Fractal Design Define Mini Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on April 22, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- MicroATX
- Fractal Design
- Case
Noise and Thermal Testing
In a bid to focus on providing only useful information and keeping things clean, simple, and to the point, I've culled idle thermal test results from this review (and will from reviews going forward). Idle thermals are borderline irrelevant, and only important when they're comically high; at idle, the most important statistic is noise.
As I mentioned on the Testing Methodology page, due to retiring the micro-ATX board from the primary testbed, micro-ATX cases will now be tested with the mini-ITX testbed. That means that I can't compare the Fractal Design Define Mini directly against the SilverStone SG09 and the Rosewill Line-M. As it turns out, that may not be as big of an issue as it first appears.
The Fractal Design Define Mini was tested with the included fan controller at its lowest and highest settings. Ambient temperature ranged between 22C and 25C during testing.
Already things aren't looking that great for the Define Mini. Changing the fan setting doesn't do a whole lot fo the CPU, but the system just isn't very good at keeping the CPU cool. In Fractal Design's defense, this case looks better suited to a tower-style cooler, but as you'll see later, the problem may not be simply a cooler not being right for the case.
While the highest fan setting is definitely louder than the lowest, it's not tremendously slow, and it's still below the 30dB floor of our sound meter. If nothing else, in our barebones stock configuration, the Define Mini is very quiet.
Ordinarily adding a dedicated graphics card will bump the CPU temperatures up a couple of degrees (sometimes it actually can reduce them a little since the IGP is no longer in use). Not so, here. The GTS 450, typically a model citizen, just makes a bad situation worse. And despite having direct airflow from the front intake, it still runs hotter than the bulk of the cases tested.
Noise levels continue to be low, but they can't really make up for the consistently poor performance of the stock fans in the Define Mini. Bumping the graphics card up to a bigger monster like the GTX 560 Ti does seem to help at least a little, though.
Comparative performance improves some and the two fan settings start to really separate. While not strictly comparable to results from the main testbed (which has an extra 30W of CPU heat to dissipate alongside the 560 Ti), the graphics card's performance is now at least competitive. CPU thermals continue to underwhelm, though, with the highest fan setting being required to produce decent results.
The Define Mini does a strong job of proving its worth once the noise results come in, though. Things are running pretty warm, but they're reasonably quiet, too. At idle the system remains inaudible, while load noise is fairly low. This is one of those instances where a higher case fan speed can actually produce lower noise, though, as the graphics card's fans don't need to spin as fast to move cool air over the GPU.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
57 Comments
View All Comments
Icehawk - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - link
I have this case, it has a high build quality and very quiet - not the best cooling in stock form, true, and I think that is due to weak intake design and the damping material acting as insulation. I get little airflow even without the middle drive cage installed, my RAM gets pretty toasty - definitely been the source of a few crashes. I have a Corsair H70 (blowing out), a triple fan GTX670, and fanless 500W PSU which all run within comfortable temps. My system is just about silent under the desk which was my goal, I think with one more fan the system would run plenty cool but as you will see in my next comment the spot where a fan would do the most good for me is unusable.One design flaw, at least for me, is the location of the side panel fan cutout - it's too far towards the back of the case and because of this I cannot put a fan here as it interferes with my H70 radiator. If it was a little farther forward this would not be a problem and would also put it in a better location to cool the mobo.
Two comments about the review - first, do you REALLY care about built-in standoffs? IMO it's a tiny "upgrade", it saves about 2 minutes max the first time you build a machine. Second, I was able to route all of my cable behind the mobo from the included fans & controller... barely. It IS doable but you may need to cut some wiring sheaths and get creative with routing.
At $100 I think it's great value in terms of build quality, materials, etc - I can't believe I've been buying $50 junk boxes all of these years when for not a lot more the boxes are way nicer. Would love to see a revised model that improves cooling and cleans up the front design with a more minimal drive setup.
Peroxyde - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - link
Bought a Fractal Design R4 Mid Tower 2 days ago. This case is a jewel. Heavy, less sensitive to vibration. Everything in this case has been thought carefully: cable management, filter, noise reduction, paint job, even down to the screws and the metal rulers hiding expansion card slots. It is way better than more expensive case from Antec and Cooler Master. This company should make more marketing. Even better, it look nice! Even my wife finds that it looks beautiful.darkfalz - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - link
I have the Define Mini. It's a nice case. It's heavy (sturdy) and very quiet. Having to manually adjust the fan is a bit annoying (and believe me, you will want it on max for gaming and min for anything else). It takes a stock 680 GTX so it handles a longer card than the specs specify. I added a second front fan as I have 5 HDDs inside (4 in RAID 5). LED is too bright (lights up the room in standby with blinking blue) and no HDD LED unfortunately.cpupro - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
It is for mATX motherboards but it is not small case, my other mini tower case with ATX board inside is only about 1 cm taller than Define Mini, including standoffs. Only cons with this case is irritating bright blue LED (I assume also red LED in white cases), it burn eyes, nothing minimal here as article suggest. Don't need to mention LED suspend mode blinking or bright blue LED when watching films in dark room.Overall, well built, quality case.
freedom4556 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
My big problem with my Fractal Define Mini is that I bought it hoping to go to a 'smaller' computer, but I didn't really check the dimensions before I did it versus what I had. I was coming from an Antec 300 and I wanted a bottom power supply intake, some sound deadening, and a few tool-less amenities along with downsizing from an ATX board in that build to an mATX board in the current build. It only cut two inches off the height, but got an inch wider and over an inch deeper in the process. So while I can understand that these builds are "small" in comparison to things like 800D and HAF X, they still aren't 'small' when you compare them with more 'budget' full-ATX offerings. I feel like all I lost in the transition was the flexibility of three extra slots while gaining some noise reduction at almost twice the cost. I also wish the door opened wider, and my front intake fan has starting buzzing against the frame after only a few removals for cleaning.stanwood - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
I used a Define Mini for my most recent build. Totally silent under my desk. Very sturdy and looks good. I have been very happy with it. Only pet peeve is I wish the front door swing were reversible (PC sits to my right but door swings open to the left).Dustin, it would be nice if you'd make sure to include a picture of the final rig as tested, with GPU, so we're clear how you set it up. I have left the middle drive cage in rotated to funnel air flow over my CPU. Did you try that out and see any difference?
Sladeofdark - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
I was just talking about how good this case was. I got it for my girlfriend in White because the Corsair case is still too pricey right now. This case was all sold out and i had to order the one with a window kit because i liked it so much. I have used it in 3 builds just this year. Great Case. The front door likes to act up, but if you are a veteran builder you will have the parts on hand to reinforce the mechanism that catches the door and makes it stay closed with a click.