The Fractal Design Core 500 is a Shuttle-style mini-ITX case that offers a bit of everything at an affordable price, including excellent cooling & moderate noise.
October 18, 2015 by Lawrence Lee
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Product
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Fractal Design Core 500
Mini-ITX Case |
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Manufacturer
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Street Price
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US$60
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Fractal Design gets most of its acclaim for its Define series of tower cases that emphasize silence and airflow wrapped in elegant minimalist designs. Their budget Core line uses most of the same foundations but strips out some of the finery, boiling down and distilling what makes their cases great into something simpler and less fashionable but more affordable.
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With the Core 500, Fractal brings this practical approach to the mini-ITX form factor. The chassis conforms more or less to the design popularized by Shuttle, the original maker of the breadbox shaped enclosure that first introduced many hobbyists to the concept and potential of the SFF PC. It’s also somewhat larger than most cases of this type, slightly inflated to accommodate the modern trappings that even bigger enthusiasts cases are expected to offer.
A long graphics card? Check. A tall CPU heatsink? Of course. A radiator up to 280 mm in size? No problem. A 140 mm fan at the back? Fine. Magnetic dust filters? Of course. Storage? Have three 3.5 inch hard drives and three of the 2.5 inch variety as well. What about a 5.25 inch drive bay? A little dated but sure, why not? For a chassis occupying just 19 Liters, it seems to have an answer to everything. Like the bigger iterations of the Core family, the 500 offers something for everyone.
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The Core 500 is packaged simply in a fairly plain box with limited decoration. Fractal doesn’t offer much in the way of accessories, just the necessary documentation, screws, and a handful of zip-ties.
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Specifications: Fractal Design Core 500
(from the product web page) |
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| Motherboard | Mini ITX |
| Expansion Slots | 2 |
| Drive Positions | 3 – 3.5″ HDD positions |
| 3 – 2.5″ dedicated SSD/HDD unit positions | |
| 1 – 5.25″ bay (removable) | |
| Fan Positions | Rear: 1 – 120/140 mm fan (included is 1 Fractal Design Silent Series R3 fan, 1000 RPM speed) |
| Top: 2 – 120/140 mm fan (not included) | |
| Water Cooling | Top – 280, 240, 140 and 120 mm radiators. (Thickness limitation of 100 mm for both radiator + fan) (240 and 280 mm radiators require removal of the ODD bay) (280mm radiator can be maximum 325mm in length) |
| Rear – 120 mm radiator (not compatible with the rear 3.5″ HDD position) | |
| Dust Filters | Magnetic filters on side and top panel, PSU filter |
| Component Compatibility | CPU coolers up to 170mm in height |
| ATX PSUs up to 170mm in length (non modular PSUs); ATX PSUs up to 160mm in length (modular PSUs) | |
| Graphics card up to 310 mm in length | |
| Front Interface | 2 USB 3.0 |
| Audio in/out | |
| Power button with LED (white) | |
| HDD activity LED (white) | |
| Reset button | |
| Colours Available | Black |
| Case Volume | 19.5 liters |
| Case dimensions (WxHxD) | 250 x 203 x 367 mm; 250 x 213 x 380 mm with feet/screws/protrusions |
| Package contents | Core 500 computer case |
| User manual | |
| Accessory box | |
| Net weight | 4.4 kg |
| Package dimensions | 285 x 335 x 450 mm (WxHxD) |
| Package weight | 5.3 kg |
EXTERIOR
The Core 500 is a cube style case with a steel frame and cover and a plastic front panel. It measures 25.0 x 20.3 x 36.7 cm or 9.8 x 8.0 x 14.4 in (W x H x D) for a total volume of just 18.6 Liters.
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INTERIOR
The chassis is reasonably well constructed though the few modular components are on the thin side. A steel frame running along the ceiling acts as the mounting point for fans/radiators while a drive cage located above the front-mounted power supply position can house both a 3.5 inch and standard 5.25 inch drive.
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ASSEMBLY
The assembly process is not very difficult though like most mini-ITX cases, it is wise to plug in the various cables into the motherboard before the board is mounted. The only real issue encountered is the front panel connectors coming loose when tying up the cables. The provided cables are also too long.
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TESTING
System Configuration:
- Intel Core i5-4690K processor – 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz with Turbo
Boost), 22nm, 84W - Scythe Kotetsu CPU cooler
- ASUS Z97I-PLUS motherboard – Intel Z97 chipset, mini-ITX
- ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 980 graphics card – 2048 CUDA cores, 1178
MHz clock (1279 MHz with GPU Boost), 7010 MHz memory - Kingston HyperX Genesis memory – 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, C10
- Seagate Desktop SSHD hybrid drive – 2TB, 7200 RPM, 8GB NAND
Flash, SATA 6 Gbps - Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 power supply – 700W, modular, ATX
- Microsoft
Windows 7 Ultimate operating system, 64-bit
Measurement and Analysis Tools
- Prime95
processor stress software. - FurMark
stability test to stress the integrated GPU. - Asus GPU Tweak to monitor GPU temperatures and adjust fan speeds.
