Fractal Launches the R6,"Best Case Of 2017"?

[TVwazhere]

Quote

 

Damnit @fractaljosh, you tease! 

 

Behold, Fractal Design R5 lovers, your future upgrade! Fractal Really went all out with this one!

Quote

Designed from the ground up, the Define R6 goes beyond iteration with a profound stride of innovation – the latest and largest step in the legacy of the world-renowned Define Series.  

Seamless tempered glass and sound dampened steel panels with an elegant push-to-lock latching mechanism encase an entirely redesigned interior with unprecedented component support and storage flexibility. Six 3.5”/2.5” drives and two 2.5” drives can be installed with precision placement in countless configurations throughout the case. 

This keeps everything people love about the R5 (reversible doors, lots of HDD bays, easy access filters, 420mm RAD support) and adds everything people loved about the Define S/C series (PSU basement, tempered glass, more SSD support) while taking the Case market one step further (A GPU Mount? We will have to see about thermals [Edit, GN's testing shows as usual its terrible with open Shroud designs, only use for reference cards or water blocks], Old vs New layout; Choose between lots of Hard drive's and keep them hidden, or open the case up for awesome water cooling with the modular side plate!) It comes in the usual flavors of Standard black (with white accents) Blackout, Gun metal and White, with TG options for each! 

 

Notable features includes a better Tempered glass mount, a SATA powered NINE fan hub (3 PWM fans and six 3 pin fans) a single 5.25 bay (notable because those are usually not included) A fill port at the top of the case, High quality PCI-E ribbon (sold seperately for about $40,) Reverable doors as noted before... yep. 

 

But TV, Does it have USB 3.1 Gen 2?????? Well..... No... BUT! Fractal is releasing a "Conversion kit" So you can replace the I/O with it! I would have like to seen this come as a standard rather than an option, but this case is more about modularity than almost any mainstream case on the market, possibly just behind the Dark base 700/900 cases 

 

Airflow is not this case series strongest suit, but Fractal is a company that properly balances silence with airflow, so your >30db case doesn't turn into a toaster like all the kids on league of legends say.

 

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series

 

I personally cannot wait for very in depth reviews from Hardware Canucks (thanks @Dissitesuxba11s)and Gamers nexus (thanks @samcool55), Apparently everyone's got a review out already! Huzzah!

(Now I just have to find time to watch them later today)

[Spenser1337]

Lame

[samcool55]

Just now, TVwazhere said:

 

I personally cannot wait for very in depth reviews from Hardware Canucks and Gamers nexus, as IMO they do a really good job of going through and thoroughly reviewing cases

 

GN has a review!

 

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

GN has a review!

MOAR VIDEOS I NEED TO WATCH

[samcool55]

1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

MOAR VIDEOS I NEED TO WATCH

Jay and Wendell also have video's of the case, they are imo usually not as good as GN but if you want MOAR VIDEOZ to watch, Wendell is usually a good option

Wendell is from Level1Techs btw, the good part of teksyndicate before it went to sh*t.

[TVwazhere]

Just now, samcool55 said:

Jay and Wendell also have video's of the case, they are imo usually not as good as GN but if you want MOAR VIDEOZ to watch, Wendell is usually a good option

Wendell is from Level1Techs btw, the good part of teksyndicate before it went to sh*t.

I'm familiar with Wendal, and I'm also subbed to Jay

My youtube inbox is just now catching up with everything  

[HarryNyquist]

Would buy if it had 5.25" bay(s). I know, I'm old fashioned.

[TVwazhere]

Just now, HarryNyquist said:

Would buy if it had 5.25" bay(s). I know, I'm old fashioned.

It still retains one at the top! Thats better than 0

[Dissitesuxba11s]

Hardware Canucks also has a review up.

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by Dissitesuxba11s
Linked the video for convenience.

[HarryNyquist]

Just now, TVwazhere said:

It still retains one at the top! Thats better than 0

I didn't see it!

 

RIP Wallet

[TVwazhere]

Just now, Dissitesuxba11s said:

Hardware Canucks also has a review up.

:facepalm: This is what I get for rushing the post lol

[ApolloFury]

According to Gamers Nexus, this case has average cooling which is very good because this case is marketed for silence. Gamer Nexus also said that in their recent reviews on Cooler Master, Thermaltake and Bitfenix cases, they boasts high airflow in their marketing but fails to beat the Define R6 which is for silence and never claimed to be good at airflow!

