WEBVTT

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the first defined series case from fractal design that i checked out the

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define r2 was that four years ago

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man time flies anyway it delivered what was at the time a great mix of features

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for the price and built-in noise dampening which is a really solid value

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add but the computer industry moves so fast that to keep up with their

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competition defines our three and r4 both came very quickly speaking of

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coming quickly by the way look forward to our dragon age awakening video card

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showdown which is coming very soon make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it

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but unlike its predecessors the define r5 has actually been in development for

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over two years so what the heck have they been doing

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all this time

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the cooler master neptune 240m features an exclusive pump design and their new

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celencio fans to provide impressive near silent performance click now to learn

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more well one thing fractal finally figured

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out is packing material experienced companies all eventually realize that

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the cost of rmas and the bad customer experiences that come with them is just

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not worth it yes it's hard foam but it's

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thicker and much stronger than what you'll find protecting many other cases

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in this price range thumbs up onto the chassis itself the outside really is

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defined through and through i mean heck i bet if you lined up ours one to five

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in a taste test only a fractal product designer could probably actually pick

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them all correctly but that doesn't mean that they haven't changed anything on

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the top we get the usual front audio a recessed reset switch a fancy looking

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power button two usb 2 and two usb 3.0 ports and oh what's this then a new

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tool-less top mod event system that allows you to have zero one two or three

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top 120 millimeter or 140 millimeter fan

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mounts from the back while building i

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didn't really like the way they handled the curved corners on the plastic pieces

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but looking at it from the front the way that you'll normally see a computer case

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it's much less noticeable and aside from the outlines of the pieces you've left

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in place the transition actually looks pretty darn good probably because

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fractal did a great job of matching the

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plastic and metal finishes at least on the black and titanium models i can't

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speak for the white one one compromise up here though that i don't really feel

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strongly about either way but feel compelled to point out is the

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asymmetrical fan mounts it doesn't look as clean to have them off to one side

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like that but the benefit is that it gives the motherboard a lot more room for cooling

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up at the top on the front is one of my favorite

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finishes faux brushed aluminum normally i prefer real materials to fake ones but

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the brush plastic looks pretty much just like the real thing is much easier to

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clean and in this case keeps light reflections down making the effect of

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the brushness very subtle like this and also the much easier

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breathing side vents that will keep the two front 120 millimeter or 140

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millimeter fan supplied with fresh air the rest of the front i have kind of

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mixed feelings about the bitumen noise dampening inside the door is good the

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three fan controller is good and the much better and easier to remove front

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fan filter are all great additions but

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while the idea of reversing the door opening direction

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is good the mechanism on our unit only closes if we kind of

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swing it shut rather than closing it nicely and i'm not a fan of non-standard

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shaped five and a quarter inch bay covers because if you actually install

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an optical drive it looks a little out of place on it just like it does on

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Corsair's 900d the r5's bottom has more good stuff

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though this front accessible fan filter slides in and out nice and easy and

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protects her insides from unwanted junk and while there's not much to say about

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the side panels the new left modu vent looks cleaner than the old style that

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exposed the grille when it wasn't in use imo and the right panel now uses captive

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thumb screws with the left opting for normal ones a seemingly strange decision

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until you realize that you'll never use them thanks to the new

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latching mechanism around the back there's not much of note you've got your

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bottom mounted power supply 7 expansion slots and 120 or 140 millimeter fan

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mounting slots up at the top riveting let's talk about the inside shall we

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speaking of rivets the inside of the define r5 is fractal's most modular yet

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with screws to hold in the bottom and top hard drive cages captive ones by the

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way and even the optical cage at the top

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this opens up a ton of different mounting options for the up to eight

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three and a half inch or two and a half inch drive mounts including rotating the

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top five 90 degrees pulling them out entirely shifting the bottom three left

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and bringing the five down hanging eight or five from the top with the optical

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cage removed or even just removing all of them entirely for more cooling space

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and which is great because for a silent case there are a lot of spots to mount

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fans and radiators in the front with all those aforementioned drive cages removed

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you can put up to a triple 120 but a dual 140 looks like kind of the sweet

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spot with room for a 120 140 or dual 120

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in the bottom albeit not necessarily at the same time as the front rad or a very

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long power supply up to a triple 120 or

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140 in the top as long as the total thickness of the fans and rad doesn't

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exceed 55 millimeters oh and for good measure you can throw a single 120 or

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140 into the back the rest of the insides from this side are pretty

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standard fare the motherboard trays only remarkable characteristics other than

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the uh you know usual big CPU cutout and

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well-positioned cable management holes where how surprisingly solid it is even

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with all the front bays that it anchors to removed and also the way that the

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motherboard area sits slightly recessed something that may cause clearance

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issues with those slightly wider than atx enthusiast boards if their right

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angle connectors on that edge are in awkward locations on to the build

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process the inclusion of a post in the center motherboard standoff is awesome

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and keeps the mobo in place while you screw it in the rest of them but the

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rest of the standoffs were pretty lame to install actually fractal used to

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include a metal standoff installation tool and now it's plastic or nylon or

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something which prevents it from sticking to my magnetic screwdriver and

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makes it harder to wrench it in tight enough but there's more positive stuff

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to make up for this oversight the SSD mounts on the back of the motherboard

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are better than the older screw through the mobo tray system i've seen fractal

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use and as far as cable management is concerned the define r4 was cruising for

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a good to very good ranking with ample

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zip tie loops lots of room in the right areas behind the motherboard trader

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route cables and included velcro straps and then i noticed a couple things i

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haven't personally seen before cable management loops up the right panel side

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of the front awesome and two different positions for three

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and a half inch drive mounting on the metal rails the standard position and

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one that brings them closer to the left side panel for more room behind them

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finally the first define that can not

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only hold eight drives but also has enough room for all the required cables

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brilliant a huge improvement over the r2 that i'm using for my home server right now

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which i guess is pretty much the conclusion for this video isn't it what's the define r5 well it's an

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improvement over previous defines in every way

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it's unlikely to compel r4 or even r3

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owners to upgrade but at 100 bucks and change for a non-windowed one like this

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or 10 more dollars for a windowed version it's a worthy member of the

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product family and a recommended buy from me thanks for watching guys like this video

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