Fractal Design Launches the Pop Series of Cases

[Mussels]

Looks okay, but it's quite clear that solid side panels are dead.
What if I don't want RGBLED, and what if I don't want to install all the bloatware necessary to DISABLE all the RGBLED that I didn't want in the first place?

What software?
Case and fan lighting can simply not be powered, or you can use a hardware controller with an off setting.


Unsure about other brands, but asus mobos can disable RGB in the BIOS, or have it set to be controlled and disabled by the case reset button

 

[MentalAcetylide]

The case is but one of many components, good sir.

If you try and buy a fan, a cooler, a GPU, RAM, or a motherboard these days whilst actively avoiding RGBLED, you will discover quite quickly that around 75% of the options available to you have RGBLED and a good portion of those will have rainbow vomit if you don't install software. RGBLED cables aren't for powering the LEDs, those are on by default. They're for sending the bloatware software signals to the LEDs and "off" is a colour that requires the software in most cases.

Budget cases often waste money on tempered glass. For those of us who don't want to see inside our cases because they just sit under the desk, it would be nice to have a cheaper steel side panel and $5 removed from the price tag. Even if the case is out of immediate sight under a desk, it's still spewing unwanted rainbows out into the room. Not everyone loves ARGBLED being forced upon them. It's crazy that I have to explain this but here we are.

If you like ARGBLED stuff and enjoy tinkering with the proprietary mess that is ARGBLED software from several different vendors, then great - you'll be happy. If, on the other hand you are like me you will be displeased that you have to pay extra for a window you don't need, then install a few bits of software you don't like or want, to disable lighting you didn't want to deal with or pay for, but were forced to from lack of choice in the market.

This is the problem with RGB. All of the vendors want to do their own thing with the various bells & whistles for case/hardware lighting with little regard for compatibility and the software they implement for controlling the fans. I originally had a nice(and simple, or so I had thought) RGB lighting scheme for my case with 10 Thermaltake Quad-Riing RGB fans, G.Skill Trident Z Royal RGB RAM, and a RGB lighting strip in the case, but it turned out to be a real pain in the ass. The fans turned out to be too dodgy and unreliable for Ryzen builds, so I ended up just going with Coolermaster RGB fans, & the aforementioned RAM. The control software for Thermaltake Quad-series fans absolutely sucks considering how you have to set each fan individually.
I don't mind RGB lighting, but it gets to a point where its too much trouble; especially for the poor sucker that is actually doing the build. It just baffles me how some of these companies come out with something nice for RGB lighting with a lot of potential and totally screw it up with their software and/or hardware controller. Its like they have moronic script kiddies writing their software for them.

 

[AusWolf]

Very nice! I hope they won't cost an arm and leg, and then maybe I'll do my next build in a Pop Mini Air.

Edit: I'm just wondering where the air intake for the Silent series is.

 

[Chrispy_]

Case and fan lighting can simply not be powered, or you can use a hardware controller with an off setting.

I'm guessing you haven't used many RGBLED fans.

The lighting is on by default because it's powered by the 3-pin or 4-pin that drives the fan itself. The ARGB cable is for data only and without a signal from a motherboard or controller header, colour-cycling rainbow vomit is typically all you get.

This is the problem with RGB. All of the vendors want to do their own thing with the various bells & whistles for case/hardware lighting with little regard for compatibility and the software they implement for controlling the fans. I originally had a nice(and simple, or so I had thought) RGB lighting scheme for my case with 10 Thermaltake Quad-Riing RGB fans, G.Skill Trident Z Royal RGB RAM, and a RGB lighting strip in the case, but it turned out to be a real pain in the ass. The fans turned out to be too dodgy and unreliable for Ryzen builds, so I ended up just going with Coolermaster RGB fans, & the aforementioned RAM. The control software for Thermaltake Quad-series fans absolutely sucks considering how you have to set each fan individually.
I don't mind RGB lighting, but it gets to a point where its too much trouble; especially for the poor sucker that is actually doing the build. It just baffles me how some of these companies come out with something nice for RGB lighting with a lot of potential and totally screw it up with their software and/or hardware controller. Its like they have moronic script kiddies writing their software for them.

