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Add an Intel 520 series SSD to your Haswell system for unbelievable overall
performance. The Fractal Design Define XL is so large that I had to No, I'm
just kidding. Actually, I raised my table a little bit. We're going to lower
that. Uh, welcome to my unboxing and first look at the Define XLR2. This case
from Fractal Design is pretty much as B-roll put it before we started. Is this
kind of like the Define R4 but bigger? And I said yes. Yes indeed. It is an XL
version of their Define series case that has that same Scandinavian clean lines
look to it. And B-roll is indicating to me that the microphone's over here.
Thank you for that. Um has that same Scandinavian clean lines look to it but
in a larger enclosure. So, this case only supports four 5 and 1/4 in bays and
eight 3 and 1/2 in or 2 and 1/2 in bays.
So, in terms of sort of mere mortal
expansion, the kind of thing most normal people would do with their systems, it
doesn't really seem to offer that much over the Define R4.
However, and there goes the chandelier. See, it is actually quite
big. There we go. However, when you get into some of the more exotic things you
might want to do with your system, like liquid cooling, for example, that is
where the XR XL really shines. So, we've
got a very hard foam here. Not my personal favorite. However, it does
compensate by at least being quite thick. So, hopefully your case won't
undergo more than one significant impact on its way to you, particularly if you
have a system built and loaded into it. So, there we go. We're done with the
packing material there. comes with a plastic sleeve over top that is of
course, and this is very important, folks, recyclable. Okay, got that
recycling logo on there on my side. You couldn't see it before, but don't worry
too much about that. All right, the case itself. So, for the sake of getting sort
of a an idea of the scale of this case, go ahead and take a step back. This is
what it looks like next to a hulking 6'4
figure of masculine unbelievably. No,
actually I'm I'm 5'6, so that should give you a better idea of how big the case actually is. So, we're going to go
ahead and peel off the front. It is available in black or titanium gray. In
terms of the door, it's pretty much what
you'll expect if you've ever seen a Defined Series case before. So, there is
noise dampening foam on the inside of the front door here that helps some of
the noise that would otherwise escape from the front be harnessed and used for
good rather than evil. We've also got toollessly removable 5 and a/4 in bay
covers. Hopefully I can. There you go. See, the thing about toolless 5 and 1/4
in bay covers is that you have to not be a tool in order to remove them and put
them back in correctly. So, if you guys uh if you guys aren't able to do it,
don't feel too bad, but you're you're a tool. Uh so, no, I'm just kidding. At
the front, we've got two 140 mm cooling fan spots with built-in filters that you
can go ahead and do that with. Okay. You
also have the option to mount 120 mm fans here using the optional holes. But
you can see that the toolless mechanism that uses clips right here to mount the
fan is only available with 140 mm fans. The case itself includes their new R2
series fans which have better bearings than the older fans. They spin at 1,000
RPM which is in line with the cool and
quiet but mostly silent, mostly quiet theme of this particular case. You can
also see that there are mounting options right here for 140 or 120 mm things from
the inside as well. More on that. Look
at this. I'm using the word tool. I'm using the word I'm not trying to
say anything about, you know, the case. Don't worry. Good case. Fractal Design
makes good stuff. I like it. All right. Up at the top of the case, two USB 2.0
ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a power button, a reset button, a headphone
jack, and a microphone jack. Also, on the top of the case, we have two modu
vents. So, these are for 140 mm fan
slots as well, and you can either leave them in for optimal silence or you can
take them out for better cooling. Also, for cooling are these vents on the
front. So, down both sides of the front of the case, there is airflow access for
that front fan because if it was up to the door, nothing would be getting
through. No window on this particular case, but we do find another modu vent.
Oh, there we go. With a 120 or 140
millimeter fan mounting option available to it, but it's screwed into the 140 mm
fan mounts. And finally, let's move around to the back where we've got
another 140 or 120 mm fan mount IO as
well as nine PCI slots. So you can fit your XLATX motherboard in there and your
firstborn child and a muffin and
probably some like cigarettes if you're trying to hide them from your family.
