Fractal Design Define R3: A Fan Favorite Keeps the Noise Down
by Dustin Sklavos on November 11, 2011 1:22 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- Fractal Design
Conclusion: An Awful Lot to Like
After going through the testing, it's pretty easy for me to understand why so many of you are big proponents of the Fractal Design Define R3. The kit on offer here has a design that's both elegant and practical, and its ability to serve users who want a quiet computer and/or a high performance computer without making any major compromises either way is a major coup.
By and large I'm a big fan of how the R3 looks. The door is going to be a matter of taste (I don't personally care for having a door on the front of my tower, but some people do, and it does keep noise in), but Fractal Design at least keeps the buttons and I/O outside the enclosure, on the top. I know some of you are going to be at least a little peeved by the lack of USB 3.0 connectivity in that I/O cluster; that's an update that Fractal Design will hopefully include in a revision down the line. And it may seem a little silly, but I really like how the removable acoustic pads block off the unused fan grills. Unoccupied grates for fans can be a bit of an eyesore, so covering them up internally goes a long way towards alleviating that problem.
If the R3 has a real shortcoming, it's the internal design. While the inside is about spacious enough (even a bit cozy), the holes in the motherboard tray just don't seem to line things up quite right, and so the build isn't able to be as clean as you'd want it to be. Routing cables is harder than it ought to be, and the hole for the AUX 12V cable just seems goofy. In the grand scheme of things this is probably a minor quibble, but it sticks out so much because it would be so easy to fix.
I'd say if you're going to be putting together a high performance, heavily overclocked machine, you'll want to add an intake fan or two in strategic places. For something more basic, the stock configuration should be more than adequate, and will definitely be able to keep the noise down. Given the choice between the NZXT H2 and the Fractal Design Define R3, it's easy to recommend the R3. Between the Antec Solo II and the R3, I'd give the edge to the R3, but there are reasons (mainly aesthetic) to go with the Solo II instead.
Ultimately, though, for silent computing in the $100 range, it's hard not to recommend the Fractal Design Define R3. You asked for the review, and you were right: it really is an excellent case.
Update: Fractal Design has informed me that USB 3.0 versions of their enclosures, including the Define R3 and Define XL, are selling on NewEgg and NCIX. So much for that complaint!
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Dustin Sklavos - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
Everyone's a comedian.Peskarik - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
Swedish design. :-)Very nice case, good materials, many possible fan mounts, good cable management.
I installed:
Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3
Intel Core i7 2600K
Noctua CPU-Cooler NH-U12P SE2
be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER, E8 CM 680W 80plus Silver
Corsair Vengeance Red, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
Seagate Momentus XT, 7200rpm, 32MB, 2.5", 500GB
OCZ SSD Vertex 3 60GB, SATA-3, 2.5"
extra fan at the bottom: Noctua 120mm NF-S12B FLX-Series
will install another fan on the top: Noctua 140mm NF-P14 FLX-Series
I do not have any graphics card in the case now, but with side open and the case 30cm from my head I hear only the CPU fans, the case fans and the bottom Noctua fan are very quiet.
For me the problem with the case is non-removable drive bay rack. There is only one rack running from top to bottom with space for 8 drives. I wish the rack was 2-piece (4 + 4) and removable, so that I could remove the rack for the bottom 4 drives and get free air flow from the lower front fan.
Peskarik - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
Oh, I forgot, the front eSATA is now replaced with USB 3.0, and the HDD light is integrated into the power button light (I like this a lot).UNHchabo - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
I thought the Power light was far too bright to be on constantly, so I just plugged the power LED leads into the HDD LED header. Works perfectly for me...Malih - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
exactly, i'm using Define Mini, they have pretty much the same design, and I don't care much for power LED, HDD LED is more important to me.Peskarik - Saturday, November 12, 2011 - link
Thanks for the suggestion!FlyBri - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
I've been looking at either getting the Define R3, or a BitFenix Shinobi w/ sound dampening material installed (I'm a bit curious to see if the Shinobi would perform the same, better, or worse than the Define R3).Anyway, what wasn't mentioned in the article is that for the longest time now, the only vendor in the US that sells the Define R3 is NewEgg. While NewEgg is a great site, they are currently charging around $23 for shipping. Add to that the fact that I live in CA, and thus have to pay sales tax on it, and I'm looking at a total cost of $142.65. While this is a good case, to me, that's too much to pay for it.
If NewEgg ever offers a free shipping promotion on it (or even like a $5 shipping promotion), I'd definitely reconsider, but seeing as I haven't seen them do it ever (and I've been checking periodically for months), I'm not expecting it to happen anytime soon.
So Fractal Design, if you're reading this, you have a VERY popular case in the Define R3....so get some more U.S. vendors on-board please!!!
piroroadkill - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
This is practically perfect.The 8 3.5" side facing drive sleds me me want to jizz.
My current system uses an Antec P182, which I've had for a few builds now, but there are annoying issues. No hole where the cooler backplate is, making it a dick to swap the cooler. Bottom drive cage is horrible (yes, I already removed the middle fan, with that it's almost impossible to work in.
Too little space behind the motherboard!
I have 7 hard drives and an SSD in my P182, along with one HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive, so I could use every single one of those 8 sleds and leave one 5.25" bay left over, and it would look fantastic.
That said, I just finished my build back in my P182 and I can't be bothered to switch.. But damn, this is an extremely nice case for a reasonable price.
Peskarik - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
"odds are you're not going to be fitting an AMD Radeon HD 6990 or ASUS Mars II in here, but if you can afford either of those, why are you buying a $100 case?"I disagree with this logic.
R3 is nice and would fit 6990 no problem, if the drive bay rack were split and removable.
The fixed non-splittable rack is The big miss in R3 for me.
The rest was fine, fitting MB was no problem, but like you've wrote, the standoffs were not mounted and since this is the first time I build a machine on my own it took me some time to understand how to mount the MB correctly (specifically, where those shiny standoffs should go). :-)
JarredWalton - Friday, November 11, 2011 - link
You disagree with which part of the logic? That people buying a $700 or $1400 GPU that uses a metric ton of power would likely be shopping for a larger case? Because that seems very reasonable to me; I don't get why people are uptight about us pointing out that a $100 case may not be the best choice for what will presumably be a dream system in the rest of the components.