Fractal Design Torrent Nano RGB TG Light Tint

[Darksaber]

With the massive Torrent, Fractal Design opened the door to a new line of cases. The Torrent Nano represents the smallest end of the spectrum within that family, sporting the same cool looks and unique layout while squeezing one 180 mm fan into the front and offering ITX support.

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[ShurikN]

34L, what a shame it's this huge...

 

[walker15130]

I thought they would go with SFX PSU only and possibly ditch 180mm compatibility in the front for something like dual 140s (and thinner design).
The way it is it fits into the family and manages to fit the big noctua D15 - an effort which is severely undermined by newest itx motherboards cannibalizing the space needed around the socket.

 

[NRANM]

I guess I'm not the only one who finds this case a bit too large for a ITX system. It is almost as large as other cases that can handle mATX motherboards. It looks like a pretty decent ITX case but at this point one might as well go for an actual mATX case.

 

[Operandi]

I guess I'm not the only one who finds this case a bit too large for a ITX system. It is almost as large as other cases that can handle mATX motherboards. It looks like a pretty decent ITX case but at this point one might as well go for an actual mATX case.

Yeah, they missed the mark on this one. This should be the "mini' mATX version and the nano should be well.... you know. Also please stick to normal 120 - 140mm fan form factors please.

Props for making a solid panel versions though, TG is played out.

 

[defaultluser]

Yeah, the Core 500 is still the best capacity to external dimensions case of anything in their ITX lineup - it also has the best cooling for anything under 20l (280mm top rad, , and 140mm exhaust.)

 

[PLAfiller]

I hope I am not the only who finds this case's size just fine. Same league as NZXT H210....not all of us want jigsaw puzzles Ain't no love for mATX though....

 

[NRANM]

I hope I am not the only who finds this case's size just fine. Same league as NZXT H210....not all of us want jigsaw puzzles Ain't no love for mATX though....

Not really close to the H210. That one is 27 liters, whereas the Torrent Nano is ~34 liters. That's no small difference. I just checked a random mATX case (Deepcool MATREXX 40), and it is 37 liters.
The Cooler Master NR200 series is ~18.25 liters. The Torrent Nano is close to double the volume of the NR200, which is already a case that isn't considered particularly compact.
Having a large ITX case defeats the purpose of it being ITX to begin with.

 

[Operandi]

I hope I am not the only who finds this case's size just fine. Same league as NZXT H210....not all of us want jigsaw puzzles Ain't no love for mATX though....

Neither do I really but I also want more than 1 PCIE slot and there is room for that here its just poorly packaged and is a lot of wasted space.

 

[theglaze]

It's the same volume as my Define Mini C at 34 liters, which supports mATX. I appreciate the airflow options beneath the GPU, but that's the only positive I see in this new Nano design.

 

[Operandi]

Having a large ITX case defeats the purpose of it being ITX to begin with.

Agreed, ITX is so limited on ports and expansion its really only good for ultra compact minimal builds. ITX is the wrong form factor for a case this size.

 

[trsttte]

I don't know if it's specifically mentioned in the review, but it's really cool that they actually opened up the front to acomodate the 180mm instead of just slapping them there with half the fan blocked by 140mm/120mm mounts like other cases did (like the recent Cooler Master HAF500)

 

[Turmania]

I love it ! but than I`m a proud owner of NZXT Manta, which is probably larger than this case as an ITX case.

 

[Camm]

Wonder if you could fit some 15mm slim fans on the floor with a 3 slot card. Doing that + 2x140mm fans in the front would sort out any temps IMO.

 

[defaultluser]

This design feels just as bulky and pointless as the Prodigy.

 

[trsttte]

Wonder if you could fit some 15mm slim fans on the floor with a 3 slot card. Doing that + 2x140mm fans in the front would sort out any temps IMO.

If you open the image and look bellow the 3'rd pcie slot there's definitely not 15mm available, only with a 2 slot card (since pcie standard heigh is 20mm)

Two 140mm fans in the front instead of the 180mm is unlikely to help the gpu, much less if you're using a 3 slot card that completely blocks the airflow. In better news, the case feet are super high so there's a lot of clearance for intake air through the bottom

 

[Fungi]

Decent attempt but at this size O11 Air Mini is probably the better choice.

 

[Valantar]

"Good" to see Fractal isn't changing with their gargantuan ITX cases... Seriously, at this volume not supporting mATX is borderline criminal. At more than twice the volume of my Meshlicious, supporting the same rough hardware configuration is just silly. Yes, the Meshy is tightly packed, but this is just a waste. The NR200 blows this out of the water. I mean, it's more than 10 liters larger than the Cerberus X, which supports full ATX motherboards.

