Fractal Design Core 500

Darksaber · Dec 23, 2015

The Fractal Design Core 500 is the company's first mainstream SFF chassis. Clocking in at around 60 USD, it aims to offer the perfect balance between size, price, and quality. We take the unit for a spin to see whether it holds up in these areas.

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Absolution · Dec 23, 2015

Slightly bigger than the Sugo SG13B, but then supports 240mm rad, 170mm psu and 310mm graphics card

Sugo SG13B : 222mm (W) x 181 mm (H) x 285 mm (D) = 11.3 litres
Fractal Core 500: (WxHxD): 285 x 335 x 450 mm = 19.5 liters

Dont think it falls in the category of the sugo in terms of size

Jhelms · Dec 23, 2015

Well done - I was looking for a case just like this the other day that supports a 5.25 bay. I want it for a quick swap hard drive. Likely will order this as soon as it is available!

PLAfiller · Dec 24, 2015

I gotta handed to Fractal Design, pretty good job. Overall extremely hard working people for this brand. If I ever decide to go "boxy" I'd snatch one of those. Silverstone is still my top pick though.They just seems to hit all the right boxes for me, many years in a row. They and Zalman and not just about cases. I am about to get one of Zalman's keyboards very soon.

Ruru · Dec 29, 2015

Garage1217 said:
Well done - I was looking for a case just like this the other day that supports a 5.25 bay. I want it for a quick swap hard drive. Likely will order this as soon as it is available!

Yeah, I don't see a problem having a 5.25" bay since this is an excellent HTPC case, and installing a bluray drive would be a nice feature.

DarthBaggins · Dec 29, 2015

FD has been dropping some fine cases the past couple of years, personally the Arc Mini has sparked my interest as of lately. Mainly due to pricing over say my wanting to snag another CaseLabs Case (but of course price and quality are factors if I can pay less for a decent quality case I will)

Ithanul · Jan 3, 2016

I just got a Define S by that company. Actually impress at what the case has for the price I paid. Just have to take a dremel to it so I smack a EATX into it though. Hehe.

Jetster · Jan 3, 2016

Amazing how they get a full sized ATX PSU in that case

Ferrum Master · Jan 5, 2016

One thing... Why they don't use laptop ODD's? Why the 5inch ones??

micropage7 · Jan 5, 2016

nice but with that shape it looks like cabinet, add some wood color and you done
btw they way they mount the drive is good, when many brands use plastic clip, i prefer traditional way to secure the drives, and it would last longer than plastic clips

System Name	Corsair 2000D Silent Gaming Rig
Processor	Intel Core i5-14600K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z790-i Gaming Wifi
Cooling	Corsair iCUE H150i Black
Memory	Corsair 64 GB 6000 MHz DDR5
Video Card(s)	Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phoenix GS
Storage	TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s)	Gigabyte 32" M32U
Case	Corsair 2000D
Power Supply	Corsair 850 W SFX
Mouse	Logitech MX
Keyboard	Sharkoon PureWriter TKL

Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro
Cooling	Wraith Prism
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 3600Mhz 16GB (4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	-
Storage	Samsung 850 Evo, 860 Evo, 980 and Crucial MX500
Display(s)	Samsung Neo G9 Odyssey
Case	Corsair 7000D
Power Supply	-
VR HMD	Quest 2

System Name	Project Evolv mATX V2
Processor	5800X3D
Motherboard	ASRock B550M Steel Legend
Cooling	AK400 Zero Dark Plus
Memory	32gb (4x8) G.SKILL 3200 C14 / 1T running at 3400
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 6800XT Nitro
Storage	Samsung 980 pro NVMe 2TB
Display(s)	Dual Samsung 27" G50A's
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX in Silver
Audio Device(s)	To many to list - generally a modified E-MU 0404 combined with a Project Ember for my desktop use
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Titanium 750W
Software	Win 11

