Fractal Design Core 1300
Watercooling friendly MATX Form Factor Case

Introduction

Fractal Design Core 1300 is one of the affordable casing on the current market. Do not underestimate this cute case which it can support watercooling system for both 280mm and 240mm radiator. Not only that, with the innovative vertical hard driver structure, you can fit a total of 4 drives - two 3.5’’ and 2.5’’ drives. An addition 2.5’’ slot is available behind the Power supply position. The case is preinstalled with two units of 120mm Fractal Design Silent Series. With great cable management, this well design to fit every demand, vast capabilities and idea even for Modding. How’s their interior? Check out the rest of the review.

Product Link: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/core-series/core-1300

Suggest Retail Price: RM209

Key Features
• An extremely compact micro ATX case with bottom-mounted PSU, designed for exceptional airflow and cooling
• Brushed aluminum-look front panel with a sleek, three-dimensional textured finish
• Superior water cooling support for its size, supporting up to two 240mm radiators
• Featuring a 120mm rear exhaust fan for exceptional cooling
• Supports tall CPU cooler towers, up to about 162mm in height
• Total 7 fan slots with two 120mm fans included
• Extruded motherboard plate allowing space for additional cable routing; 18.5mm around the motherboard and 13.5mm directly behind it
• Multiple easy-to-clean dust filters designed into the case to help maintain a dust free interior
• Innovative vertical HDD bracket, which simultaneously holds two 3.5″ drives and two 2.5″ drives
• One additional SSD position behind the PSU area with easy installation and access

Specifications
• Mini ITX, Micro ATX motherboard compatibility
• 2 - 5.25″ bays (maximum 185mm in length)
• 2 - 3.5″ HDD positions
• 3 - 2.5″ dedicated SSD unit position
• 4 expansion slots
• Graphics cards up to 380mm in length may be installed. One or more 3.5″ hard drives may interfere with side-mounted power connectors on graphics cards longer than 200 mm
• Support cooling system: 7 Fan positions (2 fans included)
• Filtered fan slots in front and bottom
• CPU coolers up to 162 mm in height
• Supports ATX PSUs up to 205/185 mm with a bottom 120/140mm fan; When not using any bottom fan location longer PSUs can be used
• 13.5-18.5 mm of space for cable routing behind the motherboard plate
• Available in Black
• Case dimensions (WxHxD): 195 x 370 x 450mm
• Case dimensions with feet/protrusions/screws: 195 x 384 x 460mm
• Net weight: 4.6 kg
• Package dimensions (WxHxD): 270 x 547 x 432mm
• Package weight: 5.7 kg

Cooling system
• Front: 2 - 120mm fans (included is 1 Fractal Design Silent Series LT 120mm 1200 RPM speed) or 1 - 140mm fan (not included, two positions available)
• Rear: 1 - 120mm fan (included is 1 Fractal Design silent 120mm fan, 1200 RPM speed)
• Top: 2 - 120/140mm fan (not included)
• Bottom: 1 - 120mm fan (not included, two positions available) or 1 - 140mm fan (not included)
• Side: 1 -140mm fan (not included)

Water Cooling compatibility
• Front : Slim 240mm radiator (with lower ODD slot unused)
• Top : Slim 240mm radiator (with upper ODD slot occupied by a device no longer than 150mm and with no components on the upper 23 mm on the motherboard that are taller than 34mm)
• Rear : 120 mm radiator

Front interface
• 1 USB 3.0 + 1 USB 2.0
• Audio in/out
• Power button with LED (white)
• HDD activity LED (white)
• Reset button

Package contents
• Core 1300 computer case
• Accessory box
• User manual

Unboxing

Now it’s time to unbox the Fractal Design Core 1300 Computer Case and see how their actual look is.

The main box have the illustration image of the chassis itself. You can see the front panel of the Core 1300 is simple with sleek design.

At the back, you can check out the features available on this chassis together with labeled parts for the Core 1300.

