Define_R3

Hands On: Fractal Design Define R3 Case

By on February 7, 2011 in Hardware, News, Reviews

Introduction

Terry is a big fan of Fractal Design cases.  He even used an Array Mini ITX NAS Case for a WHS build last summer.  When I heard that Fractal Design would be at CES, I had to make it a point to stop by and see what was so great about their cases.  What I found were

  • Innovative designs
  • Attention to detail
  • Excellent build quality

Those in the European marketplace already know what to expect when they purchase a Fractal Design case.  Sometime around the end of February, Fractal Design products will become available in the United States marketplace also.  Be sure to check out Newegg!  The question is what can you expect to see when they do become available here.

To answer that question, the good people at Fractal Design sent me a Define R3 mid-tower case, along with an extra fan and a Newton R2 power supply.

Define R3 thumb Hands On: Fractal Design Define R3 Case

By the time you read through this review, I hope I will have given you an idea of what you will find in a Fractal Design case and why they are popular in Europe.

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.
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  • David

    I would like a case just like the R3, with the door, but with 9 5.25inch drive bays.

    That way I could fit 3 off 5into3 drive modules.

    Kind of an up-market version of the coolermaster RC590 that I currently use.

  • RJKing

    My WHS resides in one of these great cases.
    I may just get one for my desktop too.

  • Jody Nesbitt

    ebuyer are doing the case for £82, almost £40 cheaper than the amazon price above.

  • Scott

    Jim, Nice review on a nice case.

  • outrun

    This is the case I picked up for my WHS after outgrowing my HP 470. The case IMO is pretty good. I didn't read anything in your article about the rubber grommets for wire management – they are so soft that just looking at the wires makes them fall out of the holes. I've had it for about 4 months now and one fan is starting to run slow. It has a 5.25 to 3.5 drive adapter that's pretty much useless. None of the holes in it line up with a 3.5 drive. Not sure what that is all about.

    But as yo mentioned the case is damn near silent and a real looker. I get many complements on it.

    My only real beef is that there really isn't enough room for cables in the back behind the drives. You really need a modular PSU (mine didn't come with PSU in this article) to limit unused cables and I'm looking into making SATA power cables with enough plugs for all 8 drives.

    I wish they made the R2 Array for microatx and had room for 10 drives :)

    • Jim_Clark

      Re. the rubber grommets: It is my understanding that they have made improvements with these items. I did have one push out during the build, but it was quite easy to put back in place.

      5-1/4" to 3-1/2" converters are not always easy. I normally have problems getting my CF display to line properly, so this particular version was a bonus. At least to me.

      I hear what you say on extra cables, and I there are probably very few cases that could handle excess cables as you describe. Which is why I personally really like modular PSUs.

  • pasty2k2

    I have an Array R2 with a H55N mobo/i3 530 in it, awesome little box – gets a tad warm but its quiet as hell and idle power draw is about 38W – 55W using the Array R2's shipped PSU. Only thing missing now is a RAID controller (none onboard!), no thanks to the removal of DE.

    I reckon you could get 8 drives in the Array R2 with a bit of modding to the shipped drive cage. With a redesign and a slightly longer case, 10 HDDs seems possible, but good luck finding a way of dealing with all that data on an ITX board!

    • outrun

      Sounds like the setup I was lookin into. Same mobo and cpu. Love my i3 550 HTPC. You say warm. How warm? How many drives are you running? Maxed out the 6? You should be able to run a pci 4 port sata card. Then just cram in the storage :)

  • Rychek

    I can't help but see an Antect P182 (what I use for my WHS and Desktop) everytime I see this case (I don't consider that a bad thing). Granted, it has a few more features than the Antec, but they are very similar in construction.

    • Jim_Clark

      Features and looks wise, there is only so much one can do with a case. Unless you wish to go into left-field on some of the more exotic designs with limited consumer appeal!

      Fit and function is where FD excels in this particular arena. Altho I am sure there are others that fall into this category (Lian Li, for example). One pays a lot just for that name, however.

  • Andres E

    What would you need to be able to connect 8 hard drives? I have not come across a motherboard yet with enough SATA connections. Is there a way to multiply one?