Fractal's SUPERB New ITX Case

[@tinybit780]

Just one tip because many people are wondering: 4090 FE fits easily with slim fans (I took P14 Arctic, really good for that). Temps are very low. As stated in the review, CPU is more challenging. Noctua LS12 and Eco mode is a perfect combination though (even for 7000 Ryzen). With some fan tuning, the case is able to operate quiet with no real world performance loss (at least for gaming). Loki SFX 750 or 850 with 12+4 is a good match as well.

[@joshuaeah]

Love Arctics. P14s in particular are quite literally the best performing 140mms as well

[@Tailslol]

with that many fans close to the card you can probably deshroud it and hook the case fans to the card with some adapters.

[@hustleacc8075]

I hope the corsair SF750 will be enough for my future 7900X3D with 7900 XTX build.

[@petermilian4455]

Isn't the problem with 4090 FE that it's too tall to fit in this case though? Is it lower height than the example card that wouldn't fit used in the review?

[@Dionyzos]

Why would you even need any additional fans? I've built quite a few SFFPCs and as long as the GPU fans take in fresh air directly there's no need for those fans. I can recommend building some shroud though to make sure it doesn't recirculate air. The 4090 runs so cool that it won't pose a problem though.

[@josephkeen288]

The node 202 was an absolutely amazing small form factor unit. I'm glad to see they've gone with a similar case but with modern amenities and more air flow to compensate for the heat modern equipment throws out.

[@A_Man_Of_Culture_]

I just want to remind everyone that BungeeGum has both the properties of rubber and gum

[@therealAkito]

⭐️ -_- 💧

[@krozdo5an809]

🤣

[@mrshinobigaming8447]

U r very wise

[@OllieW501]

Thank you ✊

[@TheAbdsAviation]

🤣 bungeeeee gum

[@dogboy0912]

Honestly a water cooled APU build would be really cool. It's nice that it mounts a 240 and has actual mounting points for 80mm. You could do something similar in a Node 202 or ML-08b, but you'd have to maybe punch a few holes and use a few zipties. I love the "briefcase" form factor and I feel it is neglected for, imo, inferior itx form factors.

[@Martin.ac.85]

I don't get the hate on the 1800 rpm fans. I rather have the option to increase airflow if needed and to slow them to dead silence speed with PWM control. If they gave us a slow fan, we are stuck to THAT maximun speed.

[@veduci22]

But BFU don't want options because he don't care about setting the fan speed regulation and therefore 1800rpm fan is "noisy".

[@HardwareCanucks]

More so the case isn’t designed properly to accommodate such high RPM fans. That side panel mesh is way too dense and close to the fans so at full blast the case is waaaay too loud for ITX (56+dBA). Reducing the RPM to 1000 brings the noise under control without hurting cooling perf. -D.

[@deviantbuilds]

Yeah i rather have the option to slow them down and tune the fan curve than having a hard limit at 1000rpm.

[@香噴噴-p6f]

that fans i would throw away instantly once i bought this case , and put on P14 or silent wings 4 140mm , a nice fans won't loud like that , also if only for cooling off gpu those fans doesn't even need to spin more than 900 rpm

[@Braffy]

@@香噴噴-p6f I ended up doing just this. I'm running 2 arctic P14 argb fans. The rgb ends up looking nice through the grating on the side panel.

[@AdrenalineTheory]

I agree that its odd they didnt make the gpu space just slightly larger to allow fitment of any card with ease. It does seem to fit some top level cards but not all simply based on whatever design each company went with.

[@matbailie3816]

Where should they have stopped though? With 400mm long quad slot cards this year, we could have quintuple slot cards before long. Looks to me that they settled on aesthetic and accepted the consequential limitations.

[@PROTLxONgame]

I think they just didn't anticipate the 40 series cards to be such thicc bois.

[@AdrenalineTheory]

@@matbailie3816 I dont think they needed to worry about the new cards coming out. These things werent really designed with maximum performance in mind. Its just odd to make the case ALMOST big enough for different variations in cards. Just a bit of an oversight on their part. Such a minor change could have vastly improved compatability and cooling options.

[@EvanA.]

