Fractal Torrent Recall Teaches NZXT & Gigabyte What to Do (Short-Circuit Fan Hub)
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Date: 2021-08-28
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Comments and reviews: 10
bill
Just received my Fractal Torrent case on the big brown truck yesterday and saw the issue about the fan hub being reported,
Went on Fractal's website and there is a form to fill out to register to get the new replacement fan hub when available, they just want your shipping address and case serial number for purchase verification.
Very easy process and received an e-mail shortly afterwards notifying me that my support ticket has been created.
Since my case is for a new anticipated build later this fall/winter the delay waiting on the new hub will not be a problem for me.
Kudos to Fractal for the way they are handling this issue, I am a customer that ranks customer service very highly on my future purchasing decisions. So far Fractal has become a main contender in brands I will lean towards purchasing!
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Just received my Fractal Torrent case on the big brown truck yesterday and saw the issue about the fan hub being reported,
Went on Fractal's website and there is a form to fill out to register to get the new replacement fan hub when available, they just want your shipping address and case serial number for purchase verification.
Very easy process and received an e-mail shortly afterwards notifying me that my support ticket has been created.
Since my case is for a new anticipated build later this fall/winter the delay waiting on the new hub will not be a problem for me.
Kudos to Fractal for the way they are handling this issue, I am a customer that ranks customer service very highly on my future purchasing decisions. So far Fractal has become a main contender in brands I will lean towards purchasing!
reply
En
If someone sees this comment let's discuss. Thing is Most of Manufacturing be it Powersupply, Case etc. that was reported both NZXT case, now Torrent, recently MSI etc. and other Manufacturers were all affected and coincidentally all of them are some way built/assembled in China, now Idk if defect happend to things Made outside of China someone can fill me let's say some manufacturer make their Case outside of China I've never heard that any major defect or anything happend. Isn't it a bit too strange that Manufacturing in China always have some more oftenly then others. Like example a year ago I had CRT TV, I now replaced it with Samsung QLED TV and that CRT still works that was manufactured in Slovenia, yes it can power off on a cold weather but what ya expect for 16 Yr Old TV.
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If someone sees this comment let's discuss. Thing is Most of Manufacturing be it Powersupply, Case etc. that was reported both NZXT case, now Torrent, recently MSI etc. and other Manufacturers were all affected and coincidentally all of them are some way built/assembled in China, now Idk if defect happend to things Made outside of China someone can fill me let's say some manufacturer make their Case outside of China I've never heard that any major defect or anything happend. Isn't it a bit too strange that Manufacturing in China always have some more oftenly then others. Like example a year ago I had CRT TV, I now replaced it with Samsung QLED TV and that CRT still works that was manufactured in Slovenia, yes it can power off on a cold weather but what ya expect for 16 Yr Old TV.
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tobalaz
This reminds me of having Armstrong cable for internet, they'd just show up and replace the modem because they detected packet loss on their end.
In contrast, I had AT&T which I had out twice a week for 6 months due to bad used modems that were supposed to be new.
Also with Time Warner whom I had a bad drop coming into the house and it took a year to fix with techs coming out once a week and saying it's going to take maintenance to fix it, but we're not allowed to send them out so just keep calling until they finally break down and send someone to fix the pole.
Some companies are allowed to have such shit service because they're the only ones that when you receive the service you're supposed to you're just amazed.
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This reminds me of having Armstrong cable for internet, they'd just show up and replace the modem because they detected packet loss on their end.
In contrast, I had AT&T which I had out twice a week for 6 months due to bad used modems that were supposed to be new.
Also with Time Warner whom I had a bad drop coming into the house and it took a year to fix with techs coming out once a week and saying it's going to take maintenance to fix it, but we're not allowed to send them out so just keep calling until they finally break down and send someone to fix the pole.
Some companies are allowed to have such shit service because they're the only ones that when you receive the service you're supposed to you're just amazed.
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Marc
It does sound like your reasoning of what the problem really is, is the best bet. I'd be curious to see if the new one just has a fuse so the board won't combust if somebody tries running a bunch of 3 amp servers fans on it. I've also never heard a spec of 5 volt PWM signal current syncing from a motherboard; it could be so minimal like OP amps that you'd need to drive 100 fans off one header or something crazy for that to matter. If I was in charge of a fan hub design, I think I'd have a MOSFET driving all the PWM outputs and a fuse as mentioned earlier (or OCP circuit like a polyfuse). Adding through-hole platting sounds like a good idea too; could easily get marketing to agree by saying look at this NZXT coverage .
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It does sound like your reasoning of what the problem really is, is the best bet. I'd be curious to see if the new one just has a fuse so the board won't combust if somebody tries running a bunch of 3 amp servers fans on it. I've also never heard a spec of 5 volt PWM signal current syncing from a motherboard; it could be so minimal like OP amps that you'd need to drive 100 fans off one header or something crazy for that to matter. If I was in charge of a fan hub design, I think I'd have a MOSFET driving all the PWM outputs and a fuse as mentioned earlier (or OCP circuit like a polyfuse). Adding through-hole platting sounds like a good idea too; could easily get marketing to agree by saying look at this NZXT coverage .
