Fractal Design Core 3300 Review

Performance Analysis

We were expecting slightly better CPU cooling performance than the delta T of 55°C that the Core 3300 managed, as vents in the roof provide a natural escape for hot air. That said, the fans used here are far from wind turbine level, so it doesn't come as too much of a surprise. It's not a dangerously hot result by any means, but if we were heavily overclocking we'd definitely invest in a slow-spinning roof exhaust fan to cool the CPU area a bit more effectively.


The GPU result of 50°C is again perfectly acceptable, but not outstanding. There are a fair few cases ahead of the Core 3300 in this chart, so there's certainly room for improvement, but note that the majority of cases have delta T results of 48°C or 49°C, so the differences are relatively insignificant. All in all, it's a fairly average result as far as cooling is concerned, and one that matches the performance of its cousin, the Arc Midi R2, on minimum speed.

There isn't much attempt to quell noise output in the Core 3300, as the vents in the side and roof attest too. Equally, however, the Core 3300 generates very little of its own noise, as the case fans are very quiet, which makes the middling cooling performance all the more understandable. The vast majority of noise coming out of the case was from our graphics card (we set it to a fixed speed), so if you can control that then you'll be fine.

Conclusion

In summary, the Core 3300 is another great chassis from Fractal Design, and at £55 it's one that straddles the line between budget and low mid-range fairly successfully. Regardless of how you categorise it, you're getting a very well built case with plenty of features and some impressive water-cooling support as well. There's also loads of room for hardware and, bar one or two slip ups (the motherboard tray SSD mounts, for example), it's as easy to work with as any of Fractal's cases, which if you don't know is a very good thing. The cooling is also decent enough considering the relatively low noise output of the fans, though you'll want to make sure you use quiet CPU and GPU coolers as well, and we recommend adding a couple of extra fans if you're going to be using heavily overclocked hardware and/or multiple graphics cards.