Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hello everyone I'm Dimitri with Hard Rock Canucks and the new case has emerged from fractal design that from the outside may not look at all different when compared to their latest definer 5 but like with any of their releases in the past they continue to modify only certain features and not reinvent the entire wheel because their cases are already regarded as one of the most functional ones so the define s hits the market at an attractive price of 79 and $89 depending on the side panel with a particularly focus on eliminating air flow barriers allowing users to seriously pimp out a water cooling build inside the define s and with sound dampening material spread throughout so it's not often that we see all these elements really perfected so let's take a look the plastic brushed front frame is closed off as you can see the lack of an optical slot in here is a major positive allowing that space to be occupied by the fans but there is spaced out with ventilation on each side and popping that panel off we have a removable magnetic dust filter with a fine mesh spending the entire area there's a single 140 mm fan included for support for two more with these sliding strips for extra flexibility for mounting so this means radiators up to 360 millimeters are compatible without your conventional thickness limitations as the inside is completely open so we finally seem proper relocation of those mechanical drives but more on that later the front i/o includes two USB three I would have liked to see four ports in here audio jacks a power and the reset button with that blue hard drive activity LED now I love that they expanded the side panel window so it now spans an appropriate length of the chassis to properly showcase your components the panels are compatible on either side here so I've installed the window panel at the rear to showcase cable management but more on that later and I also want to mention that panels from the definer 5 are not compatible because the defined s requires the panel to slide in these slots while the frame on the r 5 actually holts the panel in place now I'm sure you're wondering if it passed our light nail swipe well unfortunately this ABS plastic falls to the victim of the nail swipe with visible marks so be cautious when working with it nails are totally Opie coming to the rear of the define s we have seven PCI slots would love to see eight given the target audience a second 140mm fan included with the traditional white planes and the side panels have built-in thumb screws that are so convenient and I would love to see this on every case moving forward only one of the side panels has the noise dampening the windows side panel is completely bare as you can see while the other one is covered with this thin noise dampening material as to not interfere with any of the cables it's a good thing because closing the side panel on H 440 for example that has a really thick noise dampening material turned out to be really challenging the define S stands on tall rubberized feet that left dark marks everywhere so be warned for lighter surfaces there's a removable dust filter spending the power supply and the optional middle fan slot but I would love it if it was removable from the side or the front as we saw with the r5 to just minimize the hassle now to the most part I like the concept of these monuments up top that allows users to remove any of the three covers depending on their top cooling setup plus they also have sound dampening applied on each panel however there is no dust filter and cause the 120 and 140 member fan holes are offset closer to the side panel to allow better interior clearance for radiators this is good thing but this also means that this gap on the side where dust will easily infiltrate but on a better note this is how you design a proper top panel to accommodate for radiators up to 420 millimeters as we get triple 120 and 140 mm fan support something fractal design has continued to do is to support the water cooling community but if only we had those dust filters though alright so side by side with our five the frame is identical in size you can see the drive cage now is gone so is the optical cage leaving you with an empty space to fill any hardware or water cooling goodies you might desire and I think this idea most likely was inspired by the numerous builds where users would utilize the front portion of an r5 or an r4 with radiators something I even did with our our five review and so the define s was born with reduced cost but catering to those with that specific layout in mind because you can have this directional airflow tunnel with the front intake and rear exhaust you can have the entire top panel closed off if silence is your thing plus generate positive air pressure to reduce dust buildup there's a pre installed middle spacer that helps with motherboard installation and I'm also happy to see a proper metal standoff tool as we saw a plastic one on the r5 the interior wall near the front has all these strips and they are for installation of reservoirs or pumps with these dual brackets included to make sure proper compatibility for mounting and this spot on the floor specifically prepped for a pump with pre-drilled holes now depending on the thickness of your radiator and a set of fans some of these strips will be covered but you have 12 inches until we hit the closest strip to the motherboard for cooling I went ahead with a push and pull setup and turns out there's enough clearance in front of the frame for a set of fans thus giving you more space inside for a potentially wider tube reservoir but this means no front dust filter so I moved all the fans inside got that filter and the front cover back into position now you may be wondering where in the world did they fit storage options and everything has been moved to the back with these three brackets for mechanical drives and SSDs sitting on rubber grommets plus two dedicated SSD brackets behind the motherboard tray and they say this is right on point for what I would consider necessary and big thumbs up finding room for those three and a half inch drives behind the panel without sacrificing much on cable management there's still plenty of room left I love the velcro straps and various cable hoops really sealed the for this build I actually used only a single cable tie and if you're after a completely hassle-free cable work you'd be 100% satisfied as for cable management internally all the cutouts around the motherboard tray a grommet with the massive one by the power supply and the mother of a tray is actually slightly indented that helps with clean their solder routing and I really love how the build turned out it's supposed to be spacious with enough clearance for push pull and thick radiators and I feel the defined s is a strong reflection on the trends of future PC cases eliminating what is mostly unused finding new ways to clear airflow and stash away any storage because with the defined s you no longer need the r5 unless storage is one of your priorities I also want to point out how flexible the frame becomes with the panel's detached understandably so given the drive cage support system is missing but putting on just the rear panel reinforces the entire structure so you shouldn't worry and the define S is a damn good case because you are given a clean plate for water cooling without any compromises and if only fractal design figured out a way to incorporate easy accessible dust filters to the top panel while still allowing for mulch event flexibility and so that concludes this review we hope you enjoyed let us know how you would rig up this case with the what water cooling parts with a comment below make sure to subscribe for more similar content give us a like if you found this review helpful and we'll see you in the next one