Not that I condone smoking. It's terrible for your computer. Never mind your lungs. I mean, it's bad for your
computer. That should be all the reason you need to stop. That tar gets into
your heat sinks and your fans and gums them up and makes it so they don't work
very well. And heaven forbid you smoke and you have pets because then you're
going to have tar and hair in your heat sinks. And let me tell you, heat sinks
don't work very well when they are full of tar and hair. Speaking of things that
are full of tar and hair, actually these are not full of tar and hair, but they are high density noise dampening pieces
that go on both the left and right side panel of this case. They increase the
weight of the case significantly, but they also make it more resistant to
noise passing through it. So, I consider that a good thing. especially given that
it's a silence optimized case, which I think I've mentioned at least a couple
times. Now, here's the other one. So, you can see that modu has a slightly
different kind of foam on it. It's a bit of a a lower density foam. So, it has
some you can press it in a little bit there, but it's thicker to compensate
because we all know, what did I say when I did my unboxing of the 900D? It's not
about the length, it's about the girth. There you go. All right. Inside the
case, we find five four five and a quarter inch bays rather and no toolless
mechanisms on them. That's kind of an interesting one. Those have been standard for a while. Personally, I
don't care. The last time I mounted something in a 5 and 1/4 in bay, it was
a gerbble and I wasn't planning to use it for anything useful cuz what can a
derbal do that's useful? Nothing. Let's go ahead and take off these. This is
what I was alluding to on the inside. So, you can go ahead and remove these
thumb screws, and that allows you to achieve something very interesting,
which I'm buying time before I get
to. Let's see if I can take this off. There we go. All right. So, you can
reposition the drive cages. So, you can open this up to get more airflow access
for your graphics cards. So, that front 140 mm fan, you can see, is right there,
and that will allow it to blow directly on your graphics cards. This also gives
you access to the Aha. Yes, those mounting points there. So, the Define
XLR2 supports a 240 or 280 mm radiator
in the front, a 240 or 280 mm radiator
up here in the top. It also supports a 120 or 140 mm radiator in the back, and
a 140 mm radiator in the bottom of the
case without much difficulty whatsoever. So, it is extremely flexible in that
regard. Radiator support on this case is
extensive. It supports a 2x1 120 mm
radiator in the front, a 2x120 or 2x40
if you're using a slim radiator in the top. It supports a single 120 or 140 mm
radiator in the back. Although I'd say 140 might be a little bit little bit
tight, but you might be able to kind of figure it out in there. And a single 120
in the bottom. However, it should be noted that in the bottom here, did I say
140? Cuz I meant 120. in the bottom here. You might have a little bit of
difficulty with that if you decide to reposition the front hard drive cage.
So, this hard drive cage, let's go ahead and close that. Can move in about this
much, giving you the ability to install thicker radiators up there, no problem.
But that will obviously interfere with this fan. And then this hard drive cage,
which I showed you before, can either be installed the way that it was out of the
box, or check this out. It can be installed this way, giving you a good
compromise between airflow
and well, basically airflow, but you
sacrifice aesthetics a little bit because instead of the hard drives plugging in in the back of the case back
here, there we go. They plug in from the inside of the case where you would be
able to see them if you had a window on the chassis, but we don't. So, not too
worried about that. Also, on the back of the case, we find lots of other things.
We've got a large CPU cutout as well as cable management holes for your 8 pin,
your, you know, I don't know, other pin, your 24 pin, your six pin, your 8 pin,
your other more different 8 pin, uh, your U front connectors. So, these are
all black cables, which is nice to see. There's your front USB, there's your
front HD audio, there's your front USB 2, as well as your power and reset. All
things that you will most assuredly need. The case does have built-in fan
control that I missed when I was at the front here because I totally forgot.
12vt, 7V, and 5V are available with
three different positions on the switch. And these can be plugged into three
separate fans. Conveniently, the case includes three fans. Boom. Mind blown.
So, you plug that in using this guy right here. So, there's Molex power for
that, as well as the four three pin connectors for the fans themselves. I
think that is pretty much going to wrap it up for the Define XLR2. Thank you for
checking out my unboxing. Let me know what you think. Would you prefer the
compact functionality of the Define R4, which is significantly smaller than this
guy, or do you prefer the largess and the flexibility to add more advanced
cooling options to the case or a longer motherboard or more graphics cards? And
would you go with something like the Define XL instead? Don't forget to
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Heat. Heat.