gebthabeb I think the Era 2 uses the Terra interior but with more fan supports, the Terra is a really good case.
@@Ruiso7 if Era 2 looked a little bit better, I'd consider changing out my Terra so I could mount my radiator inside
So….what youre saying is fractal is still going to be one of your choices lol. So nothing has changed.
@@NahBNah I think he's implying fractal are now his only choice haha
I already bought 3 Fractal Cases, stop it now with these awesome cases. I need to eat.
Same here, i want one of each color OMG
Same, I’ve bought so many. I have owned 10 odd cases from fractal alone. It’s a disease I tell you!!
I gotta be honest, I don't know how y'all can look at the ERA and be optimistic about it's performance. The intakes look extremely congested, and the long thin openings in the top grill are not conducive for airflow due to the boundary layer taking up a significant fraction of whatever tiny area there is that isn't being blocked by wood. Will be surprised if the cooling test shows that it's anything better than mediocre.
Exactly what I was thinking, been planning an ITX for a while now, the case is gorgeous imo but seems incredibly limiting airflow :(
Man. Just love the aesthetics of Fractal Designs. So clean and simple. Just looks so premium.
cats are gonna love the mood. wont need a scratching post anymore
I know right? I wanted one until I looked at it again from my cats point of view! It would get trashed! Lovely warm scratching post that "purrs" at you :)
Just got a cat a week ago. This was my first thought 😂
LOL forgot about that. I guess It's a pass for me 😂
Oh noes, I bet we're gonna get reports of cats destroying them within a week of release..
Personally I've always recommended people with cats to get cases with a solid top where they can safely sit without blocking airflow or getting dust/fur inside, like Fractal's Torrent series and I believe some of their Define series has interchangeable solid top panels..
Or Inwin's A1 (personal bias because I have one and it's cute), and for mATX their 301/327 series too
Mood sounds like such a silly name for a PC case. I love it! I’m very interested in the Era 2. As someone who owns an RT. 3090 FE, I’m desperate for a SFF PC despite the size of my graphics card and cooling/compatibility issues aside.
fractal is killing it period. unlike other companies who do god knows what..also the room is clean AF
The Swedes just make some really aesthetically pleasing stuff. It was a big reason I didn't mind shelling out $200 for the Fractal Torrent RGB.
Dang! I was planning a m-atx build but that Era 2 has me sticking to itx.
THANK YOU FRACTAL!!
That headset is everything I wanted and more, and nobody has managed to make it yet. Assuming they have good drivers I will 100% be getting them.
I love that the IO is on the bottom. It’s so nice when you plug in a peripheral. I hate having a cord dangling down.
I'm all for this minimal design. Super clean and sleek!
a masterpiece indeed ! love the design, a new era for real in the cases market, hope other manufactures watch and learn.
That mood! Will be perfect for my wife, she's looking for a PC case to in our bedroom! This will blend really nice. Another beautiful build coming up!
These guys at Fractal are pioneers in the PC cases design, no doubt about it.
That Era 2 case in blue. I want my next build to be in that case. Even the scape headset is looking good. I cant wait for ur review on these products.
From the first moment I saw the Fractal North (online) I was obsessed. I needed to build a new PC for my home office and decided it was going to be the Fractal North or nothing. I'm in Canada and searched everywhere but no one had stock. I ended up buying one from a store in Florida (over paid). The day the case arrived I was like a little kid on xmas. It was everything I had hoped and more....A piece of art deserves complementary hardware, I purchased components (128GB Ram, 12GB GPU, latest AMD motherboard and an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU. My original intent was to have the PC located underneath my desk, I decided to display it on top of my workspace (3 meter long). Everyone who has seen my F-North love it.....I guess my next project is to build a new PLEX server using the new "Mood" case
I'm getting this for a living room PC. It's gorgeous!
Era 2 is 100% gonna be my next case. SO well designed. Excellent video!
