Fractal Define XL Niggles

[Purgatory]

Intentional mate the case has no HD activity LED grrr. So used the power LED to show drive activity. Also this way it atleast goes off instead of always being on .

 

[Kouba]

Purgatory, could you please tell me where exactly you connected each and every one of your fans?

 

[Purgatory]

I will take pictures for you tomorrow what I did to connect the fans, they are not connected to the motherboard the case fans, they are connected at the back of the back panel hidden from view and the case fan that is on the back of the case, has it's cable tucked under the motherboard and out of the cpu backplate area so reaches the back. Also from my other pictures on this thread you can see how I connected the side panel fan. Look for the white fan connector above the PSU on the shelf above it, that's where I connect the side panel fan. I have all the fans running at 12v because they are really quiet and like good airflow. Also I never connect case fans to motherboard fan headers, because I don't like to add extra stress to the power circuits on the motherboard and also a risk of frying the fan headers or the motherboard if the fans fail in a bad way.


I used something like this cable to connect all the fans up but the cable I used send 12volts to all connections. The cable has 2x12volts and 2x5volts so you can control the speed of the fans. Eg Full speed or half speed with this cable. Sometimes you get molex cables with fan connections that daisy chain together (I will show you in the pictures tomorrow what I mean I use this on one side of the case at the back).

This cable adapter allows simultaneous connection of up to four 3-pin fans to single PSU connector and gives a choice of fan operating speed by providing two standard (+12V) and two (+5V) connectors for reduced speed and noise level. A simple way of increasing the number of fan connections and providing control over fan speed, which can make hi-speed noisy fans significantly quieter. Attach the fans to the connector with yellow/black wires for +12V supply or with red /black wires for reduced speed +5V supply.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-030-AK

 

[Kouba]

Thanks so much purgatory, once I get back from holiday, Ill be updating my Fractal XL with the same fan setup and cables as you, providing you have decent cooling/noise results.

 

[Purgatory]

The 1st image shows the back of my case and the wiring back there, you will see a few cables there some are the regular power cables and some are fan cables, also the bottom right there is 3 fan headers there that is actually the cpu coolers fan headers that are left over from the akasa 5 fan pwn cable, I don't like to power my fans from the motherboard even the cpu fans because they sometimes can take out the motherboard.

This image shows the daisy chain fan cables I have that are used to power the front fans on the case and there is one also powering the 180mm fan there and also another to the back 140mm fan too just they are under all the other cables hidden from view.

The side of the case with the components. Just a note all my fans for the case are powered via 12volts, even the fans that cool the ram there. Only fans controlled are the Yellow akasa viper fans via the pwn cable that is attached to the cpu header but does not take power from there just the RPM of the fans and PWN control to speed up or slow down the fans as needed by the cpu.

I used this cable to power my CPU cooler fans, it has PWN control and takes the power from the PSU not the motherboard CPU Fan header. (Note make sure to use the fan header cable that has four cables to one of the cpu cooler fans and any of the others to a 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th fan for your cpu cooler, there is only one fan header cable with 4 cables easy to spot from the other 4 that only have 3 cables on them).

Akasa FLEXA FP5
Supports 5 PWM fans from a single motherboard header

http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...ype_sub=Fan Cable Adapters&model=AK-CBFA03-45


Changed the CPU cooler to the Thermalright Archon CPU Cooler, I was planning on water cooling but tried the Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (What a bad joke that was, it sounded like a jet engine and all sorts of funny noises it made, so went right back and was no better at cooling than my Zalman CNPS9700 NT that I originally had). I should have known better then to trust corsair with their fans that rattled on my ram cooler from day one and got worse, so had to replace the fans on the ram cooler too, to quieter and better spec fans. Corsair RAM and PSU that's all i'm ever going to buy from them from now on.

Also to add my system noise level is great and even in the quiet of the night and no other sounds it just really humms gently with fan noise that is really the air whooshing nothing that disturbs me or my other half and the cooling is as good as it will ever get on air for such a case, so very happy with it . I can't deal with noisy systems anymore, this was the reason for the case change in the first place and now i'm done fiddling with it and enjoying using it more now then ever.


I also found this cable for powering case fans from the PSU instead of the motherboard headers : NesteQ 12V / 5V 3 Pin Fan Power Cable

I would have got that if I didn't have the fan power daisy chain cables I used. This cable allows 3 x 12v fans and 3 x 5 volt fans to be powered, so if you want to power all fans at 12 volts as I do, you will need 2 of them because there is 5 case fans. They are cheap cables £2.65 ish and look nice it seems.



http://www.nesteq.net/gb/products/cables/nsk1205/

 

[Kouba]

Thanks mate, fantastic post. Judging from your post, best thing to do for my system would be:

To use the NesteQ 12V / 5V 3 Pin Fan Power Cable for my 3 front case fans and have them running at 12V.

