what's going on everyone we have a few
days left to go until CES coverage
begins and you're all flooded with
basically the same content just from
different perspectives I totally get
that we'll try to spice things up a bit
but I want to squeeze in this define our
six review because I have a really
really cool idea for this bill I'm
actually gonna try to put together the
most powerful build I've ever put
together ever on the channel ever in my
life
and I'm gonna throw it into the defying
r6 now this case has loads of options it
is a great value and it does have plenty
of water cooling support so obviously
you know where this is going so I've got
the camera swung around here and I just
want to give you a first-person
perspective of everything that I have in
here so far and what I plan to do in the
future also point out again some of
those key features that make the define
six a very unique case and one that you
should consider buying fear next mid
sized ATX build so I'm gonna start up
front first this door swings open
originally swings up and with hinges on
this side but I swapped it to that side
because it just makes a bit more sense
that way a sound damping material up
front which is nice there are two 140
millimeter fractal fans included up
front there's also a third at the rear
so you get three fans include with this
case which is really cool and these
aren't trashy fans these fans are
actually pretty decent
given their rpms and their size now they
do come with the white blades so that
might conflict with your color scheme
they do have the same white PCI slot
covers they've been using for the past
three or four years I still don't know
why they do that the mesh if I see had
black ones go back to that fractal
please now I'm gonna get a bit critical
with this front mounting system only
because I have tried to build up front I
tried to put the 360 ml right I have a
top now up front because it's just a bit
more optimal for what we're going for I
wanted to have the tubes kind of pop out
down below that way it'd be easier to
drain but that didn't happen and the
reason why it didn't happen is because
the r6 actually includes an optical
drive base so my plan was to have a 360
ml rat run all the way down but because
this whole section here is just kind of
wasted you can't really raise the
radiator up anymore you only have like
an exact fit for one 360 ML rad
and you can't flip it upside down at
least this particular rad because the
the port openings basically extend too
far down you can see that where the
bottom of the mounting point is for the
360 ml rad there's not much more space
to go I mean there's there's maybe half
an inch so maybe a centimeter and a half
two centimeters worth and that's about
it so the radiator would have had to
have had its ports up top and I'm just
really like that idea so I think we're
gonna stick with a 240 ml rad up front
which I'll include later and then we'll
have the 360 ml rad up top there's
plenty of space for that something I do
want to point out there is a modular top
to this case and it is actually you can
just release it with a single button
right here
pretty sweet can pop that thing off have
access to your mounting positions up top
now you can move this radiator all the
way forward which is what I've done so
you have plenty of space back here for
your 8-pin EPS and for running fans and
whatnot just make sure you do all that
before you install your radiator because
it's it gets it gets pretty crammed back
there and you can't really see it or you
can move the radiator back just a bit
more if you want to put something has
like a 140 Miller 280 mil up top you
could also do that and have the space
for it now if you don't plan on mounting
anything up top in this case you do get
a plastic cover that kind of just clips
in with this and that'll that'll make
everything kind of flush with the rest
of the top of the case so you want to
see these vents here I'm keeping the
vents because I do have a right up top
now another first for fractal they've
included vertical graphics cards support
these two slots that are turn sideways I
don't recommend this under most
circumstances for air cooled cards
unless you're just going purely for
aesthetics here because it's gonna be
choking the airflow like you're gonna be
pressed against the tempered glass the
left side panel here and that's not
optimal I do usually advocate for the
cooler master brackets that kind of
stick this way but then you're cutting
into the PCIe brackets at the back so
it's just like you know it's catch-22 I
recommend this mainly for custom cooled
graphics cards so with the super cool
get and see the fluid moves through
through your card if it's turned
sideways and it doesn't need any
dedicated air supply a few other things
I noted at least building to this point
here I love the large rubber grounded
cutouts there are two
one is like perfectly centered with most
24 pins and the motherboard so it's a
pet peeve when like you know the cutouts
don't align with that 24 pin cable or
the 24 pin port on the motherboard but
this one is so big it really doesn't
matter what motherboard you're using and
then you also have a huge port down here
for mainly SATA cables you could
probably find some other uses for this
as well but it's nice that you have two
large ones here with really
uninterrupted cable management Headroom
there's also a single large one down
here which is where I expect you'll have
your front I Oh connected to your
motherboard also may be USB 2.0 and I
don't know fans whatever else you can
find use for there's also a dedicated
cutout on the bottom left side just
below the HD audio port I'm sure you can
guess what that's for and now with the
case flip around you can see we have two
more cutouts here these are reprimanded
as well one dedicated for primarily EPS
cable and the other for fan connections
and the like there's also a dedicated
fan hub included with the r6 this one
has it looks like six voltage controlled
fan connectors and three PWM controlled
fan connectors and then you have a
dedicated four pin cable that runs
directly into a four pin header on your
motherboard so you can control all the
fans directly from one header which is
really cool and then this I believe is
just a power cable or maybe it's
reversed but you get the point now as a
result of the fan hub being here we no
longer have the SSD tray that was kind
of like you know you could remove the
whole thing and mount like two or three
SSDs up top here behind the motherboard
cutout that's not included in the r6 it
was included in the mesh if I see and
the define see that was a really cool
idea it's been scrapped for the r6 but
that's ok we still have two more
dedicated SSD trays down below now if
you're worried about three and a half
