Duel: Endorfy Navis F360 vs. Fractal Design Lumen S36 V2

We start the new stage of CPU cooler tests on HWCooling with a duel of two AIO liquid coolers. Both the Navis F360 and the Lumen S36 V2 represent the cheapest coolers with a 360mm radiator that Fractal Design (Lumen S36 V2) and Endorfy (Navis F360), respectively, have. Sure, these aren’t downright cheap coolers, but both are associated with very high cooling performance. Read more “Duel: Endorfy Navis F360 vs. Fractal Design Lumen S36 V2” »

PC Cooling Guide: Heating Up Ryzen 9 7950X in Cinebench

Today, we’ll focus on what happens inside a case when a CPU is under heavy load. We’ll run a Cinebench 2024 rendering on a Ryzen R9 7950X cooled by a Noctua NH-D15 G2 air cooler with AM5 offset mounting bars and see how it affects the temperatures and how all the values change with different settings of the system fans’ performance across their entire operating speed range. Read more “PC Cooling Guide: Heating Up Ryzen 9 7950X in Cinebench” »

PC Cooling Guide: Experimenting with Fractal Design Meshify 2

While building a PC, most people are satisfied when the computer works, performs as expected and remains reasonably quiet. Unless you’re one of those who care more about the journey than the destination, you probably haven’t spent much time tinkering with system cooling. That’s where we come in. We’ll test what makes sense to address and what doesn’t, and how it impacts computer’s performance and behavior. Read more “PC Cooling Guide: Experimenting with Fractal Design Meshify 2” »

Fractal Design Era 2: Holes in wood for more efficient cooling

The Era 2 case is an evolution of the original model (Era ITX), where Fractal Design also changed the approach to the ventilation holes. Be it in terms of the top panel or the side, larger perforations. How the Era 2 will make its mark and stack up against competing SFF cases remains to be seen. Despite the detailed analysis, this is still the first case to pass our new testing methodology. Read more “Fractal Design Era 2: Holes in wood for more efficient cooling” »

A kind of… SFF tower. Fractal Design Mood in detail

The Fractal Design Mood case, unveiled at Computex 2024, is already in our testlab. And while we won’t look at the cooling results just yet, let’s take a look at the key design elements. Based on these, you’ll get an idea of the broad features of the case, which is designed for Mini-ITX motherboards. This then leads to a focus on maximizing space savings on a desk or elsewhere. Read more “A kind of… SFF tower. Fractal Design Mood in detail” »

Fractal Design News: small cases, headsets, chairs

This year’s Computex may be over, but we still have some stuff from it that we want to publish. These include the Fractal Design product showcase. In terms of our focus, you could say that the FD booth was mainly about computer cases, but the expansion into new markets is also notable. Headsets with microphones or computer chairs will soon be available under the Fractal Design brand. Read more “Fractal Design News: small cases, headsets, chairs” »

Fractal Design North XL case test: When bigger is better

We’ve already had one case featuring a wooden front panel. But it might not be “big enough” for someone’s needs, which the XL variant now addresses. Among other things, in this article you will also find tests with two different fan configurations. And also a comparison of cooling with the smaller North Mesh model. And not only with it, we already have a total of 25 other cases in the database for comparison. Read more “Fractal Design North XL case test: When bigger is better” »

Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 PWM: Against vibrations above all

Venturi fans have some of the softest mounting corners. The transmission of vibrations from moving parts further away to anything (case plates, heatsink fins, …) is thus very significantly damped. Compared to other (even more modern Fractal Design models), these fans have more robust blades, which are both thicker and wider, and as a result, higher static pressure is also achieved at comparable speeds. Read more “Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 PWM: Against vibrations above all” »

Fractal Design Flex 2 for free. First to write wins

Since we have no use for the Flex 2 holders from our recent review and also, FD doesn’t want them back, we’re giving them away. To readers who can take advantage of vertical mounting of the graphics card. There are only two available (black and white), so speed is of the essence. The first person to respond to this challenge gets to pick the colour, the second person will be sent the one left if they wish, and the third person in row is already writing late. Read more “Fractal Design Flex 2 for free. First to write wins” »

Graphics card vertically. We tried the Fractal Design Flex 2

You might have thought about vertical mounting of your graphics card, which many modern cases allow. You can’t do it without the right adapter, though. This usually has to be purchased as an optional accessory. We tested one such PCI Express ×16 adapter with three differently performing graphics cards. Does it or does it not affect their performance? The bottom line with the insertion of such intermediate adapters is always that “it” works at all. Read more “Graphics card vertically. We tried the Fractal Design Flex 2” »

Fractal Design Anode (550 W) or a really cheap power supply

We will also take the Fractal Design Anode PSU to the external testlab to analyze its electrical properties. This one doesn’t really fit into the mosaic of the others, as it is a power supply with support for the older ATX standard, it also has significantly lower power compared to the others, and according to the 80 Plus Bronze branding, it is expected to have lower efficiency as well, but again, it will be a good one to illustrate how such a low-budget option compares. Read more “Fractal Design Anode (550 W) or a really cheap power supply” »

Fractal Design Silent R3 140 mm: Low speed, “no” vibration

An older, even old, but still relevant fan. The selection among cheaper, 140mm models is quite small and when you look at the design of the Silent R3, it looks quite good at first glance, even technically. Moreover, it is a slower-speed fan, which doesn’t automatically mean that it avoids resonant frequencies, but it does promise to run rather quietly. And at those lower noise levels, also an attractive price/cooling performance ratio. Read more “Fractal Design Silent R3 140 mm: Low speed, “no” vibration” »

In vivo fan tests: 14 models in system positions

Here and there we come across the opinion that it is advisable to test fans in real life conditions, which we can easily refute. At the same time, we understand that a layman can best identify with the differences in component temperatures that arise precisely due to different fan airflows. To help you see the correlations of such tests with results from “unnatural” environments, here’s something we remembered. Read more “In vivo fan tests: 14 models in system positions” »

Fractal Design Terra: 10 litres for high-end GPUs as well

Well, here we have something from Fractal Design to test again, something that goes beyond the usual formulas. The Terra case falls into the SFF (small form factor) category, but unlike many similarly sized solutions, there is room for a large graphics card. This makes the Terra an attractive small case for a gaming PC or a workstation reliant on the power of the GPU. But all this is traditionally discussed in more detail. Read more “Fractal Design Terra: 10 litres for high-end GPUs as well” »

Fractal Design Lumen S28 RGB – Cooler that shines with all colours

Today I would like to introduce you to the Lumen S28 RGB liquid all-in-one cooler from Fractal Design. This cooler attracts with its discreet and simple design, which can be easily enlivened with RGB LEDs and uses an atypical build with a pump in the radiator. So the question remains whether this solution is an effective enough alternative against conventional AIO coolers with a pump directly in the block, which of course I intend to test in today’s review. Read more “Fractal Design Lumen S28 RGB – Cooler that shines with all colours” »

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