Fractal design define s black. Test and Review: Fractal Design Define C and Define Mini C are a new family of compact cases. Positioning and conclusions

Fractal Design is one of the few companies that I love everything they do. We can say with confidence that from the moment we first got acquainted with their products in 2013, and until now, this manufacturer has constantly raised the bar for quality and modified its chassis, taking into account the wishes and comments of customers. And the most important thing that has not changed over time is the basic concept of the practicality and functionality of these cases. In this review, we'll take a look at their newest flagship chassis, the Define R6, which comes in eight different color options with or without side glass.

Specifications

Model
Product page	fractal-design.com
Type of shell	Midi-Tower
Dimensions, mm	465 (H) x 233 (W) x 543 (D)
Material	Steel, plastic, glass, aluminum
Weight, kg	12,4
Color	Black
Form factor	ATX, MicroATX, Mini-ITX
5.25 ″ devices	1
3.5 ″ external devices	–
3.5 ″ / 2.5 ″ devices internal	6/2 (2.5 ″ drives can be installed instead of 3.5 ″)
Expansion Slots Supported	7+2
Fans	front - 3 x 120/2 x 140 mm (2 x 140 mm installed) upper - 3 x 120/140 mm (optional) rear - 1 x 120/140 mm (1 x 140 mm installed) bottom - 2 x 120/140 mm (optional)
Interface connectors	2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, mic-in and headphone-out
Other	Tempered glass side window, dust filters at the bottom, front and top, built-in hub for six 3-pin and three 4-pin PWM fans. Soundproofing on the front, top and side panels, easily removable top panel, front door with a change in opening side. Modular Drive Bay Design
Recommended cost, $	150

Packaging and delivery set

The box of the case looks quite utilitarian and informative. Monochrome printing on the sides of the package contains all the sheets necessary for the buyer, which include schematic images of the product in assembled and disassembled form, listing its advantages and technical characteristics. Internal protection against damage consists of two foam dampers, one PU foam pad, a plastic bag and two films covering the side window. There are carrying handles on the sides of the box.

Assembly instructions and documentation are right in the box in the package. The kit is contained in a separate box located in the 3.5 ″ drive tray. On the one hand, it shows the list and purpose of the parts, and on the other, it shows what and how to connect the built-in fan controller. The package includes:

PC assembly instructions and red warranty information sheet;
six disposable plastic cable ties;
soft microfiber cloth for wiping glass;
one brass motherboard stand;
adapter for a Phillips screwdriver for motherboard racks;
four hexagonal screws for the power supply;
32 small screws for mounting 2.5 ″ drives;
15 screws for the motherboard and fixing the trays of 3.5 ″ drives;
Four knurled metal screws for mounting 5.25 "devices;
24 flat head screws for 3.5 ″ hard drives;
four spare knurled screws for the side panels.

Appearance

At first glance, the exterior of the Fractal Design Define R6 has not changed compared to the R4 and R5 versions - it is still the same classic rectangular black box. But, already taking it out of the package, the differences are felt literally with your own hands. The body has noticeably added in weight and strength to its design. The front panel for the first time in the history of the series has a brushed aluminum coating, which only added solidity to this product. The drive activity indicator remains in its place, in the cutout in the center near the top edge.

The front panel, as before, is a thick plastic door, glued on the back with a layer of noise insulation. The door is held on latches, which simultaneously function as hinges. The hinges themselves can be outweighed on both sides, which will allow you to adjust the opening of the front panel both to the left and to the right. Behind it at the top there is an easily removable plug of the only 5.25 "compartment, and the rest of the space is occupied by the ventilation grill of the inlet dust filter, which has inclined deflectors. The filter is held by a simple latch at the top and can be easily removed for cleaning. In this case, outside air is taken in through the holes on the sides of the front panel. Recesses for opening the panel are made in the upper half of the side faces.

From the bottom, just as easily, a dust filter slides out, covering the entire bottom panel of the case. Thus, the protection and cleaning of the case from dust is simplified as much as possible.

Both filters, front and bottom, are made of high-quality fine mesh, glued to a plastic frame.

External ports are traditionally located on the upper edge of the front panel. There are two 3.5 mm audio jacks, a recessed system restart button, a beautiful round start button, two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, all of which are painted black. The system power indicator is built-in under the bezel, along the perimeter of the PC start button.

Since our version of the case is called Black TG (Tempered Glass), a solid, rather transparent (more precisely, 33% tinted) window is installed in place of the left panel. It is interesting that it is not attached to the usual screws in the corners, but is glued to a metal frame, which opens in a guillotine type, turning to the side.

The workmanship of the glass is impressive. As well as the fitting of the details of this case. By the way, the vents on the sides of the front panel have also increased significantly in size by reducing the profile of the grille partitions and turning them into transverse deflectors.

Due to the use of a metal frame and stiffening ribs, the transparent panel is very reliable. In addition, it allowed to reduce the thickness of the glass to 2.5 mm and reduce its weight. The panel is held by two knurled screws and has two stamped handles on the back at once. They are needed in order to snap the door to the side. The fact is that it holds perfectly even without screws. There are round head metal pins in the back at the top and bottom.

When the door is closed, the pins snap into the plastic clips on the body, and the panel is completely fixed. It can only be opened by applying an effort directed to the side. It is recommended to use ordinary screws only when transporting the chassis.

The right side of the case is solid and metal. It also has two stamped handles and two metal thumb screws.

The inside of the right door is glued with a thick layer of noise insulation. It is very sturdy and also has pins in the back for quick locking in the closed position.

