Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

and the Phanteks Shift Air knocking11°Coffit. It’sclearthatour

initial concerns about the lackofventilationforGPUsinthe

base were on the money.

Conclusion

With a pair of 120mm all-in-oneliquidcoolermounts,orspace

for a single 240mm radiator,FractalDesignhascreateda tiny

case that’s up to the task ofcoolingallbutthemostpowerful

mainstream desktop CPUs– evenAMD’sRyzen9 3950X

should be tameable with asuitablypowerfulAIOliquidcooler.

You have to deal with lots ofscrewsandbrackets,buttheend

result is a very flexible chassiswithanabove-averageamount

of storage and cooling optionsforitssize.

The only downside is GPUcooling,thankstothelackof

lower ventilation, but this situationcouldalsobeimproved

by using a high-performanceopen-airGPUcooler,rather

than the blower-style fan onourtestcard.Thecaseis also

a blank cooling canvas outofthebox,withjusta tiny80mm

fan included as standard. Ifanything,themainsellingpoints

of the Era ITX are its designandavailablecolours.It’sunique,

attractive and very compact,sowhileit mightnotgettop

marks for cooling, it’s still wellworthconsideringif youwant

to build an eye-catching miniPC.

ANTONY LEATHER

VERDICT

A good-looking, flexible and tiny case, but the lack of

ventilation means GPU cooling is poor.

GOLDENERA

+ Roomfor

240mmradiators

+ ATXandSFX

PSUsupport

+ Flexiblechassis

DARKAGES

• PoorGPUcooling


• Storagemounts
  limitcooling
  flexibility


• Expensive

OVERALLSCORE

81 %%

COOLING

23 / 30

FEATURES

16 / 20

DESIGN

27 / 30

VALUE

15 / 20

TEMPERATURE RESULTS

chunky low-profile heatsinks. However, if you use the optional
large plate that sits over the motherboard, and offers a home
to either two 2.5in SSDs or a single 3.5in hard disk, that will see
the CPU cooler height reduced to 70mm.
Thankfully, a second storage mount sits in front of the PSU
bracket and offers an identical array of options. In short, there’s
space for a hard disk or 2.5in SSD without compromising
on the Era ITX’s liquid-cooling credentials, but you’ll need to
decide early on if you’ll be cooling your CPU with liquid or air,
as your choice will dictate your storage options, especially if
you need to maximise either factor. Thankfully, cooling isn’t
left entirely to chance out of the box, as Fractal Design does
include a single 80mm exhaust fan, which means the case
will be cool enough with a low-end PC inside it.

Performance
With the mesh roof vent installed, the best cooling setup
available saw a CPU delta T of 57°C, which was enough to
see off the fanless mini-ITX cases from our recent group
test, such as the Lian Li PC-Q37WX and Raijintek Ophion. The
supplied 80mmm fan was surprisingly quiet too, although
the SilverStone LD03 offered noticeably better CPU cooling,
shaving 3°C off this temperature. When we added the tempered
glass panel, the Era ITX’s CPU delta T rose to 60°C. This isn’t a
disaster, so if you prefer the aesthetics of the glass panel, which
is undeniably attractive, you won’t be cooking your hardware.
The GPU delta T was 60°C and this figure only rose by 1°C
with the glass panel installed. That’s not in the danger zone,
but there are some significantly better results here too, with
the SilverStone LD03 shaving a massive 10°C off this result

CPU DELTA T

FractalDesignEraITX 57°C

LianLiPC-Q37WX 69°C

MetallicGearNeoMini 65°C

Phanteks EnthooEvolvShiftAir 59°C

RaijintekOphion 64°C

SilverStoneLD03 54°C

0 25 50 75 100

GPU DELTA T

FractalDesignEraITX 60°C

LianLiPC-Q37WX 63°C

MetallicGearNeoMini 53°C

Phanteks EnthooEvolvShiftAir 49°C

RaijintekOphion 61°C

SilverStone LD03 50°C

0 25 50 75 100