T
heEraITXis theproductof
FractalDesigncollaboratin
withInteltocreatea newmini-
ITXcase,andit demandsa serious
premiumat£139incVAT.Thisdoes
makeit noticeablymoreaffordablethan
NZXT’sH1(seep24),butthatcasealso
includesanSFXPSUanda 140mm
liquid-coolingsystemasstandard.
Sowhat’ssospecialabouttheEra
ITX?Forstarters,it’savailablein some
verystylishcolours,includingoptionsfor
toppanelswithwoodfinishes.Ourblack
samplelooksquiteplainbycomparison.
Externally,thereareveryfewvents,and
therearealsonotemperedglassside
panelsorRGBlighting.
Thisis a veryminimalist
case,atleastfromthe outside.
Theroofsportsa large vent where you
caninterchangea mesh panel with a
temperedglassonethat looks more
attractive,butdoingso will reduce airflow.
Thechassis,which stands 310mm
tall,325mmdeepand 166mm wide, is
farfrombeinga boring cuboid, though,
withitscurvedaluminium panels no
doubtcontributingto the cost. You
geta pairofUSB3 ports on the front
panel,plusa Type-C port that requires
a full-fatType-Cheader to work. You’ll
needa fairlyrecent,feature-loaded
motherboardif youwant to take
advantageofit.
Thebaseofthecase would be a
greatplaceforanextra vent, especially
astheGPUsitsface-down here.
However,FractalDesign has instead
includedventsdown the sides of the
base,whichwon’tbe as effective.
That’sa shame,asthe roof sports two
120mmfanmountsand the base offerstwo 140mm fan mounts, but the latter can only be occupied
if you’re using a single-slot PCI-E device.
There’s definitely scope for added ventilation here, and if
we were making changes, we’d start by adding vents to the
base of the case. Meanwhile, the side panels pop off with no
screws required, and they offer small diagonal vents, but in
general, air has a far harder time here than with NZXT’s H1,
which is riddled with vents.
Inside, we can’t argue with Fractal Design’s use of space,
though, which has been well used down to every square
inch. Both SFX and ATX PSUs are supported, with adjustable
mounts for both sizes, which allow you to slide the PSU up and
down to make way for cables, fans and radiators in the roof.
If you use a modular SFX PSU and a graphics card up
to 295mm wide, there’s 67mm clearance in the roof, so a
30mm-thick 240mm radiator, or a pair of 120mm radiators
and one row of fans (or two rows of half-height fans) are
definite possibilities here. Space is limited if you want to fit a
full custom water-cooling loop, unless you use a CPU or GPU
waterblock with an integrated pump, but all-in-one liquid
coolers are definitely on the cards.
Another limitation is the CPU cooler height of 120mm, which
rules out tower heatsinks, but does offer space for reasonablyREVIEWS / CASES
SPEC
Dimensions (mm)
166 x 325 x 310 (W x D x H)
Material
Steel, tempered glass
Available colours
Black, blue, gold, silver, grey
Weight
5kg
Front panel
Power, 2 x USB 3, 1 x USB
3.1 Type-C, audio jack
Drive bays
2 x 3.5in or 4 x 2.5in (SFX PSUs) or
1 x 3.5in, 2 x 2.5in (ATX PSUs)
Form factor(s)
Mini-ITX
Cooling
2 x 120mm roof fan mounts (fans
not included), 2 x 120/140 base fan
mounts (fans not included), 1 x 80mm
rear fan mount (fan included)
CPU cooler clearance
120mm (70mm with storage mount)
Maximum graphics card length
295mm (210mm/190mm with
low-mounted SFX/ATX PSU)FRACTAL DESIGN
ERAITX/£139 inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.ukMINIITX CASE
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