Both side panels come with noise absorbing material.
Fitting a motherboard into the case was very simple as well – just fit the screw mounts into the case (depending on the size of the motherboard) and then fit the motherboard itself.
Final Thoughts
The Define R3 case from Fractal Design is amazing. You can easily see how much time and effort has gone into designing and building it. This is actually the case (no pun intended) with every single Fractal Design product.
The noise absorbing material works really well – I was concerned that with the ability to hold 8 hard drives and also the various fans, that it would sound like a jumbo jet engine, but the case does a really good job of limiting the noise – in fact sometimes you forget the PC is even switched on!
The ability to clean the dust out of certain parts of the case without the need to dismantle the case is a really good idea as well – this again seems to be the norm for some of the Fractal cases.
The Define R3 case comes in four different colours – Black Pearl, Titanium Grey (which is the one I am reviewing here), Arctic White and Silver Arrow . Frankly all of them look stunning!
The manual, whilst only being a few pages long, does provide a very detailed installation guide. So make sure you do take a few minutes to read it as it is time well spent.
Opening the case was simple and only involved using my fingers to turn some screws – and the same goes for the screws inside the case holding the drive bays in place.
There is space for 2 optical drives (or you could use a kit to mount additional hard drives if 10 were not enough), all of which provides more than enough storage space!
The USB ports are USB 2.0 (on the review model) and there is now a USB 3.0 upgrade kit, or you can just buy the USB 3.0 version of the Define R3 case. We will be reviewing the USB 3.0 upgrade kit shortly.
Either way, having some ports on the top front of the case make it very easy to use.
There are even holes for water cooling – not that I have tried using water cooling myself. I am still a little nervous about putting any liquid in a computer, even if it is a tried and testing method. But the point is Fractal have thought of everything.
Bottom line is that this a fantastic case with just about every possible thing you would want and more! If you want to build yourself a fantastic PC or even a Windows Home Server then this could be the case for you. Obviously if you want something to hold more than 2 optical drives and 8 hard drives then take a look at the Define XL.
Price wise, you can pick up the Define R3 for around £80, which given it’s size and design is a bargain. And that is actually for the USB 3.0 version of the case, the USB 2.0 version will probably be a little cheaper.
Great job Fractal Design – you have yet another winner on your hands.
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