LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3HOURS LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: HARD

WE LOVE A challenging build, and nothing comes close to a compact ITX system like this. There’s no denying this one, not one bit. If you’re building in the Era 2, you’re building a true SFF build. No fluff, no extra space inside; every cable route needs to be planned carefully, the components perfectly selected, and the build order needs to shift back and forth. Adapt, overcome, and improvise. The Era 2 is exactly what you expect it to be: super-slick, and jam-packed with features to make even the expert system builders out there happy, but it demands the excellence of its builder. It’ll be frustrating at times, and challenging at others, but the satisfaction you get at the end of it, and the system you’re left with—well, it’s an unparalleled experience.

We’ve built in something similar from Fractal before, namely the Terra ITX chassis. It’s actually slightly older and smaller than this case. The two of them, however, are built around an incredibly similar internal layout. You’ve got a shifting frame that allows you to adjust the depth between the two sides. If you’ve got a thicker graphics card, you can shift the internal frame over and give yourself more room for it while limiting the height of your CPU cooling solution instead. In the case of the Era 2, that’s actually somewhat negated, as the 240/280mm radiator support in the roof allows you to fit an AIO, which, outside of Asetek’s new pump/fan AIO units, are generally quite low profile by design.

Otherwise, internal footprint and desk footprint are remarkably similar, bar the extra height. One major difference comes in the actual frame itself. Unlike the Terra with its gullwing panels, the external frame of the Era 2 is actually a shroud; an enclosure that sits around the overall skeleton, locked in place by an incredibly robust dust filter mechanism found at the rear of the chassis.

We’ll sign off this segment by saying simply that this is a challenging build— perhaps one of the most difficult we’ve done in the last year or more. That’s not a slight on the Era 2; it’s the constraints you’re faced with building inside a true SFF chassis, which you need to take into consideration.

DIVING IN THE DEEP-END