Fractal Design Mood ITX SFF Chassis

Packaging

The other main component for this article is the chassis. We opted for the Fractal Design Mood which ships in a brown cardboard box. You can read our full review here, but we still can't get over the cool unboxing experience, so we won't withhold it for you here either. The case also ships securely encased in foam spacers with the accessories box embedded in the top.

A Closer Look

While we reviewed the black variant of the case, Fractal also offers it in a very cool looking light gray that matches the chair and headphones which were revealed at the same time. That color choice looks gorgeous and really helps bring out that unique material mix with the cloth wrap.


While the cloth wraps around the whole case, we know that the air vent is on the front and rear of the chassis. The sides are solid metal, but the important aspect is the fact that the GPU has its own dedicated chamber and vent to unfold its full potential while keeping cool.


To get to the insides of the case, simply remove the back cover and then unscrew two screws that pin the shell down. Once released you simply slide it up and off the inner frame of the Fractal Design Mood. This gives you access to all four sides, which is important not just for building but also to ensure you can wire everything up - including the GPU. Plugging in the 12VHPWR connector and not having to worry about a tight bend radius is vital when it comes to cases that make it into NVIDIA's Build Small, Play Big initiative.


Viewing the interior of the Fractal Design Mood from the rear, this part of the chassis is meant exclusively for your GPU. As with most upright ITX enclosures, a PCIe riser cable is needed and the Mood comes with a high quality PCIe 4.0 variant pre-installed. The two expansion slots come with thumb screws and reusable covers, but as there is that additional space, your GPU could be a bit thicker than that. That last part is likely one of the more important unknowns which most case brands do not communicate. While it is easy to judge fit based purely on the number of expansion slots, the days when GPUs strictly stuck to those are long gone, luckily many ITX cases have a bit of flexibility as well.