Fractal Design's new Pop 2 Air case pushes airflow where GPUs need it

[midian182]

Why it matters: Fractal Design is tackling one of the more annoying elements of many budget PC cases: even the airflow-focused models often prioritize CPU temperatures while the GPU ends up recycling its own heat. The company's new Pop 2 Air tries to fix that with a simple solution – an integrated GPU air guide designed to steer front intake air directly toward your graphics card.

Fractal Design's GPU air guide is essentially a scoop-shaped section of the power supply shelf that directs air toward the GPU slots. With cards routinely pulling 300W or more, directing cooler front intake air straight at the graphics card makes more sense than hoping airflow eventually drifts downward.

The Pop 2 Air sticks to the formula that made the original Pop line popular, such as clean looks, sensible layouts, and compelling pricing. It ships with three 120mm "swept-blade" fans out of the box (Fractal's Aspect 12x in some listings), plus a mesh front and ventilated top panel.

Fractal rates the case for GPUs up to 416mm, which covers most of today's oversized boards, and there's support for a top-mounted 360mm radiator if you're going AIO. Air coolers up to 170mm are also supported.

Fractal is rolling the Pop 2 Air out in several models – solid side panel, tempered glass (TG), and RGB variants. The RGB models add an integrated lighting controller and on-case controls in the front I/O, which is welcome given how many RGB cases still expect you to juggle a separate hub.

The Pop 2 Air family starts at $90 for the base model, climbing to about $100 for RGB TG depending on region and configuration. That's impressive considering the included fans and the GPU-targeted cooling feature.

The Pop 2 Air isn't the only recent case trying something different from the usual fare. The new Nextgear EG-series gaming PC from Japanese company Mouse Computer has a unique feature: a "Clear Shift" case that allows the glass panel to switch between transparent and opaque via a button on the top panel.

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Fractal Design's new Pop 2 Air case pushes airflow where GPUs need it

 

[Lounds]

Always liked their designs. I think their main issue was when Corsair and some of the other big brands made more modern designs that got rid of HDD/DVD bays Fractal was slow to adapt their designs. This looks like a good buy.

 

[NumberNine]

I almost exclusively use fractal cases in every PC build for the past 12 years. The Pop is a decent small case, but terrible for dust buildup and hopefully doesn't still require a separate purchase for USB-C on the front panel. I'm terribly partial to the Define series.

 

[JMGuy]

So, I don’t typically rave about many products these days. But I’ve been a casual PC builder since the early 00’s and I cannot speak highly enough about my most recent case choice. At the time, I had never heard of Fractal, but the case fit what what I was looking for and so I gave it a shot.

The case I bought was their Define 7 Mini aluminum/steel mATX and is hands-down the best-built case I’ve worked with to date—excellent airflow, easy to build in (even while being pretty compact), and yet rock-solid at the same time. Everything fits snugly, there’s zero vibration, and it stays dust & pet-hair free longer than any case I’ve owned. Paired with the right fans, it’s virtually silent while still moving a ton of air. My rig is cool and clean and I’m ultra happy with it.

If you’re planning a new build, Fractal is absolutely worth a serious look.

Edited to be specific on which case I bought. YMMV.

 

[Melkor Unlimited]

This case ...

This case this ...
This case that ...
Does it cook a dinner for you?

To be clear, I bought some cases from Fractal. I am still using them. But ...
The best one I have bought in 2019 (Define S2). Had no issues with it.
Decided to build new rig and use another case from Fractal.
Define S2 discontinued ... Had to chose another model.
Almost the same external size. But ... you can not put 420mm radiator into it. Due to lack of few mm inside.
Something the newer is not better.

And you are right. They are somehow slow at Fractal design.
I used to use case, PSU and AiO from Fractal design. But ... had to go somewhere else for last 2 builds as they did not have ATX12V 3.1 PSU at the time. And thei AiO ends at 360mm.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Their Meshify 2 case added this air scoop like 2 years ago.

Works great (I have 2) but it’s not new.

 

[mountains]

I have used Fractal Defines for my last two builds, a 5 and a 7. I actually (still) wanted the 5.25" front bay as I added a HDD SATA dock for backups. Pretty cool! The front bay is hard to find these days. I still fit two 140mm fans in front and another 140mm in the bottom.

Next time I will definitely look around, but I will look at Fractal first. Pretty happy.