Fractal Design Vector RS Dark Tempered Glass

It can't really be put to words just how fantastic this case is. The build quality, the modular setup, the sharp edges and beautiful use of both subtle LED and multi-texture accenting.Pros:- Top notch build quality. It might seem expensive but the moment you open the case, everything has a remarkably high quality feel to it. None of the metal feels flimsy, everything just feels like it could hold your weight if pushed or pulled. There's no real function to the parts being that sturdy but it definitely justifies the price. This thing just 'feels' expensive.- Perfect texture diversity. The case has beautiful matte black steel plating on the one side which is offset by a gorgeous tempered glass across the opposing side with an optional tempered glass top (included along with the alternative steel vented top). Between these two textures is a perfectly subtle band of customizable RGB LED's.- Dust filtering. This shouldn't surprise anyone given the price point of this case but rest assured, it comes with dust filtering in both the front panel, bottom, and optional steel filtered replacement for the tempered glass top.- Surprisingly quiet. My primary reason for purchasing this case was it's stunning look and brand known for their high quality cases. What I wasn't expecting was to find that the steel panel comes with sound-proofing to help address any unnecessary sound from escaping. Take this with a grain of salt because my parts were already whisper quite as is, but with this case, it's taken to an entirely new level. You can't hear the PC until you put your ear up to it. Seriously.- Width for easy wire management. Again, a modern expectation but being my first modern case, I was very pleased to see I finally had enough room to hide and route my cables out of view.- Compatible with Aura Sync, albeit fickle to setup. (More on that later.)Cons:- If this is your first new case in a long time, be prepared for relearning a lot of what you already thought you knew. Nothing here is incredibly difficult. If anything, it's as easy as it could possibly be. Just know that this case can tear down far more than you probably realize and you should absolutely take advantage of that to make installing your components that much easier.- Size. The simplistic design of the case lead to a disconnect between how large the case looks vs how large it actually is. This could pose an issue when trying to route cables, especially Power Supply cables that might not always be long enough to be routed to their location. In my case, there's almost no give to the CPU power cable as it literally just barely reaches the hole and had almost no room to bend and plug into the board.- Fingerprint magnet. This one's a given but you'll have finger prints on the tempered glass just by looking at it. It's incredible just how easily this thing shows any sort of finger prints. It comes with a nice cloth to help clean them but if you want this case to look it's best, you're probably going to be keeping a bottle of Windex near by or never touch it ever again.- Aura Sync software was incredibly stubborn to install. If you've had issues with Aura Sync in the past, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Fortunately I was able to get it working and the way the case matches the on-board LED and allowed me to cull the color range precisely where I wanted it, made it all worth it. This thing can be as subtle or as flashy as you want it to be. You can even easily turn the LED's off if doing some nice dark room gaming.The take away. Look, aesthetics are subjective. I've heard a lot of comments about how this case doesn't match what Fractal Design is known for. Almost to the point of making it seem like a bastard child to some overly dressed fly zapper beacon. But what's important to know here is that this case is a beautiful compromise between not wanting LED's and wanting just a little hint of that RGB love. It's clever in it's execution and as is expected from such a high profile name, carries with it a badge of unrivaled build quality.

If you're looking for a silent case this is the case for you. It's ultra durable and silent. Just about any ATX build will fit easily in it. The airflow isn't bad but not great. My gpu never goes above 67C under a gaming load. My CPU idles around 38c and hits 68-72c during gaming. That's with the top glass panel on.

Ok first off I got to shout out to the support of fractal. I got my case and had a small problem and instead if sending back to Amazon I contacted fractal and they work it out with me. This case is awesome. Plenty of room. Clean look keeps cool with my set up. Will buy fractal again for sure

The case is nearly everything I wanted and a few things that I didn't really want or need.I used it to build a virtualization server for my family. So, it didn't need to be pretty as it sits in a closet. But the configuration, the drive capacity, and the cooling were super important. And this case excels at that.While finalizing the setup, I inadvertently bumped the corner of the glass side panel on my tile floor and immediately had a pile of tempered glass chunks laying at my feet. Shattered. I'd love it if Fractal Design offered a plain metal side, but they don't for this model. And a replacement glass side was far more than it was worth. I ended up cutting a piece of plexiglass to fit, attached it to the original frame and went on with my life. It's not nearly as pretty, but the closet elves aren't too picky.

Liked the computer case, and the entire top was changeable from glass to metal for additional cooling if needed.