Love the direction and the eye for aesthetics on those cases. Unfortunately, I am perfectly happy with my Define 5 😃
Mood is going to be my next case! Well done Factual
as a fractal terra user builder, I love the new cases, well done fractal love both the era and the mood!
these are some really cool cases, the ERA will likely be the case i use for my next ITX build and the Mood will probably be a really good fit for a HTPC/living room console PC
Absolutely gorgeous case, will be my next build for sure!
The Era 2 would go soooo hard if it was 2-4 Liters less. 19L is just too big in my opinion. But wow that blue was magnificent. Thanks for showcasing it.
"Which case are you most excited about?"
The Raspberry Pi case! Damn, he cute! I just wish the RPi didn't have connectors coming out at every angle, otherwise this would be absolutely perfect.
Wow that blue color looks amazing. Can not wait for tests of thermal and noice levels. My main concern with a smaller case is thermal and noice levels.
Thermal is generally pretty good for sandwich layout cases like FormD T1 or Dan A4 H2O as the GPU getting fresh air from its own side. CPU temp can suffer a little bit if you use an AIO due to pulling hot air from the GPU side though.
Highly recommend watching Optimum/Optimum Tech and Devyn Johnston channels, there you'll see some of the most high quality videos of the SFF space. Also seeing that thermals and noise levels aren't really that much different than larger cases these days. Components have become very efficient today that cooling isn't that much required as it used to be.
@@Dawelio I am big fan of Optimum Tech and his SFF builds. My concern with Fractal is did they learn their lessons regarding ERA 1 thermal levels when designing the ERA 2.
man that headphones is soooo minimalist! i love it
They both look amazing 😍 The mood looks awesome as a case for a home media center!
The Era 2 looks really gorgeous. I hope its thermals are competitive with other ITX cases.
And the Raspberry Pi version of the North is so cute!
Incredible looking cases!!
not a fishtank in sight... love it
Not gonna lie I might get that Mood for my kids first PC build. Would be perfect for their setup.
PLEASE sell the PiNorth mini case. Literally best thing I've seen at Computex this year. So much so that I am leaving this comment on every YT video I see made from Fractal! The other cases are cool as well, but I must have one or two PiNorth cases.
I can't wait for a review of that headset. the design and price are awesome so if the sound and mic quality are nice it's an instant buy
Sick case design! I was looking for a nice, slightly thinner formfactor for next to my monitor and this seems perfect. That Midnight blue is truly gorgeous..
Fractal's design ID is fantastic lately. Those headphones look amazing, I hope they sound as good as they look.
Absolutely gorgeous cases.
If I didn't have the Kraken cooler with the display, I'd be all over moving to the 'Mood'. Looks slick.
Wow… these cases are gorgeous!!
Thank you Dmitry, also known as "God of pc cases". Lot of new and exciting stuff.
The midnight blue Era 2 has stolen my heart. I'm in the market for a new pc and this will 100% be my case.
I've always love fractal with their awesome intuitive designs to their customer service :D. I'm Still rocking their fractal design R5 my next case will be a fractal case
I can't wait to see the reviews on this case as it's pretty high on my watch list!
Wow! I think I'm going to hold off until these are released to build my itx pc.
Your watch went great with your pants and your shirt!
That midnight blue with the walnut is an absolutely gorgeous combo. How I wish we got it with the coolermaster Ncore. Makes me wanna spray paint it myself lol
fantastic design. best balance between size and function. I'm copping one of these when the time to update cpu+mobo comes
Most excited - the raspberry PI case of course. :) Should be a big earner for them.
That Mood has my attention! I hope once review units are sent out the reviews are good! Those Scapes look sick!!! Hope they have good BASS!!! They should 100% make that pi case.
Wait with era2 for airflow tests, era 1 also looked great before actual reviews
For sure, but looks promising especially with the two included fans at the bottom and great potential for 240/280 AIOs. Excited to get them in.
