Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3 - Mini Tower Computer Case - mATX - High Airflow And Cooling - 1x 120mm Silent Fan Included - Brushed Aluminium - Black

I bought this case as part of a build for a family member on a budget, but not wanting to skimp too much by getting a cheap and cheerful £20 case, I opted to spend slightly more (£29.99 at time of purchase) for the chance of a slightly stronger build. I was not disappointed.With lack of any significant reviews online, I had to go on gut instinct based on the looks of the case. I suppose that's all that matters to the end-user, right? The basic, but clean premium-look design of the Core 1100 quickly drew me in compared to the similar or cheaper alternatives - no strips of light luring in the Michael Knight wannabes, no cheap LED fans, no weird plastic front plates trying to look like some 80's idea of a high-tech future. Fractal Design have kept it simple and they have done it well.The contents of the box included the obvious, as well as a warranty/returns card and a step-by-step guide for installing all your shiny new PC parts in to the case. Handy!Removing the side panel was simple enough using the provided thumb-screws, not often found with cheaper cases. The panel itself was sturdy and didn't feel thin or flimsy in any way. Where I expected to find a grey bare metal interior with dots of black paint from where the painting of the exterior ended, I was wrong. This sleek black paint job continued inside as well, no expense has been spared. There were no sharp metal edges in sight either, which is always a plus! Pre-installed in the case is a 120mm quiet fan, which was at the front of the case. I attempted to remove the front panel of the case to have a look, which proved to be quite fiddly, so I left it as it wasn't necessary and I didn't need to remove the fan.Where the 5 1/4" drive bay (for your CD/DVD/BR drive) is your typical cage located at the top of the case, there is no cage for your hard drives. Instead, a single vertical metal plate with a variety of screw holes is installed from the 5 1/4" cage to the base of the case, held in place by further thumb-screws. This is for vertically mounting your hard drives, with space for two 3.5" drives, three 2.5" drives, or one drive of each size. Included are even some rubber dampeners, but they only appear to fit in the spaces intended for 3.5" drives, presumably expecting 2.5" drives to be SSDs and not require dampening from any vibration, as caused by mechanical drives. Regardless, I liked this design very much, but it does limit you on how many drives you can have, so won't be suitable for any hoarder of hard drives or anyone wanting to build a large RAID array.Installing the parts was straightforward enough after screwing in the provided pegs to mount the motherboard. Despite being an mATX case (so on the small side), there was plenty room to move your hands about to plug everything in to the motherboard after removing the vertical hard drive plate. The front panel wires (for the power button, LEDs etc) were clearly labelled and included the poles (+ and - signs) to avoid any confusion with coloured wires.Replacing the side of the case was as simple as removing it, readying the new build to be fired up for the first time!Fortunately the internals worked as expected, with a gentle whir from the 120mm case fan, which promptly slowed to a whisper (controlled by the motherboard). The only sign that the PC was on was from the soft white glow surrounding the power button, with the odd flicker of the white hard drive activity LED below it.As you might have gathered, I'm rather impressed with this case. I'd consider it for myself if I needed a new case, and it had a larger capacity for hard drives (the only downside for my own use - remember this wasn't for me). Fractal Design will definitely be a consideration in the future!Pros:- Premium design/build quality- Excellent airflow with plenty of space for any additional fans- CostCons:- Limited space for additional hard drives might be a downside for someNOTE: I'm aware that it might sound like I'm a Fractal Design employee, bigging up my own product, but alas I just liked the case that much :)

Can't say I have a great deal of experience with cases, this being the third one I've purchased in my life after a Coolermaster something-or-other in 2009 and a Fractal Design Define S earlier this year (to replace the 2009 case after it had finally given up the ghost). Being impressed with the Define S I opted to go for this model for a mini build I intended on making with old bits and pieces I had lying around. So do bear this in mind as I write this review - I'm comparing it to a case that's about twice the price and one that's so old that I don't remember what it cost (probably was at the lower end of the market like at the time).The case isn't badly made. No sharp edges of note. The power supply mount area doesn't feel like it'd hold anything exceptionally heavy, although was okay for the Corsair VS600 I was using. There are very very few options for cable routing, aside from just stuffing them in the 5 inch drive bays and tying them up. Who uses CD drives these days anyway, let alone two? You're going to have one of these bays free regardless. I imagine this is typical for this price point though.The buttons are mounted on the front panel rather than being separate. Means if you take the panel off, the cables for power and power/HDD LEDs come with it. Not a problem as such, although once you've plugged the cables in and managed them you'll need to leave a bit of slack. There's only a single fan which is okay. I felt the need to add an extra in fan, using a CPU with a 125W TDP and a garden strimmer motor powering its stock cooler, and out fan but imagine most people probably won't have to. There's only three fan mounts (2 x 120mm, one of which has a fan already on it, 1 x 92mm), but again, probably typical for this price point. I noticed the rear fan is a weird size 92mm, so watch out for that if your plan was to use an existing 120mm fan as an exhaust (mine was, should have read the instructions/realised that a small case might struggle to fit both the IO and a 120mm fan on). Only the front panel is dust filtered and this isn't particularly strong - the filters are on the plastic front panel and there's a gap at the bottom so imagine dust penetration could still be a problem. I bought a little filter to put in front of the fan (and on the side fan).The case is quite narrow. Wouldn't want to try and put a tower cooler in it, just something to bear in mind. Manual says 148mm.My own fault this is, but I had a little accident with one of the side panels and it bent/deformed quite easily. Just something to bear in mind if you're a person who has the tendency to trip over your own computer. Both side panels are now dented. It's not a big deal, but might want to bear in mind if you're going to be transporting it around or if you're just clumsy. It is quite light on the other hand (and small being an mATX case), so if you're after portability I'd say it's good.The drive mount is odd, and similar to what was on my other Fractal Case - rather than being in a horizontal tray, they're mounted sidewards vertically with space for 3 2.5 inch drives or 2 3.5 inch drives. It comes with little rubberised things to stop vibrations. You can't fit a 2.5mm drive on with these rubber bits on (they pop off), or at least not without stressing the panel or drive itself, so the benefit of them won't really be felt if you plan on using 2.5mm mechanical drives (but who uses those in a desktop build anyway - other than me because I'm recycling?). You can remove the panel you strap the disks to for easier installation (or if you want to fit a bigger graphics card in with side power mounts).Overall it's a nice case, good aesthetics - it looks more premium/stylish than it is. Not the best to build in with the cable management not being fantastic, but it's what it is and cable management isn't really that important from a functionality perspective (or aesthetic when there's no transparent side panel). Would recommend if you're looking for something affordable, relatively small and somewhat portable. I feel like I might have been slightly better off buying some different (a little more expensive which came with more cooling options and better dust filters), but for a secondary/living room/general productivity PC with modern bits and pieces (which have a lower TDP than what I put in mine) it's probably pretty fine.