Fractal Core 3300 ATX Mid Tower Case Review

Final thoughts about the Fractal Core 3300

The Fractal Core 3300 brought out a few different emotions for me while doing this review. My first thought when I pulled the case out of the box and saw it was “Oh, another $40 case so this will go quick”. I mean you have to admit when you look at case that have side windows, handles, shinny paint and all those other flashy features and you see a standard case you do get a bit of a let down, but it all changed after getting into the inside of the case. When removing the side panels they felt rather heavy and made of thick steel, but that is almost normal practice to keep a case rigid by using them as part of the structure.  Getting to see the inside and right away noticing the lack of a full hard drive cage really made me think that something special is lurking. Well, I was partly right as that seemed to be the one thing that was changed from a standard case. We all know Rome was not built in a day and maybe Fractal is taking a small step with this new vertical hard drive bracket to see how well it will be received. I for one like it, but as I stated before having the option of placing it on the other side would have taken it over the top for me with this option.

The new vertical bracket did make a lot of room for those that want to water cool their systems with all the  colorful parts, fancy tubing, chromed fittings, and more. Oh, but wait there is no way to show that stuff off. I am a little baffled about why go through all the troubles of creating a new idea for making room for water cooling, but hide it from the world. I guess this is where a case modder needs to step in and take things to the next level for themselves. The rest of the inside of the case it really nice and has some other nice touches like the over-sized access holes for routing the cables. Plenty of ventilation options, a great size filter for the bottom of the case to stop all the floor dust from coming in, and the installed 140mm silent fans. The price I listed at the beginning of the review of $80 has me bouncing back and forth if it is a good price for the Core 3300 and I will have to say that it is on target. I did a quick search and found it listed from about $95 all the way down to being on sale at Newegg for $39.99 and at this price you have to grab it and save the Fractal Core 3300 for a project case or when a family member wants to do an upgrade. You will have a case that can handle any of the hardware with ease and make for an easier upgrade for someone.