Fractal Design Official Hardware Rep

Fractal Design NA

Fractal Design NA

Sales and Community Manager
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
87
Greetings and salutations to all the fine folks on the Hard Forum!

I’d like to formally introduce myself as your official Fractal Design hardware rep for the North American region. Starting today I’ll be maintaining a regular presence around the forum, offering advice and assistance wherever the opportunity presents itself. If anyone has questions on or needs help with a Fractal Design product, please don’t hesitate to send me a pm and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

Likewise, if you have any ideas, praise, grievances or other thoughts to share then I’d love to hear it. Customer and community feedback plays a central role in everything we make and do, and as such we hold opinions such as your own in the highest regard.

So feel free to reach out anytime, and I’ll be seeing you guys around!

Cheers,


Fischer
Fractal Design North America
 
Any plans to offer a micro atx version of a Node case in an HTPC friendly format such as the 202 and 605?
 
KrylonArt said:
Any plans to offer a micro atx version of a Node case in an HTPC friendly format such as the 202 and 605?
Click to expand...

The Node 605 supports Micro ATX and ATX. I have one with a full ATX board installed in my own home theater setup right now, actually. You might also consider the Node 804. It might not be the traditional shape for going on a shelf or tabletop, but as a floor installation it will blend in just like a high-end subwoofer. It's a personal favorite of mine for having a crazy amount of expansion capacity including support for a dozen drives and three radiators.

Camberwell said:
Welcome! Do you happen to know if there are any plans for a Define XL R3? Many thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm not able to comment on unannounced products, so unfortunately I wouldn't be able to say one way or another.
 
Is the Fractal Design R5 White window version ever going to go on sale? I never see it below $120. I see all the other cases go on sale but not that one. Like ever :(
 
Edgar said:
Is the Fractal Design R5 White window version ever going to go on sale? I never see it below $120. I see all the other cases go on sale but not that one. Like ever :(
Click to expand...

Both the windowed and non-windowed versions were on promo for $99 and $89 respectively just a few weeks ago at NCIXUS.com. The white versions don't go on special quite as often as the others, but they certainly do get their turns. Just gotta be vigilant.
 
Fischer,

Glad to see an official Fractal Design presence here at [H]!

I have an opinion to share. ;)

I bought a Fractal Design XL R2 for a build. I love it. So much so, that I bought a second XL R2 for a second build. That's the first time I bought a second, identical, case. Based on my experiences with those two builds, I have a very short wish list.

1. See Your reviews keep missing... In that thread, I discuss how my Corsair 280mm radiator cannot fully mount on the XL R2 due to hole spacing. (TL;DR: Some 280 radiators have spacing of 140mm, 20mm, 140mm, others have 140mm, 16mm, 140mm. Some cases have both sets of holes. Fractal does not.)

2. The door. PLEASE make it so the door can be swapped to either side...AND that it can be opened 270^ so it can be opened, like Antec does, fully flush to the side of the case.

3. A few more millimeters of space on the backside of the mobo would be appreciated. It's not needed, but it would make it a bit easier to route some of the big connectors and cables back there.

Edited to add number 4. The bottom fan filter tray is only accessible from the rear of the case. Having it slide out the FRONT would be an improvement.

I love the aesthetics, the quietness, and the quality of these cases. There is plenty of room for all sorts of work on the inside.

If you have a prototype which fixes some of the issues I mentioned above, I'm willing to test it. ;)

Thanks,

Ken
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the feedback, Ken. I actually ran into the exact same issue with the rad mounting when I built a server in the Define XL R2 a while back, so I know exactly what you're talking about with the spacing not quite lining up on certain models. I can also totally get behind the idea of having more space behind the board and a more flexible door mount with a wider swing. I'll get these added to the R&D wish list.
 
Send me that prototype XL R3, and I'll let you know if it's any good! ;)
 
I am contemplating for my Skylake build to cram my ASUS 980ti Strix into a Node 304. I currently have my server in a 304 and I figure some Node on Node action would be pretty nice. My question is, will the outer shell of the Core 500 fit onto the Node 304? Reason being is the extra ventilation on the GPU side, vent out the top and the top fan mounting plate are things I would like to have. Basically I want to buy a Core 500 and Node 304 and swap top fan mounts and outside skin.
 
