Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case

Pros: +Beautiful Design +Near Silent Operation +Enough Room for my 560ti + Room to spare +Sturdy Construction with side panels on - Very little flex when pushing on the top +Came with black hardware screws +Easily detachable internal hard-drive mounts which include mounting of 2.5 drives on the cage itself +Bottom mounted PSU +Easily removable dust covers +Good air-flow +All Black Interior +Not a lot of lights that cause distractions which I love +Large space in tray for CPU Cooler plate +Pass through holes in tray for routing cables behind the case +Pre-installed sound dampening materials inside the case +No sharp corners +Feet on the bottom to give it good air flow +Anti-vibration pads installed on hard-drive trays +Came with zip-ties for easy cable mounting +Everything was labeled, but not always easy to read +Packaging included an outer box, thick Styrofoam back cardboard coverings and a plastic bag. No damage to my case during shipping (see other thoughts).

Cons: -Although there was enough room behind the motherboard tray, I had to work pretty hard to get the cover back on - would have liked to see a little bit more room. Not a deal breaker, just needed to work a little harder -Rubber coverings that go around the routing holes tend to come off easily - while routing my PSU cables, several of the holes came off and I had to put them back on, luckily they're fairly easy to get put back. -No front USB3 - Would have liked to see this included -No hot-swap drive bay(s) - Would have also liked these -The hard-drive screws that are included are easy to strip, luckily they include lots of them. These are the flat topped screws that are little longer to go through the rubber vibration pads on the HD Tray -Would have liked the front door cover to open all the way flush against the side of the case which it doesn't do now. -No removable motherboard tray -Not aluminum -Only came with 2 fans ??? Will need to wait to see if paint will last inside

Overall Review: Prior to purchasing, I emailed Fractal due to concerns about this case being flimsy as well as being damaged on arrival. I got an answer swiftly saying that most cases will flex some, especially with the side panels removed. I was also made aware that they were having some challenges with cases being damaged during shipping due to differences in shipping in the US vs Europe. I was told that they had identified the problem and had already designed packaging that they have tested to be far superior in protecting the R3 cases during shipping in the US. Soon, all R3s shipped will be in the new packaging and this issue (and the associated damage to the cases) should disappear. I was also told that they locally stock just about every part that can be replaced on these cases, and are more than happy to send you whatever parts you need to help you avoid having to return the case unnecessarily. Contact them at: 855-446-3722 (855-I-GO-FRAC) or support.america@fractal-design.com w/ any problems.

Pros: Overall a very nice case. It's almost silent, using the two supplied fans connected directly to my motherboard (3-pin). It does come with a simple variable fan controller for 3 fans (it optionally mounts in a PCI bracket), if you want to add a few more fans in the locations provided. It feels heavy, but that's mostly due to the thick sound and vibration absorption mat included in the panels and interior of the case. The hard drive mounting system is easy to access. Rubber grommets isolate the hard drives from too much vibration. Included is a 5.25 to 3.5 bay adapter, for a card reader or floppy. It worked fine for my card reader. Everything but the longest of dual GPUs will fit. I've seen a video of somebody managing to actually squeeze in a dual GPU 5970, but I wouldn't recommend it. Otherwise there's plenty of space to work with your motherboard and components. The cable management is nice, and I've managed to hide all the cables behind the motherboard tray.

Cons: Just like another newegg customer, one of thumb screw threads to open the side panel was stripped. I can remove and put in the screw, but it isn't easy. While putting in my 3.5" card reader, the plastic faceplate adapter cracked because you have to push it out from a precut panel. Partly my fault, but you have to be very careful when dealing with the perforated parts. It really should come with 1 more intake fan for the front panel area, right next to the hard drive cage. There's a spot empty to mount another fan, so I'll probably add one to keep my hard drives cool. Otherwise there is plenty of space between the drives to allow air to flow. The bottom mounted PSU with vent to the bottom could be an issue if your case is on carpet. But you can easily reorient the PSU so its intake fan pulls in air from the case instead. Finally, it really needs more space behind the motherboard tray for cable management. I barely squeezed in my bundle of cables and closed the panel, but it

Overall Review: I would still recommend this case. I would only hope the company fixes the few issues it does have. 4 out of 5 eggs for it. It could also use a USB 3.0 port. For a large RAID box this case would work awesomely. Or if you just want a case than can take large fans, but still be silent.

