Gadgetory

what's up guys I'm three chill our Canucks I gotta tell you it's never a dull moment here when it comes to cases in the studio one day it's unboxing $900 encoders another is reviewing something that has a dragon on it but you know when it comes to fractal design you know it's always a familiar experience which is seen both in a good way and sort of a bad way it's like where are they going it's going to be exactly the same case with a few minor modifications it looks like they got the memo on the power supply shroud but defined scene define many see I'm more excited about the mini C because it's a great progression on where we see 2017 going with introduction of micro ATX and closures and really focusing on that aspect something that's been really emitted from the case industry so let's take a look at these two cases right after message from our sponsor who a master master keys keyboard line-up is now available and three sizes to fit within your space with large medium and small boards with either beautiful RGB or pure white LED illumination a little something for everyone make it yours with the master keys Pro by Coulomb after so really the iteration of the defined series has always been so familiar and so identical and you know it's a really good way to keep the consumer in line to their expectations nothing's weird happening and just with being a little bit of updates here and there and the fine C is like a little upgrade to this define act which was a little upgrade the r5 series and the r4 before it and the r3 before it and you get the idea this is a time when the shop comes around usually okay no I guess I'm fine 1 & 2 size-wise they're actually not that big of a difference obviously the micro ATX board is not not much larger from an ATX board but still it's a little bit on the define mini side much smaller still the same elegant design so let's dive right in alright so the first thing I want to cover is the price that is very competitive for both cases and the five-dollar premium for the windowed model is reasonable I think what's practical design has done is a brilliant example of frame efficiency and launching the defined C and together with the ministy highlights an important trend for 2017 the reason I praised this new frame design is because they managed to minimize the size as much as possible while still catering to the current builder you can say the frame is boring it looks way too similar to previous defined cases but it actually comes with plenty of interior upgrades and makes for one of the best building experiences for its size so here is the defined fee next to the F 340 and the H 440 and notice how to define C is much shorter compared to an already compact as 340 but interestingly you can see the case feet on the defined C arm are shorter and the frame itself is much lower to the ground that's creating this super compact frame without losing the cooling potential so I'll say the closest competitor to define C would be the s3 for the elite from NZXT perhaps on the elite version because the tempered glass it's a bit more expensive but I guess to be an only a matter of time until we see something with tempered glass from fractal design the only company up to now that hasn't released anything with TG in terms of these two cases let us know if you want to see like a direct head-to-head comparison if you're on the fence between picking these two up let me know in the comments down below and I love that the frame is practically identical as the cases are the same width and depth come with identical feet and that staple brushed plastic front panel that doesn't leave any handling marks and both come with dual 120mm fans one for intake and once for exhaust with the same new power supply shroud that has a slight angular position for the top to create this unique separation and the Phi P refined interior layout where the butchering is embedded further into the Shafi where the surrounding area accommodates for easy cable measurements plus an open frame around the pci brackets to allow for a screw driver to fit in no problem furthermore a full bottom dust filter is easily removable from the front that has a fine mesh with an adequately deep side ventilation at the front to let air through for intake so the only difference here is the height with the mini si having 5 PTI brackets for micro ATX builds while the define see is a standard 7 PCI slot frame making it slightly taller but not by much the thumb screws on both side panels are captive that's awesome with the dense layer of foam like material applied to the front the top and the rear side panels making them quite heavy and feeling extra sturdy but I do question their purpose and if they're supposed to dampen any noise from the system or just there for our perceived benefit the front filter is easily removable with the grilles angled down that is meant to help with noise isolation but the filter is especially bulky something that I don't like that will for sure prevent some airflow intake but the included dynamic fans supposed to deliver a good balance between airflow air pressure and noise performance which define C giving us more fan options because of the taller frame but the mini C does not lag behind with excellent front cooling options for its side top cooling options for such a narrow frame are pretty good with properly offset mounts away from the motherboard with the top cover pre-installed that is a single piece unlike the multi modern systems we've seen in the past that now includes a full tub filter in case you're installing any fans at the top thank you for listening to our advice this is how it should be done the i/o is there I wish we had more years B ports but the power button is super satisfying to press take a listen with a knife and being blue LED shining through the front now this being practice first power supply shroud they've done a fantastic job first with the ventilation around the PSU and the removable front plate to expand your front air or water cooling options it's super easy to remove and simply slide the hard drive underneath away from the front to make room for radiators or fans giving you up to 60 millimeters of clearance until the frame and that does limit your PSU clearance also to about 150 millimeters but the drive cage can also be removed completely if needed which has two metal drive caddies by the way for HDD or SSD I really do appreciate the efficiency of the rear layout with an additional SSD bracket with three drives that also has a captive thumb screw and a very good frame design for cable management that route everything through the larger spacing and the front thus eliminating cable concentration in the middle and these velcro cable hoops are the best I've seen so far that have three points of contact and allow these dual loops to be created and let you separate small versus large cables with ease and this is by far the easiest case to work in the regards to cable management in this form factor because of that additional spacing in the front of the enclosure and how these rubber grommets are angled with the frame so starting with the build motherboard standoffs are not installed but a handy tool is included along with the middle extension to cache the motherboard so with our 30 member radiator and a set of fans installed at the front not much clearance is left between the 10 and a half inch GPU so you'll be able to squeeze in 11 inch card no problem but a push-pull is out of question for such a tight interior but I love the way the cables exit out of the grommets that's a perfectly angle for the motherboard but strangely there are no additional cutouts on the shroud for GPU cables something I feel would have benefited the cleanliness of the build I also wish the radiator mounts would be slightly more flexible to position it a bit lower but that is the lowest span location at the top just to create a little bit more symmetry on the inside or to allow for additional spacing or clearance if the top fan slots are occupied with a radiator but I do love the shroud design and I'm sure many define as owners would love something modular that they can install to achieve a similar layout and also to finish up a cable management as I said earlier this was the easiest built cleanup with many cable to hoops and proper strategic locations and that front section to help guide those thick cables into the main with fantastic velcro straps in the end all the cables were flat so closing the panel does not require any additional force on the inside I kept the top panel closed because the case is not really high enough for comfortable top rated or installation so what you see here with that front a IO would be I would say a more popular approach and if your air cooling I would stick to this horizontal air direction without any top fan we do have a bit of a surprise giveaways to follow the link in the description below to get a chance to win a brand new defined C or define mini C so good luck and at $85.00 the defined C is one of the best mate hours on the market right now although it still doesn't touch the extra features found on the p400s spandex but it might be a better option compared to the s3 40 for example so thanks to all the needed upgrades we're giving up the harbor Canucks damn good value award oh hey there NC XCOM is Canada's leading a tailor for anything your mind desires just keep within those categories which are plenty and get tempted by the weekly deals visit mcx dot-com for all them sweet deal ok I think it's so much for watching this review define theme define mini see I'm actually quite happy with everything that they've done to improve these enclosures the incremental upgrades on the interior really add up to make it competitive the only thing that's missing is TG you know give us a temporal acquisition so they stay competitive with other competitive TG additions from other brands but I'm really curious to see if you know more people gravitate towards the micro ATX build because now this you know presence of define mini C on the market so let us know if this is something that people are interested in I'm Dimitri with Haruka Knox thank you so much for watching we'll see you in the next video