The Fractal Era ITX looks absolutely stunning, which is immediately apparent by looking at either their marketing images or the pictures in this review. The choice of wooden accents on two of the colors variants is a great option if you have had it with glass panels. That said, if you rather want a window on top, Fractal has got you covered with three additional colors to pick from.

On the exterior, the uniquely shaped panels are certainly the driving factor of the case, and Fractal has done well to pick aluminium for the exterior to drive it home. But with the interior layout still based on established norms with the PSU towards the front-top of the chassis, you also have the room to install a long GPU and big liquid-cooling setup.

That is also where the Era ITX clearly feels most comfortable. Sure, you have the utmost flexibility to go with an ATX PSU or classic air cooling alongside the pre-installed 80 mm fan, but things get pretty toasty if you push both the GPU and CPU at the same time when opting to stick to air vs. liquid. I don't mean to be too hard as all the heat sources on a tiny ITX board tend to be close together by design, but my biggest issue is the fact that I had to sacrifice the 80 mm fan as I am using an aftermarket cooler across all ITX case reviews. It is save to assume that those who shell out $160 will also go out and buy the cooling of their choice.

However, once you choose to throw a 240 mm radiator in there, you are able to spread that much better, and the additional fans that come with such a setup really end up making quite the difference. Thankfully, installing such an AIO, like the Celsius S24, is easily done due to simple but effective frame design choices Fractal made with the Era ITX.

The Era ITX is one beautiful case that can hold plenty of potent hardware, and odds are if you spend this kind of money on a case, you will also want the right components to pair with it, including a water-cooling setup!