Fractal Design Pop Air (RGB) review. Dullness aside

Pleasant exterior

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

Basic parameters

Pleasant exterior

Don’t expect much in a box with polystyrene filling. In addition to the box, the essentials such as screws and disposable tightening strips are also included. To attach a water cooling radiator to the top of the case, you get an additional bracket. This is included in the accessories. Of course, there are also instructions.

The first impression of the case is positive. The first thing that catches the eye is the colour design of the case. Only the Air case offers colour variants. In addition to the colours, it is possible to choose between a metal side panel instead of tempered glass, with or without illuminated fans or a variant with a white body instead of black. In total, you can choose from up to nine different versions of a single case. The build quality is solid, as is usual with Fractal Design. The tempered glass in the reviewed version is embedded in the grooves of the chassis.

The thickness of the glass is 2.85 mm. It is anchored with two screws from the back of the case. It’s a pity that they didn’t take the latching system for the side panels from more expensive series, such as Meshify, and apply it to the new line of cases. But if you don’t reach inside the case often, it’s not something you’d necessarily need.

Although the front panel is largely perforated, it does not have a fine dust filter on the intake. This is partly replaced by perforations with holes that are 0.9 mm in diameter. Compared to other, similar designs, this mesh is finer, but still a bit too thin (and inefficient) for a dust filter.

Hexagonal protrusions are pressed into the perforated sheet for a better look. They are slightly protruding from the surface of the mask and you can hardly see them when looking perpendicularly at the case. The sheet metal itself is thin and flexes even when touched lightly.

Although the front panel may appear to be one piece, this is not the case. The bottom plastic part is removable. It serves as a cover for the two short 5.25″ slots. You can use this one for a CD reader, USB connector extension or even a fan speed controller, for example. A drawer inside one of the two positions serves as a storage compartment for small items. I can’t imagine myself storing SD cards or candy in there. But on the other hand, it is to be commended that the empty space is at least used in this way.

The front panel can be removed from the body for easier cleaning. Of course also for handling fan positions. The entire Pop series is equipped with 120 mm Aspect fans. In our case they are Aspect 12 RGB, 3-pin version (with DC control only). If you’d like to swap out the two pre-installed fans for larger ones, you have the option for two 140 mm fans. Alternatively, you can also fit a water cooling radiator up to 280 mm in size.

Perforations can also be found on the top of the case. You can mount two 120/140 mm fans or a water cooling radiator up to 240 mm. But be careful that the height of the memory modules is not more than 46 mm. Dust protection is not so necessary here, as it serves as an exhaust and not an intake. But still, there is a grille with the same holes as in the front, 0.9 mm. This is held in place by magnets all around the perimeter. The grille is placed in the groove. It is slightly deeper and so unintentional manipulation of the grille is easily avoided.

The functional I/O panel extends the length of the case and not the width. It is lined with an orange strip – the colour depends on the colour variant of the case. The power button is positioned slightly lower than the structure, so you can easily find it by touch. When the backlight is on, it also glows the same colour as the fans. Next to it is a button to switch between colors and backlight modes. Then there are two 3.5 mm Jack connectors, two USB connectors, and a covered section that says “Type C”. That’s right, if you want to have a Type-C connector as well you have to buy it separately. The recommended price for this expansion accessory is 10,99 EUR.

The back of the case features a different shape for perforation. Instead of the standard honeycomb shape, Fractal Design used triangles. Otherwise, everything is the same as before. A hole for the motherboard I/O panel, seven slot covers for PCI Express expansion cards, and a hole for the power supply. The latter is designed for ATX power supplies.

The case is held upright by four feet with non-slip pads. These provide sufficient resistance to prevent the case from unintentionally sliding. The power supply is protected from dust by a dust filter with a fine mesh.

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

Solid and colorful interior

The Pop Air case is neither the largest nor the smallest case in the new series. A golden middle ground that can accommodate the most common component sizes. Of the motherboards, only the E-ATX format won’t fit. You can have a tower-shaped CPU cooler up to 170 mm high. A graphics card up to 405 mm in length is no problem for the case. But for those longer and heavier cards, I miss a graphics card support here that would lighten the PCI Express slot. An additional bracket can be fitted to the tunnel to hold two 2.5″ drives. It is primarily located at the rear, so it may be possible to purchase a second one separately. Its recommended price is 8,99 EUR.

The cable grommets are not rubberized, but it should be noted that the rubber is not really missed. The edges of the holes are rounded, so there are no sharp edges that could damage the cables. Sizing-wise, they’re off fairly well. I had no difficulty threading and plugging in the cable to power the processor during installation. However, it was more difficult with the 24-pin cable (with capacitors at the ATX connector) for the motherboard power supply. It had to be wiggled a bit but eventually it just came through.

The rear of the exhaust is adapted for 120 mm fans only. It is fitted with the same Aspect 12 RGB fan as on the intake. With seven blades, according to the manufacturer, they can pump 54.4 m³/h at a maximum speed of 1200 rpm.

