Fractal Design Terra Jade - Wood Walnut front panel - Small form factor - mITX gaming case – PCIe 4.0 riser cable – USB Type-C - Anodized aluminum panels

Product Information

The Terra has a movable motherboard plate, aka "spine", which can be adjusted sideways allowing you to increase the relative size of the CPU chamber or GPU chamber. Fractal even included two standoffs for the PSU bracket to give extra space between the PSU and GPU if your GPU is a “flow through” design as so many current gen cards are. The central spine runs from front-to-back inside the case and can be adjusted left to right by 30mm to allow for more room either on the GPU or CPU side.

I felt like the components I bought were right in the mid-range when I bought them, though I have read that many PC components these days are designed to run at high temperatures even when not overclocked. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. The adjustment points are marked 1 through 7, but there are no steps or catches, so it can be set between the marks freely. The ID-Cooling IS-55 cooler I use on this test system has a 57mm height, so I set this to position 5. The Terra is a “sandwich” mini-ITX case with unique features like removable gull-wing doors and top panel for access, a movable spine for flexible internal fitment, and touches of wood and leather for some style from alternative materials.

Do I need to downgrade the components, or go with a completely new case with better thermals if I want to keep what I have? Fractal has a history of quality SFF enclosures (see the Node 202 and the much more recent Ridge) and now they’ve released the new Terra, complete with a wood accent to connect it with some of their recent design language. If you try to install the motherboard without those two already attached, you are just setting yourself up for frustration down the road, no matter what SFF enclosure you’ve chosen. Slats are more prone to causing fan noise issues due to the angle of entry created – something true of the O11 Dynamic also.

The overall quality is certainly up to Fractal’s usual standards, but the thought that went into this is easily visible. The RTX 4080 FE required biasing the spine farther towards the CPU side, reducing the cooler clearance significantly.You can use a 120 AIO for your CPU IF you are using a very short, single fan GPU, but the M1 allows for a full 240 while still utilizing a full GPU. The Fractal Terra might not suit every PC spec but it's a very good-looking, compact mini-ITX case that will support high-end hardware and looks like the ideal option for a living room media PC, or any other use you can think of.