Gadgetory

the first defined series case from fractal design that I checked out the define r2 was that four years ago man time flies anyway it delivered what was at the time a great mix of features for the price and built-in noise damping which is a really solid value add but the computer industry moves so fast that to keep up with their competition defines r3 and r4 both came very quickly speaking of coming quickly by the way I look forward to our Dragon Age awakening video cards showdown which is coming very soon make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it but unlike its predecessors the define r5 has actually been in development for over two years so what the heck have they been doing all this time the Coolermaster neptune 240m features an exclusive pump design and their new Silencio fans to provide impressive near silent performance click now to learn more well one thing fractal finally figured out is packing material experienced companies all eventually realize that the cost of RMA s and the bad customer experiences that come with them is just not worth it yes it's hard foam but it's thicker and much stronger than what you'll find protecting many other cases in this price range thumbs up on to the chassis itself the outside really is defined through and through I mean heck I bet if you lined up ours 1 2 5 in a taste test only a fractal product designer could probably actually pick them all correctly but that doesn't mean that they haven't changed anything on the top we get the usual front audio a recessed reset switch a fancy-looking power button 2 USB 2 and 2 USB 3.0 ports and oh what's this then a new coolest top ma juvett system that allows you to have 0 1 2 or 3 top 120 millimeter or 140 millimeter fan modes from the back while building I didn't really like the way they handled the curved corners on the plastic pieces but looking at it from the front the way that you'll only see a computer case it's much less noticeable aside from the outlines of the pieces you've left in place the transition actually looks pretty darn good probably because fractal did a great job of matching the plastic and metal finishes at least on the black and titanium models I can't speak for the white one one compromise up here though that I don't really feel strongly about either way but feel compelled to point out is the asymmetrical fan mounts it doesn't look as clean to have them off to one side like that but the benefit is that it gives the motherboard a lot more room for cooling up at the top on the front is one of my favorite finishes faux brushed aluminum normally I prefer real materials to fake ones but the brush plastic looks pretty much just like the real thing is much easier to clean and in this case keeps light reflections down making the effect of the brush this very subtle like this and also the much easier grieving side vents that will keep the two front 120 millimeter or 140 millimeter fans supplied with fresh air the rest of the front I have kind of mixed feelings about the bitumen noise dampening inside the door is good the three fan controller is good and the much better and easier to remove front fan filter are all great additions but while the idea of reversing the door opening direction is good the mechanism on our unit only closes if we kind of swing it shut rather than closing it nicely and I'm not a fan of non-standard shaped five and a quarter inch Bay covers because if you actually install an optical drive it looks a little out of place on it just like it does on course there's 900 d the r5s bottom has more good stuff though this front accessible fan filter slides in and out nice and easy and protects her insides from unwanted junk and while there's not much to say about the side panels the new left Maju vent looks cleaner than the old style that exposed the grille when it wasn't in use IMO and the right panel now uses captive thumb screws with the left opting for normal ones a seemingly strange decision until you realize that you'll never use them thanks to the new latching mechanism around the back there's not much of note you've got your bottom mounted power supply seven expansion slots and one or 140 millimeter fan mounting slots up at the top riveting let's talk about the inside shall we speaking of rivets the inside of the define R 5 is fractals most modular yet with screws to hold in the bottom and top hard drive cages captive ones by the way and even the optical cage at the top this opens up a ton of different mounting options for the up to eight three and a half inch or two and a half inch drive notes including rotating the top five ninety degrees pulling them out entirely shifting the bottom three left and bringing the five down hanging eight or five from the top with the optical cage remover even just removing all of them entirely for more cooling space and which is great because for a silent case there are a lot of spots to mount fans and radiators in the front with all those aforementioned drive cages removed you can put up to a triple 120 but a dual 140 looks like kind of a sweet spot with room for a 120 140 or 120 in the bottom I'll be it not necessarily at the same time as the front red or a very long power supply up to a triple 120 or 140 in the top as long as the total thickness of the fans and rad doesn't exceed fifty five millimeters oh and for good measure you can throw a single 120 or 140 into the back the rest of the insides from this side are pretty standard fare the motherboard tray is only remarkable characteristics other than the you know usual big CPU cutout and well positioned cable management holes where how surprisingly solid it is even with all the front Bay's that it anchors to removed and also the way that the motherboard area sits slightly recessed something that may cause clearance issues with those slightly wider than ATX enthusiast boards if they're right angle connectors on that edge are in awkward locations on to the build process the inclusion of a post in the center motherboard standoff is awesome and keeps the mobo in place while you screw it in the rest of them but the rest of the standoffs were pretty lame to install actually fractally used to include a metal stand off installation tool and now it's plastic or nylon or something which prevents it from sticking to my magnetic screwdriver and makes it harder to wrench it in tight enough but there's more positive stuff to make up for the Silver site the SSD mounts on the back of the motherboard are better than the older screw through the mobo tray system I've seen fractal use and as far as cable management is concerned the define our floor was cruising for a good - very good ranking with ample zip-tie loops lots of room in the right areas behind the motherboard tray to route cables and included velcro straps and then I noticed a couple of things I haven't personally seen before cable management loops up the right panel side of the front awesome and two different positions for three and a half inch drive mounting on the metal rails the standard position and one that brings me closer to the left side panel for more room behind them finally the first define that can not only hold eight drives but also has enough room for all the required cables brilliant a huge improvement over the r2 that I'm using for my home server right now which I guess is pretty much the conclusion for this video isn't it what's the define r5 well it's an improvement over previous defines in every way it's unlikely to compel r4 or even r3 owners to upgrade but at a hundred bucks in change for a non windowed one like this or ten more dollars for a windowed version it's a worthy member of the product family and are recommended buy from me thanks for watching guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment if your feelings are more complicated than this check out the support us link if you like our videos and what we do you can give 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