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Goffe
A friend of mine contacted Fractal about the possibility of getting then white case with a solid side panel (for reasons that defy logic the only one that has a solid side panel option is the black one). This was enough for Fractal to send him a mail saying to hold off on this case until they got this sorted out (and offer him the white side panel).
Credit where credit is due. I don't mind mistakes. It's the frequency of the mistakes how you deal with the mistakes that matter.
Now, release solid panels on all of your models for those of us who don't really care about what the innards of our computers look like!
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A friend of mine contacted Fractal about the possibility of getting then white case with a solid side panel (for reasons that defy logic the only one that has a solid side panel option is the black one). This was enough for Fractal to send him a mail saying to hold off on this case until they got this sorted out (and offer him the white side panel).
Credit where credit is due. I don't mind mistakes. It's the frequency of the mistakes how you deal with the mistakes that matter.
Now, release solid panels on all of your models for those of us who don't really care about what the innards of our computers look like!
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Si
I'll be honest I've never taken a lot of notice of Fractal. I quite like some of their products and your review of this case put it in my list for my next build.
I'm watching this now though because so far they have acted as you would hope and if they see that through I'll be bumping them up my list and probably buying one.
I would much rather deal with a company who admit a mistake and do everything reasonable to fix it.
Even though its not great to see this issue in the first place, their reaction is far more important.
Anyone can make a mistake. How you deal with it shows type.
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I'll be honest I've never taken a lot of notice of Fractal. I quite like some of their products and your review of this case put it in my list for my next build.
I'm watching this now though because so far they have acted as you would hope and if they see that through I'll be bumping them up my list and probably buying one.
I would much rather deal with a company who admit a mistake and do everything reasonable to fix it.
Even though its not great to see this issue in the first place, their reaction is far more important.
Anyone can make a mistake. How you deal with it shows type.
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Gareth
Congratulations Fractal
You get the award : Expected behaviour!
(Note the above is humour/sarcasm.)
But seriously it pleases me a lot they are doing this, they have always done good products I've been happy to recommend to others.
Long may that continue.
Its also quite sad that we get so happy when a company does the right thing.
The gigabyte psu thing made me wonder about other psu failures and why no stories were really done on those, then I looked back and found them.
Pretty much the same as this like the corsair SF issue, found problem fixed it replaced them.
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Congratulations Fractal
You get the award : Expected behaviour!
(Note the above is humour/sarcasm.)
But seriously it pleases me a lot they are doing this, they have always done good products I've been happy to recommend to others.
Long may that continue.
Its also quite sad that we get so happy when a company does the right thing.
The gigabyte psu thing made me wonder about other psu failures and why no stories were really done on those, then I looked back and found them.
Pretty much the same as this like the corsair SF issue, found problem fixed it replaced them.
reply
Arek
I'm guessing that there is issue with ground plane spacing from the solder pads for the fan headers, it works fine, but if the solder mask layer shifts a bit it could expose the ground plane right next to the solder point of the fan header and get you a short circuit.
Something like that would be caught up during testing, BUT, there's not a single electronic component, meaning they most likely don't actually test them.
I can provide further explanation and also try to spot it on bottom of the PCB if I get high res picture.
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I'm guessing that there is issue with ground plane spacing from the solder pads for the fan headers, it works fine, but if the solder mask layer shifts a bit it could expose the ground plane right next to the solder point of the fan header and get you a short circuit.
Something like that would be caught up during testing, BUT, there's not a single electronic component, meaning they most likely don't actually test them.
I can provide further explanation and also try to spot it on bottom of the PCB if I get high res picture.
reply
rex
I imagine the PR people at Fractal Design hearing about this and frantically trying to get a message to Gamers Nexus ASAP.
I was going to go with the Phanteks P200A for an mITX system, and I absolutely love my two current Phanteks cases (Pro M Tempered, P600s), but the airflow in this case, both front and from the bottom, and the PSU at the top made me decide to go for this case instead. Happy to hear them doing a great job with this. As they should, of course.
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I imagine the PR people at Fractal Design hearing about this and frantically trying to get a message to Gamers Nexus ASAP.
I was going to go with the Phanteks P200A for an mITX system, and I absolutely love my two current Phanteks cases (Pro M Tempered, P600s), but the airflow in this case, both front and from the bottom, and the PSU at the top made me decide to go for this case instead. Happy to hear them doing a great job with this. As they should, of course.
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Joost
I might be very naive for saying this, but I feel like Fractal actually cares about their products and their customers, not just about the money that comes from them. Fractal cases are often on the expensive side, but service like this is what you get for paying the premium. Of course they also care a great deal about money, but I feel like the proportion about caring for money vs customers is a lot closer to customers for fractal vs other companies
reply
I might be very naive for saying this, but I feel like Fractal actually cares about their products and their customers, not just about the money that comes from them. Fractal cases are often on the expensive side, but service like this is what you get for paying the premium. Of course they also care a great deal about money, but I feel like the proportion about caring for money vs customers is a lot closer to customers for fractal vs other companies
reply
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