Fractal Design Define R5
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,585 words · ~7 min read
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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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