Fractal Design Define R6 - Mid Tower Computer Case - ATX - Optimized For High Airflow And Silent Computing with ModuVent Technology - PSU Shroud - Modular interior - Water-cooling ready - Black

Bought to replace a Corsair 800D E-ATX case. This case was perfect for my build as I have the Z97S SLi Krait Edition by MSi, a black and white motherboard, which goes perfectly with the colour scheme of the Define R6. I don't have many complaints with the way this case is engineered but there are a few pros/cons which I identified as I went along with the build that I would like to point out.Pros------------- - Much smaller & lighter than my Corsair 800D - Sound - Mother of god is this case quiet. Even under load I can barely hear the airflow which is a huge plus for me. - Fans included seem to be pretty decent quality, match the aesthetics of the case and are quieter than my old Corsair 140mm fans (provided with 800D) - Easy to modify this case to meet your requirements. Don't need the hard drive bays? Remove them. Vertical GPU? Go for it. I haven't tested my GPU in vertical orientation for temps etc. yet as the riser cable is not provided and I cannot find a single UK stockist of their specific cable. - The included radiator bracket in the top of the case ensures that pretty much any radiator you can think of will fit. You can also decide between multiple locations to situate your radiator to your preference. - Plenty of spare screws/bolts for installing your hardware to the case, should you lose everything like I do :-( - Many tie down points and other cable management features - Fan controller - Plug this into your motherboard, plug all of your fans into this. It's that easy and it makes a huge difference to the look of the inside of your case not having to plug your fans into every header on the motherboard! - Dust filters come provided on all but the rear fan bay. This, of course, is because the rear fan is intended as an exhaust outlet. - Sound deadening is installed where it counts...you can really tell the difference between this and an undampened case!Cons------------ - You can mount two SSDs in front of the motherboard. I couldn't do this because my PSU has inline SATA power connectors and this was bending the contacts on my SSDs. I decided to then move them to the HDD/SSD trays in the back. I now have to buy new SATA power cables to install them where I wanted them, which I will do in due course. Something to consider if you have your mind set on mounting your SSDs in the front. In addition to this I still had to gently bend the wires on my inline connector to use the rear mounted HDD bays. I'm looking at custom making my own SATA power cables to work around this issue.- It's easy to mount the radiator bracket in the top of the case back on incorrectly. I ended up aligning the bracket with the 2nd set of clips - the ones intended for the dust filter/cover combination.- The listing says that this case supports eATX but I see no evidence of this in the case. The box for the case itself doesn't even list it as supporting eATX and my ATX mobo fit snugly. I have my doubts over whether eATX will fit.- Airflow. Granted, this case has less fans than the 800D but I am seeing +5-10C temp difference in this new case. I need to plan out my airflow a little better, maybe add in a couple of 140mm intake fans at the bottom of the case and see if this improves. If not, the restricted airflow of this case could prove to be a hindrance to my overclocking endeavours.- No reservoir mounting points. In other words, you'll need a drill if you want to add mount points.- As mentioned above the company don't provide the PCI-E riser cable and as far as I can see, is not even yet available in the UK which is quite disappointing. If it's not provided that is fair enough, not everybody wants to mount their GPU vertically and I guess it's not fair to force them to pay extra for the case on account of receiving a riser with it. Reviews on YouTube mention that you can buy additional HDD & SSD trays as up to 11 can fit inside the case. After purchasing the case I discovered that Fractal do not currently offer these accessories and do not intend to do so. You are instead asked to declare your interest in buying them as spares - if Fractal want to market it this way then the case should come fully outfitted with the 11 possible hard drive bays, of which you remove the ones you don't want. Where am I going to conjure the other 5 bays from? Things like this really frustrate me.Despite the drawbacks this is, overall, a very good case and I would recommend it to anyone that fancies it.Update: I've since built a full WC loop in this case and upgraded to Ryzen 3rd gen... There are little by way of mounting options but a separate plate is available to order from Fractal that gives you more options. I had to mount my reservoir to the front mounted radiator because I didn't have this plate. Note that if, like me, you buy a large reservoir (in this case the XSPC d5 Photon 270 you will have *severe* problems getting it mounted to your radiator if it is two pass. I initially built with an X-Flow rad but there was a hole somewhere in it and it leaked. I installed an XSPC two pass rad...it doesn't look as nice as it did with the X-flow rad but it does the job until my RMA rad comes back. The problem with a two pass rad is that the Photon 270 can only mount with a single screw in this configuration due to the design of the mounting bracket, everything else doesn't align with the relevant screwholes -.- Additionally, although the case does in fact support a 360 rad in the top, it isn't recommended depending on your setup - in my case, a 360 rad in the top would make my fill port inaccessible! I'd also have had to remove the rear 140mm fan to make way for it.

