Fractal Design Core 3500W Review

Up Close:  Rear, Roof, Reverse and Stripped

The base of the Core 3500W is well ventilated, and, as we saw when we looked at the exterior benefits from dust filters over both the PSU and floor fan mounts.  The PSU should sit well on four raised foam topped pads with plenty of room around it to prevent it getting too hot under the collar.  To the left of the PCI slots we see the internal manifestation of the three speed fan controller we saw when we looked at the exterior.  Glad though we are to have a fan controller we can’t help thinking there are better places to put it than this, and even accepting that it is where it is would it have been a great chore for fractal design to have heatshrinked the ends of the black cables so as to not have them stick out like a turd in a punch bowl?  And don’t even get me started on the Green PCB (what is it 1990?) Come on Fractal, you’re better than this. 

     

 

With the mini rant over let’s look at the positives back here, and they come in the form of 2x140mm fans, the first in the rear extract and the second in the roof.  There’s additional room in the roof for a second 140mm or, as in the front, you can swap them out for 120s.  There are also a pair of rubber grommeted cable management holes up near the roof margin to aid routing the 8 pin CPU and any fan cables you might want to pass through.  Oh look, it’s that hideous green fan controller again……

    

 

We’re going to look at the reverse of the case in a bit more detail when we come to the build for now though let’s draw your attention to the very generous 25mm of space on offer back here.  Fractal actually give the figure as 22mm but they’ve oviously chosen a less than generous ruler.

     

 

Stripping the case takes seconds, with the only removable part being the plastic front fascia.  A swift tug sees it come away cleanly leaving the front I/O behind.  Fractal include yet another 240mm fan in the front of the case with space for a second below it.  120mm fans can also be placed here should you so desire.

       

 

You might think the reverse of the front panel a boring place to spend some time, but it’s in these little hidey holes that we find the real gems of detail.  Firstly, we see that  the mesh front that surrounds the front panel benefits from sponge filtering, the second is that the mesh panels themselves are only held in with bent metal tabs which means that they can be easily removed should you feel your modding hand twitching.