*** NEW Fractal Design Case - Coming Soon ***

[SlingShotUK]

Then take side panel and give it a whiff man!

But on a more serious note, SlingShotUK, the smell has reduced substantially in those 2 months I've owned the case

Thanks Gary. I do find it strange that others don't smell it though. Mine is many metres away from me in a large living room and even with both window and door open it's very strong and getting right into my throat.. Bizarre. I've taken the panels and top fan covers off and put them outside to air now though.

I do want to check something with you guys though. I read somewhere that Fractal Design released a *2nd* revision which has a longer backplate hole and uses different bitumen which doesn't smell. I have obviously got the old version which is annoying as I think the second one came out in March time.

Could some of you with the R2 who bought since March check if yours looks like this at the back:

You'll notice that the backplate hole is longer compared to the old one:

The thing to look for is the left hand ridge below the cut out plate connects directly to it, whereas there is a gap on the first version of the case.

It may be that the new version isn't shipping in the UK yet. Hard to find out much information on it.
I'm mainly interested in the new bitumen they are supposed to be using now though and whether it really is much better and less toxic smelling than the first version.

 

[cainer]

i got mine from here the 2nd week in feb, i didnt notice any smell then and i never have since, if it realy is a problem then take it off

while im here i will have 1 moan about the case, why oh why didnt they make the 2 front intake dustcovers tool-less? why? why not? tell me, go on... why?

 

[SlingShotUK]

i got mine from here the 2nd week in feb, i didnt notice any smell then and i never have since, if it realy is a problem then take it off

while im here i will have 1 moan about the case, why oh why didnt they make the 2 front intake dustcovers tool-less? why? why not? tell me, go on... why?

I'm still surprised that yourself and others didn't smell anything - unless my case is just worse smell wise..lol.

However, I have an update. I have spoken to Fractal Design who have told me that it's NOT the bitumen that causes the smell - it's the rubber cable management bits. They are natural vulcanised rubber and give off that smell initially but it should go within a few days. They say I could take them off and wash them in warm soapy water then dry and fit back in the case.

Close up they do smell so maybe that is what was causing the initial stench.

Only thing was, once I took the side panels and top fan covers off and put them outside the smell seemed to go.. hmmm. Will see how it all goes.

 

[Disjunto]

oh, so that's where my smell went? put it back in the box did I?

I took out nearly all the rubber things, they only seem to achieve making the cable management holes smaller.

 

[Ace Modder]

Fractal Design Array MiniITX Case - Black (with 300W SFX PSU) @ £149.98 inc VAT

The Array Mini ITX NAS case is setting new standards for the Home Server/DIY NAS market. With it's whopping six hard drive bays in a very small enclosure, hardly bigger than your average bread toaster, it's certainly creating a new niche.
Built in high quality aluminium straight through with a nice touch for details, the Array case provides a very exclusive way to store all your important data. The hard drive cage with room for six 3,5-inch HDD and one SSD, is removable and fitted with silicone anti-vibration grommets to minimise noise from the hard drives. In the front our award winning Silent Series 140mm is fitted, together with a washable filter. It takes in air from the side ventilation holes in the front panel. This ensures an efficient, but yet silent, cooling over the hard drives.
Furthermore, there is a SFX 300W PSU included, rated at more than 80% efficiency, with a silent temperature controlled fan. We have decided to include this PSU in the package, since it's fairly hard to find quality SFX PSU's in the market that is also silent, and not too expensive.
You can fit a Mini ITX motherboard into the case and there's also room for one expansion card, for example a RAID card which you'd typically want to get the most out of your six hard drives. All necessary components and software naturally needs to be purchased separately, but we can recommend to use specialised NAS/Home Server software such as FreeNAS or Windows Home Server. Please note that there is no room for a 5,25-inch drive, we deliberately left this out since you don't generally use that in a NAS/Home Server environment, and it saved us a lot of space which we could use for fitting hard drives instead.

