A Closer Look - Inside

To access the interior, simply pull each glass panel off using the tabs. If you require more peace of mind, you may secure each with a single screw underneath the top cover of the chassis. Looking at the interior, the biggest differentiator is the top-mounted PSU bay, where we would usually find an air vent and possible fan mountings. The freed up space on the floor may be utilized for two fans of up to 180 mm each or an AIO of up to 280 mm. While this made a lot of sense in the massive Torrent, things are quite different with the Torrent Compact. On one hand, there are no pre-installed fans here, and you are, on the other hand, limited to two of anything totaling 280 mm for fans or an AIO if you want to use the two 180 front fans.


On the back, all major cable-routing holes are covered by grommets, and there is a large opening for easy access to the mounting plate for the CPU cooler. The reason why Fractal Design decided to reduce the space behind the motherboard tray is that there are no thick 3.5" drives to worry about here, and it gives air coolers more room.


There is a branded metal bar towards the front. I am not sure what it is for, but it could be for cable management. Fractal Design has placed a main cable trench with Velcro strips down the center of the chassis, with several additional ones around the bottom all complementing the rubber-grommet-equipped cable-routing holes. You may also install three additional 2.5" drives behind the motherboard tray, bringing the final total within the Torrent Compact to five such 2.5/3.5" storage devices.


Just like the original Torrent, you will find a fan hub in the Torrent Compact. In fact, it looks to be the same one for up to nine PWM fans. The spot with white markings will communicate the PWM signal from the motherboard, while the remaining eight will duplicate it. The hub is powered by a SATA connector, so you won't have to worry about overloading a single motherboard header, either.


In the front are the two 180 mm intake fans. These come with hub-mounted ARGB in this variant of the Torrent Compact. On the floor are mounting holes for two fans of either 120, 140 or 180 mm size. Anything installed here will block the bottom area of the motherboard—even opting for an M-ATX format to go for 180 mm fans will have these interfere with the two already installed in the front. Looking at this, it would have been better to give users 10 mm more space behind the motherboard tray, which would reduce the CPU height to 165 mm, still enough for something like the Noctua NH-D15, and limit the floor to 140 mm sizing.


Looking at the rear, the seven expansion slots each come with thumb screws. This is nice, but they are flat-ended, which makes re-applying them slightly more difficult compared to those with a pointy tip. The fan-placement possibility is basic but functional, with two sets of classic mounting holes for a 120 mm cooling unit. Many brands instead add elongated mounting holes for users to adjust the placement of their exhaust fans or radiators to suit their needs.


Looking at the ceiling, you can see the space taken up by the PSU and its large vent, which has the power supply fan act as an additional exhaust fan above the CPU area. Fractal design also embedded an ARGB strip into the PSU cover for added measure. This view also shows the round openings meant to be used as a fill port for custom liquid-cooling setups. In addition to that, the large cutout in the front will come in handy when installing larger AIOs or radiators into the front.