Gadgetory

what's up guys today I'm taking a look at the define s from fractal design now this is a new case offering that carries the appearance and a lot of the same features from the defined series but with a re-engineered focus on custom water-cooling support naturally this means a handful of changes to the internal layout of the case but that's not to say the exterior remains unchanged as well aesthetics wise it's pretty hard to distinguish the define s from the r5 if not for the case feet and larger side panel window that nearly spans the full length of the case you get the same matte plastic front but this time fractal has chosen to remove the front panel door entirely since there's no longer an optical drive bay a design choice that allows for some hefty radiator support as you'll soon see popping off the front panel we see a removable magnetic dust filter which hides a boatload of vertically adjustable mounting points for three 120 or 140 millimeter fans giving you two forty to eighty or three sixty millimeter radiator support here you also get one of two pre-installed GP fourteen 140 millimeter three pin fans the white blades cue us into fractals classic black and white color scheme which is always nice to see though at this point it's still too early to tell whether a black out version is slated for future release I should mention that while you do get the same great side ventilation out of the front panel there's no sound dampening material on the inside like we saw on the door of the r5 which gives reason to the define SS marketing slogan silence redefine again the water cooling frenzy continues at the top of the case where free sound deadening Maju vent covers can be removed to accommodate all the same radiator options that we have on the front in addition to a 420 giving us great flexibility and many cooling combinations to play with be aware here that you do have a combined thickness limitation of 55 millimeters for the radiator and fan when using a 140 280 or 420 radiator also on the top we get the r5 s same front io with mic and headphone jacks power and reset 2 USB 3 ports and a blue power LED in the center the define s ships in your choice of having a solid side panel with a removable Maju vent cover revealing a single 120 or 140 fan mount for 80 USD or an acrylic side panel window for a 10 dollar premium making this one of the most or double ATX chassis is tailored for custom water-cooling at the rear is your second GP 14 fan with an additional 120 mount and seven wide expansion slots for plenty of PCI connectivity below the power supply mount is a removable dust filter which covers your PSU and an optional bottom fan that we'll have a closer look at inside removing the side panels is done with two captive thumb screws on each side which stay attached to the panel so you don't lose them what they don't tell you is that if you lose your side panel you will also lose both thumb screws in the process while the right side panel is lined with ample material for noise absorption we get a rather bare steel design for the windowed panel now just from a quick glance at the inside we can immediately see some big changes to the internal layout here that deviate greatly from the define r5 though we still do get mini ITX micro ATX and ATX motherboard supports with a pre-installed Center stand off for easier installation lining the tray are well placed rubber grommets for CPU ATX and PSU cables with the ATX grommets in particular being much wider and closer together than they were on the r5 which is a nice provision that's sure to be more forgiving for cable management on the bottom are four rubber pads for your PSU to rest on the fan mount that I mentioned earlier for either a 120 or 140 millimeter fan and pre-drilled mounting holes at the front of the case for a water cooling pump in exciting first for fractal cases and this is where we address the elephant in the room or the elephant not in the room technically you probably noticed right away that this case lacks any traditional hard drive cages and yes fractal has done away with them completely in order to free up significantly more space for water cooling hardware which is really what this case is all about apart from the pump and radiator this area can also house a wide range of reservoirs that can easily be installed on what I'm calling the reservoir this versatile mounting solution allows you to adjust the position of your reservoir to suit your loop configuration or to avoid clearance issues with other components a smart design that custom water cooling builders will certainly appreciate so what the cage is gone the drives really have no other place to go except for behind the motherboard tray and fractal does a pretty good job of pulling this off without making too many compromises on the left are three drive trays that each support one three and a half or two and a half inch drive with rubber grommets for reduced mechanical noise and vibration simply remove the tray by its single thumb screw screw down the drive and remount for quick and easy installation for additional storage there's also two dedicated SSD males just beneath the CPU cooler cutouts that functions in much the same way having only five drive mounts in a case like this may be a deterrent for builders with heavy storage needs but for those in search of an affordable chassis with remarkable custom water cooling potential it's arguably a small price to pay now the ease of cable management in the define s will partly depend on how many three and a half inch drives you have installed though even with a full house you still do get an inch and a half of space to the right of the drives from top to bottom not to mention all of the room directly behind the motherboard which measures about an inch deep the ever so useful velcro straps make a welcome return to the defined series as the case comes with four of them to help tidy up your system this along with the generous number of tie-down points are sure to facilitate the cabling process so to sum up what we have here is a case whose form is familiar but functions quite differently than its defined series predecessor obviously the case heavily targets those in the market for a custom water-cooled rig but more importantly is that it offers up a ton of premium water cooling features at a not so premium price point making it in my opinion one of the best value cases available for custom liquid cooling if you can deal with the less than average number of drive mounts this is really an outstanding choice for your next open-loop system but let me know what you guys think of the defined s from fractal design and if it meets your expectations for a custom water cooling chassis before we go I want to give a special thanks to today's sponsor lynda.com they have tons of in-depth tutorials online for things like video editing I've actually learned a few new tricks in Premiere Pro cs6 thanks to some of their 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