I will allow the 180mm fan to carry on running via the provided fractal fan controller.

I will get two CPU fans to go with my Antec Kuhler, I may get vipers or Apache, to run these I will go with your option which is to use the Akasa FLEXA FP5. Im just wondering, that four pin header should be connected to the pump cable right? or should i have that connected to PWR_FAN header so that it may have 100% power at all times?

Let me know what you think.
Cheers

 

[Purgatory]

To use the NesteQ 12V / 5V 3 Pin Fan Power Cable for my 3 front case fans and have them running at 12V.

Yup you got it.

I will get two CPU fans to go with my Antec Kuhler, I may get vipers or Apache, to run these I will go with your option which is to use the Akasa FLEXA FP5. Im just wondering, that four pin header should be connected to the pump cable right? or should i have that connected to PWR_FAN header so that it may have 100% power at all times?

Let me know what you think.
Cheers

Get the vipers they really do move air and at a good pressure too, which will be perfect for the type of cooler you have. Also they are not that noisy and I doubt you will ever hear them kick in at full, mine never go over 1350RPM and that is when i'm really stressing it at 4Ghz overclock with intel burn test at max settings, I have so much more room now to overclock it's unreal with this cooler and fans.. I bet if I had the time and was brave enough to raise the Core Voltage on the cpu I could probably hit 4.5Ghz+ on this chip, it's mad I have a Q9650 here with VID 1.2250v but with that same VID I can set my vcore manually to 1.2250v in the BIOS and get a stable 3.8GHz and to get to 4GHz stable for me it requires slightly less then 1.25v vcore, the VID Voltage Range for the Q9650 E0 is 0.8500V-1.3625V so it's very safe to go all way up to 1.3625V without harming the CPU in anyway from what Intel tell us about the VID for CPUs they have sold and people say 1.4V is still safe. BUT.. Blaa not brave enough yet would like this system to last a long time and have plans for it as a HTPC when I upgrade to Ivy Bridge if they have 6 or 8 cores with HT.. and show a good boost over Sandy Bridge..


The 4pin header for the pump must go into a fan header on the motherboard PWR_FAN is fine aslong as it always gets the voltage it requires or on any supplied adapter cable the pump came with eg molex to fan header, make sure whatever header you have it in on the motherboard it gives it full power, so check in the bios if that fan header has quiet mode or some other mode on that can mess the pump up. Disable all quiet features for that header so it gives 100% and correct voltage to the pump.


The fans can go on the akasa cable and plug the cable into the the CPU_Fan header so it can control the fan speeds. Just make sure as I said in my post above to connect one of the fans to the only one fan cable that has 4 wires (rest have 3 wires and just stick the other fan(s) onto them for the cpu cooler)


If you have a problem when you get the bits, shout and will help you out mate.


Just as I said above make sure the pump is not on any of the akasa PWN header fan cables or a header that can control the voltage if any quiet features are on, the pumps always require the full correct voltage to work right. (Not sure what the voltage used for the pump you have but don't risk it being on any cable that didn't come with it unless you know the working voltage for it).

 

[Kouba]

Brilliant mate, thanks for the clarification, you'v been a great help

 

[greyfox591]

not sure i want to buy this case anymore after reading the comments,
shame it seems like such a nice case aswell

 

[Purgatory]

not sure i want to buy this case anymore after reading the comments,
shame it seems like such a nice case aswell

Buy the case mate, I have recently been in contact with Fractal Designs managing director Mr Hannes Wallin and he has confirmed to me that all the Define XL cases have gone threw some extra quality control measures to improve the problems with the case, eg. the wrong sized Stand-offs for the motherboard and any other damage that may normally be missed when boxed for selling.

Also if you find you get a case that has some problem Mr Hannes Wallin the Managing Director at Fractal Design is very keen to fix any customer problems and send out parts that are required to fix any problems you may face.


They sent me the replacement parts I required and have been kind enough to ask me if I wanted anything else for free from them eg fans for the case etc, I asked for a spare 180mm fan and the shrouding and a 120mm fan front module as a spare.


They have great customer support so they are worth dealing with, any company that is willing to help out it's customers always gets a thumbs up from me and so far they are making me feel like an important customer and not just a number on their system.


OCUk this is feedabck for you too, so please do keep suppling their cases, because they are great value and i'm sure must be only a small handful that are damaged or have some problems, as mentioned above Mr Hannes Wallin the Managing Director at Fractal design has taken customers feedback and has implemented measures to make sure no more cases leave Fractal Design unless they are 100% right. Also as I mentioned before the case came to me in perfect condition the box had no damage at all just the quality control was a little off when I started to put the case together and realised the Stand-offs were the wrong size (they sent me correct sized ones), The 140mm dual fan module was not made correctly and was broken and later my 180mm fan died.. But all these things are now fixed and very happy with the case. It's a great value case compared to the others this large out there, the paint work, metal used and the sound proofing is top notch. Just be willing to spend a little money after getting it to add more fans to it as you would have to do with any case really. If you wanted a corsair 800D and didn't like the price and it's poor air cooling, get this case it's fantastic when used with the fans I have mentioned above and on 1st page.