RGBLED will suck until there's a single standard that all fans comply with, the same way that PWM fans all use the same 4-pin connector.

 

[AusWolf]

I'm guessing you haven't used many RGBLED fans.

The lighting is on by default because it's powered by the 3-pin or 4-pin that drives the fan itself. The ARGB cable is for data only and without a signal from a motherboard or controller header, colour-cycling rainbow vomit is typically all you get.


RGBLED will suck until there's a single standard that all fans comply with, the same way that PWM fans all use the same 4-pin connector.

That's why I don't use RGB fans. Handling all those cables is a mess. They don't look that good anyway, imo. RGB motherboard: sure, RGB RAM and AIO pump: why not, graphics card: cool, but fans... no thanks.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

The case is but one of many components, good sir.

If you try and buy a fan, a cooler, a GPU, RAM, or a motherboard these days whilst actively avoiding RGBLED, you will discover quite quickly that around 75% of the options available to you have RGBLED and a good portion of those will have rainbow vomit if you don't install software. RGBLED cables aren't for powering the LEDs, those are on by default. They're for sending the bloatware software signals to the LEDs and "off" is a colour that requires the software in most cases.

Budget cases often waste money on tempered glass. For those of us who don't want to see inside our cases because they just sit under the desk, it would be nice to have a cheaper steel side panel and $5 removed from the price tag. Even if the case is out of immediate sight under a desk, it's still spewing unwanted rainbows out into the room. Not everyone loves ARGBLED being forced upon them. It's crazy that I have to explain this but here we are.

If you like ARGBLED stuff and enjoy tinkering with the proprietary mess that is ARGBLED software from several different vendors, then great - you'll be happy. If, on the other hand you are like me you will be displeased that you have to pay extra for a window you don't need, then install a few bits of software you don't like or want, to disable lighting you didn't want to deal with or pay for, but were forced to from lack of choice in the market.

RGB's a big ol' "nope" for me. Thankfully, the Silent version of this case is both RGB-free and has a solid side panel. Win-win.

Edit: I'm just wondering where the air intake for the Silent series is.

Along the edges of the front bezel.

 

[eazen]

I'm guessing you haven't used many RGBLED fans.

The lighting is on by default because it's powered by the 3-pin or 4-pin that drives the fan itself. The ARGB cable is for data only and without a signal from a motherboard or controller header, colour-cycling rainbow vomit is typically all you get.


RGBLED will suck until there's a single standard that all fans comply with, the same way that PWM fans all use the same 4-pin connector.

You’re making it more dramatic than it is, it’s just annoying to you because you’re against it, for me it’s easy and it looks nice. And I only landed in it via accident, it’s just a bunch of things I bought that had RGB anyway, and my case has a window, so it’s win win.

 

[MentalAcetylide]

That's why I don't use RGB fans. Handling all those cables is a mess. They don't look that good anyway, imo. RGB motherboard: sure, RGB RAM and AIO pump: why not, graphics card: cool, but fans... no thanks.

I wouldn't say its a mess, but rather it just takes up a lot more time & possibly buying longer/shorter cables or modifying them(assuming proprietary cables aren't necessary) in order to get them lined & routed neatly. I think the most unsightly cables are the graphics cards & AIO radiator lines because you can't adjust their lengths and they have a lot less play in them compared to fan cables.

You’re making it more dramatic than it is, it’s just annoying to you because you’re against it, for me it’s easy and it looks nice. And I only landed in it via accident, it’s just a bunch of things I bought that had RGB anyway, and my case has a window, so it’s win win.

