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Reviews Fractal Design Define 7 Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 5 Jun 2020.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Read more
     
  2. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    If I needed a new case, this is what I would buy but, I have no need as my Define R5 will go on for many more years.
     
  3. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    I do like that case.

    Not enough to change from the R6, mind you.
     
  4. spolsh

    spolsh Multimodder

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    If I needed a new case, I'd be excited for this, but I don't need a new case because all the cases I use now are older Fractal ones so are great quality and don't need replacing.

    edit ... just noticed a pattern to the comments lol
     
  5. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    The perfect PC case? ATX? Nah.

    :)
     
  6. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    These cases really are the Porche of cases, all very well engineered, all look more or less the same, some love them some find them boring and uninspired. I do this they really need to revise their airflow design though. This is meant to be a top tier case, so people will be putting very hot gear in it, and as it is you're basically throwing away 3 fans. It'd almost be preferable to do what my PC-011 Dynamic does and just don't supply fans as you'll more than likely be replacing them, so FD is just making plastic waste.
     
  7. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    They've shown the define 7 compact the last few days, in an ever growing form factor that's remove the gap where 5.25 "drive bays once lived. THAT is quite possibly the perfect case. Not too big you need a second desk to put it on, not so small it makes building in and cable management a nightmare and room to Watercool. Goldilocks.

    Could still lop a good 10cm off the hight with some PSU placement trickery.
     
  8. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    And then you'd basically have a PC-011 Dynamic :p
     
  9. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    No, I wasn't thinking of putting the psu behind the mobo tray, you'd be adding more width then, and my idea is only really suited to watercooling. Kind of. Plus the O11D has the extra depth from the rad on the side.
     
  10. suty455

    suty455 What's a Dremel?

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    hmm seems a design fail to me as it arrives it couldnt keep a decent cpu cool until you start to make alterations to compensate for the poor airflow Phanteks are far superior and in some cases for a lot less than this
     
  11. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

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    I think it's more the "case" that this case is so large, the air from the weak front fans doesn't reach the undervolted CPU cooler.

    Higher airflow fans (e.g. Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 140.2 m3/h @ 12v) would improve airflow and I doubt many buyers would run a SilentWings 2 (85.8 m3/h @ 12v) at 7v on a CPU cooler. As mentioned in the article, the CPU temperature was acceptable when the fan was run at 12v. Bit-Tech runs this undervolted setup to provide a level playing field for testing all sorts of cases, it doesn't mean you will.

    I love Fractal cases, fantastic build quality, awesome sound deadening, excellent dust filtering and very, very robust. As mentioned by a couple of folks in this thread earlier, the only thing stopping them buying this one is that their older Fractal cases don't need replacing. I like the fact that Fractal don't succumb to planned obsolesence to try and sell more cases.
     
    Mr_Mistoffelees and bawjaws like this.
  12. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    I have (okay, it's in the loft, not being used) an R2 and it is a cracking case. Nice to see FD have made continual refinements and improvements to the series over the years. If I was in the market for what the kids used to call a "full tower" then I'd be all over this, but to be totally honest I have no interest in a 13.5kg, 60+ litre full ATX box. This is a very nice example of that, however.

    Main issue I've had with offloading the R2 is that it's damn heavy, so posting it is more than it's worth, sadly. Built like a tank.
     
  13. MadGinga

    MadGinga oooh whats this do?

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    2x R5's here, and yeah, i echo others sentiments - why upgrade from something that i close enough to perfect for my needs?
    Admittedly i am considering a super mini build for my next rig, but that will just mean the current box gets repurposed as file server #2 :D
     
  14. ModSquid

    ModSquid Multimodder

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    How many motherboards can service 13 disk drives though?
     
  15. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    If it has PCI-E slots then a cheeky PCI-E to SATA expansion card ought to do it.
     
  16. ModSquid

    ModSquid Multimodder

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    Ooooh! Didn't know about those. That might come in handy for me in fact, to store my backup drives inside my case rather than using USB caddies.
     
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