Do you have a recommended fan setup for the Define S (windowless)? I'm currently running the following (haven't tested any other configs yet):
  • 3 front 140mm intakes
  • 1 bottom 120mm intake
  • 1 rear 140mm exhaust
  • 2 140mm fans on Noctua NH-D15
I currently have 2 EVGA GTX 680s in SLI. Would it be better to use the bottom 120mm intake fan as an exhaust on the door or use it as a top exhaust? All the fans are pwm controlled via the board.
 
Fritzz said:
I am contemplating for my Skylake build to cram my ASUS 980ti Strix into a Node 304. I currently have my server in a 304 and I figure some Node on Node action would be pretty nice. My question is, will the outer shell of the Core 500 fit onto the Node 304? Reason being is the extra ventilation on the GPU side, vent out the top and the top fan mounting plate are things I would like to have. Basically I want to buy a Core 500 and Node 304 and swap top fan mounts and outside skin.
Click to expand...

I honestly wouldn't have thought so, but I just tried it myself on a couple cases here and it appears the Core 500 shell will indeed fit a Node 304. Not sure I can recommend the reciprocal since you might disrupt your airflow quite a bit by taking away the Core 500's top vent, but I can say that it physically fits.

chillstatus said:
Do you have a recommended fan setup for the Define S (windowless)? I'm currently running the following (haven't tested any other configs yet):
  • 3 front 140mm intakes
  • 1 bottom 120mm intake
  • 1 rear 140mm exhaust
  • 2 140mm fans on Noctua NH-D15
I currently have 2 EVGA GTX 680s in SLI. Would it be better to use the bottom 120mm intake fan as an exhaust on the door or use it as a top exhaust? All the fans are pwm controlled via the board.
Click to expand...

Your current config sounds good to me. With the bottom fan as an intake, it's working with the GPU fans to pull cool air through the cards and out the bracket. As an exhaust, it would instead be more or less competing with the GPU for that incoming airflow.
 
I knew it!!! I noticed parts of the case frame on the Core 500 had the same mounting holes for the HDD cradle cross bar that comes in the Node 304.

I agree though, putting the Node shell on the Core 500 wouldn't be optimal since there aren't the two 92 mm fans like in the Node 304.

Thanks for the confirmation!
 
Relatively happy owner of a black R5 here. I greatly enjoyed building in this case, except for one terrible omission: no motherboard standoffs were included! I checked every bag, every box, every nook of the case itself. I ended up having to strip an old Lian-Li. Pretty disappointing quality control. That said, I love everything else; the quiet, the SSD mounting behind the mobo, the cable management and the dust filters.

MSI Z170 SLI Plus
i5-6600k @ 4.4
Hyper 212 Evo
Powercolor 7870 XT
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
 
schwig said:
Relatively happy owner of a black R5 here. I greatly enjoyed building in this case, except for one terrible omission: no motherboard standoffs were included! I checked every bag, every box, every nook of the case itself. I ended up having to strip an old Lian-Li. Pretty disappointing quality control. That said, I love everything else; the quiet, the SSD mounting behind the mobo, the cable management and the dust filters.

MSI Z170 SLI Plus
i5-6600k @ 4.4
Hyper 212 Evo
Powercolor 7870 XT
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the missing standoffs. There definitely should have been a set in the accessory box. We can still get you fixed up with a replacement kit though if you'd care to get in touch with us at support.fractal-design.com.
 
Happy 605 owner here, just what I wanted in a HTPC case. My boss saw it and wants me to build him one just like it. The fan controller is a nice touch, I did add a second fan blowing across the mobo and made the fan by the drive cages run as exhaust, and it's also nice to have a SD card slot built in.

Just thought I'd let your company know that its efforts are appreciated, that's one of my favorite builds in a while.
 
