Why you should AVOID this case - Fractal Design Focus G Review

[@NARSteve]

It's a budget case, but has lots of good features. I love mine for $50 USD You can't expect much for $50.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

As long as you like it, that's the main thing. Thanks.

[@catchingthermos]

It's decent enough for a budget case and while I agree with some of your comments, some are not realistic such as the case flexing. Most cases flex.. when you have both of the side panels off.

[@benjames5423]

IDK.. for £50 you get a case with some good airflow, two included fans, room for 5 x 120mm fans and enough room for some cable management. Obviously if this was £100 nobody would touch it but for a budget case I would say it is possibly one of the best.

[@mekelius]

A nice modern relative spaceous case with two (cheap but silent) fans included for 55€ is a fantastic deal. Yes the design has few flaws and you can definitely notice the materials aren't super high quality, but still, just great value for money. Just finishing my build, now let's see if the panels falling off will drive me crazy over the years (I know I will not remember to hold them).

[@mwoods5166]

You could put your hand on the side when you open the panels lol

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Sure! Absolutely but that wouldn't show you the lack of thought and quality they put into the design. Thanks for watching.

[@joshuaweisoly446]

WHAT CRAP HAVE YOU BOUGHT NOW? You definitely got something against the company lmao

[@mwoods5166]

I love mine too great airflow. Ive though about an upgrade because whenever I add something to it is kind of a pain to cable manage. Im gonna stick with it though its a really clean build and im not gonna add anymore to it. But the only cables you can see in mine are the custom cables for gpu and 24 pin with a perfect run everything else is hidden. I made a custom shroud for the psu and the drive bay at the bottom i put a 5.25 to 3.5 bay adapters in the top. My only complaint is there is very little space in the back side of the case to cable manage. My specs. Msi pro carbon ac z390 I7 9700k 5.1 ghz Evga xc ultra rtx 2070 super Corsair Rm 750 watt psu 5 thermaltake pure 120mm case fan Sythe fuma 2 dual tower cpu cooler with 3 120mm kaze flex fans 500gb samsung 970 pro Nvme ssd 500gb sata ssd 2.5mm 1tb sata ssd 2.5mm 4tb wd blue 3.5 hdd 2tb seagate barracuda 3.5 hdd 1tb wd blue 3.5 hdd Custom cables black sleeved cables for sata, cpu, gpu and 24pin Up here rgb gpu bracket

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

@@joshuaweisoly446 I've owned a number of Fractal Define series cases and they're absolutely fantastic hence my disappointment is this one.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

@@mwoods5166 with a bit more thought they could have made it a great case, like you said more room in the back for cabling amongst other things.

[@RC-hv7um]

love how your perspective is way off reallity, like most comments here say it's a "budget case" .....and for that little amount of money you'll get a pretty solid case with enough room to build it clean(atx/micro-atx), enough room for fans/airflow. so stop reviewing things that are not high end nd within your mind it's the high end nzxt case, no it's not never will be(maybe a meshify classifies as such a type of review, not this XD). to the fellow comment readers. if you don't have a lot of money and still wish to be able to build, buy this, the only downside is no bottom cover for psu cables you don't use, like an nzxt case might have(still managed to get a clean ish look, mustard cables-.-" ) and the dust filter on the front to clean out takes a bit more effort, overall solid case option for little money. I can show pics on request, my airflow is good (2stock/led fans in case, mounted one xtra on the top, cpufancooler by coolermaster nd the psu fan) idle temps below 40, in use doesn't even get the chance to hit 65 degrees celsius due to good airflow and fan user curves. wanna see more specs or the whole build??? on enough request I'll make an HONEST review on my own channel. I hope I gave some more insight, instead of a shortsighted view of someone expecting fo 50 pounds to get the best case ever in his mind. and yes ofcourse I would like a better case, but I don't have much money like most, so either we save up for the dreamcase or work with what we got. If I would buy a new case I would def check out fractals meshify levvvel.com/best-airflow-pc-case/

[@3040-f9g]

I've got the G Mini, which is just the micro ATX version of this. Considering the price, I'm fairly satisfied with it. The basics are right, good airflow with mesh front, 5.25" bays, big window and adequate room round the back for cables. Regarding rigidity, when both side panels are on it seems okay. For the price, do you think you might be nitpicking a little bit? I did like your review, it showed lots of detail.

