Hot on the heels of its value-priced Core X5 series, Fractal Design launched its Core X3 at Computex Taipei. We wanted to get a look at these cases so we paid Fractal a little visit at Computex in Taipei.
These cases boast an even lower cost than the X5s. The catch is that you'll give up the fan controller. That's probably not even a factor in the decisions of builders who use motherboard-integrated temperature-based fan control, so $10 saved becomes $10 earned. Included are the $60 Core 3300 oversized ATX mid-tower, $50 Core 2300 standard ATX mid-tower, and $40 Core 1300 Micro-ATX mid-tower. Each are made of the same thin steel as most other mainstream cases, and all have a brushed-finish plastic face panel that simulates the appearance of anodized aluminum.
Among Fractal Design's major selling points is that these reduced-price units carry the same drive cages as their pricier siblings.
The top panel features offset fan mounts to provide motherboard-to-radiator clearance for compact liquid-based CPU coolers, and the widest Core 3300 can even fit a gigantic 185 mm tall air-based CPU cooler if desired. Full specs are available today on Fractal's website for each of these new models.
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