Fractal Design: Define Mini

looks good, cable management is hard in that case. (The R2) also poor for cooling despite the use of 120mm fans. Just my 2p.
 
It is pretty nice looking though, and will most likely be cheaper than its bigger brother too. For a mATX case I think this is quality stuff. Plenty of HDD room, ample cooling and a nice understated look.
 
It's a fair bit smaller than the Mini P180 - more alike the NZXT Vulcan in size I think... (minus the handle)

I quite like it - Cube cases don't work so well on/under desks in my opinion (I had a V351 and it felt like it took up more space than my FT02 because it's wide)
 
Love it, would make a good silent pc that. Remove the centre hard drive cage to allow better air flow. Actually I think I prefer it to the R3. Just need the price now, but I'd hope for £60-70 area.
 
MADEinSTOKE said:
So is the cooling considerd poor on these cases
Click to expand...

Cooling isnt great in the XL case, according to reviews however I have not seen any of them install the optional 140mm side fan which could blow over the cpu/gpu and assist greatful in cooling....

So its a bit of a grey area imo untill its tried and tested.

You dont really get good cooling in larger towers really, not unless there noisy....its a thin line you get between silence and cooling. R2/R3 has better cooling cos its a smaller case and the fans can reach all the parts inside the case the only issue is its cramped and hard to build in and u cant fit longer VGA cards... I had to remove a 120mm fan just too install my AX850 p/s, but I gotta admit my R2 has been my top case ive had, in terms of cooling/silence.

I will hopefully get the Fractual XL since I need more hdds supported and longer vga cards and for more ease of use but will see !
 
HighlandeR said:
Cooling isnt great in the XL case, according to reviews however I have not seen any of them install the optional 140mm side fan which could blow over the cpu/gpu and assist greatful in cooling....

So its a bit of a grey area imo untill its tried and tested.

You dont really get good cooling in larger towers really, not unless there noisy....its a thin line you get between silence and cooling. R2/R3 has better cooling cos its a smaller case and the fans can reach all the parts inside the case the only issue is its cramped and hard to build in and u cant fit longer VGA cards... I had to remove a 120mm fan just too install my AX850 p/s, but I gotta admit my R2 has been my top case ive had, in terms of cooling/silence.

I will hopefully get the Fractual XL since I need more hdds supported and longer vga cards and for more ease of use but will see !
Click to expand...

What cooling improvements would you like to see with the XL?

I think replacing the top 180mm fan with two 140mm (like the Define R2/R3) would be a good move.
And perhaps even having a 180mm on the side instead of a 140mm.
 
Yeah a lot of people wanted to see 2x140mm fans on the top of the xl case rather then that 180mm fan, I think that would have made for a better cooling soloution. a lot of people complain on the reviews that 180mm fan is useless, doesnt shift much air or it can be noisy.

Perhaps replacing it with a better fan may proove better...

Yeah even a 180mm fan on the side may cover the entire gpu/cpu for additional cooling, it would be nice too see a review that adds that side 140mm fan so we see if it makes any difference.

Only thing is the fractual XL is designed for silence so higher temps/worser cooling is gonna be the normal this is always the case with larger cases that want to go the silence root, if you want better cooling u will have to put up with more noise sadly.

Another bad thing ive noticed is no inbuilt fan controller, they have however added a seperate fan controller pci slot but then the wires will dangle maybe a niggle....R3 has it so dont know why its missing on the XL.

Still as far as it goes id say Fractual XL is looking like one of the top larger/top highend cases around for silence and overall features.
 
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