 

[Camm]

"Good" to see Fractal isn't changing with their gargantuan ITX cases... Seriously, at this volume not supporting mATX is borderline criminal. At more than twice the volume of my Meshlicious, supporting the same rough hardware configuration is just silly. Yes, the Meshy is tightly packed, but this is just a waste. The NR200 blows this out of the water. I mean, it's more than 10 liters larger than the Cerberus X, which supports full ATX motherboards.

Its a traditional ATX layout, not much you can do. And for all of admirable traits of smaller cases, the ATX layout generally just works. No PCIE risers, no issue with air cooler compatibility, no PSU extenders, etc.

 

[Valantar]

Its a traditional ATX layout, not much you can do. And for all of admirable traits of smaller cases, the ATX layout generally just works. No PCIE risers, no issue with air cooler compatibility, no PSU extenders, etc.

Eh, yes, there is indeed quite a lot you can do. The NR200 and Ncase M1 demonstrate that clearly. Neither need risers, neither have cooler compatibility issues, neither need PSU extenders. Yet they are dramatically smaller than this, while fitting essentially the same hardware. And there are literally dozens of similar alternatives that manage the same thing.

 

[Turmania]

It is just big, waste of space and i just love it! Look at that design!

 

[Camm]

Eh, yes, there is indeed quite a lot you can do. The NR200 and Ncase M1 demonstrate that clearly. Neither need risers, neither have cooler compatibility issues, neither need PSU extenders. Yet they are dramatically smaller than this, while fitting essentially the same hardware. And there are literally dozens of similar alternatives that manage the same thing.

NR200 - Effectively limited to 750w due to compatibility issues when running SFX-L and full length cards. CPU Tower clearance issues issues, top clearance issues.
Ncase M1- not even made anymore. CPU tower issues, 750w limited due to SFX-L clearance issues with full length cards.

At least the Fractal's don't have these issues, which was the point originally raised.

 

[ShurikN]

At least the Fractal's don't have these issues, which was the point originally raised.

Mate, this case is 3 times the size of the M1, and twice the size of NR200, of course it won't have any issues. They've basically made a matx case with no matx support.

 

[Valantar]

NR200 - Effectively limited to 750w due to compatibility issues when running SFX-L and full length cards. CPU Tower clearance issues issues, top clearance issues.
Ncase M1- not even made anymore. CPU tower issues, 750w limited due to SFX-L clearance issues with full length cards.

At least the Fractal's don't have these issues, which was the point originally raised.

That number isn't accurate any more. Cooler Master, EVGA and FSP have 850W SFX (not -L) units, and given that this is a growing market there won't be any shortage on high output SFX PSUs in the future. Yes, there are SFX units with too small bulk caps that can't handle load spikes from something like a 3090, but quality units like Corsair's SF750 handle that just fine. But other than that, a quality 750W PSU is plenty for any single GPU system unless you're running continuous 100% loads on a heavily OC'd CPU + GPU, so ... yeah. If that's your use case, I wouldn't recommend a tiny ITX box either. But for literally any gaming PC build? Or just the vast majority of DIY PCs out there with no more than 1 AIC? Perfectly fine. As for "clearance issues", that only applies if your standard for "issues" is "doesn't fit every single cooler on the market". There are quite a few large air coolers that fit the NR200, and some decent ones that fit the M1. And while that was recently discontinued, as I said, there are dozens of alternatives. The upcoming Dan C4-SFX looks excellent at 11.9l, and while it's limited to 130mm tall coolers (or a 280mm AIO), that's not much of a limitation these days. Do you need to practice a modicum of care in component selection to avoid clearance issues? Sure. That's SFF PC building for you. Is that a problem? No.

And again: it really doesn't take 2x the volume to rectify those "issues". That's just poor design on Fractal's side.

 

[NRANM]

And again: it really doesn't take 2x the volume to rectify those "issues". That's just poor design on Fractal's side.

I guess they wanted a Torrent "family" -- having the same "trademarks" (e.g. the PSU compartment at the top, using their 180mm fan, etc.) and covering multiple sizes, but for the smallest case they took the largest case, simply scaled it down, and called it a day. Unfortunately, that is not how you make an SFF case, you need to actually put effort and thought into re-arranging and optimizing the internal design.

As it stands, the Torrent Nano is a decent computer case, but a (dare I say it) bad SFF computer case. Being compact is the single most important goal of SFF cases, and that is where the Torrent Nano fails.