The top panel is metal. Most of it is a removable cover that snaps off when you press the round plastic button in the upper left corner of the rear of the chassis. This solution replaced the collapsible plastic ModuVent segments that were used in previous versions of the case.

It looks like this. To insert it back, you need to press the edge of the lifting cover along its entire length, from the side of the lock button.

After dismantling the cover, access opens up. The metal grill on the bottom is also removable, held by four small screws. And it even has a slot for the SVO filler hole with a diameter of 25 mm. The mounting holes here are shifted towards the left panel, away from conflicts with the components of the motherboard. As a result, you can hang three 120- or 140-mm fans here, or radiators of the corresponding size, 360 or even 420 mm long and of any thickness.

But that's not all. A filter similar to the one at the bottom and front can be removed from the metal cover of the top panel. This is done with difficulty, I had to use a screwdriver as a lever to disconnect these parts. This moment was either not thought over, or not fully described in the instructions. On the reverse side of the cover, a layer of noise-insulating material is glued.

Then the metal cover can be set aside and the filter can be placed over the top of the ventilation hole, thereby significantly improving the cooling of the case. Or, put it back and increase the noise reduction from the internal components.

The rear panel of the case looks generally standard, but has a number of its own peculiarities. In the upper left corner there is a large plastic button, pressing on which releases the lock of the upper metal panel. The seat behind the ventilation grill on the right can accept 120 or 140 mm propellers and their vertical position is adjustable within 20 mm. In addition to seven regular PCI slots, covered with white ventilated reusable plugs, there are two more expansion slots on the right, into which you can install the video adapter vertically using a special extension cable (not included in the kit). These slots also have standard white caps held in place with regular screws and a decorative cover on top of them. The PSU seat has a separate bezel held in place by two knurled metal screws. The power supply unit is screwed to this frame with ordinary screws, after which it can be attached to the case in the orientation both with the fan down and up.

The entire base of the case is covered with one solid dust filter, which is removed forward and held in four separate plastic sleds. It is especially nice that on the left side of the base of the case there is now a metal plate with the model code and the serial number of the product.

At the bottom we see two arrays of ventilation grilles with large cells. On the front, you can install two 120- or 140-mm fans, or even an SVO radiator. At the back is the ventilation of the power supply.

Metal legs, with a rubber base, 17 mm high up to the body and approximately 11 mm up to the level of the dust filter. They stick to the table surface very tenaciously.

Now let's take a look at the chassis interior.

Internal organization

The Fractal Design Define R6 chassis supports vertical installation of ATX, MicroATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. The allowed CPU cooler height is 185 mm. The possible length of expansion cards in all slots is 300 mm to the side rack. If the width of the graphics card does not exceed 150 mm, or the stand is removed, the allowable length increases to an insane 440 mm along with the fans installed in the front of the standard 25 mm thickness. The case accommodates a power supply unit up to 190 mm long with fans mounted on the bottom panel. If they are not there, then the supply of space under the power supply unit at close range to the hard drive baskets grows to 310 mm.

The stock of space from above to the edge of the motherboard does not exceed 25 mm, therefore, when installing a heatsink here, you need to take into account the height of the RAM, with which there may be a conflict. Ideally, the height of memory and other components on the board should not exceed 36 mm. With the front pillar, you can attach two 120 or 140 mm fans, or a similar radiator here. If you remove the storage baskets and the side rack, you can place three 120 or 140 mm fans, or 360 and even 420 mm long SVO radiators. Naturally, in the latter case, the installation of the 5.25 ″ device from the front will become impossible.

A 140 mm fan is preinstalled on the rear panel of the hood. All filler caps for the seven main expansion slots are held in place by knurled screws. The vertical plugs are secured with ordinary screws. To remove them, you will have to unscrew another screw from the top, which presses the decorative sliding bar.

All three 140mm fans installed in this case belong to the new Dynamic X2 GP-14 series. They have a standard frame configuration and a seven-blade impeller. It uses a mechanism called the LLS company as a bearing. Unfortunately, one can only guess about the principle of its device, since even this abbreviation is not deciphered anywhere. Judging by the MTBF of 100 thousand hours, and the characteristics from the official website, it is likely that this is some kind of variation on the theme of a hydrodynamic bearing with magnetic stabilization of an axial sleeve. The maximum propeller speed is 1000 rpm, the minimum starting voltage is 4 V. The performance is normal (declared within 116 m3 / h), the static pressure is low (only 0.71 mm H2O), but the noise level is quite acceptable, and from a closed the case, this fan is almost inaudible. The black ribbon 3-pin power cord is 500mm long. These fans leave a good impression of themselves and do not make you want to replace them immediately after purchasing the case.

The casing of the power supply unit is perforated with small diagonal holes, from which we can conclude that its function is more decorative. For pulling wires in it there is one small hole in the back and one large one in front, closed with a rubber shutter. If desired, you can attach a proprietary PCI slot extension cable (Fractal Design Flex VRC-25), or two carriages for 2.5 ″ drives, screw holes are provided for this.

In the front of the chassis there is a longitudinal metal post, the distance to which from the rear panel is 300 mm. The rack supports hard drive cages, which are positioned so as not to fall into the plane of the expansion slots. This part, if desired, can be dismantled and moved to the side of the motherboard pallet.

The longitudinal post has a removable door that is held in place by two knurled screws. It has a decorative purpose and covers the mounting holes of the hard drive cages, which can be additionally screwed on this side for greater reliability.

