Fractal DesignMood Black PC Case - Sleek Fabric Design, 180mm Top Fan, Conceals 325mm Graphics Card, m-ITX Motherboard Compatible, Easy Access Build, Efficient Cooling

I agree with Anthony! This case got a bad rap from Gamer's Nexus and some other popular youtubers. They really need to stop judging every case like it's for the enthusiast crowd. The front fabric DOES breathe! My CPU temps are perfectly fine and I'm just using a down-blower CPU cooler. I'm not saying the front fabric breathes as well as mesh would, but it's not nearly as bad as some YouTube personalities are claiming. You can absolutely build a Steam Machine in this case that can play AAA games better than any console. It looks great, arguably the best looking HTPC ever! It has become something of a conversation piece in my living room. Building in this case was pretty straight forward if you know how to build a PC. You will run into some issues getting everything to fit just right but that's part of the fun (for me anyway). Just make smart decisions with this case in mind when picking out all your hardware and have plenty of wire ties available!

This case is special. It looks great and takes up 1/3 the desk space of a typical mini-tower. The 180mm fan is so quiet you can barely tell the machine is even turned on. It is pretty enough to park in the living room. The caveats are that you have to use a SFF graphics card (sorry no 4090s), a lower profile CPU cooler, and a SFX form factor power supply. If you do your homework, the build is very simple. As always, Fractal does not skimp on accessories - connectors and everything you need comes in the kit. Fractal build quality is the best in the industry. Very solid, almost no sharp edges to bite you or your cables during the build. Everything on the interior is powder coated. Very pleased with my purchase and I think the age of small-footprint gaming PCs has begun in earnest.Edit - swapped out for an AIO 280mm cooler - the Noctua NH-D9L could not keep up with the 14700k CPU. Fitting the NZXT 280 mm AIO cooler was tight but I got it in there. Temps are much better although you can hear the pump (barely). Still 5 stars on the case.

Great case, takes a small footprint and looks fantastic! Only downside is that all ports are on the bottom so if you have to plug something in you have to tip it over. But it all comes through one spot so it can make your desk look pretty slick

The Fractal Mood is getting a bad rep around here in the comments and certain outlets. This is a casual mITX beast, if that makes sense. No over clocking.....no stress testing.....or heavy workloads. Just productivity and casual AAA Ultra settings while gaming....that's it. A Super Console of sorts.Temps aren't a problem when the Top fan is set to Turbo/High to grab all that heat before it ramps up. Set it to that and keep it at that......no mods...that defeats the purpose of the Mood case.If Fractal does a Mood 2... I'll be there.Black color is an off-black color. Not deep black....but that is for the better. A premium 'smart speaker' colorif you will.Case is easy to build in as usual with Fractal case. Their UX on these products is top notch.

I was really excited about the Fractal Mood PC case, but unfortunately, it looks much worse in person than I expected. The design feels cheap, and the build quality is not up to par. Compatibility is a nightmare, especially with different coolers, as it’s nearly impossible to find one that fits without issues. The riser cable design is awful too, placing it directly on the back of a hot motherboard. Overall, this case is a huge disappointment and definitely not worth the investment.

So I actually went into this purchase with low expectations from reviews about thermals.I decided to buy anyways because I loved the look and thought with some mods I could make it work.But what I wasn't ready for was the faded black that looks like it's been left in the sun for 6 months.Put a photo on my filing cabinet for reference. The fabric is also misaligned which is annoying.

It's a poor shortcut to put the power switch and ports at the bottom. Really difficult to us if you choose to place it on the floor. Who wants to reach all the way to the floor to turn it on. Limits it to table use only.

The case is easy to build in, but the fabric on the outside, and tight space inside means air flow is extremely restricted. Initially it was fine, but after even an hour or two of use, the poor airflow becomes a problem.This case wouldn’t make good for productivity and game, but for casual web browsing and watching videos it’s fine.