Final Thoughts
It is really hard to say anything bad about the Fractal Design Define R5 unless you are true pessimist. While I can say I have my times when I could see bad anywhere but most times I like to look at the positive parts for my reviews. Grandma Law #4 “If you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything at all.” That is not easy since I have been known to let a consumer or a company know that they produced one heck of a stinker once in a while, but honestly cases have come a long way and most cases built now are built really nicely and we can thank Fractal Design in some way for just that.
See, Fractal Design set the high jump bar so high and nailed it and that would have not been possible if they didn’t listen to us that were building and modding cases for years. At the time we never thought that a company would ever stoop as low as to listen to what we were begging them to do from the beginning. Thank you from the bottom of my builders heart Fractal Design for building some great cases that are worthy of the score I am about to give.
A negative that I did not car for was the new ModuVent covers at the top. See they have these retaining hooks on one side and drop in pins on the other but you don’t know which side the hooks are on so breaking a hook is child’s play and trying install them tightly after removal and get them in the correct placement can be like trying to do a Rubik’s Cube while completely high on a sugar rush. I know, I should read the directions… but it looks so easy until the hooks snap off, but if you leave it alone or you tear into it with kid’s gloves you might get them off without an incident. I didn’t, but I hate to read directions and a have a tenancy step on the Ice before I test it. That is just me, but throwing out the baby with the bathwater on this one thing? Naa.
Quite honestly the positives outweigh that one negative like a cinder block on a scale with a feather at the other side. The cinder block being the great building accuracy and the engineered flow is a common thought while I built into this case. It rivals U4 server cases costing 4 to 7 times what this case costs.
Overall, this is a “reviewer’s pick” for one of the best cases out for 2015. Fractal Design has been a winner since its inception and even more now that they have never stopped innovating. ThinkComputers gives the Fractal Design DEFINE R5 Case a very strong9 out of 10 score and our Editor’s Choice Award.
Pros:
– Great Paint Job
– Over-engineered in great wayw.
– Love the shoes
– Wire Management is made simple
– Tool-less windowed side panel lock is nice
– Ease of building is easy on the nerves
– One of the best bangs for the buck out there.
Cons:
– Needs to include one more 140 white fan in the front
– ModuVent system not so great for me (somewhat complicated fastening)
– For some a door is a con, but not for me; I like the front of the case clean