There is a lot of interesting stuff on the motherboard pallet. On the right, there is a large cutout for the reinforcing plate of the processor cooler. There are two rubberized holes above it for pulling wires. Two more large holes with rubber shutters are located in the center. Two reusable Velcro fasteners are attached to them, allowing you to quickly and easily assemble a bundle of wires. I counted 13 lugs for attaching cable ties, taking into account those on the bottom of the case. The clearance from the pallet to the side panel is 23 mm wide.

On the right, in the middle of the pallet, there are two white carriages for 2.5 ″ drives supported by knurled metal screws in the middle of the pallet. If desired, they can be rearranged on the power supply casing.

At the front of the case is a bay for hard drive cages, which are white carriages that hold one side of the longitudinal stand and the other side of the motherboard tray. The fixing element is the knurled metal head screws. There are four baskets at the top. To the right of them is the fan controller board. It can accommodate up to six 3-pin propellers, which will run at maximum speed, and three 4-pin fans, whose speed can be controlled using a PWM signal from the motherboard. To do this, you will need to connect the complete controller wire to any PWM connector on the board. This device is powered by the SATA Power connector.

Two 140mm fans are preinstalled at the front, the same model as the rear propeller. There are only six drive baskets, but up to 12 baskets can be installed over the entire height of the chassis in any position.

At the bottom there are two more storage baskets. 3.5 ″ hard drives are attached here through rubber pads with long screws, and 2.5 ″ drives are screwed directly with small screws. Each carriage has an eyelet in the lower right corner where you can hook a cable tie if needed.

The power supply seat has four rubber dampers on the bottom. The power supply unit slides in from the rear panel and rests on a special frame, which we have already talked about earlier, so there are no problems with connecting wires.

The front panel is easily detached by pulling on the notch from the bottom. Supports six plastic tulip mounts. No wires are connected to the panel.

This is what the front metal panel looks like without the plastic front:

As you can see, two 140 mm or three 120 mm fans can be fixed here using ordinary screws. The 5.25 ″ compartment mount is removable and is held in place by two screws. Unfortunately, there is no complete fit between it and the front panel, so there is a high probability that dust will pass there, bypassing the filter, as it was in previous revisions of this chassis.

In order to expand the possibilities of the case in terms of installing large SVO radiators, you can move the side stand to the side of the motherboard. To do this, you will need to remove the front fans, 5.25 ″ bay and remove two screws each at the top, front and bottom of the chassis. Then move the panel and screw it back.

As a result, the hull will be able to simultaneously take on board SVO radiators of 420x140 mm format at the top, 360x120 mm or 280x140 mm at the front, and 240x120 mm or 280x140 mm at the bottom. In this variant of the assembly, the chassis becomes extremely similar to the Fractal Design Define S in terms of the internal structure. The front cutout of the PSU shroud is 175 mm long, which should be enough for the thickest heatsinks.

The top panel in this case is removable and usually requires only four screws to be removed to remove it. However, if the longitudinal bar is attached to the pallet side of the motherboard, you will need to unscrew two more screws from it in order to completely remove the bezel.

Even in this case, the assembly leaves room for two 3.5 ″ hard drives. They can be hung vertically, on the side post at the back, by first screwing in the flat head screws through the rubber gaskets.

The set of wires includes a USB 3.0 connector, HDAudio, USB 2.0, standard cables from the system start and restart buttons, power and drive indicators, a four-pin PWM connector and a SATA Power connector from the fan controller. All cords are black and long enough to connect to the motherboard.

Let's move on to assembling and testing the system.

Assembly

The assembly of the system in the Fractal Design Define R6 case is straightforward. The chassis is ideal for those who like to frequently change components in their system, as everything has direct and unhindered access. The wires are distributed behind the pallet without any problems.

Through the transparent side window, all the insides of the case are perfectly visible. At the same time, extra cables are hidden from view.

Additional illumination of the components will most likely not be needed, although when assembling the massive circuit of the CBO, many will definitely not resist the temptation to add a couple of LED strips here.

The blue indicator of the system operation is hidden under the start button and is almost invisible. The drive activity indicator LED has become dimmer and unobtrusively blinks blue when the operating system is accessing disks.

Test stand

The Fractal Design Define R6 used the following configuration to test the cooling efficiency of the components in the Fractal Design Define R6:

processor: Core i5-6600K (3, [email protected], 2 GHz, 1.300 V);
cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Performa;
motherboard: ASUS STRIX Z270G GAMING (Intel Z270);
video card: MSI N770 TF 2GD5 / OC (Nvidia GeForce GTX 770);
memory: HyperX Savage HX424C12SBK2 / 16 (2 × 4 GB, DDR4-2133, 15-15-15-36-2Т, 1.20 V);
SSD: Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 (64GB, SATA 6Gb / s);
hard drive: Western Digital WD2000JS-00MHB0 (200 GB, SATA 3Gb / s, 7200 rpm);
power supply: Aerocool P7-650W Platinum (650 W);
thermal interface: Noctua NT-H1.

Testing technique

The thermal load was created by running LinX 0.6.5 stress tests with 2048 MB of dedicated memory and MSI Kombustor 3.5.1.0 simultaneously for 10 minutes after the temperature stabilized. The hard disk was loaded with the Crystal Disk Mark 5.2.2 x64 program. At the end of the test cycle, the system was idle for 10 minutes to determine the minimum thermal readings. The ambient temperature was 25 degrees Celsius. The fan speeds of the processor cooler and the video card are fixed at the maximum speed. Peak power consumption of the system was 404 watts. Testing was carried out in a single comparison mode with an open bench. All case fans were running at maximum speed during the test.

