Fractal Define XL Niggles

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:13

Honestly, a bit dissapointed with this case, moved everything into it over the weekend and despite being bigger then a fridge and weighing as much as a small country, it is still louder then my antec 900

And i'm pretty sure my system is over heating inside it (after 20-30 minutes whole computer seems to go "jittery")

Will need to have a look at temps tonight but not amused so far - almost tempted to get everything back into the 900 and just send it back

phil-k · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:24

I'm the same, not as quiet as I thought it would be, getting booming through the case from the hdd when its busy, had another look and it has the rubber grommets in place and lots of fan noise from my GTX580 when under pressure, also had quite a job fitting the fan controller, had to scrape all the paint off the bottom tab before it would fit in the slot.
Also didnt get any m/b screws with it, went into ocz and they gave me some, emailed Fractal for replacement and they sent me a new box of screws

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:29

got all the scews, had the same issue with the fan controller - had to bend it straight with pliers to get it in. Really unimpressed to be honest.

d_brennen · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:39

I've had a few issues with mine too. Do pci cards fit ok in yours? Mine is very quiet though, the noisest thing in there is the PSU fan, which is more of air whoosing for want of a better word. While gaming my 5850 is audible, but not loud

phil-k · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:45

I only have my graphic card fitted which went in fine, although I have seen other posts where they say their pci card didnt quite line up with the opening and when they tightened the screw it pulled it out of the slot a bit

David_VI · 1 Aug 2011 at 09:47

Mine seems quiet enough, at least compared to previous PC's, but this is my first proper build.

First one did arrive quite broken though, but thats nothing new for Fractal eh? Other than that i'm happy, I suppose I didn't realise it would be so big and I don't know any better

David

phil-k · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:00

Yes it is big isnt it, even though my older one is a large full tower and I took note of the measurements of the Fractal, it was a shock when I took it out of the box and put it in place. although I suppose that having all that extra space would help with cooling.
One thing I have noticed is that the fans dont seem to give much of a draught

David_VI · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:21

Sometime I may change to a smaller case as I only really went for a big one as it was my first build and I wanted some room to figure it all out.. Dunno if i'd go to the R3 though.

I've not noticed any draught, i've got quite a few fans in mine. I did fiddle with using the 'modu-vent' on the side but didn't seem to help anything and was more noise.

David

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:23

Good case annoyed with it's niggles too, came with no visable damage to the box or case, but my 2 x 140mm fan holder was broken and was replaced by fractal.. Now having a good look at the standoffs and they are the wrong size and little short, also to add to my headaches with this case the 180mm fan decided to die today too :mad:

.

I replaced all the fans inside apart from the 180mm fan with bequiet fans because they push more air, which a case this large needs the higher CFM fans if you have a hot/gaming system. Ohh well time to email fractal support again and get them to send me a replacement 180mm fan and the right standoffs.... (Here we go again waiting 10 days for them to get to me from Sweden)... :rolleyes:

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:41

My PCI cards did fit okay, but i had to reposition the motherboard as it was shorting against the blanking plates lol. my biggest concern is this over heating issue, need to have a look tonight, if i don't get anywhere it will be going back

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:48

I'm not having heat problems, but im not using the stock fans. I'm using :-

1 x BeQuiet SilentWing USC 120mm Fan

4 x BeQuiet SilentWing USC 140mm Fan

1 x 180mm fractal fan that died today.... grrr

Even with the 180mm fan dead it seems the temps have not changed inside the case and still very good.

You just need higher CFM fans mate and make sure the cable management is good and open up the side case fan area and stick a 140mm or 120mm fan there too..

I bet if you add the missing fractal fans in the optional fan areas it will run still quiet and be cool. There is space for 3 optional fans 1 x 120mm at top front and 1 x 140mm in the front fan module that can hold 2 140mm fans and the side panel holds another 140mm or 120mm fan.

I thought my motherboard was in okay too at 1st, but after trying to move the sound card to another slot I realised it's floating out of the slot grr.. So for now put it back in the top slot near the graphics card, which seems to be almost right and i'm guessing the graphics card is pulling that section of the motherboard up and making the sound card fit better.

Honestly annoyed today now with this situation and have contacted them regarding this problem now and hope they will resolve it quickly this time and not 10 days again... I will now only recommend this case if you really need such a large case at under £90 and willing to deal with fractal support to get any problems resolved with it. I will still be buying the case for system builds for friends,family and work situations that require it, but that is only because I know the problems with the case and know how to resolve them. New system builders may need to stay away unless they are willing to mod the case or deal with fractal support.

I love the case with all it's flaws still.. Just really unhappy i'm having to deal with it's problems when I need to use it for my work.

phil-k · 1 Aug 2011 at 10:56

I added an extra 120mm Fractal fan to the front/top and I will add another 140mm to the bottom/front to go with the one already there, dont think I will use another Fractal though, not enough air going through, probably take your advice and use the BeQuiet

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:05

phil-k setup your trust mate and add an email address to contact you on. I have a new Fractal 140mm fan that came with the case, I sold one to another gentleman on here that has same case as ours, if you want it just mail me on my trust email (click the trust in the forum replies).

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:09

Purg you seem quite familiar with this case, You think swapping out the stock fans for those bequiet ones will solve the temperature issues?, still slightly unimpressed at the noise of it but i'm happy to give it a go

phil-k · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:12

Purgatory said:
phil-k setup your trust mate and add an email address to contact you on. I have a new Fractal 140mm fan that came with the case, I sold one to another gentleman on here that has same case as ours, if you want it just mail me on my trust email (click the trust in the forum replies).

Thanks very much for your offer very kind but I think I will go for the BeQuiet fans, they seem to have twice the flow of the fractal and the room the pc is in gets quite warm

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:16

PatZ1989 said:
Purg you seem quite familiar with this case, You think swapping out the stock fans for those bequiet ones will solve the temperature issues?, still slightly unimpressed at the noise of it but i'm happy to give it a go

PatZ1989 did you add anymore fans to the case since you got it or are you only using the 3 fans that came with it 2 x 140mm and 1 x 180mm ? If you are using just the ones that came with it you will have a warm case mate. There is not enough air moving inside with only the fans that come with it. If you read reviews of the case on the internet fractal seem to be smart and always send a review unit with the optional fans. Always when they review the case with only the fans that come with it it runs warm, but minute they add the optional fans it runs cool.

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:21

Currently it is just the stock fans, the 180 at the top the 140 at the back and the 140 at the front. They are plugged directly into motherboard as in not using the fan controller as i just wanted to see how noisy it was without it first.

Have just ordered 2 bequiet 140's and 1 bequiet 120 for the optional spaces, might see how that is and then replace the fractal's if there is still an issue? good plan?

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:25

Gimme a few mins will take some pics of my case and the case with the Bequiet fans in place to show you what I have done and it runs cool the case for me and don't think will ever have heat problems with it.. Other day was really hot weather and the temperture didn't change inside the case. I'm sure with just the fractal fans in all the optional fan areas filled will be fine. The fractal 140mm fans do push 39 CFM @ 9dBA noise level and the bequiet 140mm fan push 60.4 CFM but are noiser @ 16.5 dBA.

Purgatory · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:48

PatZ1989 · 1 Aug 2011 at 11:50

Okay, I need to run a monitoring utility to actually check the temps but i'm pretty sure it is over heating, as mentioned in the original post after a little while the computer just becomes very jerky, any video or sound plays all jittery etc.