Assembly

Installing the mainboard is done by traditional means. The board fits well and as you can see there is enough space for the large Prolimatech Super Mega, so you should be able to employ most high performance coolers without worry. The small but lengthy openings to the right of the board should suffice to keep things fairly tidy within the CORE 3000.


To install the hard drive, Fractal Design has employed the same method as with the Define series of cases. Simply pull the white tray out and secure the 2.5 or 3.5 inch drive with the supplied screws. Thanks to the rubber lining, you won't have to worry about any vibrations from this area either. Then, slide the drive into the slot of your choice until it snaps into place. While you won't need to worry about it sliding out during transport, Fractal also gives you the option to screw the tray down with a single thumb screw.


Before we install the optical drive, you have to remove the panel and then the drive bay cover. Turns out the fans are not attached to the frame of the chassis, but to the front. As you can see there is another 140 mm spot below the pre-installed cooling unit. Once the bay is free, simply slide the ODD into place and secure it with the supplied thumb screws. Even though I have used the bottom bay, the drive does not extend beyond the drive bay walls, so you should also be able to use the top bay, if your radiator is not too thick and the optical drive is not too long.


Installing the power supply is nothing out of the ordinary. The foam lining makes sure that no vibrations are passed on from the PSU to the rest of the chassis. You are free to install a long unit as well since there is plenty of space. Such a power supply will cover the bottom air intake for that optional floor fan though. Even tough the unit used is not very long, the bottom fan spot is already unusable, as it would interfere with the modular cable system of the power supply.


Once everything is installed, you can see that the case makes it really easy in terms of cable management. Everything can be routed and hidden quite well. Even when filling the chassis to the rim you should be able to keep things nice and tidy. Thanks to the space between the mainboard tray and the side of the chassis, you should be able to hide most of the mess here, but you will end up having to force the side panel back on here most likely.

Finished Looks

Once everything is done and the side panels are back in place, the Fractal Design CORE 3000 makes a cool, understated impression. Thanks to the sharp, straight design, the case should still look cool in a few years time. The optical drive lines up perfectly with the mesh parts of the front panel.


Turning the CORE 3000 around, all areas of the chassis are clearly visible and accessible. The white elements of the fan can clearly be seen spinning. The cooling units within the chassis are actually not too loud, thanks to the use of the mainboard running them nice and slow.