Wife bought me a new case for Christmas case

[ZeroDamage]

The case in question is the Fractal Design XL R2 case. It is the best case I've ever owned. I was finally able to hook up my Corsair H90 CPU water cooler. I could only do so much with the cabling with this PSU due to their shorter length. I could not route them behind the motherboard like I wanted but I did the best I could. My CPU never goes over 29 Celsius while gaming. It sometimes hits 30 but then quickly drops down as the fan speeds up but I hear no difference.

 

Here are a few screenshots.

 

Forgive me for poor picture quality.

 

http://i.imgur.com/qEO03xm.jpg

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Jer8WvQ.jpg

 

Edit: Here is a speedfan screenshot with the system at idle.

http://i.imgur.com/hFGVdri.png

Edited January 5, 2014 by Flitterkill

[ZeroDamage]

Here is a link to the case. If you are in the market for a new system, I recommend this case. You do not hear much about the company but the build quality is top notch.

 

There is a fan on the bottom of the case that intakes from the bottom. There is a filter that slides out that you should clean that catches dust. There is the one intake fan in the front and the exhaust in the back. On the top is the addition of the radiator and exhaust fan for the self-contained water cooler. The instructions for the water cooler were the worst I've ever seen but the end result is amazing for the cost.

 

http://www.amazon.com/FRACTAL-DESIGN-FD-CA-DEF-XL-R2-BL-Define-Computer/dp/B00AZQTZFU/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1388869572&sr=8-10&keywords=fractal+design+define

Edited January 4, 2014 by ZeroDamage

[walkingCat]

looks neat, but how does it cool?

[Fenix]

 

Here are a few screenshots.

 

Forgive me for poor picture quality.

 

http://i.imgur.com/qEO03xm.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Jer8WvQ.jpg

 

 

 

Except a screenshot is a picture of what's on your screen....I guess we all use that word by habit a bit too much now.

 

 

 

[ZeroDamage]

looks neat, but how does it cool?

 

 

So far it cools really great. It's mostly quiet. Every possible intake without a fan has a blocker on it by default to only allow air into the locations that are filtered. That includes the front and bottom of the case which have large fans. It runs cool and it is quite large too. As you can see from that one "screenshot" (picture) the videocard has a lot of space between the end of it and the hard drive bays. On my Antec case, I had to remove that bay to fit the video card in.

[VooDooPC]

I have the same case. It's really nice. I love the way it looks, just a simple black box. Nothing fancy.

 

[walkingCat]

yeah i see it now on VooDoo's picture. Looked like a solid brick to me.

[samurai nightling]

lol at the sticker price though. Very sweet case, I have an Antec full tower thats simple plain black just like it.

[Barashin]

How huge is this thing. It makes your GPU look tiny.

[VooDooPC]

lol at the sticker price though. Very sweet case, I have an Antec full tower thats simple plain black just like it.

It's about $120 on Newegg and Amazon

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352029

 

http://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-FD-CA-DEF-XL-R2-BL-Define-Black/dp/B00ATXA4TA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1389040808&sr=1-1&keywords=DEFINE+XL+R2

 

I don't know why the J-Electronics people ZeroDamage linked have it so damn expensive.

 

It's 22 inches tall. So almost 2 feet tall.

Edited January 6, 2014 by VooDooPC

[samurai nightling]

Looks like just a regular full tower. So many people buy mid-towers now, they forget how big the full ones are. Mines full and is about 2 feet high. I will say it looks wider than a normal full tower though, same height, larger depth.

[walkingCat]

I have small one, as you referred "mid-towers". But I remember, at FFO I stood my tiny box next to regular size, it's like comparing a Mini-Cooper to a Lincoln town-car.

[Barashin]

Well the case looks awesome. I don't get the whole appeal of the upcoming SteamOS boxes and even micro-ATX board PCs. I live in a pretty small 1BR apartment and my mid-sized tower stands proudly and gorgeously between my TV stand and desk. It doesn't take up too much space and looks great. Why get a small, less upgradable computer for more money / less value just to hide it away in your TV stand (exacerbating ventilation & overheating issues)? If anything, I wish I had a full tower just because cable management is so annoying now with everything I have crammed in there.

[walkingCat]

It's an old market. For those who can assemble PC on their own, install OS and every application, this sounds like a fraud. But take my word, there are people who can't launch Skype without help, amd its not just about old folks. I'm not even exaggerating.

[VooDooPC]

It's an old market. For those who can assemble PC on their own, install OS and every application, this sounds like a fraud. But take my word, there are people who can't launch Skype without help, amd its not just about old folks. I'm not even exaggerating.

Totally. My nephew is going to be 14 soon. By the time I was 14 I had build at least one computer for myself. My nephew wouldn't know how to even take the side of his computer case off. I'm sure there's still kids out there doing it the old fashion way but I feel like it's a dying breed.