Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact review: Understated design with excellent thermals

Great price, great thermals, and great to build a PC with.

The Meshify 2 from Fractal Design is an excellent case for the price. It offers vast amounts of internal space so you can install just about anything, and thanks to the large mesh front panel, you'll have no problem cooling even the best processor and graphics card. But not everyone requires that much space, which is where the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact comes in. As the name implies, it's a more compact version of the Meshify 2.

Fractal now finds itself within the $100 price range, which is a very competitive segment of the PC case market. But this case is about as Fractal as you can get, with similar design elements found on other cases from the brand. There's a massive front-facing mesh panel with very little in terms of lighting. Each side of the case is flat aside from the front, creating an extremely understated look. That's not to say it's cheap-looking — quite the opposite — and the array of premium features found within more than makes up for this somewhat stealthy profile. It can even support radiators up to 360mm and comes with features similar to its larger sibling.

Our in-depth review will run you through the installation of a PC inside the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact and how it performs in games and running heavy loads. Spoiler: It's surprisingly excellent and one of the best PC cases you can buy.

An affordable PC case that looks and performs well.

The Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact is a budget-friendly PC case with some premium features and a small footprint. We loved the cable management, build quality, dust filters, thermal performance, and ease of installation.

At $110, the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact isn't a cheap PC case, but it comes with a tempered glass side panel, an all-metal construction, and includes three fans (two 140mm and a single 120mm). It's also a lightweight case, at least compared to some of the other chassis available at a similar price. Everything is well-built and the box of accessories includes all the necessary screws. The front I/O supports USB 3 with both USB-A and USB-C connections. The only place where the design of the Meshify 2 Compact is questionable is the removable front panel mesh door. Both the door and the hinge feel a little flimsy.

The full Fractal Design Meshify 2 costs $140, a full $30 more than the Meshify 2 Compact we're reviewing today.

The Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact is a sleek sleeper PC case. It doesn't look as though it could contain the most powerful gaming components available. This makes it an interesting proposition for LAN events to rock up with an understated case design, taking full advantage of an Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and the best graphics card you can afford. The front panel is where you'll find the same mesh design as present in other Meshify 2 cases, but the Compact has it attached to a hinge, allowing you to easily open and close the front door.

Behind this mesh metal panel is a large dust filter and space for up to three 120mm fans or 140mm fans (two included in this position). The left side is a large tempered glass side window, the right and top are sheets of metal, and the rear looks like any other ATX chassis. There are dust filters on the top and bottom panels for exhaust and PSU intake, making this a great PC case for those who want some assistance in combating the intake of dust and other particulates. It's a good looker all-round.

A highlight of the Meshify 2 Compact, which we cannot believe we have to note in 2023, is how easy it is to access and/or remove the three dust filters. We've come across other cases where the implementation of dust filtration comes at the cost of access to either the filter itself (without disassembling the entire case) or the parts located behind it. There are a few drawbacks to this design, however, and the largest one for those who wish to mount their GPU vertically is the lack of any vertical PCI slots. Some of the best vertical GPU mounts can alleviate this, though.

The top panel is capable of holding either two 120mm or 140mm fans with up to a 280mm radiator, but we found this to be almost impossible with a full ATX motherboard installed. Cable management behind the motherboard tray is good enough with plenty of hook-and-loop fasteners (Velcro) to route cables from top to bottom and vice versa. The PSU shroud has a 3.5-inch hard drive cage underneath, which can be removed. Two plastic panels on the shroud can also be removed if more space is required up front for routing AIO tubing.

It's not quite up to the standard we've come to appreciate with NZXT PC cases, but it's usable. Grommets are in place to help hide the cabling behind the tray and create a better finish.

Putting together a PC build inside the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact was incredibly straightforward, just like the larger version of this case. The sides, top, and front panels are easy to remove without a screwdriver; all dust filters can be easily accessed without needing to enter inside the case; and the front I/O is positioned in a certain way that it shouldn't be a problem to connect just about anything to the desktop once the build is complete.

We opted to use a full-size ATX motherboard, a recently released AMD GPU, and a 360mm AIO to test just how tight the inner dimensions could be with larger hardware. Installing the power supply was straightforward thanks to the use of a dedicated bracket that allows for the unit to be secured with the four screws before installing it inside the chassis. Due to the size of the Meshify 2 Compact, one may find it difficult to work with excess cabling, especially if the power supply isn't modular. We'd recommend removing the HDD cage altogether.

In order to really put the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact to the test, we used a powerful test rig. See below for all the parts we used in this review.

CPU

Intel Core i9-13900K

Motherboard

Asus ROG Strix Maximux Z790 Hero

RAM

G.SKILL Trident Z 32GB DDR5-6600

GPU

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

SSD

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB

PSU

XPG Cybercore 1300W

The Intel Core i9-13900K is a fairly efficient processor thanks to its hybrid core design, but it's still capable of kicking out a lot of heat. We're using the impressive NZXT Kraken Elite 360 AIO to keep temperatures in check, as well as the 120mm and one of the two 140mm preinstalled fans. That's a total of four 120mm fans and the single 140mm to emulate what an average PC build would experience. We always recommend installing as many fans as possible to maximize airflow.

Thermal performance is excellent for such a compact chassis, and it's largely thanks to the massive mesh front panel.

Thermal performance is excellent. The Intel Core i9-13900K barely hit 75 degrees Celsius when playing intensive games such as X4: Foundations and Stellaris. All fans were set to 50% and the pump was set to 100%. That's impressive for such a compact chassis, and it's largely thanks to the massive mesh front panel. Fractal Design states the dust filter can be removed for better access to cool air, and we found doing so would improve temperatures slightly but not necessary.

You should buy the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact if:

You shouldn't buy the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact if:

The Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact is a surprise for anyone unpacking the PC case without prior experience with the Fractal brand. It costs less than $130 but is fully metal with a sleek and stealthy design. It's designed in such a way that makes it possible to create a powerful, compact gaming PC without all the aggressive "gamer" elements, including RGB lighting. In fact, there's absolutely no RGB lighting inside the Meshify 2 Compact aside from a single small white LED strip on the front for the power.

Fractal Design's Meshify 2 Compact has arguably one of the more understated designs.

It's clear to see where Fractal spent all the budget. The materials used feel premium, and so too are features like cable management. It's also incredibly simple to use, making it easier to build inside (and cheaper to manufacture). The inner dimensions are a little on the tight side, especially if you want to use water cooling with larger modern graphics cards. When building a PC with more powerful components, one won't have any trouble keeping them adequately cooled with excellent thermal performance.

There's plenty of competition for the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact, including cases from be quiet!, Corsair, and Phanteks. It's worth shopping around at this price point to find a case that ticks the most boxes. Fractal Design's Meshify 2 Compact has arguably one of the more understated designs out of the bunch, but it's more than capable of meeting the competition with included fans, accessories, and features. There's even a cloth to keep the glass clean. It's the small touches that really make one forget just how affordable this case is.

The Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact is an excellent ATX case with plenty of space inside the chassis and a mesh front panel for airflow.

Richard is a Senior Commerce Writer at Valnet and has been covering the technology industry for more than a decade. He's been building PCs and managing network infrastructure for just as long. When he's not creating content for Valnet, you can often find him inside a chassis somewhere.