@@PROTLxONgame Dmitri tested an RTX 3080 ROG Strix, and it did not fit. They didn't even validate all past gen cards...

[@PROTLxONgame]

@@EvanA. oh right, good point

[@Axeiaa]

Looks like an Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf speaker. Would be interesting speakers to pair it with if you're into that kind of look.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

Super happy that we have people still making desktop cases. Not everyone wants a tower, plus cases like these are *perfect* for living room PCs (especially since a lot of PC gamers still prefer using a controller). I'm definitely considering picking this case up. What I would *really* want is a case like this that only supports half-height GPUs and flex-ATX / 1U PSUs, as that would make this a lot smaller and fit my needs perfectly :D

[@catharticcathexis4527]

Your taste in hardware sizes is horrible. Flex ATX PSUs are noisy because of their purpose. And half height are awful. Just get an APU and forgo the extraneous gpu.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

@@catharticcathexis4527 Flex ATX PSUs are not all noisy. There aren't as many options as SFX? however there still are enthusiast options that are designed to run quietly and operate efficiently and reliably. Silverstone makes a couple that I've heard great things about, but they are not the only one. Half-height is perfectly fine because there's quite a few half-height GPUs, and with 2 slots that allows it to fit the "beefier" small GPUs like the 1650 and, most importantly, the RTX A2000. The A2000 especially would blow any APU out of the water that's on the market right now. No, I don't want to "just get an APU". Thanks for your comment though :D

[@catharticcathexis4527]

@@xPLAYnOfficial Yeah, not exactly making a case for good taste in hardware. An A2000 half height is $500USD. That’s about the cost of the entirety of a 6900HX system. And the performance difference is ~50fps on ultra for the a2000 vs ~35fps on low for the 680m both at 1080. You could buy a used gaming laptop with a 2080 and a cooler for about the price of the GPU alone and get similar to better performance. Flex ATX also has design problems inherent with its form factors that not even overbuilt enthusiast grade parts could solve. Number one it’s tiny, it’s very difficult getting the power needed for modern hardware. There’s a reason people would rather have a power brick and external power supply.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

@@catharticcathexis4527 And yet the HDPlex 250W GaN has been gaining traction and use in the SFF community. There's more to PC hardware than just power, and laptops / APUs are not the end-all-be-all solution to every problem. This isn't about "taste" , this is about use case and situational circumstance. Budget, performance, upgradeability, reliability, repairability, availability, electrical power / stability, noise, aesthetics, flexibility -- these are just a sampling of the myriad of aspects one must consider when building a PC. Now, does this mean everyone should go out and buy an RTX A2000? No. Does this mean the RTX A2000 is worthless with no need or use case where it makes sense? Also no. It's decidedly niche, but that doesn't make it bad. Just because *you* see no point in it's existence doesn't mean it's bad. Your opinion is not the definitive answer on the subject, and neither is mine. In the same way you can see no reason you'd ever want a Flex ATX power supply, I can personally see merit within my circumstances and situation. Perhaps then, having an open mind towards the possibility of your own knowledge, skills and experiences not being the complete picture is the best approach to take.

[@catharticcathexis4527]

You enjoy your 2,000 dollar desktop objet d’arte that can’t keep up with a brand new laptop. There’s absolutely purposes and uses for those parts. And not one of them is playing video games. Enjoy your expensive pointless niche of toys. I’ll stick to practical applications of small computing components.

[@Braffy]

I got this case with a 5800x3d and a 6800xt reference card, it works perfectly for me. The power cables interfere with one of the 80mm fan slots but I can still occupy the other 2 slots. The GPU chamber is hard to keep quiet as it is so open and close to the side of the case. But there's also enough airflow going to the GPU to keep fan speeds down.

[@Aefweard]

What do your temps look like?

[@juliosalguero4638]

What's your temps? Also what cpu cooler you have?

[@marvinfernandez2583]

What cooler are you using with that 5800x3d and how are the temps during gaming? (if possible cite some example of games you play)

[@Braffy]

Just got some testing done for all those asking temps. I'm using a Scythe Big Shuriken rev A at 50% fan speed and I'm seeing temps between 70-82c depending on the game. CP2077 ran hot around 82c while Tiny Tina's Wonderlands ran around 70c. I never paid much attention to what my temps were like with my LF2 240mm in an ATX case, but I recall them not being that far off.