Pros: -Very high build quality. Everything feels solid as a rock. -Eerily quiet. Would be terrified to play a scary game in the room with this thing. -Every surface is covered in sound dampening and rubber to stop vibrations. Designed for quiet. -Moduvent system is the most brilliant thing I have ever heard of. -A screw for every hole on this beast included. ALL of them are black. Nice touch. -All of the front panel wires are sleeved in black. Keeps with the aesthetic. -Bottom mounted PSU. Neat. -Large enough to hold MOST video cards. -More drive bays than you can shake a stick at! -Awesome cable management system. With a con or two. -Surprisingly fingerprint resistant semi-polished front door. Very pretty. -Plenty of airflow in this case. -Nifty simple little fan controller. -Two fans included! Pretty dang quiet too.

Cons: -Only TWO fans included!? I would say this case would benefit best with at least three fans. -Tight fit behind the motherboard tray. But it fits. -Rubber grommets on the cable management holes do tend to get knocked out when threading through cables but not too hard to get em back on. -Door only opens... roughly 120 degrees. Minor con. -Power light, while dimmer than a Lian-li light, is still fairly bright. Probably not good if you have it in your bedroom. Easy enough to unplug the wire from the motherboard though. -Sound dampening material might hold heat more than bare metal, but only by a few degrees at most I could guess. Get more fans. -Probably only specifically on my unit, but the sound dampening material on the side panel got a little warped somehow. Still attached firmly... but it bulges in one spot. Probably because I shipped it to the stupid heat of Florida. -HEAVY case. Personally I see this as a Pro.

Overall Review: When I first saw this case the only thing that popped into my head was "FINALLY! Someone who recieved my signals to the computer case designers!". Perfectly minimalist, with no gaudy windows or lights running through it. Designed to hold it in rather than show it off. Despite holding more heat because of the sound dampening material. My system had a TWENTY degree drop because of cable management and better air flow. That is astonishing to me. Sound dampening material works very well, I can barely hear the noisy CPU heatsink I have currently. Despite my cons, I could not be happier with the purchase of this case. Worth every single penny. P.S. I noticed that some people had problems with stripped screws. I thought I had one like that too. It wasn't going in. Until I noticed there were TWO types of thumbscrews in the box. One with pointy ends and one with flat. The pointy ended screws worked on the side panels for me. Maybe that's the problem?

Pros: This is by far the greatest case I've ever owned. It's cleverly designed -- holes to pass wires behind MB instead of in front, power supply located at bottom of case, hard drives snap in easily, fans are quiet, front bays hidden, convenient USB/SATA/audio ports on front top... The minimalist black is also very cool. This case looks just great. I love the door, and the whole thing just feels solidly built. Every single inner wall of the case is lined with a foam mat which really dampens the noise coming from within. I mean this case is QUIET. Granted, I owe some of that to the components in my machine, but when I first closed the case up, I thought I had accidentally hit the power button it was so silent.

Cons: The one problem with this case is how they must screw in the side panels during manufacturing. Maybe their tool is more powerful than it should be, but I've now seen 3 of these cases, and every single one had the screws so deep that the metal around it was bending. On the first case, it was so bad that there were gaps between the side and front panel -- I had to RMA this one. Second case isn't nearly as bad, but still noticeable. Just cosmetic this time around though, and its in the back, so no big deal. But I wish they could fix this issue.

Overall Review: Overall this case just feels very solidly built (with that one exception), and I actually feel like I got my money's worth on this one.

Pros: The heavy insulation they use and the the rubber grommets make it a very silent case.

