Do you drink fine wine? Do you eat fine cheese? Do you play only the finest of video games? Do you consider yourself an elegant person? If so, Fractal Design’s new Era ITX chassis – designed in “close collaboration” with Intel – might be for you.
Gone are the days of mesh and bright RGB lighting, and ushered in cordially is a “unique and elegantly understated” chassis. Perfect. Yes, Fractal Design’s new case, the Era ITX, is designed around the principle of elegance, but it’s also functional.
Fractal Design says it has this covered, with the Era ITX “readily accommodating Intel’s most powerful processors, such as the 9th Gen Intel Core™ processors, and holding dual-slot GPUs, AIO water cooling units (max. 240 mm), and up to four storage devices, all thanks to an innovative, flexible PSU mounting system in a 16 litre footprint.”
It’s all well and good having a PC you’d be proud to display on a mahogany mantelpiece, but, as a PC gamer, if it can’t fit one of the best graphics cards, you’re left with a bit of a dud. While this is a small form-factor ITX case, with apparent space even for some of the best water coolers and a dual GPU setup, Fractal Design’s Era ITX hasn’t shunned its core audience: the PC gamer. This isn’t surprising, considering Intel had a hand in it, too.
Speaking about the case, Fractal Design founder Hannes Wallin said that partnering with Intel “inspired us to take on a project that challenges the convention that elegant design can’t be combined with flexible functionality, and we’re very happy with the result”.
All functionality aside, let’s focus on what really matters here: how it looks. With a selection of simple colours furnishing its swept but boxy form factor, from a muted blue or gold to a simple white, gray or black, it isn’t a chassis that wants to be the centre of attention (well, maybe in gold it does). It seems more like something you could use to complement an existing minimalist setup, for example. In other words, a field day for those on r/battlestations. (And, by the way, this 5700 XT painted white by Reddit user SassMasterRecon would look fantastic in a white Fractal Design Era ITX case.)
Now I’m not one to question those of you that like primary colours, or even secondary colours, but you have to admit the world of PC cases does have an abundance of room for a chassis like this. Something for those of us that like to pretend we’re refined and respectable. Yes, quite.