Fractal Design Define C Review
FRACTAL OFFERS A PC CASE THAT AIMS FOR SILENCE AND A LITTLE BLING…
Fractal is well known for its stylish, silent computing efforts, presenting cases to enthusiasts for years that elegant and quiet. The new Define C is also compact, but it also ticks every other box that Fractal’s known for.
The Define C is available in two versions the windowed case we’ve reviewed here, and one with a more solid side-panel. With motherboards, video cards, and even RAM now replete with LEDs and lighting effects, wanting to show off your PC’s blinking, pulsing innards makes perfect sense, and the Define C’s separate power supply and drive compartment keeps your PC interior even neater. In fact, the case has some wonderful cable management features Velcro ties to keep cabling neat, rubber grommets to protect those cables, and lots of room for keeping them out of the way.
Being compact, though, means there are some sacrifices involved. There’s only two 3.5in drive caddies, though there’s a removable bracket on the motherboard plate for storing up to three 2.5in drives. There’s room for cards up to 315mm long, and power supplies up to 175mm. It’s manageable, but certainly something to consider if you’re looking to build a more powerful system.
Cooling out of the box is pretty solid for the price and other features. There’s a single 120mm intake fan, and another
120mm exhaust, but there’s room for up to five more if you really need to keep your gear cool. There are removable dust filters on the front and bottom panels, and you can fit another optional one on the top panel if you prize airflow over silence. On the silent front, while the clear side-panel may not help, there’s anti-noise material in the other side-panel, rubber grommets on the HDD caddies, and where the sidepanels connect with the main chassis.
For a full-ATX build that’s not going to dominate your desk, the Define C is a worthy option. David Hollingworth
- 7Review earns Amazon affiliate commissions from qualifying purchases.
KEY SPECS
413 x 210 x 453mm · 7x expansion slots · 1x 120mm fan (front), 1x 120mm fan (rear) · 2x 3.5in HDD slots, 3x 2.5in SSD slots · ATX PSU · ATX, Micro-ATX, and ITX motherboard-compatible.