- SpeedFan
to monitor system temperatures and adjust system fan speeds. - Extech 380803 AC power analyzer / data logger for measuring AC system
power. - PC-based spectrum analyzer:
SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digitalaudio interfaces. - Anechoic chamber
with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower
Testing Procedures
The system is placed in two states: idle, and load using Prime95 (2/4 instances, large FFTs setting) and FurMark, an OpenGL benchmarking and stability testing utility. This puts more demand on the CPU and GPU than any real life application. Throughout testing, system temperatures, noise levels, and power consumption are recorded. During the load test, the system and GPU fans speeds are adjusted to various levels in an attempt to find an optimal balance between cooling and noise while maintaining a GPU temperature of 85°C (at an ambient temperature of 22°C).
Baseline Noise
For our baseline noise tests, the system is left idle, the CPU fan is set to its minimum speed under PWM control (400 RPM), and the GPU fans are off by default. The system fan(s) are connected to controllable fan header(s) and are set to a variety of speeds using SpeedFan. This gives us a good idea of what the stock fan(s) sound like at different speeds with minimal interference from other sources.
Before fan testing, a comparison of the two different drive mounting systems is warranted. With all the fans turned off or set to minimum speed, the measurable difference between our SSHD mounted at the front and side is minor with the front position registering about half a decibel lower. However, the vibration-based noise produced with the drive at the front is more pronounced, as evidenced by the sharp 120 Hz tone corresponding to the drive’s 7200 RPM motor. When secured on the side of the chassis, it’s slightly louder but the sound generated is spread out more evenly along the spectrum. The side position makes drives sound less conspicuous and is preferable for component compatibility as well.
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Baseline Noise Level
(Idle, CPU fan at 400 RPM, GPU fans off) |
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Fan Setting
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Avg. Fan Speed
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SPL @1m
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0%
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N/A
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17 dBA
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40%
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400 RPM
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17 dBA
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50%
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520 RPM
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17~18 dBA
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60%
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620 RPM
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18 dBA
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80%
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810 RPM
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21 dBA
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100%
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960 RPM
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25 dBA
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Measuring mic positioned 1m at diagonal angle left/front
of case in vertical orientation (top fan facing mic). Ambient noise level: 10~11 [email protected]. |
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As the Core 500’s lone stock fan is a mere 1000 RPM model, it’s not capable of making much noise. In fact, it doesn’t start to make a measurable impact on our system until set to 50% speed. The machine remains relatively quiet up to 80%, and even at top speed produces a modest 25 [email protected].
Up close, the stock fan emits slight undesirable clickiness but as it’s embedded inside the chassis and masked by the other components, the resulting sound is benign and unlikely to offend even the most golden-eared observers. The noise produced is smooth and gentle without a hint of tonality.
TEST RESULTS
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System Measurements: Prime95x2 + FurMark,
85°C Target GPU Temp (at 22°C Ambient) |
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System
Fan Speed |
520 RPM
(50%) |
620 RPM
(60%) |
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Filters
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On
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Off
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GPU Fan Speed*
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1040 RPM (min, 40%)
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CPU Temp
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55°C
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52°C
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52°C
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MB Temp
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57°C
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52°C
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52°C
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SSHD Temp
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44°C
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44°C
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44°C
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GPU Temp
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81°C
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81°C
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77°C
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System Power (AC)
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293W
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288W
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287W
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24 dBA (22 dBA from right side)
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* set as low as possible to maintain target GPU temperature on load.
CPU fan at 45% (900 RPM). Ambient temperature: 22°C. |
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The Core 500 handles our load test with aplomb, besting our 85°C GPU temperature target by 4°C with the GPU fans running at the minimum setting and the single case fan operating at modest speeds. As the GPU cooler is the greatest noise contributor, it’s not possible to make the system any quieter than 24 [email protected], though this figure lowers by 2 dB when measured from the right side, with the GPU fan vent positioned away from the microphone.
Removing the dust filters results in a 3°C and 4°C cooling improvement for the CPU and GPU respectively, and these are modest changes compared to typical filters in other cases. The mesh material is quite fine so it doesn’t restrict airflow much.
The noise quality is slightly inferior to our baseline tests as the smaller GPU fans give the machine a higher pitch and adds a rougher quality to the overall acoustics but overall, the system still sounds pleasant.