[@kurkurstuff2522]

@@Braffy not bad

[@BenSmith-uv6gw]

Maybe clarify that the CPU cooler is facing down when the case is oriented horizontally. I bet it would be much cooler if it were oriented the other way so that the CPU cooler faces up (power button on the right side). The large panels appear to be interchangeable to allow this.

[@Stoked4Good]

Yeah, i was confused there and at the same time he displayed it with the monitor on top. So was like, well, yeah with monitor on top, it for sure would suck, I'd think, haha. PS I'm a born again PC noob, making a comeback 20 or years later, ha

[@lanceislateagain]

A mod I'm interested in doing (if I ever get my hands on this case) is to attach a fan to the GPU bracket, such that it would succ out hot air from the CPU chamber and dump it in the GPU chamber, which is overkill and has more exhaust anyway. I wonder if that would improve CPU Temps.

[@ffwast]

This seems ideal to pair with one of those big external radiators.

[@nathanholtzclaw]

Fractal design has been killing it with case design this year

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

They always have, really. Everybody have ups and downs, but Fractal's design approach has always been very intelligent and consistent. There's rarely any bloat, bad features or poor execution. Each case clearly has a job in mind, and does it very well. I just think in this case people try to push it too far. I've seen attempts to shove a 4090 into it, top shelf processors, etc. It's just not made for components that hot. I think it would make a great living room PC. Some people use these as their media center brains. With these looks this will seamlessly blend into the environment sitting somewhere under your TV, or on the shelf.

[@ryans3199]

Another possible design oversight: If they were going to put the Mobo upside down when laying flat, why not at least have the option of putting 80mm fan mounts on the CPU side? You would increase airflow drastically, especially if you use Noctua's L12S.

[@ryanb3977]

As a Fractal Node 202 owner for a traveling PC, I'm highly considering paying for what I see as a upgrade. The 3.5 holder in the 202 is the most gawd awful thing because of it's placement which was where the middle support bar, between where the psu cables connected & the other chamber where the gpu placement & front io cables were. So all those cables were flowing through basically a cable bottleneck, especially for the pci-express connector. Also for me, the riser connector became looser & looser being vertical, especially with a standardish size gpu.

[@TheAustrianAvenger]

Agreed. This case looks like a decent upgrade to the Node 202 as it seems it's a straight upgrade to that... I have to admit: It's tempting. Alone for the SSD mounting option... I had also little trouble with the standard riser in the Node 202. I got rid of it and got a flexible gen. 4 riser instead.

[@Cermagine]

It's worth mentioning that the case currently has an issue with the riser IMO. Setting the pci-e slot to gen 4 causes standard riser instability issues, however you won't see an issue when setting to gen 3 or if your motherboard defaults to gen 3. Fractal have said that it only effects AMD systems but there are reports of it effecting Intel ones too. New replacement risers from Fractal don't seem to fix this yet either, so people are still waiting for a fix.

[@Gigaguenther]

any developments? are you still dealing with the problem?

[@Cermagine]

@@Gigaguenther no more issues, they sent out a new new riser around march which fixed it.

[@Gigaguenther]

@@Cermagine ah cool, that puts the Case back on my favorites list. thanks for the heads up

[@KirkwoodImaging]

Just want to say the fan ad in the middle of this was gorgeous/super cool. I want them.

[@HardwareCanucks]

They are super cool! Glad you liked the ad 🙏 -D.

[@alexrain1060]

If you tell me they have done somthing wrong like ship the case with the worng sort of fans, do you mind telling us why they have done that when it comes with Fractals PWM Aspect fans 500-1700RPM so you can set the speed yourself to 1000RPM.