No, he does have a good point. Different manufacturers tend to "develop"(or in Thermaltake's & Corsair's case, "under-develop") their own software to control their hardware products. This is part of the problem. I know Windows can be buggy, but MS should consider developing a suit in windows that controls all of this nonsense. There's the software standard. From there, it just becomes a matter of manufacturers building their hardware to be detected as "fan #1, #2, #3, etc." with "LEDs #1, #2, #3, etc.".
Corsair actually has a good idea consolidating the controls into a single software, but their software can be crappy and rather aggressive when you install a new corsair product and do not wish to have it controlled by the software being used to control some other Corsair product that you already had installed previously.

 

[eazen]

I wouldn't say its a mess, but rather it just takes up a lot more time & possibly buying longer/shorter cables or modifying them(assuming proprietary cables aren't necessary) in order to get them lined & routed neatly. I think the most unsightly cables are the graphics cards & AIO radiator lines because you can't adjust their lengths and they have a lot less play in them compared to fan cables.


No, he does have a good point. Different manufacturers tend to "develop"(or in Thermaltake's & Corsair's case, "under-develop") their own software to control their hardware products. This is part of the problem. I know Windows can be buggy, but MS should consider developing a suit in windows that controls all of this nonsense. There's the software standard. From there, it just becomes a matter of manufacturers building their hardware to be detected as "fan #1, #2, #3, etc." with "LEDs #1, #2, #3, etc.".
Corsair actually has a good idea consolidating the controls into a single software, but their software can be crappy and rather aggressive when you install a new corsair product and do not wish to have it controlled by the software being used to control some other Corsair product that you already had installed previously.

It doesn’t matter, I have a point as well, it’s easier than he’s saying it is. Especially if you don’t make the dumb decision to use multiple different vendors. He’s a typical No-RGB naysayer, it’s just his taste and he doesn’t like it and then makes it out to be that RGB is hard to manage, no it’s not. It’s really easy if you know how.

 

[MentalAcetylide]

It doesn’t matter, I have a point as well, it’s easier than he’s saying it is. Especially if you don’t make the dumb decision to use multiple different vendors. He’s a typical No-RGB naysayer, it’s just his taste and he doesn’t like it and then makes it out to be that RGB is hard to manage, no it’s not. It’s really easy if you know how.

Well the guy who did my build says it is time consuming work, even more so if you're install something like Thermaltake's quad riing rgb fans. My case has 7 Coolermaster rgb fans + the 3 default fans on the Kingpin's 360mm radiator, so my guy had double the work since we opted to get rid of the Thermaltake fans. So while it may be easy, it can still take up quite a bit of time doing it right + neat depending on the fans, other RGB components, hardware, case size/shape.

 

[eazen]

Well the guy who did my build says it is time consuming work, even more so if you're install something like Thermaltake's quad riing rgb fans. My case has 7 Coolermaster rgb fans + the 3 default fans on the Kingpin's 360mm radiator, so my guy had double the work since we opted to get rid of the Thermaltake fans. So while it may be easy, it can still take up quite a bit of time doing it right + neat depending on the fans, other RGB components, hardware, case size/shape.

Of course it will take some time. I don’t use RGB fans though, so for me it didn’t even take 5 minutes. Learning the software took a bit longer than that, maybe 15 minutes tops.

 

[AusWolf]

I wouldn't say its a mess, but rather it just takes up a lot more time & possibly buying longer/shorter cables or modifying them(assuming proprietary cables aren't necessary) in order to get them lined & routed neatly. I think the most unsightly cables are the graphics cards & AIO radiator lines because you can't adjust their lengths and they have a lot less play in them compared to fan cables.

Exactly. It's a pain in the backside, especially when you have 5-6 case fans with a PWM and an RGB cable each.

