Fractal Design Gallery

Glad to read that the filter system on the XL is improved over the R3. Still not nearly as convenient as the Antec and it requires powering down the PC to do so.

I will pick one up next week.
 
zoose said:
Glad to read that the filter system on the XL is improved over the R3. Still not nearly as convenient as the Antec and it requires powering down the PC to do so.

I will pick one up next week.
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You're correct, unless you happen to have a fan controller that can completely power down fans. There is no need to remove the side panel, assuming you don't zip tie the fan wires super tight. The crappy filters on the R3 were one of the case's major flaws, and it has been improved a lot.
 
Volkswagen said:
My Arc Mini...Could be better but there is no Window :D

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/dsc0486v.jpg/

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7441/dsc0487j.jpg

I am happy with it- looks like a Corsair H100 will fit so that is on my list and perhaps a fan controller.
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Nice setup. The Arc Mini has front USB 3.0? That's pretty slick. I'm still waiting for them to offer the USB 3.0 upgrade kit that they claimed would be coming for the R3 and XL. Hopefully it comes, and hopefully it is fairly cheap.
 
My R3 shots (long overdue)
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Specs in sig
 
I went through this thread to get an idea of what the cases looked like.... was going to order the Define XL on newegg, and then it went out of stock.

But now the R3 and the Define XL have been pulled off the shelves!!!

Are they done making them or is it some sort of shortage? :(
 
Dudeyourlame said:
Are they done making them or is it some sort of shortage? :(
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B is the correct answer (for you people in USA). In Europe there was never a shortage of them, except maybe the first month when there is a lot higher demand and my small country is not on top of the list because of the small market :D.
 
Dudeyourlame said:
Are they done making them or is it some sort of shortage? :(
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Seems like NewEgg has had trouble keeping them in stock lately, a few weeks ago the same thing happened and they had no Fractal cases even listed anymore....people wondered if the company went under; obviously that's not the case.

Just gotta wait for a restock, hopefully one of these days Amazon (or another large e-tailer) will start carrying their cases as well. I think N C I X *might*, but that's regular old N C I X in Canada, not the US subsidiary. Shipping (in that regard) is very high. :eek:
 
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zero2dash said:
Seems like NewEgg has had trouble keeping them in stock lately, a few weeks ago the same thing happened and they had no Fractal cases even listed anymore....people wondered if the company went under; obviously that's not the case.

Just gotta wait for a restock, hopefully one of these days Amazon (or another large e-tailer) will start carrying their cases as well. I think N C I X *might*, but that's regular old N C I X in Canada, not the US subsidiary. Shipping (in that regard) is very high. :eek:
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Yea next time they become available i will most definetly be buying it, i have the item bookmarked and ive been checking daily haha
 
Dudeyourlame said:
Yea next time they become available i will most definetly be buying it, i have the item bookmarked and ive been checking daily haha
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Good idea. Don't rely on the "Expected back by ____" date or the e-mail notifications.

As I recall, last time, that date came and the case was switched to "deactivated", then it said "due back in stock by [a later date]" but was actually available a day or two before that date. I got the "back in stock" e-mail notification a full day after I had ordered it.
 
I just installed a 140mm fan in the top of my R3 case (blowing air IN) but the fan noise is very annoying. This is not due to it being a loud fan (it is no, completely silent) but seems to be caused by the grill pattern at the top. When I place my hand over it (or a very thin paper handkerchief), it gets a lot less noisy. Any idea how to fix this?
 
Finally got my define XL and its all put together. Video card upgrade is coming soon as ati launches next generation of cards

I "upgraded" from a coolermaster ATCS 840 simply because you could hear every little noise inside the case because the HUGE fans it has left large holes, and it vibrated too much

Things i found cheaply done about the define xl

The rubber grommets are too loose where you put cables through had to reseat a few of them no biggie
Hard drive cages are very cheaply made
the Access hole at the top for say a 8 pin mobo power cord is unuseful to me at least with this motherboard
The front panel audio cord could be a little longer


Very minor but the fans that were preinstalled didnt have the cords coming off the fan in the ideal way so i had to take all three out and adjust them so less cord shows up


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I love my R3, but you are so right about those rubber grommets, they fall off way way to easy. My friend has the corsair 650D and those grommets are on their nice and tight...
 
The Rubber Grommets in the Arc are pretty good, they didn't even budge when I was feeding cables through. Really Liking this case. I think I found a keeper! :D

I am possibly going to start doing little mods, such as taking and painting the grills white, getting some sleeving done in white (Maybe just buy extensions) etc.
 
I don't get fractal.

They make removable HDD cages for the Define mini and the Define XL, which is great but they don't do it with the R3.

I'm hoping for a revision :).
 
Does anyone know if a Radeon HD 6970 with an Accelero Xtreme Plus II will physically fit in the Fractal Design R3?

The stock cooler on the 6970 is absolutely horrible. It allows the card to idle at 66c, it ticks when the fan is running at low speed, and spinning it up results in my PC doing a terrific impression of a jet engine. I need to find an aftermarket cooler that will fit in the R3 as soon as humanly possible...
 
Intel i7 2600k
Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 B3
Nvidia GTX 560ti
G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB F3-12800CL8D
Rosewill HIVE 650W Modular
Corsair H60
Western Digital 640GB Black
Samsung Blu-ray drive
Fractal Design Arc Midi

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My Fractal Define Mini: (sorry for the cables ;_; I'm pretty lazy)

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(included fan controller)
 
Cleaned up a bit, HD 6970 installed, new heatsink on the HD6970, removed some of the extra drive rails, re-mounted the rear 120mm fan with rubber screws...

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Just a heads up if you're looking to quiet down an HD 6970; the Acellero EXTREME Plus is too long for the R3, and will not fit unless you modify the case. Even though the Accelero Twin Turbo II does not list compatibility with the HD 6970, it fits perfectly and cools great.

It's also worth mentioning that the rubber screws really helped the noise from the rear 120mm fan, though the punch-cut fan grill on the case still creates a lot of wind noise. I'm going to try adding a spacer (an empty 120mm fan housing) between the fan and the case, which might quiet down the wind noise without taking a hole saw to the case and removing the built-in grill.
 
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If I might ask where did you get those rubber screws at? I too just installed the Twin Turbo 2 on my 6950. It awesome. Cools excellent and is dead quiet while doing it...
 
Nice cases ... Hope the XL goes back in stock on Newegg sometime soon!
 
Anyone know if the front USB 3.0 is available on its own for existing R3 users to upgrade?
 
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