Curious, what do you like about the Fractal Design cases?
If you're into serious gaming, I can see the appeal. But I've not liked them much. Of course, I'm older and like understated looks.
Well, I just finished putting the PC back together. Don't know if I can list items on this site though.
* The cable management is a lot easier in comparison to other ATX cases. I'll upload a picture in a bit, just need to figure out whether I'm missing any important details before I start building the Skylake components into the case.
* The form factor of ATX means there should be more space in between components -- this remains very true with the Fractal Design. Moreover, it's obvious that between the R4 and R5 versions of the design, Fractal actually broke the case into manageable components so that you can actually remove the HDD trays and install a liquid cooling fan to the front of the case. This allows you to blow the air backwards and through the rear of the case. There's also the option of removing the top section of the case so that you can do the same with liquid cooling as well.
* This is my favourite part -- most ATX cases have a bizarre width limit on certain liquid coolers. For some coolers, it requires 140mm of width between the board and the side (top) of the case. Some people can't even put the side panel back on because of that. With Fractal, it's easy. There's no large seam either.
* Regarding the cable management, there are five rubber openings that allows you to move the cables around to limit their front profile. This is extremely helpful and I'll probably end up getting custom cables for the the SATA connections.
The power supply is an easy fit at the bottom. I have more room to get a larger PSU if needed. I likely won't need to, but you can probably end up getting a pretty large one and it would be a seamless fit. If you go m-ATX or ITX, it would a weird fit to be honest. I wouldn't recommend this case for those kind of builds.
It's a great case. I can see why my friend recommended it after building with it. There are so many important details they added to the accessories too. Rubber stoppers for easing the 3.5" HDD trays onto the metal plates of the HDD bays. They pulled the SDDs into the back of the panel (behind the motherboard), so the cable management works much better there. You can't even see the SATA cables other than where they connect to the motherboard. It's a great feature in all honesty. I would also add that they included plastic cable wraps as well.
..I went with the i7 4790 and a gtx 970 few months back. No way i'm replacing this stuff for at least a few years. Pretty much does what i want it to and i don't care for 4k gaming.