Still waiting for some rackmount ears for the Node 605, or any rackmount case by Fractal Design.. pleaseee :confused:
 
Same, late but welcome to [H]. Its always great to see Company Reps take a REAL interest in their customers' thoughts, opinions and suggestions about the products they produce and sell. I for one have been a fan of Fractal cases for a long time. I used a Define XL Black Pearl for my Snow White build CPU Mag June 2014) and when Sapphire Tech had me build them a show rig for CES 2015 they were leaning towards another company (no need to say) but I kinda talked them into a Fractal. Most recently I built my son a new gaming rig. He wanted to go full size this time so back to my favorite. Fractal Define XL Black Pearl.

Now, I hope I don't offend with this next bit. I wanted to do so something different with this one. I decided to completely rework nearly everything in the case. The motherboard tray was flipped up-side-down and then rotated 180 deg. All the drive bays were removed, the PSU was relocated to the front and a new rear panel was fabbed up. Lastly a radiator compartment housing an intake/exhaust setup was built. I don't have the final paint work finished, but overall, I'm super happy with the outcome so far. I don't know exactly what draws me to your cases, but I just love the clean looks and solid build quality (stock OR modded). Keep up the good work and I will keep recommending and using your products.

Have to toss a couple pix up. :) Hope you guys don't mind.
 

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Node 202 GPU cooling woes...

I currently have a very VERY hot running MSI 980Ti Gaming 6G golden edition.

I have two fractal design case fans installed below it but it runs hot (like 84 C hot) even during normal operation (No OC).

have you guys tested graphics card/case fan types and configurations to figure out the best combination (i.e. reference design vs. aftermarket, and/or SP fans vs AF fans on the case in front of the GPU)?
 
1939549_10152229677324430_1904617197_o-jpg.3752


Speedbump what case is this? I love how the card is installed at 90 degrees angle in the window like that. Haven't seen many like that
 
primetime said:
1939549_10152229677324430_1904617197_o-jpg.3752


Speedbump what case is this? I love how the card is installed at 90 degrees angle in the window like that. Haven't seen many like that
Click to expand...

Looks Like a modded Define S

(The only reason I say that is because it has a solid plate next to the normal GPU mounts which would allow a modder to cut it and create a new bracket by bending the cut plate. As well as the fact that it is the only one in their tower line that has a window that is almost the entire side panel.)

Define S - Window
 
We need a micro atx version of the R5. Except no front door. Basically, take the Arc Mini exterior with the R5 interior.

I really like the way the cable grommets are slanted/layed out in the R5 but, unfortunately the micro atx world is a bit... ignored.
 
Looks Like a modded Define S

(The only reason I say that is because it has a solid plate next to the normal GPU mounts which would allow a modder to cut it and create a new bracket by bending the cut plate. As well as the fact that it is the only one in their tower line that has a window that is almost the entire side panel.)

Define S - Window
Click to expand...
Define Mini

Close, but its not a "S". It is a Define Mini. The side panel did not have a window. That was a must when making the choice. I cut the side window follow the design of the R9 290X Toxic card's cooler shroud (which was then changed before release, sigh) The Toxic was to be the reason for this build, so I modded the back panel to use a vertical mounting position to show off their new card. I basically cut out all the stock mounting slots and fabbed up an entire new panel. Look closely at the card in this picture (taken at CES) and you can see how they changed the shroud design and totally failed the window design.
 

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I love my Node 605. Not too thrilled with the fan controller placement though. I ended up having to remove it so I could mount the radiator from my 980 Ti to that fan slot. Other than that it's been the best HTPC cases I've used.
 
I have a Fractal R5 now, that I built for a workstation, I love it. I only used 2 ssd's in the case so I removed ALL the hard drive cages and the top 5.25 cage for airflow. Now I am looking to build a NAS system that can hold as many hard drives as possible.

Question is:

Can I place the hard drive cage from the R5 I am not using into a Fractal XL 2 case to hold more hard drives? Specifically, I wanted to remove the 5.25 cage on top of the XL that holds the optical drive and put the Hard drive cage from the Fractal R5 that holds 5 hard drives. Is this possible to do?

Thanks,
 
If you flip the Node 202 upside down and use integrated graphics, would a Zalman Reserator 3 Max Dual fit in place of the GPU using the two 120mm fan cutouts? It's 73mm thick. Perhaps with thinner fans -- Yate Loon has 20mm fans instead of the usual 25mm, that'd be 68mm.
 
