Fractal Design Core 1000: How Little is Too Little
by Dustin Sklavos on April 13, 2012 11:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- MicroATX
- Mini-Tower
- Fractal Design
Conclusion: A Strange Balancing Act
Producing a good enclosure for the extreme budget sector of the market is, as far as I can tell, an incredibly difficult balancing act. There's a lot of balancing that honestly goes on with any enclosure south of $150, but the latitude you have with which to work just gets smaller and smaller, and when you eventually get down to the $40 price tag that the Fractal Design Core 1000 is sitting at, you start actually having to see if the case supports everything you specifically need.
I don't think the Core 1000 is a bad case by any stretch of the imagination, and it's definitely in the running for the smallest case you can buy at the lowest price. So if you want something small at the exclusion of virtually all else, I just don't see how you're going to beat it. The cooling system is also, at least on paper and mostly in practice, very efficient and a far cry from the old school cheapo boxes with a single sad 80mm exhaust fan in the back. Finally, the build quality is actually quite good, and Fractal Design includes a lot of trimmings that some of you may appreciate.
The problem is that I feel like those trimmings came at too high a cost, and that in a broader sense I'm just not sure the Core 1000 is competitive with more generic budget cases. Much is sacrificed to get this low, and I'm not talking about niceties, either; I'm talking about not being able to have more than two 3.5" hard drives, the one component users are most apt to keep adding over time. The difficulty of installing a full-size mATX motherboard is also a problem, and putting the I/O ports on the right side of the case is a mistake in our opinion. The only other case we've reviewed in this price bracket is the BitFenix Outlaw, which at $10 more is still a slam dunk over the Core 1000 as far as I'm concerned, unless the jump to full ATX is too much.
At $40 it's hard to necessarily go wrong with the Core 1000, and I have no doubt that some users are going to point to this case and say, "See! You don't need to spend more than $40 to get a good case!" The problem is that the Core 1000 is also difficult to work in and with even by Micro-ATX standards and it's frankly pretty noisy for higher spec components. Basically, you need to choose you components and set your expectations properly if you're in the market for this sort of system; we'd recommend a slightly smaller mATX motherboard along with a modular PSU, a modest CPU and GPU, and don't get a large tower cooler. Even then, we feel Fractal Design makes better cases that are better values, but it's like the old saying goes: you get what you pay for. If what you want is an inexpensive mATX case, the Core 1000 is worth a look; just be sure you understand the compromises made with such a platform.
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Iketh - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
^ThisPLEASE GET RID OF SIDE VENTS, THX
Casper42 - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
I agree as well.I think if this case was like a 1/4 inch wider, they could have gone with a 120mm Exhaust and all but eliminated the need for the side port.
If they had either dropped to 1 optical bay or made the case a smidge taller, they would have completely avoided the problem with the Optical bay mount contacting the Mobo. The reviewer said to make the case longer, which might help for his mobo, but someone comes out with a mobo thats slightly longer and that plan goes to hell. Make the case a smidge taller and virtually any mATX board will now fit because you are under the 5.25 bay.
My ideal mATX Case would have 1 5.25" Optical bay, 4 HDD mounts and 2 x 120/140mm intakes on the front.
Then 120mm exhaust above the IO shield and some perforations above the PCIe slots so any lingering GPU heat can be pushed out due to positive pressure.
On a normal ATX case, something I don't think most if any case builders have figured out is that you can really easily fit a 92mm fan in 4 empty PCIe slots mounted either inside or outside the case. This helps again with exhausting latent GPU heat.
I'm a big proponent of traditional front to back cooling.
JarredWalton - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
I'm not sure it was intended as a negative; Dustin is merely pointing out the various aspects of this small enclosure that you don't get. I'd agree that the lack of bottom/top/right vents isn't a bad thing for the intended market. That's sort of the point: don't get this type of case for a high-end setup. Know the limitations (i.e. it works best with a smaller mATX mobo and modular PSU) and set your expectations accordingly.Spivonious - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
Can we get something listed with each case for the size? Obviously a full ATX case is going to cool better than a tiny mATX case.Leyawiin - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
Pop in an i3-21XX and a compact card like an HD 7850 and you'd have a decent little system. Both have pretty modest thermal output in relation to their performance.Silenus - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
I recently built a gaming system for a friend with this case. We were trying to keep it as small as possible while squeezing the budget as much as possible. In it are:Z68 board, i5-2500k overclocked, 92mm tower cooler, Radeon HD 6850, 2 x 3.5" hard drives.
All told it works great. It is definitely tight but with some care taken on install and cable management it all works nicely. There is no room for expansion but we knew this going in. For the money and size it's a nice budget option IMO.
TrackSmart - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
Sounds like a great build, though probably more CPU and GPU than I would have put in this little case - particularly with the overclock! I would have imagined something akin to a Core i3 + 6750/6770 and no overclock (i.e. a true budget system with modest gaming chops).Your build should be within the thermal limits, even if a bit hot, based on Dustin's overclocked configuration. If you have some thermal numbers for gaming situations (i.e. CPU/GPU temperatures) I'd love to see them.
marc1000 - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
I still dont understand how is it possible to fit 2 drives in there. the drives will go with the cables coming to the BACK of the case, is that it? wouldn't they interfere with the cables for the GPU?Belard - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
Or its sister case, TJ08B-E?These mini-towers will only hold mATX motherboards (4 slot), and in reality - most people simply don't need 7/8 slot boards anymore. We can do SLI/CF with many mATX boards nowadays. I remember the says of having the HUGE Antec cases that were heavy and required 4 LOUD cooling fans to keep things... cool.
I've gone as small as i can with my Antec P150, which has a regular ATX board that has never had anything more than a single video card nor a 2nd optical drive.
I've seen this SS SST-PS07B in a FRYs store, it looks great inside and out... its $95, but doesn't look cheap at all. Includes 2 huge front fans with a easy to remove & clean filter. I'd prefer round power buttons, but oh well. It does have 2 USB 3 ports on the front.
There is room for cable management in this flipped motherboard layout (Case opens from the right side, mobo upside-down).
About this review on the Core 1000... it doesn't look good. Spend $5 more and get a much bigger HAF912 or an Antec 300. There are some people who will side mounted ports. I have my P150 inches from my keyboard. I wouldn't mind having the SS replace it (I think) as long as it performs well and can hold 3-4 SSD/HDs.
Hence noise is important to me. My case is almost silent. There are louder things in my home, my room and outside. Reasons for a case OFF the floor is dirt, easy access to drives/ports, pets - like dogs can mean more hair getting into the vents. Cases on desks don't get kicked. Kids knocking into cases.
Each their own... as people have different needs. A friend has little needs, but has a HUGE Thermaltake tower from 6+ years ago that is heavy... it'll hold 8 HDs easily. But he wants no computers on his desks... So we'll soon gut it out and stick in an i5-35xx in their soon. :)
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, April 13, 2012 - link
Covered them both.Look for TJ08-E and PS07 in our search bar.