Fractal Design are a Swedish specialist PC hardware design company, their range of products include fans, PSU’s and cases. They are a relative new-comer to the market but they have stood out from the crowd by creating products which have a very unique but pleasing form. Leading the catalog of stylish products is the Define R3 which is a sleek, fully-featured and surprisingly clever
compact computer case.

Built specifically for silent cooling the Define R3 is clearly aimed for the high-performance user who values noise as much as cooling. The case can be configured to hold a whopping 7 120-140mm fans around its compact frame. Out of the box it comes with one fan in the front and one in the back and if desired there can be another fan attached to the front, one on the side, two on the top and one on the bottom. With all of this airflow you would be hard-pushed to build a system which needed more cooling than what this case offers.

A common issue with fan-heavy cases like this is noise, I’ve had cases in the past which will keep the whole house awake if left on overnight so getting a silent system running is of high importance to me, especially because I mostly work with audio all day. The reason why the Define weighs so much when you pick it up is mostly down to the soundproofing material that Fractal have mounted to the inside walls of the case.  While this dense material does do a lot to dampen some annoying frequencies generated from your fans, do not expect it to completely shut off sound. My system which is running 3 case fans as well as a Noctua NH-D14 and a GTX570 generates roughly 37 Db which – compared to my old case at least, is pretty good.

In order to take advantage of the Defines soundproofing, you need to make sure that all the components and fans compliment this philosophy of silent running. When purchasing extra case fans, it’s important to buy large, well-designed and rubber mounted ones. Fractal do their own range of cheap by quiet fans which are what I am using, but I would also recommend Noctua fans.

One of the main concerns I had before buying this case was size, I was planning on fitting in a behemoth of a CPU cooler (the Noctua NH-D14), as well as a new 10 inch + graphics card. Luckily Fractal had thought of this already, the Define is a bit of a Tardis, it’s deceptively small, it stands at an average height but it is also remarkably long and wide (that’s what she said). There is ample room inside the case to fit in giant coolers such as the Noctua, as well as triple or even quad graphics cards. The very functional design even allows for up to 8 hard disks, each one mounted in white, rubberised HDD trays with screw holes for 2.5” SSD and 3.5” HDD.

Cable management is also a great feature of this case, with roughly an inch deep space behind the motherboard with ample grommets around it, it is easy to tuck away all your messy cables. On the back are also three water cooling holes, my only complaint with the system is the rubber around the grommets, it’s completely pointless as the flimsy bits of rubber do not hold position at all, a minor annoyance but it is an annoyance.

Another issue I had was that the front bay door has no space for any protruding elements you may have. My soundcard for example comes with an interface and features two volume knobs, I had to set the bay deeper into the computer so I could shut the front door panel. This doesn’t look too pretty and it still has left two marks in the foam coating inside the door. I can forgive this however because, when closed the case looks stunning. It’s a beautifully simple design, clean and straight. The power button and front mounted USB 2.0 slots are stylishly mounted onto a slight recline on the top of the unit and the white paint on the back of the PCI slots are helpfull as well as being nice to look at.

This is what I’ve grown to enjoy about this case and other Fractal products, they are function-led designs. This case is one of the smartest, stylish and useful cases out there, it has a design which is both subtle and striking. The noise dampening features work well providing you play ball and not fill the case with noisy fans and components. What is most remarkable is just how much crap you can stuff in the case and still have good airflow, did I mention you can hold 8 Hard drives?! Assembly is easy with each fan having its own modular component meaning that any fan holes that are not in use can be covered with pannels which are fitted with the same nosie dampening material that is on the inside. Overal this is a very thoughtful design with only very minor complaints, perfect for mid to high range builds but perhaps not ideal for the ridiculously high-end builds, though if you’re one of those people you probably wouldn’t want a case this subtle anyway.

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About the author

Michael Manning

Michael is a sound designer and composer working in the games industry. His portfolio can be found at www.manningaudio.com