-D.
Honestly I don't even care, and I'm sure many people don't either. A couple degrees C doesn't mean anything to the big majority. I can count with my fingers the amount of times I turn on my PC a year, seriously. I just want something that looks clean and professional in my office whilst making the nerdy within me happy.
@@GabrielRM The OG era was overheating pretty bad regardless of what you put in it. Sorry, i'd rather not have my components overheat and thermal throttle. Hopefully the new one rectifies the thermal issues.
@@GabrielRM The Era 1 was a thermal throttling hot box; they completely forgot to incorporate any thermal management at all into the design. It was aesthetics first and only.
@@waffle911 Understandable, I'm not criticising preferring a more functional case. I also used to be like that when I was younger. Priorities change as you get older and that's fine. I honestly don't know how bad the original one was, I just can't imagine it'd ever be bad enough to justify someone like myself not buying it. Do you know how many more °C it would generate over a comparable ITX case? And how realistic is that significance in everyday use? I imagine the only scenario where it's noticeable is playing high-end games maxing out your hardware - and that's something that never happens to me or my wife and likely the majority of people.
Fractal just has a knack for making incredibly esthetically pleasing cases. All of these look great! Wth the constant delays on the streacom freeflow, that Era 2 looks tempting. And that headset! Minimal w/ an incredibly ckean design. Currently running some PC38x, but if the audio quality is decent, I could go for a set of wireless headphones.
really glad they fixed the era but i feel like it kinda lost its magic but no idea why (like what element gave it the magic. but the first era was GORGEOUS)
BUT its still beatiful case and if it was released few months sooner i would have went with it (but i just bought different itx case)
The New Era is so clean! Ive been looking at new itx cases and in my opinion most are ugly but the New Era is so aesthetically pleasing
The blue ERA 2 looks so nice. 😊💙
That Mood / Scape combo is going to be great
Wow, the mood ❤
Definitely nice looking cases...I'm a sucker for white/silver cases but those are are still pretty large to be ITX.
the mood is my mood. getting it.
i love the bottoms of the era 2, those angles and airflow are kicka$$
Yo this is INSANE. I wish pc parts weren’t so expensive, I’d buy one of these in a heartbeat
Fractal legitimately makes me want an ITX build.
The Scape headsets were a pleasent surprise, I really like the aesthetic. Would love to see them put in a charger port for a scondary battery like Steel Series has done with theirs which is a great *optional* version for Bluetooth headsets.
Make it happen - the PI case. PLEASE! :)
Era2 in blue color looks like the Silicon Graphics I could never afford as a kid. I love it! 😍
Liking everything ive seen from fractal lately. Looking forward to trying those Bluetooth headsets.
Fractal is killing it!
Wow, really sweet cases. Love my north but these are really nice
Damn seeing the Era 2 I wanna build my next PC as SFF. Especially the blue looks so SICK!
Really loving the Mood case. The wife would let me put that in the main TV set up as she wouldn't find it to be an eye-sore in her opinion as that case will easily blend in with the other entertainment stuff.
Big fan of both cases
@Hardware Canucks, I for one will be looking forward to your review of those headphones when it comes out and you're able to get to it! 🙂
that blue case is a real looker!
Build my first ever computer in the Jade Terra case… man this Era 2 in Blue looks sooo good.
I am the proud owner of a Fractal North. It looks and feels so nice... Money well spent. Now the new Era is so gorgeous I want to build a new PC!
I think the jade green would actually look terrific on the Era 2.
Fractal is absolutely on a roll right now, wow
In order:
Era2 in blue is just stunning. I look at it and it’s making me go ‘next pc: itx’ for the first time ever.
Mood: interesting. TBH, I would use one of those not so much for a gaming/desktop pc but a multimedia center type pc attached to my living room tv. You could build a relatively more affordable spec for one of those and the case likely would blend in well.
