If you are a fan of small form factor PC cases, Fractal Design has just unveiled its Era 2. Coming in at a healthy $199 MSRP, the case will be available in three distinct colors. silver, blue, and gray form the palette for the exterior, with an elegant solid walnut wood piece on top. The anodized aluminum is gorgeous, and looks aesthetically appealing from every angle, at least from the pictures we’ve seen.
One of the most impressive aspects of the Era 2 is space for up to a 3-slot GPU up to 326mm in length. While this won’t fit the absolute biggest behemoths on the market, it should adequately handle most high-end GPUs. If you need a small case for your NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, this will certainly do it for something like a Founders Edition model.
Radiator support up to 280mm is also here, an absolute plus for hot-running gaming CPUs. All of this is neatly bundled with easy tool-less access for getting in and out of the case.
The Era 2 also comes with a preinstalled PCIe Gen 4 riser cable, a key part for your GPU. In the past, Fractal Design has had some issues with its riser cable cards, but as a general rule, many different brands have also encountered problems. Cable management is naturally difficult in small ITX enclosures, but the Era 2 seems to offer some good options such as a removable top to help with accessibility.
To help fit AIO CPU coolers, air coolers, and large GPUs, you can also slide the mid-wall of the chassis around to make more room. This was previously seen on the original Era case, and is redone here for added flexibility. Fans of traditional 2.5-inch SSD drives also have access to four slots here, meaning this case can even be apt as a workstation for those wanting a smaller solution.
For added convenience, the front I/O has a USB-C port, capable of 20Gbs speeds. It also includes additional USB-A ports, too. The case includes two Aspect 12 PWM fans, which are there to help with airflow. The airflow is a key aspect of such a small enclosure, with both the CPU and GPU getting adequate airflow in order to behave thermally. This is not always ideal in a mini-ITX PC case, but it appears Fractal Design have done their homework with the Era 2.
Of course, this case also meets compatibility for NVIDIA’s Enthusiast SFF GPU requirement. This was something put together by NVIDIA to allow its GPUs to be properly paired with small form factor cases without the buyer needing to do as much trial and error.
While the $199 price is premium, the added fans, riser cable, and design make it attractive to many fans of SFF builds.