No, he does have a good point. Different manufacturers tend to "develop"(or in Thermaltake's & Corsair's case, "under-develop") their own software to control their hardware products. This is part of the problem. I know Windows can be buggy, but MS should consider developing a suit in windows that controls all of this nonsense. There's the software standard. From there, it just becomes a matter of manufacturers building their hardware to be detected as "fan #1, #2, #3, etc." with "LEDs #1, #2, #3, etc.".
Corsair actually has a good idea consolidating the controls into a single software, but their software can be crappy and rather aggressive when you install a new corsair product and do not wish to have it controlled by the software being used to control some other Corsair product that you already had installed previously.

I have two hard rules when buying RGB stuff:
1. It cannot have proprietary connectors. Either direct control through the motherboard (like with RAM), or a standard ARGB cable is fine, but I'm not buying a controller for something that doesn't add any practical value to my system.
2. It has to work with motherboard software. Same as with the above: I'm not installing an extra app to control something with no added value. ASUS Aura Sync, or nothing. That's it.

 

[eazen]

I’m gonna mention it here as well: LianLi made strides to simplify RGB fan cabling, if you insist on having RGB fans, it’s worth looking into. Otherwise have fun, I guess.

 

[MentalAcetylide]

Exactly. It's a pain in the backside, especially when you have 5-6 case fans with a PWM and an RGB cable each.


I have two hard rules when buying RGB stuff:
1. It cannot have proprietary connectors. Either direct control through the motherboard (like with RAM), or a standard ARGB cable is fine, but I'm not buying a controller for something that doesn't add any practical value to my system.
2. It has to work with motherboard software. Same as with the above: I'm not installing an extra app to control something with no added value. ASUS Aura Sync, or nothing. That's it.

I have no problem installing an extra software or controller for something like Quad-Riing fans that grant you much greater control over the fans' LED lighting, but if the software is crappy & doesn't allow you to copy/paste or clone fan profiles so that you don't have to be setting 20+ individual LEDs on each fan repeatedly, then its not worth it.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Well this is why I have 2 new Corsair Carbide 400R and 2 Corsair Carbide 500R in storage. I am not into bling bling. I've got hundreds of movies and music CD's that according to the Yahoo's they are supposed to be Rotted away with CD Rot. 30 year CD's that still work fine. Movies the same.

Again what is obsolete? I firmly believe that you are getting less value on cases and more problems with the current style of cases because sheeple want bling bling over function.

Again. I have never.... EVER in my entire life, dealing with all of the Techies in Silicon Valley land tell me that they got laid by a real person, (thots don''t count) because of their stunning, beautiful and brave setup.

 

[AusWolf]

Well this is why I have 2 new Corsair Carbide 400R and 2 Corsair Carbide 500R in storage. I am not into bling bling. I've got hundreds of movies and music CD's that according to the Yahoo's they are supposed to be Rotted away with CD Rot. 30 year CD's that still work fine. Movies the same.

Again what is obsolete? I firmly believe that you are getting less value on cases and more problems with the current style of cases because sheeple want bling bling over function.

Again. I have never.... EVER in my entire life, dealing with all of the Techies in Silicon Valley land tell me that they got laid by a real person, (thots don''t count) because of their stunning, beautiful and brave setup.

I don't understand. I think launches like this should be celebrated, because it's not just another case with bling-bling, but a whole series of cases with and without RGB, so everybody can find what they like.

 

[Mussels]

I'm guessing you haven't used many RGBLED fans.

The lighting is on by default because it's powered by the 3-pin or 4-pin that drives the fan itself. The ARGB cable is for data only and without a signal from a motherboard or controller header, colour-cycling rainbow vomit is typically all you get.


RGBLED will suck until there's a single standard that all fans comply with, the same way that PWM fans all use the same 4-pin connector.

My system is called rainbow sparkles.
It's got more RGB than a unicorn disco.

Someone asked about turning them off, and my answer was to simply not power them - so you've got who you're talking to backwards, on that point.

It doesn’t matter, I have a point as well, it’s easier than he’s saying it is. Especially if you don’t make the dumb decision to use multiple different vendors. He’s a typical No-RGB naysayer, it’s just his taste and he doesn’t like it and then makes it out to be that RGB is hard to manage, no it’s not. It’s really easy if you know how.