Test results

While significantly more propellers could be added to this case and the top panel could be opened to improve ventilation, we decided to test it out of the box in stock condition. Thus, the thermal test passed with three stock turntables and a closed top panel. And I must say that it turned out quite well. The noise level was quite low, despite the fact that the fans of the processor and video cards were running at full speed and roaring with all their might. In terms of processor temperature, the loss is 7 degrees, and for the video card - 9 degrees. The difference in the rest of the components was from two to four degrees, and the hard drive did not heat up under load, keeping the same temperature as in idle. In general, even in the stock state, the case copes without any problems with cooling an overclocked system with an average level of thermal power. And there are tremendous opportunities to improve the cooling system. It all depends only on the wishes and current needs of the user.

conclusions

Fractal Design Define R6 is another masterpiece from the Swedish company, which is the result of painstaking work on the mistakes of previous series. It's also nice that the company's engineers took into account the feedback and wishes of the IT community and ordinary customers. The result is a beautiful and very practical case, which has a lot of weight, high strength, spaciousness and thoughtful design.

Among the external improvements, it is worth noting an aluminum front panel, a modular top panel with opening through a button, side panels that are fastened with latches, which ensures their quick dismantling. The side glass no longer requires separate screws and can be dressed like a regular panel with a minimum of effort. The front door can be hinged to open in either direction, and all dust filters are quickly and easily accessible for service. The front panel can now be removed separately from the external ports; you do not need to disconnect the cables first.

The inside of the case has a modular design that equally easily allows you to implement massive air or liquid cooling, build in a large number of drives, accommodate components of any size, and choose the desired balance between the level of ventilation and noise isolation. And the built-in hub will allow you to easily connect all the fans that can be installed in the case, without worrying about whether the motherboard has enough connectors.

There were only two shortcomings found, and they are not particularly significant. The first is that the top metal cover is difficult to separate from the filter grill, which causes both parts to be scratched. The second point is a long-standing illness of the series, which consists in the fact that dust, as before, can penetrate inside through an uncovered 5.25 ″ compartment.

The Fractal Design Define R6 is recommended for anyone looking for a solid and well-thought-out case with a strict design. It has everything you need to assemble a system of any heat output with air or liquid cooling.

The workmanship is frankly pleased! Heavy :) Great design. Spacious. Excellent cooling. Nice build of the system. Even the Noctua D15 cooler seems small in it. Having installed hard drives in the front part of the case, we have a complete absence of their temperature rise - under any conditions of the game, the temperature is 30 degrees at all. If they are installed behind the motherboard, a rise in temperature is inevitable!Flaws

The guys with the fractal made a difference in saving on the front panel - everything is fine in it !!! ... BUT .... in the older version there is a soundproofing of the front plastic panel and in this case it was removed! ... and in vain ... when installing three 140 fans on the front, there is an eerie resonance (at different speeds) !!! and the body becomes buzzing ... BUT this problem is solved by buying a couple of sheets of car noise insulation (vibration insulation sheet 2 mm thick and a sound insulation sheet of the type of porous material 5 mm thick) and gluing the front panel. After this procedure, the air circulation (air intake) is not disturbed and the resonance goes into oblivion :) ... and the second minus is the absence of ventilation holes above the PCI slots as in the older version ... I decided to install PCI plugs with large perforations from Gelid. (Native plugs none other than thickness)A comment

Complain Did the review help? 18 4

Flaws

you have to pay extra for the quality, the Swedes are great! price - scares away.A comment

An engineering masterpiece.
Want a nice soundproofed enclosure ?? -Choose FRACTAL DESIGN Define S.
Before this case, there was a Zalman z9 plus, the difference is felt in noise, quality, design.
ps I was pleasantly surprised by the special screwdriver attachment for the motherboard mounting bolts.

Complain Did the review help? 7 1

Flaws

they are not for meA comment

An excellent stylish case with very good air circulation and a huge space for a video card (due to the absence of an unnecessary cage for hard drives) - I highly recommend buying.

Complain Did the review help? 7 2

Flaws

- no built-in buzzer (this is just a nitpick, what would be :))A comment

I chose the case for a long time and after watching many reviews I settled on FRACTAL DESIGN Define S. The case is very well thought out. It is immediately clear that competent engineers worked on it, not designers. Everything is well thought out and without unnecessary, unnecessary bells and whistles. The location of the HDD / SDD on the side made it possible to free up a lot of space. Those. it is possible to insert a long video card or water system there. The ability to install up to 8 fans (2 are already included), which, if properly installed, can provide excellent cooling. The HDD has rubber pads, which is very good for the silence. There are many advantages of this case. I just advise you to watch a video review about him. Personally, I am very pleased.

The Define R range of cases has become one of the most successful in recent years. The fifth edition of the "middle tower" has been released today, but the internal structure has not undergone significant changes. To better meet the challenges of the times in the case segment, Fractal Design decided to add a "sister" model to the Define R. But is the Define S a more modern alternative to the popular line?

The formula for success is not that complicated. The Scandinavian chassis designer offered flexible interior configuration options and a quiet cooling system. The retail price of about 100 euros (6-7 thousand rubles) is quite affordable for demanding users. But the requirements for the hulls at the time of the development of the first Define R were still somewhat different from the realities of our time. In particular, the storage subsystem has changed in recent years. Many customers today are using more and more external drives, and there have been changes in the maximum number of drive bays.

