Visual inspection
The Fractal Design Era ITX has a unique design, with angular shapes integrated on all sides of the case. The highlight of this design is the usage of high-quality aluminum for the panels of the case with a wood top panel. The contrast between aluminum and wood helps create a stunning computer case. There are no RGB LEDs to be seen, or any type of stickers or stick on graphics.
The Era ITX is available in no less than five different colors: Silver, Titanium Gray, Carbon, Gold and Cobalt. The case (silver with wood) has a weight of 4.167 kg and the following dimensions (L x W x H): 325 x 166 x 310 mm.
The side panels are made from the same high-quality aluminum as the rest of the case. Both panels have round perforations to allow for air to enter and exit the system. In addition, on the interior side of the panels, the air vents are covered by mesh dust filters.
The front side of the Era ITX follows the same design as the rest of the case, with smooth shapes present on the surface. Apart from the I/O panel, there is little in terms of functionality at the front of the case.
The I/O panel is composed of the following:
– 1x 3.5 mm CTIA combined jack Headphone & Microphone;
– 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C;
– 2x USB 3.0.
The back side of the Era uses a different design than the rest of the case. This side features a vertical line design, with no smooth shapes apart from the blending of the side panels. The case offers a total of two expansion slots, and these are covered by a metallic plate on the right side.
There is a power AC socket which is nothing more than a pass-through for the power supply power connector. Such an extension is needed as the power supply itself is installed at the front of the case.
The underside of the Era ITX is simple and has some air vents present on the edges of the base. These vents are the only way for air to get inside the chassis from underneath and towards the graphics card. In addition, these vents have their own mesh dust filters installed at the back.
The case sits on four thick rubber pads; thanks to their soft surface these will provide a good grip for the case. In addition, these pads will prevent any scratches from occurring on the surface the case sits on.
One of the showpieces of the Era ITX is found at the top, and it is the wood made top panel. The Silver variant of the Era comes with two top panels included in the package: a metal mesh panel, and the wood made panel. While the wood panel looks great in combination with the silver aluminum case, the mesh panel is better for cooling.
The top panels are attached to the case using four strong magnets. This is the case for both the additional two panels, mesh or wood, and also for the dust filter found underneath.
The interior of the Fractal Design Era ITX offers plenty of options for storage, graphics card clearance and power supply clearance. The layout of the Era is standard, with the power supply located at the front and the motherboard towards the back. There are plenty of cutouts for cable routing and for accessing the back of the motherboard.
The back side of the case has little space for cable management and has close to no tiedown points available. This side of the case is going to be used for mostly accessing the back of the motherboard or cleaning the system.
The first storage option available is located on the side of the case, right above the motherboard tray. This metallic plate can accommodate either a single 3.5” Hard Drive or two 2.5” storage devices. However, with a 3.5” Hard Drive installed; the CPU clearance is lowered from 120mm with the tray not used to just 70mm.
The second storage option is found at the front of the case, right next to the power supply mounting spot. This metallic cage can either accommodate two 2.5” storage devices or a single 3.5” Hard Drive.
The top of the frame is where a radiator or two fans can be installed. In this area, you can install either a single 240mm radiator or two 120mm radiators.
The floor of the case can accommodate two 140 mm fans; however, this is the case if you decide to either use a single slot graphics card or no graphics card at all. The issue is that these fans will interfere with the clearance(thickness) for the graphics card.
At the front of the case, there is the power supply mounting location. Here there are two brackets, one of them is meant to hold a full-size ATX PSU while the other can accept both SFX/SFX-L power supplies.
The Era ITX has just a single 80mm fan preinstalled, it is located at the back of the chassis and can be height adjusted. This fan is the Fractal Design Silent Series R3 and has a maximum speed of 1600RPM.
The cables of the case are long and completely black, thankfully, most of these cables are also flat, which will make the job of routing them easier. The connectors found within the Era are: 1x Power button, 1x Power LED, 1x Audio, 1x USB.
