Fractal Design has finally gone beyond the trusted and true with the Torrent. No longer simply a variant of a single core chassis tooling, the Torrent goes beyond with a new interior as well. It is a big, bulky, modern statement of a chassis that allows for massive air-cooling without compromise and has all the usual fixings for liquid-cooling enthusiasts.

On the exterior, Fractal Design has done a great job with how the enclosure looks, which is of course my subjective opinion. With its clean windows and asymmetrical front panel, the case sure stands out nicely, and while it is larger than traditional mid-tower cases, it doesn't feel completely unwieldy, either. The latter is also attributable to the somewhat unique internal design of the Torrent with its top-mounted PSU bay. By moving it to the top, Fractal is able use the floor of the case for three 140 mm fans, and in turn omits any space usually found above the motherboard area for top radiator setups. Instead, to allow liquid cooling on the floor, the case is much wider than most.

Even with all the liquid-cooling possibilities, the Torrent is built with air coolers in mind first and foremost. This is apparent by the fact that all major intake spots for fans are filled—from the big 180 mm fans in the front to the three 140 mm intake units on the floor, you are meant to pair it with a massive air cooler like the Noctua D15. Even during our testing with the low-profile cooler, the numbers are great across the board under load, at excellent noise levels.

Building in the chassis with all that space is a breeze, and the result is a clean system. If you discount the cable mess the RGB fans create, you should also be able to tidy things up considerably when going for the non-RGB variant of the Torrent thanks to the cable trench and Velcro strips.

There are some annoying aspects, unfortunately. The Velcro strips are simple strips—other major brand have in recent years upgraded these to be more user friendly and durable. While the cable-management possibilities in the rear make for an awesome feature, fiddling with those Velcros diminishes the build experience a little bit. Lastly, the plastic surface is prone to fingerprints, so make sure to keep that microfibre cloth handy.

As you can see in the list of negatives, most relate to the RGB implementation, so you should really go for the noticeably cheaper non-RGB variant, but besides that, the Fractal Design Torrent is a massive, spacious, and capable case that keeps things both cool and quiet under load.