 

Silent case just as good as their "high airflow" competitors in thermals, impressive.

[ARikozuM]

I would if it had three 5.25" bays for a Blu-ray ODD and two hot swaps. I'm not impressed.

[TVwazhere]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

I would if it had three 5.25" bays for a Blu-ray ODD and two hot swaps. I'm not impressed.

5.25" bays are going the way of the Dodo.  

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

5.25" bays are going the way of the Kiwi.  

I'll stick to the R5 then.

 

Also, don't let @leadeater see this. He might get offended.

[dizmo]

Doesn't win my vote for case of the year. Too bland. 

[ApolloFury]

13 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I would if it had three 5.25" bays for a Blu-ray ODD and two hot swaps. I'm not impressed.

Then you have to get used to buying old cases since no one is going to bring back triple 5.25" bays.

But do what I did and just buy external USB drives (DVD/CD, Bluray, HDD, etc), USB 3.1 provides adequate speed.

 

EDIT: Define R5 only has two, so...

[ApolloFury]

double post

[ARikozuM]

Just now, ApolloFury said:

 

Define R5 only has two, so...

I know, but it looks gorgeous! I had to switch from my Challenger's three to the R5's two by getting a 3.5"+2x2.5" hotswap. One bay is too little for my tastes since you have to choose between ODD or hotswap and God forbid someone thinks about fan controllers.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

22 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

It still retains one at the top! Thats better than 0

21 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

I didn't see it!

 

RIP Wallet

 

Not in spec list, though. it would seem there is an opening (or rather "openable") at the top, but maybe you would need additional hardware to mount anything there.

 

12 minutes ago, ApolloFury said:

Then you have to get used to buying old cases since no one is going to bring back triple 5.25" bays.

But do what I did and just buy external USB drives (DVD/CD, Bluray, HDD, etc), USB 3.1 provides adequate speed.

Not as convenient, though, nor useful for front panels, where the whole point is to have them directly at the case.

 

Yes, I'm not going to die due to lack of 5.25 bays. But I'm not going to buy either  

Luckily, cases don't become underpowered as CPUs/GPUs, nor dangerous/dead as PSUs, so we are many years away from these bays going away from the market completely.

The downside is that people will stop (have stopped?) designing  things for 5.25 slots, so eventually the whole idea will require heavy modding.

[Matu20]

All I can say is meh, I really wish we would start focusing on smaller footprint cases, Meshify C was a case done right.

[ApolloFury]

2 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

 

Not as convenient, though, nor useful for front panels, where the whole point is to have them directly at the case.

 

Yes, I'm not going to die due to lack of 5.25 bays. But I'm not going to buy either  

They are portable though, they are very convenient when you need to go somewhere or help someone without a CD drive. For instance my friend with abysmal internet (because Australia , but I have fibre) needed to borrow my USB CD Drive to install a game he bought from a retail store or to install Windows. I also do the same with hard drives, for instance GTAV is a 75GB download! So if my friend with 2mbps potato internet wants to play GTAV (and has purchased it on Steam) I could just plug my external HDD with GTAV to his PC and copy the files over, Steam will be able to detect the installed game since he purchased it as well.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 minute ago, ApolloFury said:

They are portable though, they are very convenient when you need to go somewhere or help someone without a CD drive. For instance my friend with abysmal internet (because Australia , but I have fibre) needed to borrow my USB CD Drive to install a game he bought from a retail store or to install Windows. I also do the same with hard drives, for instance GTAV is a 75GB download! So if my friend with 2mbps potato internet wants to play GTAV (and has purchased it on Steam) I could just plug my external HDD with GTAV to his PC and copy the files over, Steam will be able to detect the installed game since he purchased it as well.

Yep, different use cases call for different solutions  

[Kawaii Besu]

Hot damn, I remember when the R5 was new. Three years, more like three seconds. I'm getting real old fast.

 

Looks like this, and the Define/Meshify C are the heroes the case industry deserves. Something to get out of the shitfest that is "RGB and TG cases with shitty airflow/shitty design/big af for no reason/expensive for what it really is/a combination of all". And to be clear, I'm not against TG and RGB, I just wish case manufacturers would focus on the case itself than be all about dat bling.

[Misanthrope]

I saw a few of the embargo lift reviews already: I like it. Quite a bit actually but I am guessing there will eventually be a Meshify version as well (Or at least I hope that comes) which would be probably a bit better still so I might wait for that.