[@knownasnut3944]

For anyone concerned about temperatures when the case is horizontal, I’ve found a bit of a trick. The way the case is designed, when placed horizontally, the side with more ventilation holes ends up facing down, which restricts airflow. You can remove the stand entirely and add small feet to the opposite side, allowing the side with more ventilation to face up. with two fans in the graphics card chamber, one 60mm fan pulling air in from the back (right next to the CPU), and another 60mm fan exhausting air through the front panel. This configuration allows the GPU to intake plenty of fresh air from the top (via its stock shroud) and exhaust it out the bottom. Meanwhile, the CPU is cooled by its dedicated 60mm fan (with the CPU cooler set to exhaust), and any ambient air is exhausted out the front. This setup essentially gives each component its own dedicated airflow, making a huge difference in temperature's

[@itzahoax934]

1 year too late, However I just completed a build with a 7700X and a 7900GRE using a Noctua NH-L12S for the CPU. The dimensions of the 7900GRE are 335mm x 130mm x 52mm . Despite the limitations on the GPU dimensions you can in fact run 3 80mm SLIM fans on the top if you want and it will not interfere with a card that is ~130mm even though the manual says 125mm (probably because they using regular 25mm thick fans).

[@nohpleft]

thank you so much for this review! I really wanted to see whether this could be the case for my next build.

[@henryt9731]

I have been using this case for 2 months now. Here are my problems and thoughts. Note: I use the ridge in a horizontal setup in a 28x44cm cupboard. PC Parts: Moded zotac 3080ti trin oc Vram copper mod fan mod, thermalright 3x TL-B9x25mm top side installed 3 80x15mm exhaust fans Pcie 4.0 riser cable because the card isn’t working and has to be used in 3.0. I had to remove the bracket and side panel to fit the riser cable. Cpu amd r7 5700x with Asus strix x570i I had to edit the bios of the board to enable low power mode so the chipset wouldn’t overheat… Cooler - Blackridge with phanteks T30 and Noctua A9x14, since i took off the panel anyway might as well use the beefiest fan set up 🤷🏻‍♂️ had to remove the main m.2 cover to fit the cooler. Gpu temps easily hits 83c despite under-volt and cpu at around 80c when gaming after 3hours. I’m suspecting the gpu is sucking back in the hot air vented because of the space restriction of the cupboard. I will test if using a wood plaque to isolate the intake and exhaust will make a noticeable difference.

[@techtrx]

What’s your cpu and cooler?

[@Malumen]

5:37 is important, thank you. I was about to buy a 140mm tall GPU (almost same as Dmitri has here).

[@brendameistar]

Im in a market for a slim tower for my spare 5600x and 6700xt. This is it. Almost pulled the trigger on the old slim Silverstone raven case. Fractal has always been my go to in the past though lian li has taken over with the 011 mini.

[@argan1996]

This is the exact setup I've got with my Node 202. The ridge looks interesting and much easier to work on at least.

[@userhandler0tten351]

Been an owner since the Design Define XL rev 1 and I have to say, this is the coolest little thing I’ve ever seen!

[@dIggl3r]

So this is basically for the look then? Performance/tech/noise wise it doesnt seem to mega perform... (I do love supra minimalistic designs though!)

[@HardwareCanucks]

Pretty much. If your hardware specs fit, this is a killer option for the slim design ✌️ -D.

[@dIggl3r]

@@HardwareCanucks I got a Fractal Design Define 7, so I'm pretty much at the other side if the spectrum with the Ridge. 😉

[@Malumen]

Hey Dmitri, if you ever revisit this (or get another staff at HC), try adding two 60mm fans to the CPU side as intake or exhaust; likewise, with a different GPU, you can fit some slim fans on the GPU side. I wish Fractal had invested in these custom fans (15mm thick or 20mm thick) instead of the two 140mm included. (Thermalright has some really inexpensive mini fans, so Fractal could do the same)

[@Bruhyeet42069]

This case could be very interesting for a GPU deshroud. And maybe a higher end APU build.

[@Corei14]

Apus are not high end. No need to water cool them. The only thing high end would be the ssds you add to it.

[@chrisbrookshire861]

Super agree. Replace with Noctua fans or add low power adapters to the fans to slow them down. Are the included fans 3 pin or 4 pin fans?

[@Bruhyeet42069]

@@Corei14 Not now but who knows what we'll get in the future. I mean both AMDs and Intels high end CPUs feature integrated graphics so maybe there's a use case here. Maybe as a small personal server or something.

