[section_title title=Closer Look: Interior]
Closer Look: Interior
Fractal Design clearly know what they are doing in terms of design, I mean after all, it’s in their company name, but I do feel personal opinion will be split on the Define S; the interior is a little different to other cases on the market. The first thing you are going to notice is the lack of HDD bays and 5.25” optical drive bays, Fractal Design have gone minimalistic with the Define S and I actually like it; less and less people are using optical disc drives these days anyway.
So let’s talk some statistics and what’s supported:
- Graphics cards up to 425mm (around 16-17” depending on front fan installation etc.)
- CPU coolers with a maximum height of 180mm are supported (a smidge over 7”)
- Water-cooling support of up to 140mm in rear, 420mm in top and 360mm in the front.
Pretty good for a case of this price, effectively all current graphics cards will fit without any effort or problems and the water cooling support isn’t surprising given the sheer amount of space without HDD bays or optical bays installed.
The roof supports up to 3 x 120/140mm fans and with the ModuVent design, can sacrifice acoustic performance for better and more efficient airflow. The Define S comes preinstalled with 1 x 140mnm 1000rpm Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan which is designed to provide a silent operation, but while keeping an element of cooling performance.
In the front, pretty much the same fan support is included as the front, including another 140mm 1000rpm fan; this of course means the Define S comes with 2 x 140mm preinstalled fans.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the Fractal Design Define S is geared up towards providing a silent operating experience and in the rear side panel, there is a pretty decent layer of sound deadening material which does what it says on the tin, helps reduce noise and vibrations; the panel is significantly heavier than regular side panels so be careful when removing!
I bet you have been wondering for the entire review, what the hell am I going to do if there is nowhere to install a HDD or SSD?!?! Well the clever thing here is, Fractal Design, in order to save space, have put 3 x 3.5” bays (can put 2.5” drives in too) and 2 x 2.5” drive bays on the backside of the motherboard tray; this is a fantastic idea and although not a new concept, is one of the best examples of this being used. Aside from the drive bay placements, there is quite a bit of space which allows for unused or overflow cables to fit behind with no problems at all. Fractal Design have included Velcro straps to aid in cable management, but have of course included cable ties in the accessory box, also pictured below.
