Fractal Ridge Slimline Mini ITX Case Evaluation

What makes this worse is that even when used within the vertical configuration this stand restricts the new air exhausting out of the PSU and causes your complete chamber for the PSU and motherboard to step by step construct up warmth, which additionally results in extra fan noise from the PSU. On this vertical configuration, the CPU and GPU temps had been fully cheap, however I did nonetheless have a great deal of fan noise from the ability provide as a result of restricted exhaust circulate.

You possibly can swap the aspect panel which the stand attaches to from the PSU aspect, to the GPU aspect, after which use the case vertically with the GPU on the backside, which permits the PSU to breathe freely. I did discover a slight enhance in total system temps like this, as the warmth from the GPU rises into the remainder of the system, however the energy provide fan was in a position to run at a a lot decrease and quieter velocity.

There simply isn’t a big sufficient hole between this stand, and the panel to which it attaches. It truly is the Achilles heel of the Fractal Ridge. In fact if Achilles had simply worn some strengthened boots, the issue might have been solved. The identical is true with the Fractal Ridge.

After seeing how a lot worse the efficiency was when positioned horizontally, I made a decision to take away the included ft and easily place the case on prime of 4 stereo part ft. This allowed for a a lot bigger space of airflow beneath the chassis, and improved efficiency dramatically within the gaming take a look at (which means that it might really full the 30 minute run).

This take a look at was made with the case positioned as Fractal reveals within the guide, with the PSU and CPU cooler followers going through downward. My thought was that even with the extra open airflow allowed through the use of the 4 part ft; this nonetheless relied totally on the PSU and CPU followers to tug air from beneath the chassis, so I attempted yet one more experiment.

Whereas nonetheless utilizing the 4 part ft, I flipped the Ridge over, positioning the GPU consumption on the backside, and the CPU and PSU on the prime. This was completely the best resolution because the temperatures on this horizontal place really bettered the vertical outcomes with much less noise and warmth buildup. Throughout all of this I additionally made some makes an attempt at using the area for the three 80mm followers, however they really didn’t make an enormous distinction to the GPU, and had a damaging affect on the CPU temps (some extra of these unusual fluid dynamics)