[@madcrowmaxwell]

@@Corei14 There are APUs on the laptop side with fairly high end specs on the CPU side and adequate specs on the GPU side. Sadly, AMD seems to have given up on desktop APUs. The Ryzen 6000G was cancelled and removed from the roadmap, and there were never any leaks about a possible 7000G either.

[@ItsReaxxion]

GPU Deshroud, now that makes sense

[@Donkeydoedel]

The case is basically your GPU Cooler. I'm wondering if you could remove GPU fans and some of the plastic housing without big temperature increase. This would make it possible to fit even bigger cards.

[@jamesreeve6465]

My build. Asrock A620i lightning, 7800X3D, RTX 4080 Super FE, corsair SF1000L. idcool is67xt. Works great. Temps are way better than expected . Very happy.

[@Empty_Vima]

Too few temperature indicators are taken into account in such an assembly, does warm air get on the motherboard, memory and ssd? Fortunately, you can overheat a lot.

[@CaptainMyron]

What you probably missed in this review and should actually consider is if using a one fan gpu and a 120mm aio for the cpu fits. It honestly seems like this is the design they where going for.

[@vedrisca]

Having the case raised -- I think -- does a disservice to the sound levels as it allows most of the chassis to resonate from the vibrations that the fans produce. If Fractal were to remove the stand and let the case directly sit on the desk / floor, I would imagine much of the vibrations would be dispersed through that medium instead. Maybe this is a model they should iterate on?

[@HardwareCanucks]

The stand makes no difference to the sound. It’s the really dense mesh side panel that should be opened up to quiet the case. -D.

[@s8wc3]

5:17 This shot and the way Dimi delivers the line here is so Rodney Reynolds lol

[@ModBay]

I can see this being a nice case for a small home server build. Perhaps a proxmox build with pf sense or something. I Might have to do some research on IO options. Nice video as always.

[@vongdong10]

Such an aesthetically pleasing case, especially the white one

[@HardwareCanucks]

Agreed 👍 -D.

[@MartinAaberge]

It looks absolutely amazing! But... that sound is insane.

[@jude4628]

Hardware Canucks case reviews are unmatched.

[@ItsReaxxion]

better than anyone, even GN

[@donordonez1356]

Try Optimum Tech :)

[@ItsReaxxion]

@@donordonez1356 nah, hc (dimitri) is good on any case reviews while OT only does SFF which as itself is a niche market.

[@donordonez1356]

@@ItsReaxxion Quality of Review talking about here not about sff only haha

[@jude4628]

@@donordonez1356 bro please

[@donacianoc.sandoval2587]

im tired of my thermaltake cube of a case, and what better place to search for a new one than hardware canucks. glad to see you're still going hard my man. i remember watching all your vids back in 2014. you've just helped me pick my next case!

[@williamake4783]

So for me, I took a 6700XT apart and used the 140mm included fans as the cooling instead of the normal heatsink. Voids warranty, but now I have a really powerful cooling setup. I think I could go much bigger if I keep on making this 'custom' cooling tweak. However, I do find it sad that its got those fans and they just barely made contact with my GPU and so I had to do this. Otherwise a year later this case is doing excellent. I wanted to make it my portable desktop, but it doesn't fly particularly well. I may be making a custom wood travel box for it.

[@vensroofcat6415]

In mini ITX world they often do compete with liters. This case is exploiting the math trick of 1*3

[@SpiritowlTV]

I'd love to somehow make that front face a speaker itself attaching it directly to the fan slots.

[@lonelymtbrider3369]

Horizontal is probably pretty good if used as a gaming console in the living room. Should fit nicely where the ol dvd player used to be.

[@pkpnyt4711]

This is a 13 litter case which won't allow big GPUs to fit. Might as well get the Meshlicious which is only 14 liters and allows the strix, tuf 30 series (and rx 6000 cards) cards to fit and even the reference 4090/4080 to fit. That also allows a radiator while having a GPU in use.

[@shadowarez1337]

Wasn't they're a video from HWC bout those Noctua Fan mount so you could direct airflow from the CPU to the case wall.