With the proliferation of high-speed Internet access, more and more users began to abandon optical drives. As a result, chassis manufacturers are phasing out 5.25 "bays from new products. Typically, the chassis leaves a few modular HDD racks that can be installed or removed as needed, providing additional configuration flexibility. Fractal Design Define S takes another step forward. All five drive bays are located behind the motherboard tray.This concept resembles some cube cases, where the motherboard and drive segments are separated, which gives some advantages: the motherboard segment leaves a lot of space for long graphics cards, high-performance front heatsinks, and other CBO components, and the airflow from the front case fans is no longer blocked by the drive racks, so you can hope for better cooling performance.

The missing drive racks have another positive effect - they lower the price. Fractal Design has ditched the front door and fan controller, so a potentially modern Define S should be cheaper than the Define R5. The manufacturer lists a suggested retail price of € 89.99 for a solid sidewall case, while the window version will cost € 99.99.

The interior has been heavily redesigned, but the exterior of the Define S is not much different from the Define R. You get an angular, minimalist design with a fake aluminum panel at the front. We tested a variant of the case with a window through which one could observe the interior in all its glory. But, unfortunately, the window makes the sacrifice of soundproofing on the side panel.

The Fractal Design Define S comes with a user manual, warranty card, mounting accessories and black cable ties.

Before we start the test, let me summarize the main chassis specifications in a tabular form.

It should be admitted that by the beginning of 2015, optical drives for PCs were finally a thing of the past, having fallen under the onslaught of the high-speed connection to the global network, which is now available even in remote corners of the planet. Bygone drives were among the last devices for the 5.25 ″ bay, and now some computer case makers have decided to abandon them altogether. Company Fractal Design was no exception, having released a new representative of the popular Define series of ATX-compatible cases - Define_S, which has lost not only the bays for optical drives, but also the front door, and the horizontal sled for the HDD.
That Define_S acquired instead of them, how it differs from other representatives of the series and what is interesting - read this test material.

0. Box and delivery set

The theater begins with a coat rack, and an overview of a computer case begins with the box and the delivery set.
The case is supplied in the already traditional Fractal Design a box of 54x32x61 cm thick unpainted cardboard. On the front sides there are images of the case assembled and component-wise, on one of the side - an image of the internal mounting panel, and on the other - tables of technical characteristics of the case and cooling system.

The body is protected from damage by thick foam inserts, so there is no need to be afraid of any excesses during transportation. Carrying handles are also not forgotten, but for long distances it is better not to carry a box with a body in your hands, because their total weight is more than 10 kg.

In addition to the case itself, the box contains an instruction manual and a box with accessories. It has enough bolts and struts to assemble any compatible configuration, only plastic ties are not enough, but an ordinary user who does not reassemble the body once a month will have enough six available, and the assemblers of such ties have a wagon and a small armored train.

1. Exterior and internal structure

Let's move on to the case itself, taking it out of the box described above. Compared to what I had Node 304 this case looks gigantic, although in fact its size is 52x23x47 cm, which is not a record one, but the case cannot be called small either.
The first impression is austere, black, spacious. For the review, I got a version with a transparent window, which was initially protected by as many as two layers of transparent film.

The front panel is solid, made of rather soft (beware of scratches) plastic with an "aluminum" texture, ports and buttons are directed upwards, i.e. the designers designed it to be installed on the floor, the rest of the side surface is occupied by ventilation holes. The set of controls is standard - two USB3 ports, audio in and out, a small Reset button, a large Power button with backlight and an HDD activity LED.
Also, attention is drawn to the already familiar to users of the series of cases Define plastic pads at the top of the case, but I'll talk about them a little later.

We open the front cover and look inside:

We see that the power supply is located at the bottom, there are 3 oblong holes for cable management, and there are no 5.25 ″ bays and traditional hard drive cages at all. Also visible are two pre-installed 140mm fans and a seat for an ATX, microATX or miniITX motherboard.

Let's now return to the aforementioned plastic overlays. If you press your finger on the locks that hold them, they can be easily removed, revealing a seat for a 140mm fan:

The cover is equipped with a sound-absorbing coating and the fasteners hold it well enough not to rattle or require excessive force when removing.
If you remove all three overlays, the top panel of the case looks like this:

The panel is compatible with 1, 2 and 3-section SVO radiators with a width of both 120 and 140 mm.

It's time to remove the back cover, which is surprisingly heavy.

It is also pasted over with sound-absorbing material. The knurled fastening screws for manual tightening are not detached from the cover, and therefore cannot be lost during assembly - another plus for Scandinavian designers who think over even such seemingly trifles.

The reverse side of the case looks rather atypical:

There are innovative vertical mounts for hard drives and solid-state drives, of which there are only five: 3 slots for 3.5 ″ or 2.5 ″ and 2 more space for only 2.5 ″. This number of drives will be enough for the average user, but fans of multi-disk RAID arrays from full-size HDDs will be disappointed. Mounts for 3.5 "are equipped with rubber anti-vibration inserts, traditional for Fractal Design cases.
Also visible are the reusable cable management system ties (Velcro), a removable dust filter for the PSU, and solid rubber body legs.

Continuing to "undress" the subject, remove the front panel:

He meets another air filter, this time with a magnet mount, we also remove it:

Now it is finally clear what exactly the user has received instead of the bygone compartments - another 3x120mm or 2x140mm space for SVO radiators or fans. In total, the case has a place for 7 140mm sections in the 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 configuration and 8 120mm sections in the 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 configuration - in my memory, this is a record among cases of this size.

