Fractal releasing a new Era ITX PC case with a slatted wood panel

When I asked for more PC cases with wood panels, I didn’t realize we’d get another one so soon; on Wednesday, gaming PC case maker Fractal announced its next two small form-factor cases, one of which includes a slatted wooden panel— but it’s also expanding its product line up to include gaming chairs and gaming headsets for the first time.

Its first gaming chair, Refine, looks much closer to a Herman Miller than something from Secretlab. But its mesh seatback is tall like a traditional gaming chair, and it has the same ergonomic features built into modern, high-end office and gaming chairs.

It has adjustable lower back (lumbar) support, head cushion, and 4D armrests, or armrests that have four points of adjustment: height, rotation, forward/back, and closer to or further away from your body. The chair can also tilt and lock into 13 different positions, and if you don’t like sitting against mesh fabric, there’s a solid, padded fabric version.

Refine will be available worldwide sometime this summer in five variations: a light or dark mesh fabric, a light or dark solid fabric, and a dark Alcantara fabric. The standard versions will be $549.99, priced similarly to higher-end gaming chairs from rivals, but the Alcantara version is far more expensive at $899.99.

The feature that stands out the most about Fractal’s first gaming headset, Scape, is the included wireless charging stand. Most gaming headset companies sell stands separately from the headset itself, but I appreciate Fractal is including one with its own headset because it takes the guesswork out of finding a compatible 3rd-party device.

Obviously, an included stand isn’t enough to make a purchasing decision, as the quality of the drivers is most important. (If we get our hands on this headset, we’ll tell you how they sound.) But the Scape headset does have a few quality-of-life features, like a flip-to-mute detachable microphone.

It also supports connectivity through both Bluetooth 5.3 and a low-latency dongle. Fractal didn’t explicitly say it was a 2.4GHz dongle in its press release, but that’s a common wireless option for gaming headsets. The company also didn’t say anything about battery life, but if it can last at least 30 hours to match something like the SteelSeries Arctis 7P Plus, that would be ideal.

Fractal’s first gaming headset will be available later this year for $199.99 in two colors: light and dark.

Fractal’s Era 2 is a redesign of its Era ITX case for small form-factor gaming PCs. Instead of an all-metal body, the magnetic top panel is made of walnut and has over a dozen cutouts for ventilation that span almost its entire length. (It’s reminiscent of one of the case maker’s other wood-accented cases, North.) Fractal says this new design helps keep the case cooler compared to the original Era, which it still sells; that one comes with either a solid wood or tempered glass panel, and its ventilation goes around its outside edges instead across the panel itself.

The Era 2 also has four additional sides with ventilation, and the rest of its paneling is made of anodized aluminum and slides off in one piece. It can also accommodate water cooling and graphics cards up to 12.8 inches (326mm) long. Fractal did not say in its press release how wide a GPU it supports, nor how many liters by volume it is, but given that the previous Era supports dual slot graphics cards up to 11.6 inches (295mm) long, and is 16 liters in volume, I’d be surprised if the new version did not.

It will be available later this summer for $199.99 in three color options: silver, charcoal gray, and midnight blue.

Fractal’s new Mood case has a completely different vibe compared to the Era 2. It’s taller, wrapped in fabric, and doesn’t look like a stereotypical gaming desktop PC at all, but it has some of the same design features as the Era 2. The fabric paneling slides off in one piece, and it accommodates graphics cards up to 12.8 inches (325mm) in length. Again, Fractal did not call out GPU thickness, or the case’s liters of volume, in its press release.

There’s also a 180mm fan situated at the top of the case that draws hot air up and out; based on my experience with similar PC cases and pre-builts in the past, the Mood should expel hot air just as effectively as a traditional case.

It will be available on June 18th for $149.99 in two colors: black and light gray.