[@mwoods5166]

I have the mid atx variant. I am pleased with it. I agree for $50 i dont think you could ask for much more.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

I've had much better cases for less money, I feel this is Fractal cheaping out. All they needed to do was take an older design (Define R3 maybe?) and slap a window and front mesh grill on it. I'm glad you liked the review, that's my whole point. I'm trying to show everything wrong with it, I do not mislead people. That's just how my mind works haha, I got sick of all these positive reviews calling everything the best thing since sliced bread.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

That's fine if you're happy with it, I'm glad. But it wouldn't be much of a review if I didn't point out its flaws. Thanks.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Just to add, the Fractal Define S is £72 on Amazon right now and this case is £55, that's a price difference of £17 for a massive improvement in quality and overall case layout.

[@Peterowsky]

@@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474 "I've had much better cases for less money" I'd very much like to know what cases those might be, because at that price point in most of the world it's REALLY hard to find good cases. it's like the triangle of Build quality, features/space and price, you usually get to pick two, sometimes only one. Also, that UK pricing is very odd, since in North America the Focus G costs around the equivalent of US$55-63 (that would be some £44-50), with the S2 costing around US$ 100-150 (£80-119) when it could be found before being replaced by the S2 (that itself goes for around those same prices, tending closer to US$120 more often than not), which is not too far off from the German prices of 48-51€ vs 78-90€. And that's not even mentioning places like South America, where a R$400-600 focus G isn't anywhere near the price of a R$1000-1400 Define S.

[@Jayman001]

Is there anything better for $49.00? I got mine delivered today, BLACK!

[@homopeter7334]

6:32 or maybe had the cable go up?

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Sure but there's still a lot of room between the drive cage and the back panel

[@mr.o9185]

This is a great review, and thank you for being honest. Did you have any difficulties installing the motherboard, because I had heard that it could be a problem with this case?

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Thanks, that's what I hoped people would see. I did not have issues with it other than the motherboard tray flexing a bit.

[@evolution9012]

I'm not the poster obviously, but I just built my first PC ever, using this case and a B450M MSI full ATX mother board. I had put an optical drive in first (being impatient waiting for the motherboard to come in the mail) - and other than that being a little bit in the way, my only issue was the front plate on the motherboard was a little finicky - and the motherboard was a little tight to get it - but it wasn't the worst thing. I don't have anything to compare it to - but as a first ever build, and this being relatively painless- I imagine anyone whos built a pc before would have an even easier time. In regards to cables - I'm not sure what they are really supposed to look like hahaha so i have them strung through - but you can still see a bunch because the area in the back was a tight fit - but I managed to get *most behind. I like it - it was the cheapest in Canada (paid 105 after shipping/taxes) that had an optical drive area and the fans are nice.

[@LushWisdum]

What a whiner you are. I got mine in Canada on special for $40 sure its a lil flimsy but for the money & 2 intake white Led fans its a great deal if your on a budget.

[@z-9693]

Wish I woulda done a bit more research before I ordered my case. I'm a longtime PC builder but for one reason or another I haven't built one since 2012. I mean rebuilding & doing maintenance on crappy HP& Dell office PCs really isn't the same at all. No design choices, no freedom. Anyways, I ordered the Blue Focus G because I liked the color, it was cheap (@$50) and Fractal Design held favorable regard in my mind for some unspecified reason. Well, you hit upon just about all the things I've had issue with. The biggest being that I could not fit a Cooler Master 240L V3 RGB radiator up top despite the specs saying it would fit a 240 Rad. It came down to the depth of the rad +fan. If they'd given another 1.5" - 2"of headroom it would've been tight but fit. It was hitting my RAM and I was just frustrated at the short-sightedness. It's an ATX case. You should have a few inches clearance all the way 'round. Seems like it would have made a negligible difference in dimensions & cost. The riveted down 5.25 cage also wasted a ton of otherwise useable space. I was tempted to take tin snips to it, but I didn't because I knew I was frustrated & like to think my beard is long enuff & grey enuff to prevent hasty decisions. I still dig the blue color, which is not easy to replicate, but the experience of building in this case puts me squarely in the "It'll do pig, it'll do." zone. I would not recommend this case. For another $20-$30 you can do MUCH better. I realize it's 2x the price, but if you're willing to call $100 USD your upper limit, there are several worthwhile options from reputable brands in a variety of styles. Thanks for your thoughts, though. Glad to know it's not just about me being cynical & grumpy!!