It remains to consider the bottom panel of the case and you can start assembling:

The PSU seat is equipped with vibration-damping legs and is compatible with PSUs of any reasonable length (when using a nearby space for a 140mm fan, the PSU length should not exceed 165mm).

On the other side of the bottom panel there are mounting holes that are compatible with most external SVO pumps available on the market, so their installation does not require any modification of the case - another bold plus for designers.

2. Build the system

The presence of 7-8 seats for the CBO sections, compatibility with pumps and through-blowing makes this case an ideal candidate for assembling a hellishly powerful gaming system with an ATX motherboard, a powerful processor and a tandem of two video cards, but, to my shame, I have such a system just not, so we will collect what we have: Intel Core i7-3770, Kingston HyperX Fury 1600C9 16Gb kit, Zotac Z77ITX, Zotac GTX760 AMP !, Corsair Neutron GTX 240 Gb, Fractal Design Newton R3 1000w and CoolerMaster Seidon 120M.

No unpleasant surprises appear during assembly, the case is very comfortable and well thought out, the length of the front panel wires will be enough even for full-size ATX boards with connectors in the lower left corner of the board.

The cable management is also quite good, the Velcro sticks firmly, there is enough space for the wires, but to install the SSD in the 2.5 ″ mounts, the length of SATA cables may not be enough, so we had to put the SSD in the 3.5 ″ central bay, since such there is a possibility.

As a result, we get a neatly assembled system with a minimum number of protruding wires and drives hidden behind the wall:

Close the lid and you're done.

3. Operation, noise level, thoughts and conclusions

Based on the results of two weeks of operation in 24/7 mode, the case showed itself on a good side. During the day it is completely inaudible against the background of street noise, at night the sound of three fans becomes distinguishable, but not annoying. The temperature of the system in the case is 1-2 degrees lower than on an open bench, so the cooling can be safely given the highest mark.

The disadvantages include the excessively bright blue Power and HDD LEDs, as well as the lack of holes for the CBO hoses on the rear panel. The fact is that the distance from the motherboard to the upper part of the case is about 3 cm, and it is clearly not enough to mount any high-quality SVO radiator together with fans on the inner side of the upper panel. It is possible to mount the heatsink on the inside and the fans on the outside, in which case there is no hole for the wires on the rear panel. Thus, it turns out that the top panel cannot be used 100% without modifying the case. I hope that this point will be corrected in future revisions of the case. Otherwise, it is a wonderful case for any system that needs serious cooling.

pros:
+ general thoughtfulness to the smallest detail
+ innovative interior design
+ 7/8 seats for 140 / 120mm sections of SVO or fans (in configuration 3 + 2 + 1 + 1/3 + 3 + 1 + 1)
+ convenient cable management, good noise insulation, removable dust filters

Minuses:
- on the back panel there are no holes for the outlet of the CBO hoses

May not suit:
* no bays for optical drives
* the presence of only three bays for 3.5 ″ drives

The building rightfully deserves the award " Editor's Choice«.

4. Additional materials

Promotional video from the manufacturer

During its existence, Fractal Design has already created a fairly large number of externally similar cases. For a non-technical buyer, it will be clearly difficult to figure out which one is right for him. After all, the internal structure differs fundamentally, and in the name it is reflected only by a couple of letters. For example, a new product from Define C is extremely easy to confuse with Define S. Therefore, do not be lazy to look at the manufacturer's official website and, of course, read our reviews of these wonderful chassis.

So what are we talking about? Oh, yes - about the new version of Define C. More precisely, about its slightly reduced version - Define Mini C. The basic design concept of this case is minimalism. It got rid of unnecessary 5.25 ″ bays, bulky racks of 3.5 ″ hard drives (and in fact, rarely anyone uses more than two such drives). And we tried to reduce the external dimensions as much as possible without compromising compatibility with standard components. And, following the lead of modern fashion, they covered the power supply with a casing, thus dividing the internal volume into two parts. Sounds good already? Then read the review further to learn more about everything.

Specifications

Model
Product page	fractal-design.com
Type of shell	Mini-Tower
Dimensions, mm	412 (H) x 210 (W) x 413 (D)
Material	ABS plastic, Steel
Weight, kg	6,9
Color	Black
Form factor	MicroATX, Mini-ITX
5.25 ″ devices	-
3.5 ″ external devices	-
3.5 ″ / 2.5 ″ devices internal	2/3 (2.5 ″ drives can be installed instead of 3.5 ″)
Expansion Slots Supported	5
Fans	front - 3 x 120 mm / 2 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm installed) rear - 1 x 120 mm (installed) upper - 2 x 120/140 mm (optional) bottom - 1 x 120 mm (optional)
Interface connectors	2 x USB 3.0, mic-in and headphone-out
Other	Soundproofing the front, top and side panels, easily removable dust filters at the front and bottom, removable drive cage, support for CBO radiators, replaceable magnetic grill on the top panel, Velcro for cable management
Recommended cost, $	100

Packaging and delivery set

Although the packaging of the case is devoid of color printing, it contains the most important thing - detailed technical information about the product, its image from different angles and carrying handles. Protection against damage in transit is quite ordinary: two foam dampers and a bag.

A set of small parts for the body is packaged in separate bags and folded into a small white box. Here such things were discovered as:

body assembly instructions;
leaflet in red explaining the terms of the warranty;
top panel magnetic metal filter;
six disposable cable ties;
metal adapter for a Phillips screwdriver for mounting motherboard racks;
eight racks of the motherboard;
four screws with a hexagonal head for mounting the power supply unit;
eight screws to secure the motherboard;
20 small screws for fixing 2.5 "devices;
eight large screws for mounting 3.5 ″ hard drives.