On the left side, Fractal Design sticks an EAN Code sticker and you also can check the interior design for the Core 1300.

On the other side, you can see full specification in this case.

Let’s open it up! Once you remove the seal tape, The Core 1300 is well protected inside transparent plastic to prevent scratches and covered with hard foam to protect from external forces from damaging the chassis during transportation.

Too bad this model does not come with transparent side panel, but user can mount extra 120mm fan for better cooling and airflow.

Brushed aluminum-look finishing with a sleek design!

The front cover can be easily removed, there is a filter on both left and right side of the cover, but it cannot be removed easily, but still can be washed off easily.

Upon removing the front panel. It reveals the preinstall Fractal Design 120mm Silent Series LT fan. User can mount up to two units of 120mm fan on the front side. The top can mount 2 units of 5.25’’ drives on the odd bay.

The other side of the chassis is a plain design without any curves, don’t worry as Fractal already make enough space for cable management on the inside.

The Core 1300 also come with 120mm Silent Series case fan for the exhaust. The PCIE slot can support up to 4 slot and the bottom parts is for Power supply mounting.

The top of the Core 1300 can mount either 240mm or 280mm radiator. There is no filter on this side. Well it’s a rare case where user mount 2 unit for fan for the intake from the top anyway right?

The front I/O Panel. From the left, there’s:
+ On/OFF Switch
+ Restart Switch
+ HDD LEDs
+ Audio and mic jack
+ USB 2.0 Port
+ USB 3.0 Port

The back side for cable management. There’s about 2cm spacing for cable so it should be enough without requiring extra pushing when closing the side panel.

If you notice, you can mount additional 2.5’’ drives just beside the Power supply at the back side.

When removed the side panel on the other side, user now can see how the interior looks like. Core 1300 can support up to micro ATX form factor with 4 PCIE slot. And the power supply unit compartment is at the bottom.

As mentioned before, the innovative vertical HDD Bracket can mount up to two units of 2.5’’ drives and 2 units of 3.5’’ drives. This idea helps to have better space for reservoir mounting.

Inside the box is where all the screws and cable tie provided by the Fractal Design. This box by default is holds inside the chassis which tied by the cable tie at the vertical HDD bracket.

Conclusion

Firstly, we really like the idea of vertical HDD Bracket, not only user can mount up to 4 drives at the same time, but it’s also helping to make space for reservoir mounting or even for radiator from the front panel. There’s also hidden compartment for additional 2.5’’ drives behind the Core 1300 which located just beside the power supply position. This extremely compact Micro ATX case is designed for exceptional airflow and cooling. Why we said that? Even with this compact size, it can hold up to 7 units of chassis fan and even can mount not only 240mm, but also 280mm radiator inside it. The Core 1300 comes with preinstalled 2 units of Silent Series LT Fans. Even with this small chassis, it is well designed for cable routing capabilities. The only cons I found on this one is that, this model does not come with a windows version of side panel. With the pricetag of only RM209, this is one of the recommended chassis which is not only suitable for watercooling purpose, but the airflow and cable management is extremely well designed! Great job Fractal Design!

Finally, I would like to say thank you to Fractal Design Malaysia for giving me an opportunity to play and review the Fractal Design Core 1300 Casing!

Performance: 4/5
Materials: 5/5
Specifications: 4/5
Appearance: 3/5
Performance/Price Value: 4/5

Pros:
+ Excellent airflow (up to 7 fan mount)
+ Affordable price
+ Preinstall with 2 120mm Silent Fan
+ Support 240mm Radiator and watercooling friendly
+ Up to 3 unit 2.5’’ SSD and 2 unit 3.5’’ HDD Mounting

Cons:
- No window side panel

Fractal Design Core 1300 received Gold Award from OCDrift.com

Disclaimer: OCDrift.com gives out our own award based on the Hardware Performance, OverClocking Ability, Innovation, and Value as determined by the reviewer