My old computer decided recently that I need new computer :-). So I had a challenging task – to build a new PC after nine years. My requirements were: silent, dust-free, excellent build quality and good looking. I know, the latest is very subjective, but I’m very happy with my choice for case – Fractal Design Define R5 Blackout Edition.
Case is packaged in a quite big and heavy box. You can even do some exercises with it – just pick it up for 15 minutes daily and you’ll definitely feal your arms... :-) (trust me, I had to carry it for a while and I felt my arms even next day...). Following picture shows how that box looks like:
And here is how it looks like when you open the box:
After unpacking the case, you can see it in its whole beauty. Back of frond door is covered with sound dampening layer.
…and detail on buttons and ports. Positioning of these ports on top of case is very comfortable. Especially when comparing to my previous case, which had these ports and buttons on bottom and middle of front panel, respectively. You have standard set of it: power and reset buttons, jacks for head set and microphone, 2x USB 2.0 and 3x USB 3.0 ports. Oh, and I like white led ring around power button, when computer is turned on. HDD activity LED is white, too.
If you open front doors, this is what you get – two removable 5.25” bays and dust filter. Behind that dust filter is installed one 140 mm fan, but you can install another one under it. So far, I’m happy with that one standard fan.
There is also another build-in 140mm fan at the back of case. Of course, you can change both of them. But these fans are so quiet, that I don’t need to do it now. Actually, it turned out that the noisiest component in new computer is hard drive.
Before buying this case, I was very curious how much space is between floor and bottom side of case, but I wasn’t able to find relevant picture. So I present you one. You can compare that space with a 10 euro cent coin as a reference.
Don’t forget to check my other unboxing tutorials to find out what other components I used (and how I solved that ‘noisy’ hard drives :)).