Fractal Ridge SFF ITX PC Case Review

Conclusion  

Fractal’s new Ridge chassis is refreshing. Too many ITX cases have stuck to the box format recently, leaving a lot of space within the market for something tall and thin. If you want an HTPC case for your living room, a small form factor console-killer gaming PC, or a slim and slick office PC, Fractal’s Ridge chassis can tick all of the right boxes, but its limitations are similar to most Mini ITX case designs.

Like all ITX cases, you will need to be extra careful when building a PC within the Fractal Ridge. You will need to make sure that your chosen graphics card will fit, you will need to make sure your CPU cooler is the right size, and you will need to do a great job when managing your system’s cables. If you can do that, you will be rewarded with a compact, smart looking system that can really pack a punch.

Regarding GPU support, know that we managed to fit an RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card within this chassis, even with the case’s two 140mm fans. You can fit some mega powerful graphics cards within this enclosure, though you will need to be careful with your GPU’s power cables. CPU-wise, most users of this chassis will likely be using the Ridge with a low profile air-based CPU heatsink, as AIO liquid CPU coolers are only really an option if you are not fitting a graphics card. With this in mind, users of modern CPUs will likely need to undervolt their CPUs or set a power draw limit to keep thermals under control. For AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series, Eco Mode is something that we would recommend. More information about AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Eco Mode is available here.

Depending on how you configure your system within Fractal’s new Ridge chassis, we would recommend testing your system both with and without its included 140mm fans and looking at your GPU’s thermals. Make sure that this case’s included fans are lowering your GPU thermals, as users of some GPU designs may find that these fans may be restricting airflow, especially if their GPU is large enough to almost touch these fans.

With its slim profile and support for the latest ITX motherboards, Fractal’s Ridge chassis has the potential to be the home of many PS5-killer or console-crushing PC gaming systems. With support for large graphics cards and the latest processors, PC gamers can create systems within this enclosure that can easily outperform current-gen consoles.

Measuring in at 374 x 110 x 395.4mm in its vertical configuration, the Ridge isn’t much larger than Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. Not bad considering the fact that all of the components inside are replaceable.

The only thing that we don’t like about Fractal’s Ridge chassis is the fact that its PSU extension lead is too long, a factor that creates unnecessary cable clutter within the chassis. This is only a minor problem, but one that we feel needs to be noted. That said, if that is our big problem with the Ridge, Fractal has done a great job designing their case.

Fractal’s Ridge chassis is an ITX enclosure that has a lot of potential. It’s limitations are common to all compact ITX enclosures, and PC builders will need to put in enough effort to ensure that their selected components are the right size for this chassis and are tuned to maximise their performance within this compact form factor. The Ridge is a chassis for those who want a compact PC, and the Ridge has what it takes to make sure that you next compact PC contains some of the strongest components on the market.

Well done Fractal, this case is now the de-facto choice for console-killing mini PCs. Yes, it has its limits, but that’s what makes the ITX form factor so much fun to use.

You can join the discussion on Fractal’s Ridge Mini ITX PC case on the OC3D Forums.

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