Fractal Design Terra review

The Terra is a 10.4-litre Mini-ITX case, measuring 343 x 153 x 218 mm. It takes SFX and SFX-L power supplies up to 130 mm long. Fractal includes two 2.5-inch drive mounts, a PCIe 4.0 riser cable and an accessory box. There are no 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch bays, so this is a case for a compact, mostly solid-state build.

The panels are anodised aluminium. The front is an 8 mm aluminium panel, and Fractal also offers an FSC-certified solid walnut front. The side and top panels use push-to-lock fixings and can also be screwed shut.

Owners and reviewers praise the materials and build quality. They also describe the build as easy, saying it came together with next to no issues. That sits oddly beside another recurring theme: cable and component clearance is tight. The easy assembly reports and the tight-clearance reports both come from owners, so expect a simple process that still needs care with cable placement.

There are two small complaints about finish. Owners mention inconsistent panel gaps and fingerprints on the textured black finish.

The top, side and bottom panels are ventilated, while the front is solid aluminium. Fractal supplies no fans. There is one 120 mm fan mount at the bottom and one 120 mm radiator slot on the side. No dust filters are fitted.

With no fans supplied and a single 120 mm radiator position, the Terra's cooling depends on what you add yourself. Owners flag weak AIO and radiator support as a complaint, so a liquid cooler is not the natural pairing here. That also means the extra cost of fans lands on the buyer.

The spine inside the case sets a trade-off between graphics card length and CPU cooler height. With the spine set for CPU clearance, the cooler limit is 77 mm. Configured for maximum GPU length, the cooler limit falls to 48 mm. The maximum card length is 322 mm.

Owners praise the room for full-size GPUs. They also say CPU cooling is not easy. That fits the numbers: the longest cards come with a 48 mm cooler limit, so a long GPU and a taller cooler cannot both be fitted.

A 120 mm radiator changes things further. With one installed, the maximum GPU length drops to 200 mm. Anyone planning a long graphics card should plan around air cooling or a low-profile cooler, not the side radiator slot.

Storage is limited to the two included 2.5-inch mounts. That suits SSD-based builds and rules out spinning 3.5-inch drives inside the case. The power supply must be SFX or SFX-L and no longer than 130 mm, which narrows the choice of unit before you start.

The Terra comes with a PCIe 4.0 riser cable and a premium aluminium shell, which owners rate highly. Against that, it has no fans, and KitGuru called the price quite expensive at launch. The value case rests mostly on the materials and the GPU room, less on what is in the box.

The Terra fits someone building a small, good-looking Mini-ITX machine around a full-size graphics card, who is comfortable with air cooling and buying fans separately. The tight clearance and the spine trade-off make it less forgiving for first-time small-form-factor builders who want a large cooler or radiator.