Fractal DesignEra 2 Charcoal

Great product, very amazing, very beautiful. I said wow, what a great product

Plenty of tie down points. Center spine is adjustable. Simple wood accent. Fantastic colors. Fits most parts(see pcpartpicker to check if yours will fit). I can say with confidence this is the best PC case I have ever owned. looks good, has good cooling, just enough room for cable management, font panel IO on the bottom.I only see two things that could have been improved upon. Some how making the bottom rear of the outer shell release as to not have to remove all the cables from your case when opening it up and to maybe have either a better PSU placement or a better PSU power cable extension (better conductors so it heats up less and thinner) so it gets in the way less.These are both minor, extremely minor critiques.I love the case and hope it serves me well for years to comeMy parts list:CPUAMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core$299.00CPU CoolerARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 56.3 CFM Liquid$76.98MotherboardGigabyte B650I AORUS ULTRA Mini ITX AM5$209.99MemoryG.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32$105.99StorageSamsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME$326.00Video CardEVGA FTW3 ULTRA GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8 GB$800CaseFractal Design Era 2 Mini ITX Tower$199.99Power SupplyCorsair SF850 (2024) 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX$199.99Case Fanx4Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm$34.95x4

Both Era designs have had pretty noticeable flaws. I’ll only talk about the Era 2 for now.-The finish has very faint streaking in one spot, only really noticeable in indirect light at the right angles but it is there nonetheless.- The Panels aren’t flush, there is a bit of differences between the gaps in the panels.- The bottom of the outside shell is not actually flush with the case, it’s bowed out a bit.- The outer shell can’t be taken off without disconnecting everything from the back due to the lower support bar on the back.- The PSU tray inside is kind of flimsy, and the PSU blows against the bottom fan.- The top panel has no way of being removed, it’s held magnetically but impossible to grip, Fractal should have added a tab or pull strap.It’s a very nice looking case, and it’s relatively easy to build in, but there are some pretty obvious design oversights and QC issues. I definitely would not pay full price. I paid 170 on sale, I don’t think it’s worth it even at that price. I would say it’s a 130 dollar case at most, and that is IF they fix the QC issues.

I love the look of the case, and the way the outer shell just slides right off in one piece makes it so easy to build with. Cable management was a breeze and very simple to install a large GPU with an easy slide in process. Highly recommend!

Small form factor cases are notorious for taking ages to build in and having annoying little quirks. This is one of the best SFF cases I have built in.Fractal did a fantastic job giving suggestions and showing layouts in the manual while providing specific measurements on what could fit in the case for different configurations. But with it being a SFF case it was still a bit of a challenge.Pros:- Clear and detailed documentation- Accommodates a decent range of hardware- Good airflow- Sturdy and well built- Easy to disassemble- Head turner in the looks department- Plenty of cable management points- Spots for 2.5” drives- Solid and quality wood panel on magnetic top coverCons:- AC power extension cable may have to make an awkward bend at the PSU depending on the PSU that you have. I have the ASUS Loki SFX-L 850w and to have the fan facing outward, the ac power extension cable has to be installed with a bit of an unnerving bend. Wish they would have included an extra cable in the opposite orientation to account for this.- My outer case has a couple of small scratches on one of the edges in the top, can’t notice it too much but it was there when I first took the case out of the packaging.- Despite cable management tie down spots, there’s a lot of just stuffing cables where you can. Definitely look into buying custom length power cables to improve airflow.All things considered not too many trade-offs for a SFF case which is a huge deal in that context.

This is the best ITX case i have ever built in.