Fractal Design Define C Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 15.12.16
Almost exactly one year ago the Swedish company Fractal Design presented with the Define S their latest midi tower case. Now they launched the Define C which should be the next step in evolution of their Define series cases. Like the previous model, the new Define C uses sound-absorbing material and a well thought tool-less system. The Define C is a case suitable for ATX motherboards and there are quite a interesting features to this case.
Rating |
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Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good
compatibility for watercooling and aircooling |
+ Water cooling
+ Dust filters |
+ Interior
space
+ Good space for cable routing |
+ High quality materials
+ Rubber groomets
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+ Well priced |
| Cons |
- Not compatible with fat radiators |
- No Type-C USB |
- Only 175mm for PSU |
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
Define C |
| Case Type: |
Mid tower |
| Dimensions: |
210 mm (W) x 440 mm (H) x 399 mm (D) |
| Material: |
Steel, ABS |
| Color: |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
0 |
| 3.5": |
2 |
| 2.5": |
3 |
| Expansion
slots: |
7 |
| Form factors: |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
3x 120mm / 2x 140mm (1x 120mm included) |
| Rear: |
1x 120mm (1x 120mm included) |
| Top: |
2x 120mm / 2x 140mm |
| Bottom: |
1x 120mm |
| Side: |
/ |
| Watercooling |
Front: |
240mm / 280mm / 360mm |
| Rear: |
120mm |
| Top: |
240mm / 280mm |
| Link to the product: |
Define C |
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Features
PSU Cover
In order to hide all the cables connected to your power supply, there is cover hiding away the unit. This helps creating a neat and clean looking system. |
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Dust filters
There are washable dust filters covering all big openings of the Fractal Design Define C. Thanks to a quick release system they are very easy and convenient to remove. |
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Watercooling ready
The Fractal Design Define C is ready to be equipped with watercooling gear. If you wish to create a custom loop, there is the possibility to place two radiators in this case. One of them can be a 360mm and the other a 280mm one. In addition you can put another small 120mm radiator in the rear part. |
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Product overview
Overview |
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The Define C features a simple and neat design, and is made of black metal and plastic of excellent quality. The front part is without any openings or slots, so you will not be able to install any 5.25" drives, card readers or fan controllers. What you will find is the I/O panel with two USB 3.0, power and reset button as well as the standard audio jacks. On both sides of the front panel there are small openings, which allow the front fans to pull in fresh air. The side panels, even if they look quite simple, are actually the most important piece, since noise dampening material has been added for additional soundproofing. Once again Fractal Design is doing a great job here, since the noise dampening is pretty effective.
The back panel is as simple as it gets, while there are seven PCI expansion slots, the opening for the motherboard I/O panel, a 120mm fan slot and the opening for the standard ATX power supply. The bottom of the case has been equipped with four plastic feet with an aluminum finish. There is also an air-inlet for the PSU to breathe if the fan is facing downwards. |
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Installation
Overview |
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The inside of the Define C is clean and simple, and it features a most classic design with some noticeable features. The Define C is a case for water cooling enthusiasts and standard users alike. Nevertheless Fractal Design doesn't offer a huge number of HDDs or SSDs mounts, yet you can still equip this case with up to two 3.5" HDD or two 2.5" SSD. Both can be installed using tool-less sledges behind the tray. In addition behind the motherboard tray there is enough space for install two additional SSDs. The motherboard tray is made out of solid steel, and it features a big cut-out, where the motherboards's CPU socket is, which allows the installation of aftermarket CPU coolers without having to remove the motherboard. The tray features four openings with rubber grommets allowing you to create good looking cable management. Between the motherboard tray and the side right panel there is enough space to hide plenty of cables. The whole interior, except the back and bottom, has been padded with soundproofing material to reduce the system noise.
For our test, we used a ATX Z170 motherboard paired with a Fractal Design Kelvin S24 radiator. In addition we installed a MSI GTX 980 Gaming and a Seasonic PSU. As you can see from the pictures there are plenty of slots for the fans and radiators. The Define C is able to accommodate a CPU cooler with a maximum height of 170mm and graphics cards can measure up to 315mm in length. |
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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| The Define C offers plenty of places for fans. Included in the delivery you will find two 120mm fans with white blades and black frame. Overall, the case is able to accommodate three 120 or two 140mm fans at the front, one 120mm fan at the back and another couple of fans in the top part. If you are fan of liquid cooling systems you will be happy to know that the Define C is also perfect for that type of cooling. Thanks to the fact, that there is a lot of space available on the inside, you will be able to mount a 360mm radiator at the front, a 280mm at the top and a 120mm on the back. |
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Temperatures
Overview |
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For testing purposes we're using an MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard, an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU, which receives cooling through a SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425 MCE cooler as well as a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G graphics card. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is close to 24°C. |
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All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
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Intel Core i5-6600K |
28 / 28 / 27 / 28 |
52 / 55 / 54 / 53 |
| MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
46 |
66 |
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Less is better |
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Conclusion
The Fractal Design Define C is a mid-tower PC case designed for those who are looking for a silent rig, which is offering plenty of space even for high-end hardware as well as custom liquid cooling. Fractal Design decided to use the classic design of the Define series but without the front door and the 5.25" slots as well. The materials and build quality are on very good level, which is something we certainly expected from Fractal Design.
On the inside there is quite a lot of space available. If you fit an ATX motherboard you can easily install a radiator in the front and one in the upper part. Apart from that all drives bays have been move to the lower part of the case, which means that you will not see them. Since silence is also a the key point of this case, Fractal Design also added a sound-absorbing material on each side panel. Testing the case as delivered with two 120mms fan in the front and one in the back, we found temperatures to be on a reasonable level, while the noise level was very low.
The amount of features available with the Define C are very interesting and we appreciate the good amount of solutions for water cooling setups. Speaking about water cooling we would like to see more space for pumps, res and even radiators. Although this case is compatible with 280mm and 360mm radiators, we believe that the space is still not enough. For example on the front and also on the top you can only use slim radiators.
The Define C from Fractal Design is a PC case which we can recommend. If you are looking for a mid-tower PC case with pre-installed acoustic insulation material as well as silent fans and on top of that it's compatible with custom watercooling gear, this is a great choice. With this case it is really easy to build a high-end rig. The Fractal Design Define C is available on Geizhals for 79.99 Euro excluding shipping costs and it is also available with side window for 84.90 euro. The Fractal Design Define C earns
4 out of 5 stars.