System Name	PLAHI
Processor	I5-10400
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
Cooling	120 AIO IWONGOU
Memory	32GB Corsair LPX 2400 Mhz DDR4 CL14
Video Card(s)	PNY QUADRO RTX A2000
Storage	Intel 670P 512GB
Display(s)	Philips 288E2A 28" 4K + 22" LG 1080p
Case	Silverstone Raven 03 (RV03)
Audio Device(s)	Creative Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Fractal Design IntegraM 650W
Mouse	Logitech Triathlon
Keyboard	REDRAGON MITRA
Software	Windows 11 Home x 64

System Name	4K-gaming / console
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X / Intel Core i7-6700K
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero / Asus Z170-K
Cooling	Alphacool Eisbaer 360 / Alphacool Eisbaer 240
Memory	32GB DDR4-3466 / 16GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080 TUF OC / Powercolor RX 6700 XT
Storage	3.3TB of SSDs / several small SSDs
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D AF White / DeepCool CC560 WH
Audio Device(s)	Sony WH-CN720N
Power Supply	EVGA G2 750W / Fractal ION Gold 550W
Mouse	Logitech MX518 / Logitech G400s
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO / NOS C450 Mini Pro
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	They run Crysis

Fractal Design Core 500

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer

Absolution

Jhelms

PLAfiller

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

DarthBaggins

Ithanul

Jetster

Ferrum Master

micropage7

System Name	Goonz Gaming
Processor	i7 11700k
Motherboard	ASUS z590 Prime Wifi
Cooling	Scythe Mugen 6 BE
Memory	KLEVV Cras XR 32GB DDR4 4000cL18 (2x16GB)
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 2x White RTX 4070Ti Super
Storage	SN850x 2TB, 970 EVO+ 1TB, 2 - 840 EVO 1TB, WD Red Pro 10 TB, & WD Red Pro 4TB
Display(s)	Acer XF270HU
Case	beQuiet Silent Base 801 (Rev-ATX layout)
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster SB-Zx
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Lamzu Maya 4k
Keyboard	Novel Keys NK65 Entry Watermelon w/ Drop Panda X's (lubed 205g0 & TX Films)
VR HMD	Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	TimeSpy Extreme: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/48612320 Port Royal: https://www.3dmark.com/pr/2928921

System Name	RadActive Dragon & Black Dragon
Processor	i7 5960X & 1090T
Motherboard	Gigabyte X99-UD3P & Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Cooling	EK EVO & Corsair H50
Memory	GSkill TridentZ 32GBs 3200MHz & Vegeance 8GBs 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	2x 980Ti & 960 FTW
Storage	Samsung Pro 256GB & Intel 120GB
Case	Heavy modded Haf X & NZXT Apollo
Power Supply	AX1200 & AX1200i
Software	Windows 7 & Ubuntu 15.04

System Name	Juliette // My HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// ASUS RTX 4060 OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s)	ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	G903 and a Master Mouse MM710/No mouse, MS game copntroller
Keyboard	EVGA / Logitech K400
Software	Windows 11 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	HELLSTAR
Processor	AMD RYZEN 9 5950X
Motherboard	ASUS Strix X570-E
Cooling	2x 360 + 280 rads. 3x Gentle Typhoons, 3x Phanteks T30, 2x TT T140 . EK-Quantum Momentum Monoblock.
Memory	4x8GB G.SKILL Trident Z RGB F4-4133C19D-16GTZR 14-16-12-30-44
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 7900XTX. Water block. Crossflashed.
Storage	Optane 900P[Fedora] + WD BLACK SN850X 4TB + 750 EVO 500GB + 1TB 980PRO+SN560 1TB(W11)
Display(s)	Philips PHL BDM3270 + Acer XV242Y
Case	Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO
Audio Device(s)	SMSL RAW-MDA1 DAC
Power Supply	Fractal Design Newton R3 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow V3 - Yellow Switch
Software	FEDORA 41

System Name	micropage7
Processor	Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling	Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory	Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage	V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s)	Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case	Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply	Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software	Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	Classified