On the other side of the tray, you have 16 options for cable management where you can attach cables. Two are already fitted with Velcro straps. For the other positions, there are disposable pull-tabs from accessories or thin flexible cables that hold the cabling together from the factory. I can imagine more velcro straps coming with the Pop Air.

Space for cabling is not the strongest point of the case. There are 19 mm available, so you’ll definitely want to reach for other options than just Velcro straps.

There is a bit of a struggle with cable management. Especially with the power supply for the fans and their second cable for the backlight. These are connected to each other to make only one supply. Everything needs to be tightened properly so that they don’t stick out of the side panel. But I have to say that I expected more difficulty to adjust the cabling with a 19 mm space dedicated to it.

For the RGB LED backlight for the fans to work, they need to be daisy-chained together. They are then connected to the I/O panel controller. The entire backlight is powered via a SATA cable directly from the power supply.

Directly on the tray there is a holder purely for 2.5″ storage. It can hold two drives straight on it. It can be placed secondarily on the top of the tunnel from the other side of the case.

In the tunnel, instead of a drawer, there are two universal holders for 2.5″/3.5″ SSD/HDD. They fit into the grooves of the structure and then secure with one screw to hold them in place. If you were to use one or both 5.25″ positions with wider hardware, you would have to remove the bracket from its position or they would clash. Fortunately, one bracket can alternatively be placed directly on the left side of the side panel. The other 25 cm of free space behind the brackets is for the ATX-format power supply. With the brackets removed, you get an additional 12 cm to spare. There is plenty of space for cable handling in either cases.

All hardware and accessories are held together by 0.80-0.85 mm thick sheet metal. The values vary slightly in different places. The tray is stable and does not bend. The right metal sidewall is the same way. In the given price range, the Pop Air case has a respectable sheet metal thickness.

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

Test methodology

The appearance of the case is not all that needs to be focused on. That’s why we’re going to test how capable the Pop Air is at cooling components. The fans supplied with the case, called the Aspect 12 RGB, have the lowest airflow of any Fractal Design fan offering, according to the manufacturer. This will also be one of the factors why they are very quiet. They only reach a noise level of 39 dBA at 85 % of the power set on the motherboard.

For testing purposes, we always leave the fans in their original positions.

Testing is done in a home environment where I strive for the most accurate results possible. In the room during testing, the air temperature in front of the case is 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum noise level I can measure with the Voltcraft SL-100 noise meter is 32.4 dBA. The sensor of the noise meter is aligned to the center of the top of the case at a distance of 10 cm, for the best measurement of the speed difference of the fans, which I change using the motherboard. For easy comparison to other cases, they are always regulated to fixed noise levels.

Individual components are heated for 10 minutes in FurMark synthetic stress tests and with Prime95 (custom settings) at the same time. This time is long enough to allow all components to warm up sufficiently. There are then 15-minute cooling breaks between tests, during which the component temperatures (and the case air temperature as well) are brought back to default.

Modes noise levels:

• 36 dBA
• 38 dBA
• 39 dBA

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

CPU and GPU cooling tests

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

Motherboard cooling tests

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

SSD cooling test

Temperatures underneath the ceiling

The Pop series is a new range of cases from Fractal Design. Pop is divided into two categories, Air and Silent, and these into three size variants. We received the Pop Air case, which is the middle sized model. It is the only one in the series to offer a wide choice of colour options. The Pop Air has a perforated front panel, and cooling should be more efficient as more of the mask area is open.

Conclusion

Cooling lags slightly behind most of the tested cases. Graphics card cooling came out the worst of the tests at all noise levels. There the cooling loses about four degrees compared to the best results. Only Deepcool Macube 110 and Antec P82 Silent are worse. CPU cooling also lags behind, albeit by only one or two degrees. However, this does not limit performance and the case can cope with powerful hardware even under long-term load.

In terms of structure, it is difficult to find shortcomings. Except for the thin sheet metal at the front of the intake, which flexes even when gently touched, the case has no weaknesses. Of course, a dust filter would certainly not have hurt the case, fortunately the holes on the perforations themselves are quite small. The thickness of the plates in the range of 0.80 to 0.85 mm is solid and they do not bend. The Pop Air also has the advantage of colour variety, which the other cases in the new model range don’t have. There are four interior and leg colours to choose from, not including black and white. Those are standard for most manufacturers.

The recommended price without tax is set at 94.99 EUR, the retail price will be, we assume, in the range of 130 to 150 EUR. For this money, I would already have expected a USB Type-C connector, which is only an optional accessory. It’s also a shame that the tool-less latching system, which is also used by the Meshify series of cases, was not used.

The installation of the hardware inside the case went fine although the space for cable management is relatively small, 19 mm to be precise. But with the use of multiple cable retention positions, it worked out quite well. The cables don’t obstruct the closing of the side panel, nor do they bulge it.

You’ll be able to choose a case by colour to match your gaming or work area. Although the Pop Air RGB is not the best in cooling, its overall design is of an excellent standard and therefore earns the “Approved” award.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

• Contents
• Pleasant exterior
• Solid and colorful interior
• Test methodology
• CPU and GPU cooling tests
• Motherboard cooling tests
• SSD cooling test and temperature underneath the ceiling
• Conclusion