Hardware controllers are the best for most people, set and forget with zero software overheads - as long as you're happy with all your lights being on the same setting
(Although yes, you could get two controllers or more it'd be annoying)

Well this is why I have 2 new Corsair Carbide 400R and 2 Corsair Carbide 500R in storage. I am not into bling bling. I've got hundreds of movies and music CD's that according to the Yahoo's they are supposed to be Rotted away with CD Rot. 30 year CD's that still work fine. Movies the same.

Again what is obsolete? I firmly believe that you are getting less value on cases and more problems with the current style of cases because sheeple want bling bling over function.

Again. I have never.... EVER in my entire life, dealing with all of the Techies in Silicon Valley land tell me that they got laid by a real person, (thots don''t count) because of their stunning, beautiful and brave setup.

Burned CD's die fast, printed/stamped ones dont. The organic dyes used inside them corrode fast, all my anime from my 56k days was lost despite being kept in an airtight container out of the sun.
My last three relationships were all from women who liked teh bling bling and gaming so... have fun with your older setups? No ones forcing you to upgrade, but technologies die off all the time.

I have a USB BD drive that i can use for the rare times i need it, and it's a lot smaller than an internal 5.25" monstrosity.

 

[Chrispy_]

My system is called rainbow sparkles.
It's got more RGB than a unicorn disco.

Someone asked about turning them off, and my answer was to simply not power them - so you've got who you're talking to backwards, on that point.

I don't understand what you mean by "not power them"

How do you "not power" RAM,
How do you "not power" your graphics card?
Of the CPU coolers I've used (AIO and air), a majority spew rainbows without the ARGBLED cable and corresponding software or motherboard support.
Case fan ARGBLED is so messed up that I can actually believe that you have some with LEDs on a completely isolated circuit with its own dedicated power rail. But that's not true for all of them for sure.

 

[AusWolf]

I don't understand what you mean by "not power them"

How do you "not power" RAM,
How do you "not power" your graphics card?
Of the CPU coolers I've used (AIO and air), a majority spew rainbows without the ARGBLED cable and corresponding software or motherboard support.
Case fan ARGBLED is so messed up that I can actually believe that you have some with LEDs on a completely isolated circuit with its own dedicated power rail. But that's not true for all of them for sure.

Good point.

Personally, I take good care that whatever RGB product I buy is compatible with the ARGB header and my motherboard software.

With cases, I either by the basic edition with no RGB, or swap out the factory-fitted fans to my own (they are usually much better anyway).
With graphics cards, an Asus GPU will definitely work with Asus motherboard software, for example, so no issues there.
With RAM, you can just as easily buy a non-RGB one as an RGB one.
With CPU coolers, you can use any fan on top of most chunks of metal. When it's an AIO, I always read reviews, and make sure I get an ARGB connector, and not proprietary controls and software.

All in all: don't blame RGB for the bling you don't need - just choose your components wisely.

 

[Chrispy_]

All in all: don't blame RGB for the bling you don't need - just choose your components wisely.

Indeed, I do in fact go out of my way to avoid RGB.

Back on topic, I wouldn't *have* to avoid RGB if cases weren't exclusively tempered glass these days. Opaque side panels are something of an endangered species right now.

 

[Mussels]

I don't understand what you mean by "not power them"

How do you "not power" RAM,
How do you "not power" your graphics card?
Of the CPU coolers I've used (AIO and air), a majority spew rainbows without the ARGBLED cable and corresponding software or motherboard support.
Case fan ARGBLED is so messed up that I can actually believe that you have some with LEDs on a completely isolated circuit with its own dedicated power rail. But that's not true for all of them for sure.

all case and fan lighting can simply be not powered, without it affecting anything except the lights.

