Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Review

A Look Inside
Opening up the case is as easy as removing 2 thumbscrews and taking the side panel off.  When you take the side panel off you can see it also has the sound dampening material on it.  Also you can see how the fan ventilation hole is covered.  Fractal Design calls this their Patent pending ModuVent™ design.  It allows you to either install fans or keep the ventilation holes covered for optimal silence.  Taking a look inside the case there is an all black interior.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

The first thing that stands out about the inside of the case is the hard drive trays.  They are also painted white, which as I said gives a cool contrast to the case.  There are 2 hard drive cages that house 3 trays each giving you the ability to install up to 6 hard drives.  These trays fit both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch hard drives.  If you remove a thumbscrew you are able to slide the top hard drive cage out to make room for water-cooling or longer video cards.  When you remove the hard drive cage you can get a good look at the included 120mm fan.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

At the top you have the two 5.25-inch drive bays.  The bottom one has a 5.25-inch to 3.5-inch adapter in it if you wanted to install a 3.5-inch device like a fan controller or floppy drive (people still use these?).  Fractal Design does include a 3.5-inch bezel cover as well.  Unlike many new cases you secure your drives with thumbscrews not a tool-less locking solution.  I’m not a huge fan of tool-less locking systems so this is a plus.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

On the bottom of the case 2 large ventilation sections.  One is where your power supply will be and the other one is fan an optional 120mm fan.  There is a long removable fan filter on the bottom of the case for both of these vents.  Moving up there are only 4 expansion slots since this is a mATX motherboard.  The expansion slots are also white, again I love this.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

Above the expansion slots is the 120mm exhaust fan, all of the exhaust fans use 3pin connectors which make them easy to connect to your motherboard.  At the top of the case you can see the other covered fan placement.  It is covered with the sound dampening material, which is pretty thick.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

One thing I always like to see on cases is cable routing holes.  These make it easy to route cables around the back-side of your case.  The Define Mini has 6 cable routing holes, all of which have the rubber inserts.  There is a very large CPU cutout that will allow you to install an aftermarket CPU cooler, without having to take your motherboard out of the case.  You can also see there is sound dampening material on the other side panel as well.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

If we take the other side panel off and take a look at the backside of the case you can see how the cables are routed.  Also I did not mention that this case has an internal USB 3.0 connector, which is so much better than routing USB 3.0 cables around the back of the case.  There is a good amount of room between the motherboard tray and the side of the case.  This means you will be able to route cables around the back of the motherboard tray without any issues.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

Inside of the case you will also find the user’s manual and box of goodies.  The box of goodies has all of your mounting hardware, 2 cable ties, 3.5-inch bezel cover, and fan controller.

Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case Fractal Design Define Mini mATX Case

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