Cons: Fans are not the quietest I've herd, but for the price they are good.

Overall Review: Would def recommend for another build. I would how ever get better fans for this cause the ones that come with it could be quieter.

Pros: Room for plenty of expansion (see cons). Case is very sturdy, and power supply mounts on the bottom. Has air flow filters to keep dog hair out of the case. Very nice looking case, no clear side walls, no LEDS on the fans. Doesn't look like it belongs in the trunk of a car on "The Fast and the Furious." It's the nicest case Newegg offers in black that has a front door. Comes with 2 120mm chassis fans 1 intake and 1 exhaust. Also includes a mount for a third fan at the intake location.

Cons: Case is very large. I wasn't able to put it where my old PC was due to the size. Blue power LED is way too bright. Built in FDD to 5.25 mount should also allow 3.5 inch hard disk mounting. The holes don't quite line up like they should. I realize there are 8 other HD ports, but their location isn't really good for IDE chaining. I wanted to use an older 250GB WD IDE drive and IDE DVD burner, and most newer MB only have 1 IDE connector. I will have to get out my dremel or buy a 3.5 to 5.25 converter to use both.

Overall Review: Fractal Design seems to have gotten their packaging under control. Mine came with 0 damage, in perfect condition.

Pros: Looks nice, quiet, good cable management, runs cool, lots of room and not too large, 6950 fits, black, psu on bottom.

Cons: Box was intact pristine from UPS, but case had broken foot (they are plastic painted chrome), bends all over the place especially the HD cages and the rear panel, and it had obviously been torqued as it was bent from front to back. The metal this case is made of is very thin, wobbles, and is nothing like the Antec P180 my previous case. The HD cage, the rear panel, the bottom, the top and even the doors somewhat all flex too much.

Overall Review: Coming from the Antec P180 my standards were fairly high and this case was disappointing. Mostly because of the flimsy construction. The only solid area is where the mobo mounts.

Pros: It is so sexy. I prefer the minimalist, sleek, black box and from what I can find, Fractal pulls it off better than all others. - A lot of space for hard drives, solid metal HDD bays makes the whole case feel like quality. - Great space for the Power Supply and the PSU Cables that come out of the PSU. The cable management grommets are really nice, I was able to fit all my braided PSU cables behind the motherboard plate (just though, see cons). - Everything came unscathed, ports and buttons work. - Fan Controllers are sexy and cool. - Amazing deal for price, I feel like this is a high end case due to the quality.

Cons: - During the installation of the PSU Cables, the grommets came out from their fixed holes a few times, there is nothing that holds the grommets to the case other than friction and good faith. - There was barely enough space for my PSU cables behind the motherboard plate. I admit I could have minimized their volume more, but regardless, I had to work the panel back on with some force, and there was a noticeable bulge on the side. (Some of the rigidness of the braided cables has subsided and now the case looks square, but I don't like the thought of all that pressure on my tubes :( .) - Only comes with 2 fans stock, less than I wanted but not everyone needs the 7 case fans. I ended up filling every one, no problems. - Sound "Dampening". I admit I have all 7 case fans in, at full speed, a 3rd party heatsink, 2 video cards with fans, and a hard drive. But the sound is surprisingly loud. I say it is as loud as my window air conditioner, They are about equal distances from me.

Overall Review: User Error: I stepped on the case panel and a small (dime sized) mountain dent formed because there was a small something? under it. It wasn't big enough for me to return it and ask for a replacement. It kinda dents easily :( but it shouldn't dent if you don't juggle hammers on top of it. Not perfect, I would give it a 9/10 because the cons do add up (to -1), but the pros are so much more severe. I rounded up to 5/5 :D. I would buy this over any other case I found (and I did(and am happy)). (Except maybe the Fractal Full ATX Case, but I didn't need that.) I ended up buying this over the Corsair 650D (Or whatever) because of the ascetics and several small details (sound dampening, side intake and such)-Even when it was a gift and price was out of the option (Corsair 650D was like $80+ at the time of purchase).