[@keliangchan]

this case plus a 15.6'' portable 4k mnitor(use the magnetic cover to stick it to the half mesh side), it's perfect for traveling around. my build is: 5600x + palit gaming pro 3090, bought three unbrand 80mm x 15mm fans on top as exhaust and changed original 140mm fans to 120mm ones.

[@bair2]

It also weights 4 kg bare for some reason. Which would be a hassle if you want to fit it into a carry on on a plane.

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

Why would you travel around with a desktop.

[@keliangchan]

@@Quicksilver_Cookie just dont like laptop and ps5

[@bisonbro7]

​@@keliangchanwhich monitor are you using ? And how are you carrying this around ? Cabin baggage or backpack ?

[@SupportNoob]

Wanted a node 202, went with a P-ATX V3 from SFFtime, saw this new ridge and looked amazing but considering the layout, size, and performance I decided that the P-ATX V3 was waaay better and looks like im right, this case is toasty, bigger than my P-ATX, waaay noisier and almost the same price.

[@riba2233]

Thanks, appreciate it!

[@SupportNoob]

@@riba2233 yooooo the legend himself lol, I got it recently (the Bstock one) and gotta say, I love it. Took me a bit of time to install everything but love how it looks in my desk and saved up a TON of space on my side of the desk, best layout confirmed

[@riba2233]

@@SupportNoob yo yo, thanks, very glad you like it!

[@harryshuman9637]

@@riba2233 Ugh, those delivery times tho.

[@UntrainableWizard]

Question for horizontal- The video shows horizontal only with the Shuriken, but (I assume) vertically with the Shuriken as well as the 80mm and 140mm exhausts. How well does horizontal perform with the 80mm and 140mm exhausts as well? I only ask for consistency and curiosity, and also because my idea was to get something like this case for a more slimline approach to my current case which sits horizontally and performs rather well (is just... very outdated, and not big enough for the newer Ryzen cards).

[@traveller400]

So happy to see more Dmitry on the channel again.

[@AnalogFoundry]

Turn CC on. "good people I'm Dmitry welcome to my Ridge review from *practical* design"

[@Unknown-rk9qm]

I have never pay much attention on water cooler. But from when you don't need to install a water tank? Is it already everything inside the radiator?

[@Roman.Anderson]

don't know why you were having trouble with your 3080 I fit my 3090 Strix in there just fine

[@romulas-cushmanproject3273]

This would actually be a great APU/IGPU case, with a 280mm cooler, you’d have way more than adequate cooling in such a small package

[@davidknightx]

Eh, think I'll stick with my Torrent Nano. Case is a bit fatter, but something I've learned in PC building is, when you try to make things to tight in a case, you almost always run into problems down the road. I'm still shocked how cool this case runs my CPU/GPU. Best temps so far!

[@nickhenderson1410]

I've been debating between this and the Silverstone Milo 12. The Silverstone case is much more business/gamery like, has a slightly higher CPU cooler height, AND has a slim optical drive mount location (important for me) I'd love to see a review from you guys on the Milo 12 in comparison. There's only a few small press releases out with not many examples of seeing hardware in it.

[@tiagosantos680]

Milo 12 looks awesome, but I think 12L is already a lot for SFF, and Milo is 16L

[@kthr1ft]

I know I’m late, but I’m thinking of using this as a case for my mom. She doesn’t game and only does light load CPU work. I know it’s overkill, but I’m going to give her my old 11900k. Do you think the 11900k with a 240 AIO would be okay for CPU temps while orienting the case horizontally? I saw it choked off the air cooler you used in the video. I will undervolt the CPU drastically to keep temps down so it’s quieter for her.

[@brewkendoit]

So... The Star-Lord finally discovered pc building eh?

[@carlhornborg]

Is that the Cooler Master Hybrid 1 chair?? Thought it was only available in Taiwan.

[@obvious_giraffe8386]

Me: Oh man i wish my pc looked like a speaker from the 00's Ridge: We got you

[@samuv9624]

Why not delete the GPU shroud and stock fans, so that the case fans are blowing straight into the heat sink?

[@aziskgarion378]

Slim towers are pleasing, I hope they can make glass side panels as well for it.

[@ReflectivitytivitcelfeR]

They should have put those 80s at the opposite end of the case to keep the CPU chamber air out of the GPU chamber. It would have really helped not only the CPU but especially the GPU. It had good cooling already but if you could pull even more heat out away from the GPU....

