Packaging
Being a small case, the packaging for the Fractal Ridge is equally small but I was surprised to see that Fractal also kept things simple for the Ridges box. They stuck with a brown box which is better for recycling with the front of the box having the Fractal Logo and the Ridge branding in black. It is simple but you can see exactly what it is, the only downside of course is if you are shipping in a retail store you don’t have a picture to know what is inside. The back of the box has the same branding as the front and only on the side of the box is there anything else. It has stickers for the serial number and the UPS as well as one letting you know what color the case is because it comes in black and white, ours is the white model.
When you open the Ridge’s box up right up on top it comes with two huge silica gel baggies to keep things dry, significantly bigger than what I’ve seen with other full-sized cases let alone one this small. The Ridge is wrapped in a foam bag to keep it from getting any scratches and it has cardboard caps on both ends that hold it in the middle of the box to keep it safe. There is also an accessory box that you can access here from the top before pulling the case out.
The box of accessories has the Fractal branding on it and has Ridge Accessories printed in black as well right on top. Then when you open it up right up on top is a bag that has the user guide and a warning paper asking to contact Fractal if you have a faulty part inside.
There are also a few accessories as the box name implies. You get a bag that comes with all of the screws and a few other small components. Each of the screws is bagged individually. There is also a bundle of zip ties and a stack of a few reusable Fractal branded Velcro wire straps. There is a set of small rubber spacers and in the blue bag is a PCIe riser. Even before getting into everything I do wish they would have used reclosable baggies or at least one to put any extra screws in. Once you open the screw bags up there isn’t any good way to keep them from being lost. I would also love to see those same screw bags get labels just to help anyone who doesn’t know what each does.
For the larger accessories, you have a large plastic panel, this is the main stand that can be attached to the case for a vertical layout or to raise the case off the ground when laying it horizontally. Horizontally is why there is a second white plastic stand, this goes with the main stand when laying the case on its side to support the rear. They both have rubber grips on them and the main stand has two metal brackets built in for attaching it. It’s hard to see but the stand also has the Fractal logo debossed into the plastic.