Case Specifications
- Built in high quality aluminium
- Silent, efficient 300W SFX PSU included
- 1 x 140mm Silent Series 600 RPM (9dBA / 39CFM) Fan
- Room for six silicone mounted 3,5-inch HDD
- Room for one SSD
- Removable HDD cage for easy mounting
- Silent Series 140mm fan included in front, with washable filter
- Space available for CPU cooler: circa 90mm height
- Space available for expansion card: circa 140mm length
- Fits Mini ITX motherboards
- One expansion slot
- Case dimensions (WxHxD): 250x200x350mm

PSU Specifications
- 80 PLUS rated SFX 300W PSU
- Silent, temperature controlled fan
- 7x SATA-connectors, 1x Molex, 1x 4-pin and 1x 20/24pin
- Meets CE, TUV safety requirements

Only £149.98 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW

 

[SlingShotUK]

oh, so that's where my smell went? put it back in the box did I?

I took out nearly all the rubber things, they only seem to achieve making the cable management holes smaller.

Aha! So you had the smell to start with until you took out the rubber cable management holes? There might be something in this then..

Know what you mean about them. Very weak. I still have mine in but they are all over the place.

 

[Disjunto]

as I said to begin with, I had the smell while I was building then it went away. Guess we found the reason for that

 

[Lleot]

Why are small cases so much more expensive than large ones? It's not like they even included a motherboard.

 

[Reality|Bites]

They look just like Antec's P182/P183 case from the outside.

 

[Minstadave]

Why are small cases so much more expensive than large ones? It's not like they even included a motherboard.

Smaller market so less benefits of scale.

 

[l3g3nd]

Has anyone tried to use the included 5.25" to 3.5" bay converter.

I took out the HDD cage to mount a 240mm Radiator as I only have one HDD and one SSD so I thought I'd mount the HDD in the converter bay but the holes are cut too low and the the mount isn't flush at all. It seems like the metal to hold the HDD part has been bent in the wrong place, so the HDD is loose and the holes end up too low.

Looks like I'll have to buy another converter

 

[Cursed]

I have a card reader in the 3.5" converter bay and it works fine. No problems here.

 

[l3g3nd]

I have a card reader in the 3.5" converter bay and it works fine. No problems here.

Probably just a badly cut one then. I've tried it every which way and the holes are just too low.

 

[SlingShotUK]

Hi guys,

Just an update on the case smell, after leaving the sides and fan covers off the machine while using it for a week the smell has gone. Looks like it was the smell of the rubber cable bits. They can be taken out and washed with soap and water to remove the smell quicker, Fractal Design told me.

Great case. Just put the default back fan into the front for dual intake, a 1200rpm exhaust at the back and a low speed intake on the side.

GPU down from 67c / 65c idle to 55c and CPU (i5-750) averaging around 29/30c idle. Case is louder than it was now for obvious reasons but perfectly acceptable. Really pleased with it. Hoping I can overclock my 8800GTX now and bump the I5 to 3.4 or 3.6ghz..

 

[Unbreakable]

Had an email through the other week from Nordics of Fractal as i asked if a windowed side panel was available, they said one will be released shortly if anyone is interested to know that

Iv also been told by fractal that a windowed side panel for the R2 and upcomming R3 will be avaliable.

 

[tankskun]

Woooo want more info on the side panel & R3!

 

[Ghengis]

......... I ended up getting rid of mine on the popular auction site. Looked nice - but as I said previously, it was neither cool nor quiet once I started to fill the space inside. The smell just lingered - ran it for a month and whilst I think it would have gone completely in time it was still hanging in there after 4 weeks. OK if it is in your office - not so good if it is in the lounge or bedroom. (If you can't smell it at all you should see a Doctor!) I think I expected too much for an £80 case.

Now to try a Silverstone Fortress FT02R-W!

Well done to all who made it work for them - it is a nice looking case.

 

[LeJosh]

I don't know this smell people keep talking about lol

What were you running in it Ghengis? My one is inaudible except when running a disc a full speed. I don't really have high-end parts though.

 

[Ghengis]

I don't know this smell people keep talking about lol

What were you running in it Ghengis? My one is inaudible except when running a disc a full speed. I don't really have high-end parts though.

...... An i7, 4 HDDs and 2x 5870s ..... played around with less HDDs & an SSD, H50 or Noctua, changing Fan orientations & numbers (2 intake at front, floor and side, exhaust at back & 2 at top) and even 3x 5870s at one stage, but it never quite did it for me!

Perhaps I was boiling the bitumen off!

 

[Disjunto]

yeah, sounds like that would be a pretty hot case. A larger one would probably be better for that rig

I run mine with a PII 960 and a 5850, and can keep it silent with 2x front intake,1 bottom intake, 1 back exhaust and 2x top exhaust (I think that's my fan setup anyway)