Motherboard lighting can be turned off in the BIOS on almost every board.
RGB ram can be turned off in either the BIOS or software, and it remains off (corsair rams hardware lighting is a good example)

That said, anyone opposed to RGB wouldnt spend the extra on hardware that includes it in the first place - with the exception of cases and cooling where you might not get a choice and thats what my original comment was about. Dont like it? don't plug it in.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Indeed, I do in fact go out of my way to avoid RGB.

Back on topic, I wouldn't *have* to avoid RGB if cases weren't exclusively tempered glass these days. Opaque side panels are something of an endangered species right now.

Endangered, but not extinct. The very case to which this thread is in regard has a solid panel variant.

 

[Chrispy_]

all case and fan lighting can simply be not powered, without it affecting anything except the lights.

That's simply not true. Many RGBLED (and plain-old single-colour LED) fans and AIO pumps have illumination by default, without ever even connecting the RGBLED cable. Examples - AMD Wraith Prism, Max, AMD Wraith spire with LED ring, Coolermaster fans, most single-colour fans, the included fans with budget Deepcool and LianLi cases.

As I said, I'm sure there are plenty of RGBLED fans where the power for the lighting is separate to the power for the motor. That is arguably preferable since the intensity of the lighting shouldn't be dependent on the fan RPM, which is often the case in budget fans.

Motherboard lighting can be turned off in the BIOS on almost every board.
RGB ram can be turned off in either the BIOS or software, and it remains off (corsair rams hardware lighting is a good example)

Motherboard lighting yes, that's usually (but not always) an option. I've encountered a couple of boards (one MSI, another Asrock) where the BIOS was either bugged or broken and RGBLEDs couldn't be disabled. The ASRock on was particularly annoying as the function was there (in the BIOS) but ignored until POST, and then vanished entirely after a BIOS update.

RGB RAM depends on motherboards. I've found far more boards that don't have the ability to control the RAM and require shitty software to be installed, again - something that will result in rainbow spew until you've finished logging in and had the software tell the RAM to stop doing rainbows.

That said, anyone opposed to RGB wouldnt spend the extra on hardware that includes it in the first place - with the exception of cases and cooling where you might not get a choice and thats what my original comment was about. Dont like it? don't plug it in.

In a utopian world where there's an abundance of choice and stock, I'd agree with you.

Sadly, in the real world and on real store shelves, the non-RGB stuff is starting to become an endangered species. Just because the manufacturer claims to make a non-RGB variant doesn't translate to there being one available for you to purchase.

Endangered, but not extinct. The very case to which this thread is in regard has a solid panel variant.

Thankfully yes. Though black only - which is a shame because fractal's define compact looks great in white. Chances are good it's going to go against a white wall and light wood/white is a more common desk colour than black.

That's a nitpick though, I'm please to see that initial stocks of POP cases in the UK appear to include solid side panel variants for the moment.

 

[Mussels]

those wraith coolers can also be programmed over their USB connection, and have the lighting disabled permanently - they remember settings even if they're disconnected.

I have my ITX LAN system and servers setup with RGB, but unless i'm actually at a LAN they all power off (I use hardware controllers with IR remotes, also wired to the case reset button for global on/off)

My main system uses Razers ARGB controller, since it has a setting to disable all RGB when the screen goes off - so with a 5 minute idle timer, if i go AFK *all* lighting on my system, internal and external shuts down to not waste power when i'm not ready to be hypnotised by the spew.

There are ways around all this, with the most obvious being to be careful what you purchase - my brother got some... trident? RAM and found that in sleep mode they default to 100% brightness. He sure loves that.

 

[Chrispy_]

Yeah, I've done exactly that with my own Wraith Prism.

What you're talking about is being able to configure all the LEDs to off via either BIOS or one piece of software. The problem is that you do have to install that software at least once, and for some devices, leave the software running permanently.

The idiocy of software-controlled lighting is that it needs to default to off if there's no software input rather than OMFG PARTY TIME MAX BRIGHTNESS RAINBOW DISCO.