Appearance

In the exterior design of the Define Mini C, Fractal Design has remained true to itself. It is a completely straight black parallelepiped. The front panel is made of plastic, with a texture stylized as brushed aluminum. It does not open and has no elements on itself, except for the indicator window at the top in the middle.

External ports are located on the upper edge of the front panel. There are two 3.5 mm audio inputs for microphone and headphones, a small reset button, a beautiful round system start key and two USB 3.0 ports. All ports are vertically oriented, which means they are prone to rapid dust build-up.

A dust filter can be easily removed from the bottom of the front panel, which covers the bottom of the case. This is an extremely successful solution that allows you not to move the case at all when you need to clean it from dust.

After dismantling the lower filter, a recess is formed under the front panel, for which it can be easily removed by pulling it towards you. There are a number of large ventilation holes on the sides of the panel, and from the inside it is glued with a layer of noise-insulating material. No wires are tied here.

The front panel was closed from the inside by another dust filter. Thus, all openings of the case through which air penetrates inside are protected from dust.

This filter is made of high quality fine mesh, glued to a plastic grid. The grille itself is held in place by three stops and two plastic latches.

There are oblong holes behind the filter, suitable for mounting three 120mm or two 140mm fans. One 120mm propeller with a white impeller is already pre-installed here for the injection.

The left side door is flat and solid. It has a stamped handle on the back and two knurled mounting screws that are attached directly to the panel (reducing the risk of losing them).

The inside of the door is glued with a layer of noise-insulating material. Torsional rigidity is excellent.

The right panel is completely similar and interchangeable with the left one. It also has a layer of noise insulation inside.

Most of the top metal panel is closed by default with a ModuVent plastic plug. In this form, the case can be used as a shelf or stand without any problems.

If you remove the plug by prying it from the inside of the case, a glued layer of noise insulation will be found on its back side. And on the top panel we see a large-mesh grille, on which two 120- or 140-mm fans can be fixed. The oblong mounting holes are offset towards the left panel. This facilitates the installation of CBO radiators - the likelihood that they will conflict with protruding elements of the motherboard is reduced.

If during the operation of the case the priority is not silence, but cooling, then the plastic top cap can be replaced with a metal mesh. This mesh will stay on the chassis with the help of magnetic tapes fixed along its entire perimeter. In practice, this is another dust filter (preventing dust from entering the case when the system fans are turned off) and a decorative element.

The grid, magnetized in place, looks like this.

The rear panel looks pretty standard. At the top there is a coarse-mesh ventilation grill on which a 120mm exhaust propeller is pre-installed. The five expansion slots are covered with the traditional Fractal Design white vented reusable plugs. There is another small grill to the right of the slots, and at the bottom there is room for the power supply.

The PSU mounting frame is removable, held in place by two thumb screws. With its help, the power supply unit can be oriented both with the fan up and down. But its main purpose is to simplify the installation process. The PSU is initially attached to the frame itself, then slides into the chassis and is fixed with these two screws. Very convenient considering the limited space for manipulation inside.

The entire bottom panel of the case is covered with a removable dust filter, which we mentioned earlier. It is removed in the forward direction.

This is what the filter frame looks like.

On the bottom panel, the rear grill is responsible for ventilation of the power supply, and the drive cage is attached to the front. It can be removed, and one 3.5 ″ hard drive or one 120 mm fan can be hung on the grill. So the Define Mini C also has a partially modular design.

Rubber feet, in a plastic clip, stylized as chrome-plated metal. Their height is only 10 mm.

Let's take a look at the interior of the case.

Internal organization

Fractal Design Define Mini C supports vertical installation of MicroATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. The manufacturer's declared admissible height of the processor cooler is 170 mm. According to our measurements, 175 mm models can fit here. The possible length of expansion cards in all slots is 315 mm, taking into account the fans installed in the front of the standard thickness (25 mm). The permissible length of a standard power supply is up to 175 mm inclusive, although taking into account the possibility of displacing and dismantling the drive cage, this figure can grow to 200 mm or even more. The inner volume of the body is divided into two parts by the casing. In the upper part there is a motherboard with video adapters, and in the lower part there is a power supply unit and a basket with 3.5 ″ drives.

The space under the top panel to the edge of the motherboard is 30 mm. Installing heatsinks, fans here and connecting the motherboard connectors shouldn't cause any problems.

The rear panel is pre-installed with a 120 mm fan. Its position can be adjusted in height within a range of 30 mm. PCI slot blanks held in place with thumb screws

The lower part of the body is fenced off from the rest of the volume by a non-removable metal casing. As always, this is done more for aesthetic reasons than for a desire to separate the thermal zones. Although, in terms of noise reduction, such a solution may even be useful in some way. At the back of the casing there is a ventilation grill, in case the power supply is oriented with the fan up, and several slots for cable routing.

In the front part there is a removable cover, which is inconspicuous at first glance, which is located exactly above the drive cage.

The cover is held by two screws that can be removed from the front panel. After removing it, the user has the opportunity to remove the storage basket and install more fans or heatsinks. If the basket is pushed back as far as possible, then there is 60 mm of headroom between it and the front panel.

When the basket is removed completely, the headroom to the front panel is as much as 130 mm.

A 120-mm fan with a white impeller is installed in front of the blower. This is the same Dynamic X2 GP-12 as mounted on the rear panel, so we will not dwell on its characteristics in more detail.

