Fractal Design Define R3

[BababooeyHTJ]

ncixus has them but their shipping has always been retarded every time I've thought about buying anything off of them. I hope frozencpu or performancepcs can start carrying these soon.

I sent Fractal an email asking about their plans for the US market in about mid November and I got this reply.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick one of these up at some point soon since I;m not about to pay $50 for shipping from NCIX.

We anticipate having product available at the major in about a month as we just established the US company in September and it take a while to get the resellers established, orders placed, product built and shipped from China, etc... as you can imagine. We are getting many requests just like yours so rest assured we are going as fast as we can to satisfy US demand. I hope you will wait for us to get the case available in the US but I know how it is once you decide to build. ;-)

Anyway, I hope you can hold on as we are getting really great feedback on our cases from the samples we have sent our soon to be partners and I know you will really like these cases.

Thanks for your interest in Fractal Design products.

 

[$immond$]

LOL!

Sorry, I had the exact opposite experience. I used to own a Antec 300 case myself, I upgraded to the Fractal Design R3 Black Pearl because to me the Antec 300 was only a temporary since it didn't belong to me, but while using it I found the build quality to be mostly like the cons you got from your experience other than the issue with the paint.

When I got my R3 I was impressed as it felt like a massive upgrade with the build quality and airflow set-up I was able to do, but even I must admit there are a couple of flaws I found myself which I've already mentioned in this thread. As for the paint work on the Artic White R3 I heard someone saying it was superior to the paint work on all other models including my own yet I don't seem to have this paint peeling/ chipping issues, if anything my paint seems to be really scratch resistant which I noticed after a few stupid accidents I made with a screw driver (despite the accidents there were no visible scratches at all) when I was trying to correct the fan on my side panel since it was blowing out instead of in a it should have been.

Truth be told though I did like the Antec 300 case, but a much better version of it could be made with the panels being more solid than flimsy, the top panel having 2-3 slots for some 140mm fans as well as having a hole or two at the bottom. It could also be much better with other upgrades including the obvious on with having USB 3.0 ports and maybe a custom fan fitting for the front of the case. I would say a Lian Li version (I would like to exclude the overtall part though as a upgrade feature as I don't like it :shadedshu, although making the case a little taller, not by too much of course, might work out well) with the case being made mainly of aluminium with a black interior (like my R3 Black Pearl), along with my upgrade suggestions would be a even better upgrade of both the current case and maybe the R3 series completely.

But like that is going to happen.

Owning 3 "New" Antec 300 cases I have never seen such poor build quality from what I have seen from Fractal design, the HDA/AC 97 cable shorted my system when I plugged in my headphones in and now I have to RMA my Crosshair IV motherboard, (thank god for ASUS warranty) but I am returning the case and opting for another case.

I didn't mind the scratched paint on the hard drive bays and wobbly side panel but that really iced the cake.

Perhaps I am being to hard but the reason I decided to go for the R3 was all the good reviews. I was really disappointed by what I received.

 

[icare2]

Hi,

I'm neewbie and project to purchase the Define R3 case this week.I plan place inside it:

Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield
with
ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366 DDR3
and
Antec Truepower New 650W Modular Power Supply ATX12V V2.3 Active PFC 80 Plus SLI Ready 120MM PWM Fan

All that with G.SKILL F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit (expandable to 12 GB if necessary)
I'm not a gamer (I never played on a game on an ordi),but transform a lot of RAWs photo with Lightroom and Photoshop.Sometimes,when I ajust a layer in Toshop,my Intel Core2 Duo E8400 Dual Core,4 Gigs RAM Dual channel needs 7-8 seconds to modify a setting.

I hope it will be faster with the new set-up.One of the MOST impotant to me is the silence,so I want install a fan on the ''innerfloorvent'' running at low speed.
My question is about the size of the fan fitting there,120 or 140 mm?

(I own Sonata II and Sonata III before and now I want try other style)...
Thank's a lot,