# Fractal Design Define C



## Darksaber (Nov 2, 2016)

The Fractal Design Define C is an optimized version of the open-air design we have seen in the Define S. Lacking the usual internal and external drive bays and with a more compact size and somewhat simplified but modernized interior, it will be interesting to see whether it can hold its own.

*Show full review*


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## Ferrum Master (Nov 2, 2016)

I am wanting to replace R5...

How thick is the side panel metal? One thing I hate about switching from R4 to R5 is thinner side panels, they bend.


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## Chaitanya (Nov 2, 2016)

I thought they had included type-C port on front panel(from name atleast), but seems like they are quite slow to adopt. Atleast they had decency to copy top cover idea from CM, that Moduvent looked ugly with radiator installed on top.


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## close (Nov 2, 2016)

I get that it's cheap but 2 USB 3.0 ports? How expensive would it have been to include another 2 even USB 2.0 (maybe the Type-C would be too expensive)? Also what's with the SSD mounted right behind the CPU?


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## Ferrum Master (Nov 2, 2016)

close said:


> I get that it's cheap but 2 USB 3.0 ports? How expensive would it have been to include another 2 even USB 2.0 (maybe the Type-C would be too expensive)? Also what's with the SSD mounted right behind the CPU?



Clutter. I hate that. I actually omit those ports as I don't use them.


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## Grings (Nov 2, 2016)

Hey, they copied the top mesh cover from the Thermaltake Suppressor series!


/sarcasm


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## close (Nov 2, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> Clutter. I hate that. I actually omit those ports as I don't use them.


That's what wire management is for. If you manage to deal with the bundle of power and SATA cables then the single cable that would add 2 more USB ports to the front panel can't clutter a case. It's one more cable here with 3cm of cable coming from behind the motherboard tray and connecting to the USB header:
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





USB ports are a real necessity for most people and that's why you get ~6-10 of them on the motherboard. It makes sense to put more than 2 on the front of the case where it's easily accessible. With so many USB devices around you basically you just move the clutter from inside the case to the outside by having 50+cm cables hanging out of the back of the case all the way to the desk.


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## Ferrum Master (Nov 2, 2016)

close said:


> That's what wire management is for.



You can't fix two heavily shielded cables in R5 case two plus two plus rubbish front panel audio. It takes space and IS ugly.


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## MagnuTron (Nov 2, 2016)

They trashed the side-fan mount, which removes it from my "dual GPU cases" list.. Well done FD.. well done.


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## close (Nov 2, 2016)

Ferrum Master said:


> You can't fix two heavily shielded cables in R5 case two plus two plus rubbish front panel audio. It takes space and IS ugly.


I wasn't comparing it to any case in particular because there are hundreds of cases where this is absolutely possible. There's a picture above and it really looks to me like there's room for another cable there, especially if it's a USB 2.0 cable for a very common setup: 2 USB 2.0 + 2 USB 3.0. Also I said nothing about audio connectors because people have a tad less devices they constantly plug into audio jacks than devices they constantly plug into USB ports.
If you can route the ATX power cable you can definitely route one USB 2.0 cable. Or ask a friend to do it for you.

I get that it's FD's design choice to save money but it's definitely not because people can't route one more cable like they've done for years is so many other cases, or because 2 USB ports are sexy but 4 "ARE ugly".


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## aldo5 (Nov 2, 2016)

3.5's left out completely enclosed and unventilated  and those 2.5' almost toucning the back of CPU ? (you know that back of cpu gets so hot that it hurts to touch) ... not the brightest solutions for storage


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 2, 2016)

MadsMagnus said:


> They trashed the side-fan mount, which removes it from my "dual GPU cases" list.. Well done FD.. well done.



What do you mean "trashed"? If you mean removed, there wasn't one on the R4 or R5.  My R4 with glass side panel has no fan mount, and all components in the case still stay cool.


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## silapakorn (Nov 3, 2016)

Only two 3.5" drive bays are not enough for me, especially nowadays that games are 50+ GB.
I hate that they remove 5.2" drive bays and replace them with nothing. What a waste of space.


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## Assimilator (Nov 3, 2016)

About the only innovative thing about this case is the SSD tray behind the motherboard tray... seems Fractal haven't innovated in a while, which is sad to see.


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## Caring1 (Nov 3, 2016)

aldo5 said:


> 3.5's left out completely enclosed and unventilated  and those 2.5' almost toucning the back of CPU ? (you know that back of cpu gets so hot that it hurts to touch) ... not the brightest solutions for storage


There's clearly three 2.5 mounts on the back, and they chose to mount one in the centre according to the picture, that is a personal choice where you place them.
The SSD mounting tray is not a new concept as I have an old case with the same design for the motherboard tray, undo one grub screw and it pivots out for easy access.
I like the design overall, apart from the top mount ports which seem to be dust traps and should have plugs as well as more USB's as mentioned by others.


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## MagnuTron (Nov 3, 2016)

rtwjunkie said:


> What do you mean "trashed"? If you mean removed, there wasn't one on the R4 or R5.  My R4 with glass side panel has no fan mount, and all components in the case still stay cool.