[@nextjin]

That's actually a good observation. Or have them on both sides to handle any situation. Having those on the CPU side would solve the CPU chamber from hotboxing.

[@joseverdejo9010]

I’m ordering this case and cutting the front mesh out and using the grate behind it

[@nexorabolis]

It's like a bigger version of my Skyreach 4 Mini. Pretty awesome for more mainstream consumers that don't want to compromise on GPU length and power supply

[@todorussinho]

This its going to be my new case. Life dad style 😅 I just dont have the space for a desk setup so, PS5 and PC on the living room. 💪

[@denvera1g1]

4:33 Where is my Galax/KFA2 Katana RX 7600XT single slot card. C'mon the last Katana was all the way back with the GTX 1070

[@Nedski42YT]

This case reminds of Intel's latest NUC, the Intel NUC 13 Extreme. Even the dimensions are similar. Pretty nice alternative.

[@rav7537]

Out of curiosity: Would it not be beneficial to have the CPU fan to exhaust being so close to the panel of the case? Even the hot components around the CPU such as the PDM's would still result of the residual air being sucked out versus air being sucked in, heated from the CPU heatsink and circulated around without and direct exhaust path. Just a thought after some testing in both configs.

[@nextjin]

Possible, this is a case where those Noctua fan shroud extenders might be beneficial. The 202 had the same problem, after so many minutes either chamber would be way too hot. I cut 2 120 holes in the GPU chamber for that case and it worked well (the ridge already has this with the venting). The Ridge has way more venting for both chambers. I had a MSI Ventus 2080 Ti deshrouded with 2x 120mm NF12's iirc with a 9900k and black alpine heatsink. After the GPU chamber mod that was alright but the CPU still had to be limited to 95w even with gaming. It still hit 4.7Ghz stock boost but it was hard keeping it under control otherwise. Took some work. This case is just so much more well thought out, it shouldn't be overly difficult to tune in the CPU temps. It might have something to do with the static pressure of the fan on the heatsink not being enough to force the air out through positive pressure. So a negative pressure setup might be a better option with the shroud extensions.

[@pheel.the.fletcher]

It would probably cut the temp by a significant margin in a case slim as this.

[@benjaminoechsli1941]

Love the aesthetics of this. Give APUs a couple years to get stronger, and I'll build a rig with this case. 👍

[@romulas-cushmanproject3273]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@PMARC14]

why do an apu build in this when it has such a good gpu slot. There are better only itx motherboard cases out there.

[@Oliver-bn7jt]

Hopefully they get better faster

[@colbyboucher6391]

I mean, you could get an Nvidia A2000...

[@ttv_stryker_xxv-1469]

could a mount a 3.5 hdd in place of one of the provided fans?

[@Crushanator1]

I just put together a pc with this case and I love it. I might swap out a few fans with some especially quiet ones, or play around with the fan speed settings a bit, they sound very loud when I start gaming

[@LaccerHS]

I used to like the Node 202 but it's hard to pick the Ridge over a DAN-A4-H2O. Where I live they cost about the same.

[@thomaskuklis3625]

Would a FE 3080 fit in this fine?

[@bwcreations7776]

Is the riser card gen 3 or 4? Hardware Canucks says 4 but on the site it says 3…

[@IdunRedstone]

You say no exhaust for CPU, but couldn't you do the CPU fan as exhaust with the noctua foam things to stop blowback?

[@HardwareCanucks]

These small CPU coolers perform the best when set to intake cool air. The difference between intake and exhaust can be upwards to 20C. What you need is additional fans to help exhaust air after the CPU gets hit with the cool intake, for best perf. -D.

[@Daedy]

It's not about blowback. Having CPU fan as exhaust you're just feeding hot air from every component through the CPU heatsink and making CPU temps even worse when it already has to cool the CPU at the same time. It's the worst thing you could do to use the CPU cooler as a heat exchanger for your entire PC.

[@errgoseven4680]

for the larger cards you need one step up from this with space for at least 150mm power supply

[@the_prince_ice]

Hi, could you inform me what screw driver(torque) you are using in 6:04 ?

