Test System

Assembly

You should install any SSDs first as you will not be able to do so once the system has been fully assembled. How spacious the chassis really is only becomes apparent once the motherboard has been installed. There is plenty of space along two sides of the board, and you should have enough room to work with above the CPU cooler. As Fractal Design advertises compatibility with coolers of up to 162 mm in height, you should run into no problems with up to a 120 mm tower unit. Thanks to the vertical hard-drive plate, long graphics cards of up to 380 mm in length may be installed as well.


Installing both 2.5'' or 3.5" hard drives is quite easy because you can take the panel out of the chassis to do so. You do have to watch the order in which you install them since 3.5'' drives will cover up 2.5" mounts - simply make sure to put the smaller variants in place first. Fractal Design has included rubber rings for the bigger drives; these will absorb vibrations nicely.


Once installed, there is one issue in regards to the PCIe connector of long graphics cards. If you put a 3.5" drive into the middle, it will interfere with the plugs. Fractal Design does mention this fact on their website, so those who have done some research on the chassis should be aware of the limitation. That said, there is enough room for storage expandability without that particular mounting possibility.


Installing an optical drive only requires thumbscrews. Simply slide the drive into the bay of your choice and secure it with the larger thumbscrews Fractal Design provides. I am always a fan of such a mounting option instead of a weak and dysfunctional plastic lock. However, the drive will nearly touch your motherboard's components. We use a Gigabyte board in our reviews, and it happens to lack any tall components in the area, but others may not. As such, this could be a real issue to some because it may limit the length of the optical drive.


Installing the power supply is a simple and pretty straightforward affair. There is also plenty of room for a long unit. Such a power supply will cover the bottom air-intake for that optional fan on the floor, though.


With everything installed, including a 120 mm Kelvin unit in the ceiling, the chassis does look a bit crowded. Granted, I could (and maybe should) have installed the Kelvin into the front, but any installed 3.5" hard drive will get in the way of such a thick radiator. Those who want to use the front for a radiator may not even be able to install a single 3.5" drive, which is almost certainly a deal breaker for most.

Finished Looks

The L-shaped trench on the motherboard tray allows you to easily close the whole system without having to apply an excessive amount of force. The Fractal Design Core 2300 does make a clean impression, but we have come to expect such from a chassis of this type.


Its understated look should appease system integrators and builders on a budget equally. Everything in the rear is where you would expect it to be, and all the plugs there are readily available.


A nice little white LED lights up behind the power button to let you know the system is on. Looking at the side panel, one can see the graphics card since it is not too far away from the panel itself. You may also take a peek at the interior through the top. This means that dust can enter and noise can exit freely . However, Fractal Design offers other cases for those who want a completely silent option.