Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Over the last few years, Fractal cases have moved up my list of favorite cases. The Meshify series from Fractal is still one of my all-time favorites. I really do like that series with the Meshify 2 being the winner in my opinion. With that, the Torrent Compact is a good design. I love the aggressiveness of the front panel. I like the fact that all the panels are insanely simple to remove to get to the mesh and clean it. Those 180mm fans push quite a bit of air inside the case. With the case up and running, there’s a good amount of air coming out of the case without adding any fans other than what the Torrent Compact came with.
The tempered glass panels are not as dark as some of the other cases I’ve reviewed and even subtle or lower intensity lighting looks good. The fans and the light on the side of the power supply bay can work with the lighting software provided by the motherboard manufacturers such as MSI Mystic light, Asus Aura, and Gigabyte Fusion.
The lighting on the fans is exactly as I expected based on reviewing the 120mm version. The lighting is really even and very few hot spots if any can be seen. One of the interesting things that I haven’t experienced before, at some angles, the nylon mesh would throw off a strange reflection which, the camera caught in the image below. You can also see the memory LEDs through the fans as well.
Overall, building in the Fractal Torrent wasn’t hard. Everything went in without a hitch. The ONLY complaint that I have is the space for cable management and at best, it is a personal complaint. I think 20mm is a little small but, with a bit of work, I do think it can look really good. Combine that with some custom cables and you’ll have a real knockout for cable management. In most of my builds, I no longer use any SATA drives. With NVMe drives being “cheap” enough and M.2 slots on the motherboards increasing, I don’t see a need for them.
The other “want” that I’d like to see in PC cases, in general, is a central ARGB hub. Daisy-chaining fans and lights are fine, however, I think a simple hub could make cable management a lot easier. Most of my lighting is a single color and for that, I’m pretty boring and I like white lighting. Although the Orange lighting is starting to grow on me. So a simple hub would be nice.
The price for the Torrent Compact RGB starts at $149, with the RGB version priced at $169 which is a pretty good price for this case and fits well within the market for mid-tower cases with RGB. The Torrent Compact’s aggressive styling allows it to cool components as well, the i9-10900K stayed cool and never rose above 66°C and the RTX 2080 Super stayed around 75°C during heavy gaming sessions. Keep in mind that is at the stock settings for both components and they are air-cooled. Overall, the Torrent Compact is rising on my list of favorite cases. I’m still going to go work on the wiring on the backside but OK with it for now. If you’re looking for a great-looking and great performing case, the Fractal Torrent Compact is where it is at!
The open grille and 180 mm front fans are optimized for maximum air intake. Fractal Design Dynamic PWM /Prisma ARGB PWM 180 x 38 mm fans leverage power, size, and thickness for massive air-moving capacity
Expansive base intakes and extra-large bottom fan support offer exceptional GPU cooling potential (with the bottom PCI slot free)
The streamlined open interior provides plenty of breathing room for components and maximizes performance potential