The headphones: I’m not in the market for headphones. I have several very nice and semi-premium sennheiser headphones. And a nice standalone USB mic.
But those headphones really make me wish I was in the market for a new set. I’m VERY curious how the sound and recording quality for them will be. But visually, they are a smash.
The pi case: I’m not in the market for a pi5. My two 3b’s are just fine. That said, if they bring those cases to market, I’m upgrading both for no other reason than to use those enclosures. Totally amazing. Don’t make us weaponize Jeff Geerling, Fractal. We all want those micro-norths.
…and you guys didn’t even mention the office chairs they had in the center of their display. Or the slightly revised North that was off to the side in some shots.
Been searching for an ITX case with 240mm rad support + sandwich layout + 2.5 slot GPU with 325mm length. Would snatch the ERA 2 once it's available in my country. Thank you fractal also the design is super cool!
I would ask they keep the bottom rear of the case open so that you can slide it up with cables still attached
I know it's not always best practice to dig through a PC without unplugging first but sometimes you just wanna do something super quick and that would be an added level of convenience
I was planning to build an ITX pc and was looking for what kind of case I "wood" chose. Definetily It'll be the Era 2. I'm excited with the headset, I'll wait the tests.
Fractals use of wood is great, they really considered the actual aesthetics like a piece of furniture not just we stuck some wood on to make it trendy/different.
Fractal Design comes in with the win right here, not once but twice.
For a long time PC cases have been super showy and all about the RGB. Even I got drawn into it with a white Lian Li 011 case and spent more on RGB fans than I did on my GPU. But for the longest time I've hated that the cases are very heavily designed around being placed on the right where my current setup the placement would fit better on the left. Also as times gone on I've wanted to go with a more subtle but stylish case (pref) chimney style so I have more placement options and while a few cases have come out that do fit the bill they don't quite hit the mark like these do. Namely the nzxt h1 and corsair 2000d. They both look great but one's very expensive and the other is too plasticky.
The era wouldn't look out of place sitting on everyone's desk at say an engineering or architectural firm and the mood is perfect for either hiding in plain site in a meeting room or at home in your loungeroom.
Maybe I'm just not the target demographic, but whenever I look at PC cases I look for functionality first, appearance second. The ERA 2 very much feels like a form-over-function case, considering it has a full-length filter that comes out the back (from Fractal, who has plenty of cases with hidden full-length filters that come out the front) and having the cutout for the IO as a hole instead of a notch might be good for rigidity, but it also means you'd have to unplug everything every time you want to open the case.
It looks great, but I'd go for the MOOD over the ERA 2 every time.
mood is such a fresh look in current computer case scenary
Think i have now just found my new case for my next build cant wait for the Era2
Also, I am very tempted with the new headset, but I will have to wait for the review, so I am looking forward to the video
Can I ask what watch are you wearing? Love it!
I wish they had the wood theme for the Mood, I'd love a chimney with the wood panels from the North.
I really love the rpi case, since there isn't much of a market for rpi cases that look good or are from big brands right now.
beautiful
truely beautiful.
The headphones are looking pretty nice! Wonder what the sound quality is like? Would it be good for office use?
I am extremely exicited to see whether the Mood will fit Artic Liquid Freezer III 280 and what the cooling performance will be like, as the panels look rather restrictive.
Hmm. A brown box with a brown top. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. At least it doesn't have any flashing lights. The Mood is definitely a step up aesthetically.
I'm really tempted by the headset. All those features with a handsome design is what I've been dying for a gaming headset. I currently use the Logitech G433 (the all fabric one) and I love it, but I'm tempted to move on to wireless. We'll see how the reviews go.
AMAZING cases. Lots of thoughtful design. But how do you clean the fabric on the chimney case? The front is pulling air through the fabric and the fabric is gonna collect dust and dirt like a filter. I hope it doesn't stain. Same for the fabric on the headphones and charger. Are they all washable?