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Fractal Design Pop Mini Air RGB Black - Tempered Glass Clear Tint - Honeycomb Mesh Front – TG side panel - Three 120 mm Aspect 12 RGB fans included – mATX High Airflow PC Gaming Case

£9.9£99Clearance
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About this deal

Fractal is offering a grand total of 20 different models in the Pop series, all based on three different chassis sizes which include a mid tower ATX motherboard compatible enclosure; a Mini, which is slightly downsized and only accommodates up to Micro-ATX motherboards; and an XL which is a full tower capable of supporting up to 360mm radiators in the front. KitGuru says: Fractal Design is showing welcome support for the mATX form factor with the Pop Mini Air. The significance of the Mini is that it is part of a larger Pop range that stretches all the way from Micro-ATX to ATX and onward to E-ATX so if you like the look, feel and features of Pop and happen to want it in Micro-ATX (or Silent or E-ATX) then Fractal Design has you covered. One area that is remarkable about Pop Mini is the support for a huge number of drive bays including two 5.25-inch optical drives. These bays can be used for other devices such as card readers but it is clear from our audience comments that KitGuru enthusiasts continue to use Blu-ray and other optical media.

The above image depicts only the mid-tower Pop Air designs. If every Pop Air and Pop Silent case – in every form-factor – in the new lineup was included, the file would be so massive that it could cause a rift in the space-time continuum. -SP)Pop Air brings attitude to airflow, melding precision engineering with dynamic design. This includes a range of cases with vividly colored motherboard plates, drive trays and exterior accents for a fresh, expressive feel. The functional focal point of Pop Air is at the front, where a honeycomb mesh provides access to fan-powered cooling. As with all Pop Series cases, the front also introduces a neatly concealed storage drawer which can be used to stow away desktop clutter or be replaced to host up to two optical drives. The Fractal Design Pop Mini Air does a reasonable job of cooling the hardware however it does a fairly average job. When we increased the speed of the two Noctua fans on the CPU cooler to full speed we noted the temperature of the graphics card increased slightly. Our feeling is that the Noctua fans were able to overpower the Fractal Design Aspect 12 RGB fans and shifted the airflow inside the case upwards and away from the GPU towards the CPU. Closing Thoughts Pop Silent combines quiet performance with a sleek, minimalist design aesthetic. It features a sound-dampened closed front, side panel, and top to help deliver an all-round quieter experience. Its clean appearance and sound-dampening functionality allow Pop Silent to serve as a quietly stylish case for mixed use, productivity, and lighter gaming. Fractal fuse style and function in the Pop Series – a brand-new case family. Pop Air features a mesh front to prioritize airflow, while Pop Silent offers sound-dampened panels and a closed front to help minimize sound. While Pop Air and Pop Silent might differ in their ambitions, both styles offer a solid build quality, a straight-forward layout, and a uniquely stylish design expression. Features such as the integrated ARGB header in the roof of the case demonstrate that Fractal Design has put an appropriate amount of thought into Pop and the result is a range of budget cases that do a decent job at a fair price.

Due to the fact that both cases use the same fans, and have very similar designs, the CPU temps were also extremely close and well within the margin of error for the test. However the GPU tests showed a different story. To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, Palit RTX 3080 graphics 3080 and an SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Fractal Design Pop Mini Air‘s cooling capabilities.

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The stand-out feature of the Fractal Design Pop Mini Air is the Micro-ATX form factor which is, of course, nothing new.

On the Pop Air Mini, the almost three slot cooler on the GTX 1080 Ti used in testing had very little space between its intake fans and the PSU cover. At the full fan speed of 1300 rpm, the Pop Air and Mini Air’s GPU temps were very close, but once the fan speeds were reduced to 1000 rpm, the Mini Air really suffered, with GPU temps rising from a delta of 43.5 C up to 51.5 C. This increased the GPU temperature difference between the two enclosures from 1.5 degrees C at 1300 rpm, to a full 4 degrees C at 1000 rpm.

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