I just even realized that this series was released. I was, of course, talking about the hard panel type - not window. These cases have until now always had a side fan mount.

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r4-black-pearl
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r5-black
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 3, 2016)

MadsMagnus said:


> I just even realized that this series was released. I was, of course, talking about the hard panel type - not window. These cases have until now always had a side fan mount.
> 
> http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r4-black-pearl
> http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r5-black
> http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s



Oh, ok. The side intake, though, is wholly unnecessary though.  The airflow in the series is excellent.  Also, the bottom intake blows tons of fresh air straight at the GPU's.

I didn't realize, though that the non-windowed C doesn't have the intake.  My mistake.


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## MagnuTron (Nov 3, 2016)

rtwjunkie said:


> Oh, ok. The side intake, though, is wholly unnecessary though.  The airflow in the series is excellent.  Also, the bottom intake blows tons of fresh air straight at the GPU's.
> 
> I didn't realize, though that the non-windowed C doesn't have the intake.  My mistake.


The problem isn't the bottom GPU though, it's the one that has limited air intake (PCIe 1). From my experience, if you build machines for other people - you need to have a side intake to make sure the cards don't throttle after X amount of time.


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## Hiryougan (Nov 3, 2016)

This case looks like SPC M70 Pax with window(which of course was based on Fractals, i know). Seems like a decent case.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 3, 2016)

MadsMagnus said:


> The problem isn't the bottom GPU though, it's the one that has limited air intake (PCIe 1). From my experience, if you build machines for other people - you need to have a side intake to make sure the cards don't throttle after X amount of time.



Good Point.  In my experience, though, I never build SLI for someone else.  My standard is to keep everything about the machine and operating system as simple as possible. It lessens those calls that stuff doesn't work when I am on my time off.  And the airflow in this Fractal series is good enough it will never throttle with just a single card.


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## Sp33d Junki3 (Nov 3, 2016)

silapakorn said:


> Only two 3.5" drive bays are not enough for me, especially nowadays that games are 50+ GB.
> I hate that they remove 5.2" drive bays and replace them with nothing. What a waste of space.


You have 3x 2.5" space to fit 1TB SSD. Plenty for games. 
The 5.25" bays no one really uses them. It is not wasted space, it gives clear direct airflow for fans and rads to fit 360 in front. 
It is same style as Define S, NZXT S340 and many others like it. If you want optical bay, R5 is close to it.


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## Ferrum Master (Nov 3, 2016)

Sp33d Junki3 said:


> The 5.25" bays no one really uses them



Completely agree... I even ditched 3.5inch drives for 2.5 ones. One SSD and one laptop leftover HDD for spammy data.


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## Caring1 (Nov 3, 2016)

MadsMagnus said:


> The problem isn't the bottom GPU though, it's the one that has limited air intake (PCIe 1)........ you need to have a side intake to make sure the cards don't throttle after X amount of time.


If the front fans are unobstructed, you don't need side fans, the air flow from them should be adequate to supply fresh air to all cards.


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## Jermelescu (Nov 7, 2016)

How's the noise reduction factor on this case?


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## Bjørgersson (Nov 11, 2016)

How quiet could those stock fans be?


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## Freelancer (Nov 25, 2016)

Hi all,

Is heat a concern for 3.5" drives without any airflow below the shroud?  I'm planning for a new PC and intend to use 1 SSD and 1 HD (maybe 2TB).


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## Kofoed (Nov 25, 2016)

Would you recommend this over the Corsair Carbide 400Q?

Thanks in advanced.


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## Bjørgersson (Nov 30, 2016)

seggbizo said:


> How quiet could those stock fans be?


I think they're even quieter than my previous SWiF2s.



Kofoed said:


> Would you recommend this over the Corsair Carbide 400Q?
> 
> Thanks in advanced.


I totally would. I've seen both irl and I chose Fractal, I think it's higher quality and I've always preferred Fractal over Corsair. But that's just me.


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## Kofoed (Dec 1, 2016)

So I got the Define c myself yesterday, the installation was quite easy. Nice cable management.. Overall very good case, my only flaw is that is it not as quiet as I had hoped for.
Compared to my old HAF 932 it is quite a bit quieter, but once it heats up a bit it becomes quite loud.

The cooling is very good though, quieter than my old, but only gets a few degress hotter during stress test. CPU i5 4760k at 3.8GHz hits 73degree after 30min of prime95.

My CPU cooler is the older Noctua NH-U12P with whatever fans that came with it.
GPU Sapphire 390 Nitro 
Stock case fans

Im going to try and get some quiet CPU fans to see if I can bring the noise down a tad.


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## Bjørgersson (Dec 1, 2016)

Kofoed said:


> So I got the Define c myself yesterday, the installation was quite easy. Nice cable management.. Overall very good case, my only flaw is that is it not as quiet as I had hoped for.
> Compared to my old HAF 932 it is quite a bit quieter, but once it heats up a bit it becomes quite loud.
> 
> The cooling is very good though, quieter than my old, but only gets a few degress hotter during stress test. CPU i5 4760k at 3.8GHz hits 73degree after 30min of prime95.
> ...


Good choice!


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