inch hard disk drives you get several
bays that you can remove I moved this
front panel to the back I'll talk more
about that in a second but you could
still stick to hard disk drives down
here if you want to move this panel to
to the back you just won't be able to
run a 360 ml rad down here or a few fans
or a pump if you choose to include two
hard drives down below now you can see
the cable management in this PC was a
breeze and you have these included
velcro straps which is nice those keep
things nice and tidy and you have about
an inch to an inch and a half of
clearance about the rear four
centimeters worth
at the rear of the case or on the right
side of the case I guess you could say
you have a little more space here and
then you have maybe an inch or so on
this side which is plenty for a penny PS
your 24-pin and the like and then of
course if you're using like a modular
semi modular power supply you can stuff
any extra cables down here you have
about two inches worth of clearance
between the left side of the power
supply when looking at it from the rear
and the right side panel so you can just
stuff extra cables right here as I've
done and still have plenty of room for
either a pump or hard drives on the left
side as for the rear of the case pretty
standard stuff the PSU install bracket
is here from previous cases only
utilizes two captive thumb screws which
is really nice so you can unscrew these
and they just kind of dangle you have to
worry about losing them although I'm not
sure why they didn't include captive
thumb screws with the right side panel
it's a bit weird
these aren't captive on the panel but
they're captive on the on the install
bracket which is I don't know put
captive everywhere also further up
you'll find of course the rear i/o
cutout for your motherboard and support
for either a single 140 or single 120mm
fan with a bit of vertical breathing
room now let's talk about this panel
right here I'm sure in some other
YouTube reviews you've seen this thing
placed up front which makes it a bit
more indicative of previous are cases
like the define r4 and the define r5 you
could stack like drive base here or
basically run a bunch of tubing and
stuff and have your pump and res here
but hidden from view at least from the
left side panel in this case it's
actually modular which is really cool it
satisfies both those who want optical
drive support and plenty of hard drives
to be hidden from the public and those
who want the open air case feel for
custom loops this is a genius idea I'm a
little confused as to why the other tech
tubers didn't like at least mention that
you could move this to the back because
that seems to be a huge selling point
right now that open-air design but you
can do that I mean I'm showing it right
now I think this is how the case should
be for most people I think people buying
the define r6 are either water cooling
enthusiasts or they do have a ton of
hard drives so fractal has satisfied
both of those potential markets by
including this modular design here
so I've got it secured to the back
I planned for the overkill like most
powerful build of mine ever is to have
another 240 mo rad up front to
complement 360 up top I'll replace these
140 ml of fractal fans with 120 that I
have from the defined C and then I'm
gonna put the reservoir here attached to
the radiator up front and I think the
pump is gonna be a separate pump just
down below in the basement speaking of
the basement there is no fractal logo
like there was on on the define C and
the mesh if I see it's actually up on
that bracket back there so I I don't
know I think it's pretty cool I actually
was a fan of having the fractal logo on
the basement because this is like a
unique little indention here like how it
curves back and I think that having
something here other than keeping it
just bland actually spices things up a
bit so frankly don't be afraid to put
your logo somewhere else you know
somewhere on the basement I think it's
actually a pretty cool touch and it's
not overkill I mean it's just like a
slight indention that's all this cutout
on the power supply is huge so you could
put a really thick rad like super big
road right here and you could put some
some fans and then probably still have
room for either tubes to run up from the
basement or to have like a reservoir
kind of extend this way and I don't know
have to running down or up so you get
the idea right there's plenty of space
here the one thing I'd like to see added
which we saw in the define see I'm not
sure why frankly didn't pull all of
those details over to this case because
the define C tempered glass edition is
my favorite case of all time point blank
I talked about in this video here but
they didn't include one of those little
basement covers for those who want the
open-air feel right but don't want to
utilize anything down here and who also
don't want the random empty space if
especially for not using hard drives
where's the cover for this thing like we
need we need a modular cover that would
be the icing on the cake for the
interior design now the last couple
things I want to talk about the front IO
is is average it's not exceptional we
don't have USB 3.1 we don't have like a
fan control lever or anything like we
saw in competing cases at the end of
2017 we just have a typical headphone
and microphone jack a dedicated reset
switch a power button that's that's more
tactile it's not spring-loaded I
actually like the spring-loaded one a
bit better dedicated USB 2.0 port
and USB 3.0 ports now in terms of air
flow which I have to bring up because
like all of a sudden it's a big deal in
2017 2018 this case is not the best it's
not the best for air flow at least from
the front and this has been indicative
of fractal cases for a long time now it
wouldn't seem to have complained about
it until recently so I'm gonna go ahead
and bring it up air flow comes in from
the side makes a 90-degree turn which is
pretty inefficient and loud at that
do not put a fan's between the front
panel and the mounting bracket not smart
at all I've actually done that and it
literally chokes your PC for air
especially you got a radiator which is
also restrictive right behind those fans
so keep the fans like they are stock
behind that bracket so that you have at
least an inch of clearance for that air
to turn and be pulled into your case so
whatever folks I hope you enjoyed the
makeshift review of sorts I am looking
forward to finishing this build very
soon
that's the microwave lunch time anyway
we'll catch you in CES and CES anyway
we'll catch you in Vegas next week for
the start of CES for now stay tuned for
the rest of the define r6 build this is
science studio thanks for learning with
us
you
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