BrokenAnimator said:
I have a Fractal R5 now, that I built for a workstation, I love it. I only used 2 ssd's in the case so I removed ALL the hard drive cages and the top 5.25 cage for airflow. Now I am looking to build a NAS system that can hold as many hard drives as possible.

Question is:

Can I place the hard drive cage from the R5 I am not using into a Fractal XL 2 case to hold more hard drives? Specifically, I wanted to remove the 5.25 cage on top of the XL that holds the optical drive and put the Hard drive cage from the Fractal R5 that holds 5 hard drives. Is this possible to do?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

The 5.25" cage in the Define XL has different mounting points vs. the 3.5" cage, so you wouldn't be able to swap the two. You could however get a pack of 5.25" to 3.5" adapters and install 4 more HDDs in the 5.25" bays.

chx said:
If you flip the Node 202 upside down and use integrated graphics, would a Zalman Reserator 3 Max Dual fit in place of the GPU using the two 120mm fan cutouts? It's 73mm thick. Perhaps with thinner fans -- Yate Loon has 20mm fans instead of the usual 25mm, that'd be 68mm.
Click to expand...

So far as we can tell it should work, though the power cable may be a tight fit around the back heat sink. We wouldn't be able to say with 100% certainty though without having tested this particular hardware ourselves.
 
Suggestion: I would love to see the next Fractal Design R-Case (R6, I'd presume) be able to fit 280mm AIO coolers with 5.25" optical drives and a reversible door. Basically, an R5, but just a tad bit bigger to fit the 280mm AIO coolers, such as the Corsair H110i.
 
jnick said:
Suggestion: I would love to see the next Fractal Design R-Case (R6, I'd presume) be able to fit 280mm AIO coolers with 5.25" optical drives and a reversible door. Basically, an R5, but just a tad bit bigger to fit the 280mm AIO coolers, such as the Corsair H110i.
Click to expand...

You can top mount a 280mm rad in the R5 without removing the ODD bays, but the non-standard screw spacing on the H110 is primarily where this particular conflict's coming from. Regardless, maximizing compatibility is always a top priority and this shouldn't be too difficult to work out in future revisions. The R5 has a reversible door as well, and given it's been a fairly popular feature it seems pretty reasonable to expect it to stick around too.

Thanks for the input.
 
Fractal Design NA said:
You can top mount a 280mm rad in the R5 without removing the ODD bays, but the non-standard screw spacing on the H110 is primarily where this particular conflict's coming from. Regardless, maximizing compatibility is always a top priority and this shouldn't be too difficult to work out in future revisions. The R5 has a reversible door as well, and given it's been a fairly popular feature it seems pretty reasonable to expect it to stick around too.

Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...

I love the reversible door. Definitely a huge advantage over the R4!

If Corsair is the main problem, what other AIO 280mm coolers do work with the R5?

Thanks!
 
Welcome!
I have a Fractal Design R4, and my window is a bit scratched up.
Do you sell just the window, and is it easy to replace?
I am in the US.
 
Ang said:
Welcome!
I have a Fractal Design R4, and my window is a bit scratched up.
Do you sell just the window, and is it easy to replace?
I am in the US.
Click to expand...

How scratched up is it? If it's not too terribly deep you can probably fix it up yourself at very little expense:
 
Ok here is a question for you: Microcenter shows the Nano S as in stock in many retail locations - indicates with Window. I made a trip of almost 4 hours to get the first one they had. I get home and it is without window. Even though their specs say it has one.

I only paid 77 for it and it would cost me at least 30 to go back and return it. How much is the window to purchase (that I thought I was getting?)

/bummed.
 
Damn Dirty Ape said:
Ok here is a question for you: Microcenter shows the Nano S as in stock in many retail locations - indicates with Window. I made a trip of almost 4 hours to get the first one they had. I get home and it is without window. Even though their specs say it has one.

I only paid 77 for it and it would cost me at least 30 to go back and return it. How much is the window to purchase (that I thought I was getting?)

/bummed.
Click to expand...

Oh that's rough. I'd be bummed too. What version does the box say it's supposed to be?
 
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