All free space behind the motherboard tray is used as efficiently as possible. Above the large cutout for the reinforcing plate of the processor cooler, there is a bracket for mounting 2.5 ″ drives. Four large openings for pulling wires are covered with rubber shutters. Around the pallet, there are a large number of eyelets for attaching cable ties, and three Velcro strips are attached at the front for quick fixing of wires. The margin of space between the pallet and the side door ranges from 15 to 35 mm, which is more than enough for easy laying of all cables, even overlapping in a couple of layers. By the way, there is one more interesting point, which you do not immediately pay attention to. In the guides for attaching the side panels, rubber gaskets are glued on top, bottom and on both sides, eliminating the likelihood of rattling or extraneous sounds from closed doors.

The 2.5 "drive bracket can accommodate up to three drives that are secured with screws. The bar itself is held in place by a single metal knurled screw.

The power supply seat is equipped with four round rubber dampers underneath.

The cage for two drives in the individual skids is pushed forward by default. In this position, the maximum supply of space for the PSU is 220 mm.

The metal carrier contains rubber bumpers for the 3.5 ″ hard drive. You can also install a 2.5 ″ drive here as an alternative. Both the first and the second version of the disk are fixed with special screws.

If you move the storage cage closer to the rear of the case, then there is a 60 mm space in front of it. However, the space for the power supply unit will be significantly reduced and it will remain only 178 mm, which may not be enough even to rotate the fixed power supply cables. Therefore, it is better to select the optimal position of the basket for each specific assembly.

The basket can be completely dismantled by unscrewing the four screws from the bottom, and then removing it through the upper plug of the power supply casing.

In place of the removed cage, you can secure one 3.5 "drive (using the long screws and rubber washers removed from the white sled). Or install one 120mm fan, which will improve the thermal performance of the video adapter. Or hide the SVO pump here.

The set of wires includes standard black cables from indicators of drive activity and system power, start and restart buttons, one USB 3.0 connector and one HDAudio connector.

Let's move on to the assembly of the system and the thermal test.

Assembly

The assembly of the system in the Fractal Design Define Mini C case proceeds without any difficulties worthy of attention. All wires can be easily laid and fixed behind the motherboard tray. Side panels snap into place effortlessly. All this just one more time emphasizes the overall thoughtfulness of the design as a whole.

The backlighting of the power indicator and the drive activity indicator is combined. The contour of the power button is weakly illuminated from it and the main blue LED located in the recess of the upper edge of the front panel shines quite brightly and blinks. If you look at it directly, this light is slightly dazzling, especially in the dark. When viewed from an angle, it does not irritate the eyes.

Test stand

The following configuration was used to test the cooling efficiency of the components in the Fractal Design Define Mini C:

processor: Intel Core i7-2600K (3, [email protected], 4 GHz, 1.330 V);
cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Performa;
motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H TH (Intel Z77);
video card: ASUS R9270-DC2OC-2GD5 (AMD Radeon R9 270);
memory: Kingston KHX24C11X3K4 / 16X (2x4 GB, DDR3-2133, 10-12-12-27-2T, 1.65 V);
SSD: Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 (64GB, SATA 6Gb / s);
hard drive: Western Digital WD2000JS-00MHB0 (200 GB, SATA 3Gb / s, 7200 rpm);
power supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (550W);
additional fans: 2 x 140mm - be quiet! Pure Wings 2 (BQ PUW-14025-LS-10) 140 mm, 1000 rpm;
thermal interface: Noctua NT-H1.

Testing technique

The thermal load was created by running LinX 0.6.5 stress tests with 2048 MB of dedicated memory and MSI Kombustor 3.5.1.0 simultaneously for 10 minutes after the temperature stabilized. The hard disk was loaded with the Crystal Disk Mark 5.0.3 x64 program. At the end of the test cycle, the system was idle for 10 minutes to determine the minimum thermal readings. The ambient temperature was 23 degrees Celsius. The fan speeds of the processor cooler and the video card are fixed at the maximum speed. Peak power consumption of the system was 327 watts. Testing was carried out in a single comparison mode with an open bench. As additional fans, two 140 mm propellers with a speed of 1000 rpm were installed in front of the blower. The stock front 120mm fan has been removed. All case fans were running at maximum speed during the test. The upper panel of the case was closed with an airtight plug.

Test results

All components of the system, with the exception of the video card, are cooled quite well in this chassis, their temperatures remain at an acceptable level. Especially when you consider that the top panel of the case was closed at the time of the test, and it was ventilated exclusively by two front and one rear fans. Therefore, a loss of seven degrees in the temperature of the video adapter can be considered uncritical. But what surprised me was the good cooling of the hard drive. After all, he was in a separate chamber and was not blown directly by any fan.

conclusions

These conclusions are fully applicable not only to Define Mini C, but also to its larger brother Define C. It differs only in three parameters - it is capable of accepting ATX motherboards, has seven PCI slots and a little more weight.

The body of the Fractal Design Define Mini C was tested so close to the ideal chassis that I could not find any flaws in it. He simply absorbed all the best that the evolution of the Define series has come to and can definitely be recommended for purchase.

Fractal design define s black. Test and Review: Fractal Design Define C and Define Mini C are a new family of compact cases. Positioning and conclusions

Specifications

Packaging and delivery set

Appearance

Internal organization

Assembly

Test stand

Testing technique

Test results

conclusions

Specifications

Packaging and delivery set

Appearance

Internal organization

Assembly

Test stand

Testing technique

Test results

conclusions

The last

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