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Hey thanks for your comment, I think we're on the same page then haha. That sucks about your radiator. With not much more thought they could have done a lot better indeed. Most comments on this are people saying "what do you expect for £50", well I expect better from a company who clearly knows how to design cases. Cheers.

[@z-9693]

@@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474 Yeah it makes me wonder. Alotta times reputable, higher end brands just buy cheaper designs & rebrand em to their own brand or outsource mid to lower-end stuff to another company. So perhaps it's not even a Fractal Design's design? Or maybe they were limited in their budget for producing it and you know cut certain corners & it ended up this way. All I know is that I'm rebuilding in a Lian Li Lancool II Mesh - Performance case that's $100, but for that extra $$ I gain great air flow & a ton of flexibility. Both the front fan mount bracket & the drive cage have several mounting points so you can move the front fans either closer or further away from the system board & you can move the drive cages closer or further away from the power supply unit. They're also a couple of spaces where you can mount either ssds to a bracket or remove the mounting plates and have open holes for additional 120 mm fans. Those kinds of things don't add really anything in terms of extra cost but they add a ton in terms of usability and flexibility!! This case puts a smile on my face just with the lil extra thought put to many of its elements. Take it easy! = ]

[@Mustardsoup]

Good video. The case looks ok but that color is bad. By the way I wouldn’t recommend just letting the side panels drop like that, especially if it is a build for someone else. Lot of good information though.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

I appreciate that, thanks for your comment. It is for a family member and no damage was done. I think it illustrates the issue pretty well here.

[@lisabob22]

Its $40 at Newegg now.

[@moonknightish]

Is there a better alternative for the same price?

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

I think the Corsair 200R is a better case, less flashy but does things better in my opinion. I would love to review a bunch of cases in that price range but unfortunately I can't. Thanks for watching.

[@mwoods5166]

I love it for 50 bucks. I've made mine into a pretty decent rig after some upgrading from my original. It works well the worst thing imho is not much depth for cable management, though there is enough just kinda tight.

[@missionpassed4584]

dang it just bought one!

[@ufanisoneetze]

It's a great case for the price dawg. i got one for two years. Good airflow even tho it has mesh and air filters. plenty of room to do all kinds of things. be happy

[@derpyllama1857]

What the actual fuck are you expecting with a cheap case like this one?? Lower your expectations dumbass.

[@loganherskovitz2848]

can you even use a keyboard and mouse on this, i only see 1 usb port

[@SoccerPenguin]

There are 2 USB ports on the case. Most of your USB ports will actually be on your motherboard

[@hardbasshammond]

My wife got the white one with cyan RGB on the fans and it looks fantastic. But god do i hate to build in it. No case so far in my 20 yrs of building PCs have made me literally rage while building in them. It's cramped, flimsy, sharp and utterly undesigned from a building point of view.

[@whatcraphaveyouboughtnow5474]

Absolutely, one of the biggest issues for me is the spacing between the HDD bays and the back of the case as I highlighted in the video. Badly designed. You don't get as much for your money as you used to, that's for sure. Thanks for watching.

[@z-9693]

Word! That's the short version of my review. Somehow I always manage to bleed building things, PCs especially, but even changing guitar strings, etc. I realize it's about me. No one else seems to have this issue. Perhaps I've been cursed by the Old Ones. Seems they require blood sacrifice for me to conjure the ethereal into substance.