A Closer Look - Inside

The solid side panel and solid top cover come lined with a sound dampening material, which we have seen in every chassis of this series thus far. For access to the interior, simply pull the tab of each panel off the Define 7 Nano. Fractal includes a metal shroud on the bottom that may also be used to place a single SSD tray here if you like to show off your solid-state drives. That said, Fractal offers a total of three positions, but only supplies two trays. Fractal does market the fact that the chassis can hold four such drives total with three being possible out of the box. That makes it sound like you can buy an individual tray easily from retailers, but as far as we know, there is no such official SKU. Towards the front, there are two plastic covers that form an air duct which directs the flow from the front across the top.


On the opposite side, the Define 7 Nano has a bit of a different layout than the Compact or traditional variant as there simply isn't a lot of room to work with. There are eight basic, but long enough Velcro strips around the cutout for the CPU cooler backplate, which should help in keeping things tidy. Towards the front, Fractal ships the Define 7 Nano with a single 2.5" tray. but you may rotate it at which point it will fit that second one which is included as part of the accessories.


In the front, underneath the wind tunnel shaped plastic, there is a hard drive cage which may hold one 2.5" and one 3.5" unit. This one has been completely redesigned and as a result is much simpler than any of the bigger case versions. There are no more individual tray and you have to go as far as to remove the bottom dust filter to get to the four screws holding it in place so that you may finally install a drive in it. This new approach feels too simple for a case with this DNA and a genuine step in the wrong direction.


Above that is the area dedicated to air intake, with the 140 mm fan perfectly aligned with the two-piece air duct. Alternatively, you may install or liquid cooling of up to 280 mm in size here. Considering, that this is the only location for such a well sized AIO, you need to be aware that this will limit your GPU to roughly around 280 mm (331 mm - 50 mm AIO thickness) length, which is rather short in comparison to what other ITX enclosures offer.


The PSU bay is a bit on the compact side, if you consider the air duct. You may remove those element and the hard drive tray, which then gives you up to 200 mm of room. Above that, the two expansion slots in the main compartment are easy to access because of thumb screws, with the aforementioned 120 mm exhaust fan in the very top of the Define 7 Nano.


In the ceiling you may place two fans, either 120 or 140 mm in size. However, the motherboard is right up against the ceiling, so realistically speaking 140 mm will rarely fit as most modern ITX boards sport a fairly large heatsink and lots of connectors at the top edge of the board. Fractal Design should have really provides that little bit of extra height to make the most of this area.


Last but not least, all the cables within the Fractal Define 7 Nano are of the default variety and sleeved black.