Gadgetory

hey guys welcome back to another High Rocks review we're very excited to check out another case from fractal design as they have really built off their game which shows just how committed they are at setting themselves apart from the competition so this new case is sort of a mix between the defined excel and the r4 so mixing enthusiastically features from the r4 and the silent design from the excel and there is released at a very appealing price so let's take a look and starting with the outside this looks and feels practically identical to the define excel we have full steel construction except for the plastic front panel we have a hint of aluminum on that elegant reflective surface and the case is really solid throughout now it is designed to be a silent chassis but like with most cases in its category you will have to choose between maximum airflow or complete silence or of course working something out in between the two options the front intake is completely covered so the venting strips on the sides will allow for the airflow to enter the door is magnetically attached but it still doesn't open wide enough nor can it be switch to be open from the other side sound dampening foam is installed but it will definitely reduce the cooling potential we also have for optical Bay covers that can easily be removed from the front below which is another cover for the fan bracket and now I really like the fan setup the bracket removes easily from the case and you can clean the dust filters replace the fans and both 120 and 140 mm outs are available also a bonus a fan is already included however I would suggest occupying that second slot for optimal front intake now one common flaw that is found on pretty much every single case is the available spacing for the air flow to pass through the hard drive cage now there should be the next innovative solution for optimal air flow of course rotating the cage is available but let's face it none of us want those cables sticking out now one neat feature on the front is this 3-speed fan controller with three fan headers all the connections are located at the top we have our power and reset buttons audio jacks and USB ports of course we all know top connections are not always ideal and may cause some clearance issues and moving on we have two mounts available for the top supporting both 120 and 140 mm fans initially they are covered wood sound dampening panels but for good cooling you should install exhaust fans and of course for all your water cooling lovers dual radiators are supported at the back standard settings here with exhaust fan io area power supply mount and nine PCI slots meaning extended ATX and excel ATX motherboards are supported and of course it wouldn't be complete without a removable dust filter at the bottom which covers both the power supply and the bottom intake fan all right so let's finally look inside the for optical base are not to list unfortunately so you will need to use screws the two hard drive cages below are fully modular meaning both can be repositioned or removed if needed now for the top cage two thumb screws is all it takes a very simple solution that works really well the process for the bottom cage is a bit different for one the bottom intake fan must be removed and several other screws in order to unmount the bottom cage it then can be relocated further away from the front for installation of a dual radiator so this makes this silent chassis even more appealing as water cooling support is integrated pretty well into the design now the drive brackets have not changed included the rubber grommets help to reduce noise from spinning drives and of course SSDs are supported brackets can further be secured with screws for safe shipping and look in the back we have many rubber grommets placed appropriately around the motherboard tray plenty of cable tie notches are spread around as well so setting up your cabling should not be concerned especially with the large gap between the panel and the motherboard tray now there is one little thing that really bothers me and I'm surprised it has been overlooked now the power supply is raised by these tall rubber feet which is good since it allows for extra breathing room but they can easily be removed and there is nothing in the back of the case to support the power supply a little platform would have been better which would make the installation of the power supply slightly easier and also we are working with our long 188 millimeter power supply which still has clearance for the module cables with the bottom intake installed and putting in our 11 a half inch graphics card absolutely no problem and the case supports up to 13 inches for the top cage in place now one thing I'd like to mention before we conclude are these side panels they are surprisingly heavy so careful not to scratch the floor when taking them off they are completely covered in high-density material that helps to reduce the overall noise and we also have an optional fan mount for cooling the internals now working with in such a large enclosure provides a lot of headroom for cable management so you don't stress about the clean build as it just happens naturally now we have support for two dual radiators larger motherboards and graphics cards is very appealing along with lots of drive storage with excellent modular cage options now when it comes to the price whether you opt in for complete silence or a more dominant airflow the XLR 2 offers excellent value the middle ground however between airflow and silence is somewhat limiting with restrictive front airflow also the power supply standoffs really should be redesigned and instead offer a more stable platform but overall the defined XL r2 is a well integrated mix between the new r4 and the earlier version of the define XL it is functional full of great features and deserves the hardware canucks damn good at word so thanks guys for watching I hope you enjoyed the review see you in the next one