Also if you find their support email on their site is not getting you results for any reason, email me via my trust and I will pass you on Mr Hannes Wallin the Managing Director at Fractal Designs direct contact details (email, company phone, mobile phone and address), he's been great I contacted him by email and was hassle free all the way. I don't want to stick his details here or he may end up getting spammed, so try the support web contact form 1st http://fractal-design.com/?view=contact&category= or the [email protected] email address.

 

[greyfox591]

thanks for the info purgatory this is good news but its also a noise issue for me aswell i don't want to feel like i'm sat under a jet lol.
i'm not sure now between the FD XL or the CM cosmos , i no if i had £350 i wouldn't be buying either of them but the Lian Li PC-P80N is extortion and can't afford that any time soon so down to these two choices.

 

[Purgatory]

Thats the good thing with a heavy case with sound proofing like the define XL, it does not sound like a jet engine and really as quiet as such a large case will get. The lian li case I had before was a lot more expensive and made funny annoying noises and was really no quieter then the Define XL. It's all about adding the right fans after you buy the case also the fractal fans that come with it are very quiet add the extra ones in and you should be good to go. If you have a overclocked system with a hefty graphics card think about fans like the Be-quiet because they push more air and not too bad I find and they don't annoy me even when they are always on at full 12volts.

 

[greyfox591]

so really it does what it says on the tin with the exception of a few fan upgrades which shouldn't be much of a problem as i have decided to WC anyway so the extra £45 - £65 i will save buying the FD XL over the CM cosmos will go towards the WC kit i shall be buying next month
and the improved quality and customer service of FD is a bonus

 

[Purgatory]

Exactly, that is the way I see it, my intentions were to water cool when I purchased it, but don't have the time at this moment to do a full water cooled system, but probably will when I update to Ivy Bridge.

There is a Define XL Project here showing a watercooled system (At the bottom of the page and the next page from that) .

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18257813&highlight=define+xl

 

[Kouba]

Purgatory, have you ordered the Silverstone air penetrator yet? I wasnt aware that you could replace the Fractal 180mm tbh

 

[greyfox591]

Exactly, that is the way I see it, my intentions were to water cool when I purchased it, but don't have the time at this moment to do a full water cooled system, but probably will when I update to Ivy Bridge.

There is a Define XL Project here showing a watercooled system (At the bottom of the page and the next page from that) .

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18257813&highlight=define+xl

thats a pretty sweet WC Define XL rig
cheers for your help mate

 

[Purgatory]

Purgatory, have you ordered the Silverstone air penetrator yet? I wasnt aware that you could replace the Fractal 180mm tbh

Yup got it here and it's exactly the same size as the Fractal 180mm fan so just a matter of swapping them out at some point and I'm going to have to stick it on the fractal fan controller because it's a beast of a fan and i'm sure it's going to be noisy at full speed. It's easy, all you do is unscrew the shrouding screws from both sides and the shrouding pulls out and the fan with it, so all you do is unscrew the fractal fan and put the other one in and screw it in and screw the shroud back in. I did this when I got the case because I turned the fan around a bit because didn't like where they let the cable fall, I wanted the cable to fall near the cable holes so could run it behind the case. You will probably notice from my pictures I did this, the cable normally faces the back of the case.

 

[Kouba]

Let us know what the performance is like when you swap the 180mm.

 

[Purgatory]

Let us know what the performance is like when you swap the 180mm.

Don't bother mate it's not worth the hassle, the shroud is the limiting factor I see when I updated the fan, what I found is instead of the air being pushed more out of the case it blows around the top of the case more and not really making any difference to case temps, So the fractal stock 180mm fan is enough it seems and any low rpm 180mm fan is perfect for there. The Silverstone Air Penetrator 180mm Fan is okay on a fan controller, but I would not use it at 12v as I do with the fractal fan because it makes a lot more noise for little gain and I found it was not really removing more air out of the case due to the design of the 180mm fan shroud in the case, maybe if the fan shroud was more sealed and stopped the air escaping or bouncing off the top of the case and back into the blades when set at high speeds.

I have stuck it back in the post to return it, I don't see a point in adding more noise to the system and adding the fractal fan controller too which is not the most pretty thing to my case that I have tried very hard to keep neat and tidy inside without wire clutter.

Shame I liked the idea of the fans all having black blades inside the case, I may try find a low RPM 12v 180mm fan with black blades or I hope BeQuiet make a 180mm fan in the future.

 

[Kouba]

Ah thats a pity mate, no worries, thanks for testing it out anyway.