A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the interior, simply remove the four thumb screws holding each side panel in place. The interior, while arranged in a traditional fashion, is not ordinary at all. All the elements within the R6 look to be custom tooled and designed, as is customary for the Define series. There is a large shroud and metal panel combination to keep the cable mess hidden away from view. You may take the two SSD brackets on the rear off the motherboard tray and place them on the shroud if you like, but if you place your GPU here at least the left one will no longer be usable due to the PCIe slot bracket taking up the space. Fractal Design could have just moved both SSD mounting locations further to the right to solve this issue.


Behind the motherboard tray, you will find a fan PCB, which is powered by a SATA connector. It can handle six 3-pin and three PWM based fans, with the respective signal taken from a header on the motherboard. Such a PCB will certainly come in extremely handy when utilizing larger radiators and, thus, multiple fans. You will find the two aforementioned SSD mounting brackets here as well. Fractal Design has also included two of their signature Velcro strips for easy cable management.


There is only about 20 mm of space between the motherboard tray and side panel. However, thanks to ample routing room and the wide cable channel created by the zip ties, I ran into no issue when closing the side panel once the system was fully assembled.


In the front, the two 140 mm fans are set to blow across the main hard drives. These sit on individual trays of which Fractal Design has included six. You may move them around freely, as there are five open positions along the entire front of the chassis. I am sure Fractal Design could end up selling extra ones for those who need them.


The cover that hides the hard-drive trays from view is made of metal as well and may be removed to reveal mounting possibilities for 3.5" drives when the alternative configuration is used.


In the rear, the PSU bay comes with four rubber bits on which the power supply will sit once installed. Above that are the expansion slots, with the vertical ones being black and the two horizontal variants white. The former are secured with thumbscrews inside the chassis, while the latter utilize traditional ones and can be accessed from outside of the chassis. In the very top, you will see the 120 mm exhaust fan with its all-white cables and plug.


In the ceiling, you can clearly make out the mounting possibilities for fans or a radiator. Thanks to being off-center, you should not have to worry about such a unit interfering with your motherboard's components under normal circumstances.


You may access the metal panel by popping off the top cover. Fractal Design has made the mounting plate completely removable so that you may easily install a radiator of up to 420 mm in size outside of the confines of the case. There is also a round opening, which is there to allow you to fill the reservoir/loop without taking everything apart.


All the cables within the Fractal Design R6 are sleeved black and of the standard variety, so they will most certainly fit any modern motherboard without issue.

Alternative Layout

As previously mentioned, the Fractal Design Define R6 has one big ace up its sleeve: you are able to move the front plate to the other side of the chassis by taking it apart partially. This gives you an open design, which is perfect for those requiring the space for larger liquid-cooling setups which include reservoirs and pumps. By doing so, you can use two of the 3.5" trays and attach them to the rear of the motherboard tray, which has the R6 offer up a total of four hard drive bays in this configuration.