Comparison
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Case Comparison: Prime95x2 + FurMark
(85°C Target GPU Temp at 22°C Ambient) |
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Case
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BitFenix Prodigy Black
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Fractal Design Core 500
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SilverStone FTZ01
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Phanteks Evolv ITX
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Fractal Design Node 202
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CPU Cooler
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Mugen Max at 500 RPM
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Kotetsu at 900 RPM
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NH-L12 at 1000 RPM
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Kotetsu at 900 RPM
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NH-L9i at 2490 RPM
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System Fan Speed
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500 RPM
(2 x 60%) |
620 RPM
(1 x 60%) |
1040 RPM
(2 x 60%) |
620 RPM
(1 x 80%) |
N/A
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GPU Fan Speed
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880 RPM
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1040 RPM
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1260 RPM
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1670 RPM
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2930 RPM
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CPU Temp
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55°C
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52°C
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45°C
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57°C
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68°C
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MB Temp
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50°C
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52°C
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44°C
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58°C
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56°C
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SSHD Temp
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N/A
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44°C
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42°C
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34°C
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54°C
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GPU Temp
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85°C
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81°C
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85°C
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85°C
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90°C*
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20~21 dBA
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24 dBA
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24~25 dBA
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29 dBA
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41~42 dBA
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Apx. Case Volume
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26.4 L
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18.6 L
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14.1 L
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34.1 L
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10.2 L
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* cooling failure (thermal throttling observed).
Ambient temperature: 22°C. |
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Relatively speaking, the Core 500 is a solid performer offering low noise and unsurpassed GPU cooling. Since updating our mini-ITX case test configuration, only our Mini-ITX
Gaming Build using the BitFenix Prodigy is superior, though it had an additional fan and was capable of a lower GPU fan speed possibly due to an older driver being used at the time. If we could match the GPU temperatures or speeds, the noise difference would likely halve.
AUDIO RECORDINGS
These recordings were made with a high resolution, lab quality, digital recording
system inside SPCR’s own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to
LAME 128kbps encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no
audible degradation from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent
a quick snapshot of what we heard during the review.
Each recording starts with ambient noise, then 5~10 second segments of product
at various states. For the most realistic results,
set the volume so that the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then
don’t change the volume setting again while comparing all the sound files.
- SPCR Mini-ITX Test System in Fractal Design Core 500 – Baseline (idle, CPU fan at 400 RPM, GPU fans off)
— system fan off (17 [email protected])
— system fan at 60% (18 [email protected])
— system fan at 80% (21 [email protected])
— system fan at 100% (25 [email protected])
- SPCR Mini-ITX Test System in Fractal Design Core 500
— idle, CPU fan at 400 RPM, system fan at 40%, GPU fans off (17 [email protected])
— Prime95x2 + FurMark, CPU fan at 900 RPM, system fan at 60%, GPU fans at 40% (24 [email protected])
FINAL THOUGHTS
With its plain looks, the Core 500 is not imbued with a lot of style, but the underlying design is remarkably solid. Though the intake vents along the sides of the front panel are overly restricted by foam linings, it’s well ventilated thanks to the large grills on the side and top of the case and fine magnetic filters. The result is a well-cooled machine that can be operated quietly with just the single included exhaust fan.
The chassis is a bit wider than other cases of this type, and the extra girth allows for an additional two 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drive placements on the right side, complimenting the front drive cage that boasts both a 3.5 inch and a standard 5.25 inch drive mount. Enthusiasts can delight in 280 mm radiator support on the ceiling, provided the aforementioned drive cage is removed. The chassis is also tall enough for lanky tower heatsinks and deep enough to accommodate a 31 cm long graphics card.
My only complaint is that the front panel cables in our sample were only tenuously connected. Glue was applied at the factory to keep the headers connected but they simply wouldn’t hold on, with the gentlest of tugs prying them loose. This can be remedied easily enough by the user but it’s surprising to see such a defect in a product from a well respected manufacturer.
Overall, the Core 500 is an excellent all-around mini-ITX case and a superb value. It’s a faithful translation of Fractal Design’s larger Core series cases for the smaller form factor and a fine addition to the pantheon of Shuttle/cube style SFF enclosures.
Our thanks to Fractal Design
for the Core 500 case sample.
The Fractal Design Core 500 wins the SPCR’s Editor’s Choice Award
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Articles of Related Interest
SilverStone FTZ01: Mini-ITX Fortress
Fractal Design Node 202 Compact Gaming Case
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Mini Tower
SilverStone RVZ01: A Mini Raven
Quiet Mini-ITX Gaming Build Guide #3: BitFenix Prodigy Edition
Quiet Mini-ITX Gaming Build Guide #2: NCASE M1 Edition
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