[@ItsDrRetriveAdoodle]

I think it’s ltt screwdriver with interchangeable screw bits

[@JasonB808]

For gaming people can get away with a lower TDP CPU. AMD has CPUs like the R5 5500 which is more than capable of running any game. The Wraith Cooler it comes with will keep it cool enough. For GPU, those over sized GeForce cards will not fit. But high end AMD card will. My RX 6800XT would fit inside just perfectly.

[@seld2142]

Spitballing here, could the gpu shroud be replaced with some passive heat sinks and the dual 140mm be used as the main cooling source of the gpu? Maybe it would increase gpu compatibility and reduce the “overkill”ness of those fans?

[@Wrigglevision]

I did that very thing in the Node 202. Straight up removed the fans on a 1650 Super and used a couple of NF-A12s to fire straight at a shroudless heatsink. GPU temps were just never a concern.

[@mushieslushie]

I'm not sure how you would plug those fans into the GPU or control them based on GPU temp. I wouldn't only consider this if that were possible.

[@HardwareCanucks]

That’s an awesome idea for those wanting to de-shroud a GPU. Might as well mod the side panel while you’re at it with larger cutouts and a fine dust filter from SilverStone. -D.

[@tinybit780]

Guys, a 4090 FE easily fits with slim Arctic fans P14 Slim. My temps never go above 62, even at full load

[@mvargasmoran]

is it ok for graphics cards to be hanging like that? shouldn't those be supported? maybe by a bracket?

[@5.7jason]

What about a slim 80mm fan on top I think that would help with cooling a lot

[@gregharder2765]

Does this look like it could be made to fit a full ATX board with no GPU? There's no real reason for such a thing, only if you already have an old setup you want to repurpose as a server.

[@technofreaksham]

What SMPS power supply you used in this build

[@dukejukem413]

That sponsor spot made me giggle lol. Nice video as well. Lovely case.

[@TechnessCorner]

Thanks Big D, great video!

[@HardwareCanucks]

Haha Big D … glad you enjoyed! -D.

[@josuezelaya_samara]

Can you fit a 120 mm rad with that gpu you installed?

[@ptose]

in terms of design, one of the most beautiful cases I've seen so far. It looks a lot like something designed by Dieter Rams. I would not be surprised if it was indeed inspired by Dieter Rams.

[@AlucardBloodFirst92]

There Will be a review of the fractal design define 7 nano?

[@evrythingis1]

Cool that they remade the Fractal Node 202 I guess.

[@Claudethechiefsfan]

Is it possible to buy thin 140mm fans to replace the Fractal stock ones to create enough width space for the GPU?

[@JamesDeColling]

kind of reminds me of the Sun Ultra 45 from the early 2000's with the grey grill on white. love it

[@foch3]

Can you put a 17 inch CRT Monitor on it?

[@JuanCAraujoS]

This should be a lovely case for a Bazzite-based Console PC.

[@KeradSnake]

what about running it horizontally as monitor shelf for a monitor with U/ wide U or V/ wide V stand feet, instead of big circle stand feet?

[@HardwareCanucks]

Still choking the CPU area that’s facing the desk surface. -D.

[@Tailslol]

with that many fans close to the card you can probably deshroud it and hook the case fans to the card with some adapters.

[@Romir0s]

I have a stupid question. If your 3080 doesn't fit into the case, can you take off coolers from 3080 and leave the cooling to the fans that are installed in the case? Can you connect those coolers to GPU controller?

[@HardwareCanucks]

You sure can remove the GPU fans, and just use the case ones for cooling. There are some threads on this online. Not sure about connecting the fans to the GPU directly for control though. -D.

[@kenngo3690]

Is it possible to switch the bottom and top panels of the case? Seems it would be better to have the CPU at the top of the case with 80 mm fans exhausting the CPU chamber.

[@HardwareCanucks]

Not enough clearance at the bottom since the power cable extension is right there, the PSU and all the mobo cables. -D.

[@Karakofirespartan]

Would the noctua CPU gasket kit(the one that seals the fan to the side of the case) make temps better?

[@slappymcphee]

Wonder if the shucked 5TB 2.5" drives would fit?