This is an absolutely gorgeous case. It's not overly flashy or in your face, it's has just the amount pizzaz to look different than your ordinary PC case, but won't raise many eyebrows. Understated and elegant are what I what I had read in reviews about this case and it delivered 200%. The LED bar looks awesome and has great definition; the colors blend together well and you never see any individual LEDs.The flexibility to accommodate different PC builds goes above and beyond what I ever thought possible in a PC case. The storage layout (default) will hold an obscene number of drives, but even if you opt for the open-air layout (by removing the front drive stack) you can still fit two 3.5" and four 2.5" drives comfortably.Case is BIG and built like a tank. Weighs 36 pounds in the box. You can detect some flimsiness when you completely disassemble all the modular components, but once you assemble it to the configuration you want, it's solid as a rock. Very substantial and heavy when the system is put together. Most everything about it (with the exception of a couple nitpicks [see below]) screams quality.Couple minor nitpicks are my only gripes with this case:The audio ports were not centered inside the holes in the top cover, they are misaligned by a mm or two. This is the hallmark of cheaper, bottom dollar cases so I was a bit annoyed to find this in what is very much a premium priced case; no excuse for this. I was able to bend them slightly to center up better, but they're still off a touch. Same goes for USB-C port to a lesser extent, it's tilted slightly and not perfectly centered. Neither affect the function of the case or ports.Power and reset buttons have tactile feedback which is nice. As you press them firmly, you feel the switch depress which should be an indication that you pressed it. Problem is, the switch doesn't respond with a simple press-- it requires a more firm press beyond that. In other words, depress the switch (which you feel) and then press it just a bit harder or it won't register. The first few times you press them, you'll look back and nothing happened. Annoying, but after using them a while it becomes second nature just to press them very firmly, so it's not a big issue for me.Included fans are quiet but far from performance/cooling oriented. Pretty sure they max out around 1000rpm and they're not PWM capable so you have to control speed with voltage (through the motherboard) which is not ideal. If you're looking for top notch cooling performance, at a minimum I would suggest replacing the rear fan, since this is crucial for removing the CPU heat. You can hardly feel any air exit through the back with the included fan.I've been building PC's for about 25 years and out of all the cases I've ever purchased, I'm certain this is the one that brought the biggest smile to my face. I can't put into words how great this case looks. Most reviews I read constantly griped about how this is only a refreshed case based on an older design, but I'm a bit perplexed at that statement-- why redesign something that works so darned well? Like the old adage says, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!I chose the dark tint model but in hindsight I would have preferred something with lighter tint. This tint is dark enough that at regular viewing distances (your chair/desk) you won't see anything but the LED lights inside and perhaps faint silhouettes of hardware near where the LEDs illuminate. To me, the light tint seemed a little too light according to pictures, so something in the middle would be my preference.. But I suppose you can't please everyone!I went back and forth on which layout to use and finally decided on the open-air (with front drive cage removed) with the tempered glass top. The tempered glass top can changed to a perforated steel panel that accommodates fans and watercooling gizmos, but IMO, the top glass panel is one of it's greatest design aesthetics, so it stayed. Even with the front drive cage removed you can still fit two 3.5" and two 2.5" drives between the steel motherboard panel and the right-hand side panel. At first glance they seem rather squished in there with little cooling, but they fit comfortably and my 7200rpm 3.5" drive temps have never reached past 35C or so. There is room for another two 2.5" drives on top of the power supply cage, so this covers all my storage needs both now and in the future.The cost of the case could probably go down if all the extra pieces and modularity were toned down, but I appreciate the flexibility and still believe this is an excellent case for the money, even if you don't need the extra bits they include.Cooling performance seems "good enough," I suspect this isn't the greatest case if cooling is your #1 priority, as it seems they put a lot of emphasis toward lower sound levels. Installing the perforated top and replacing the rear fan with something faster would go a long ways toward improving cooling performance. That said, I have an air cooled Ryzen 2700 that's overclocked reasonably high and the temperatures are acceptable. I was able to fit a TALL Deepcool Neptune V2 (160mm height IIRC) CPU cooler with room to spare.I was on the fence about using a case with no space for a 5.25" optical drive, but I understand the compromises involved in fitting a 5.25" drive bay. Maybe someday someone will figure out how fit one that's somewhat hidden, one that won't ruin the design and won't impede airflow. I always thought the small laptop drives would be appropriate for a desktop case where you could use a smaller opening that won't get in the way or look ugly. But I digress, so far I haven't missed it.At the end of the day the combination of looks, space, cooling and quietness culminated in a case that you just can't beat. In designing a case, you can sacrifice any of those things to improve on the other(s), but this quite honestly exceeded my expectation in all areas.