PROS:1: Typical Fractal Design High Build Quality2: The Option to choose the Acrylic Plastic or the Tempered Glass Panel Model3: Tons of useful options4: Easy to build with5: Tons of options & room for hard drives6: BiG enough to fit EATX Motherboards7: Comes with Three quality internal FansAMD Build Parts ListAMD RYZEN 7 2700X 8 Core CPU32BG GSkill Trident Z RGB Ram x 2x16GB SticksASUS Crosshair Hero 7 ROG MotherboardCorsair H80i v2 Liquid CoolerEVGA GeForce RTX 2080ti FTW3 Ultra 11GB Graphics CardCreative Sound Blaster Z PCIe HQ Sound Card3x LG IPS LED Monitors for video production & gamingSamsung NVME PCIe M.2 500GB DriveSamsung SATA 500GB DriveToshiba SATA N300 10TB NAS DriveCorsair RM850x 80 PLUS Gold 850 Watts Power Supply Unit

The configuration options available, supplied fans, accessory pack (screws, board stand offs, cable ties), cable management, air filters over all intakes and fan controller are really good. The number of internal configuration options is impressive too but I'm not sure what the logic of fitting an mini-ITX motherboard to a chassis this humongous would be even though it has the mount points. My assembled AMD Ryzen system is virtually silent even when under full load. There's an optical drive mount at the top of the case which is great because not many premium cases feature them any longer. The front door is easily reversible and has a nice weight to it. There's more sound insulation on that too.Be aware it's quite heavy, it's not so much of an issue when assembling the PC as all the panels come off so you can easily get access to the whole chassis. However, when you've finished your build you may need help lifting it into place to avoid damaging it by dropping it or injuring yourself lifting it.There's a minor flaw in the Define R6 design. There is a little room for improvement with the fit of the removable top sections. There's a gap down one side of the detachable blanking panel that converts from a solid metal cover into a filtered fan exhaust panel, also with the tray underneath that would support a liquid cooling radiator or a couple of fans slots in. I noticed it because light from the GPU power status LED was leaking out. I covered the gap with black insulating tape to stop dust ingress and then put the panel back on. Both parts could really do with being a couple of millimetres wider to plug this gap. It's the only part of the case that suffers with fit and finish issues, the rest of it fits together snugly.

This is an extremely well designed and well crafted case. The brushed aluminium and tempered glass just looks oh so beautiful and screams of high quality. Out of the box you get 3 preinstalled 140mm fans, a smart hub to power and manage your cooling and lighting, mounting plates for your SSD and they even have a mounting option to set up a vertical GPU. Little things make a big difference and that's where I think Fractal Design really went above and beyond with the R6. In this mid tower through its design, there is plenty of room to host practically any configuration as most things in the R6 can be removed or reconfigured to suit your average gaming PC to a custom water cooled, workstation powerhouse. All in all, I am extremely happy with this case and it is definite must buy for anyone interested in a slick beautiful, well build and customizable - mid tower case. Great job Fractal Design team!