Fractal Define 7

Darksaber · Feb 21, 2020

The Fractal Define 7 is the seventh generation of the Define R series of cases. It sports a new, clean branding, loads of new features and plenty of enhancements over the previous version without compromising on the core functionality and design that has defined the series this last decade.

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Chrispy_ · Feb 21, 2020

I am generally impressed with Fractal. Case build quality has come down a lot in the last 20 years after peaking around the millenium with everyone trying to make a case with the highest quality materials, paint finishes and contruction quality. Things like the Coolermaster ATCS and Lian-Li's rise to fame were those years. Fractal have never strayed too far towards cheap-feeling but have never made anything that feels truly as premium as those offerings. In-Win probably gets closest now with some seriously high-quality machining on solid chunks of brushed Aluminium.

Giant, tempered glass cases offend me, but I like the clean looks here and look forward to seeing this rebranding happen to things like the Node 202 and Define Nano S.

rtwjunkie · Feb 22, 2020

I’ve always been happy with Fractal cases for their built like a tank a oustical properties while swallowing any PC components I can throw at them. Build wuality has always been extremely high.

This though, seems like they managed somehow to take a step forward!

newtekie1 · Feb 22, 2020

Damn that's a sexy case! Maybe time to finally replace my Define S...

One suggestion for the review is on the Case Temperature Over Time graphs, I feel they should both have the same scale. Right now, the first goes from 20° to 90° while the second goes from 20° to 80°. This makes it look like there is more of a difference than there really is. Neither went over 80° but both came close, so I don't know why 80 was just the top end of the scale for both of them. Just trying to give some constructive criticism. Otherwise, the review was great as always.

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

The conclusion, at the Cons, there is "No reset button", yet I see in all the pictures of the front I/O a reset button.
Does anyone actually proof reads these, ever ?

Darksaber · Feb 22, 2020

Alexandrus said:
The conclusion, at the Cons, there is "No reset button", yet I see in all the pictures of the front I/O a reset button.
Does anyone actually proof reads these, ever ?

Oh no, we actually never proofread any of these reviews. In fact, we just throw a monkey at it, hoping the pictures turn out, pull random data out of a hat to put in our graphs and put in mistakes to look like we are fallible human beings - because we don't want the poor human civilization to know: we are actually fully digital AI beings that are actually perfect in every way and here to take over the world.

But all jokes aside: Everyone makes mistakes - I bet that includes you, so: thanks for noticing that. It should read: No HDD activity LED.

newtekie1 said:
Damn that's a sexy case! Maybe time to finally replace my Define S...

One suggestion for the review is on the Case Temperature Over Time graphs, I feel they should both have the same scale. Right now, the first goes from 20° to 90° while the second goes from 20° to 80°. This makes it look like there is more of a difference than there really is. Neither went over 80° but both came close, so I don't know why 80 was just the top end of the scale for both of them. Just trying to give some constructive criticism. Otherwise, the review was great as always.

Good feedback! I appreciate it. I will look into if we can easily set a good min./max. when processing the roughly 4000 data points that go into each of these

So automation is key.

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

I know what it SHOULD read, and that perhaps time was limited and this had to be published sooner rather later.
And no, I do not make mistakes, I once thought I made one, but I was mistaken

Xzibit · Feb 22, 2020

Darksaber said:
But all jokes aside: Everyone makes mistakes - I bet that includes you, so: thanks for noticing that. It should read: No HDD activity LED.

Define 7 Manual (Page 19) says it has one.

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

Where does it say that ? Either you are seeing things that are not there, or reading things wrong here or in the manual, or I am NOT seeing things.

Xzibit · Feb 22, 2020

Page 19 says these are Power SW, Power LED & HDD LED unless its the reset instead.

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

LOL, wut ? No dude, it says that one can use the LED as whatever one wants, Power LED or HDD LED. But it's just one LED. Plus, they probably did copy&paste that from the R6.

Xzibit · Feb 22, 2020

If you used a Fractal case before when the HDD is active it blinks the power led. Secondary Led.

newtekie1 · Feb 22, 2020

Xzibit said:
Page 19 says these are Power SW, Power LED & HDD LED unless its the reset instead.

It seems like in the manual, the Power SW, Power LED & HDD LED are all sleeved together but the reset button is a separate cable. All the Fractal cases I've seen have a dual duty LED for the Power and HDD. It's dim when powered on, but flashes brighter when the HDD is active(or maybe one LED for power and the HDD is a second LED that makes the same area brighter).

Alexandrus said:
LOL, wut ? No dude, it says that one can use the LED as whatever one wants, Power LED or HDD LED. But it's just one LED. Plus, they probably did copy&paste that from the R6.

The R6 has both as well. I read the manual as saying it has both Power and HDD LEDs just like all their other cases.

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

You are both technically wrong.
The previous Fractal cases actually have 2 LED, not only because there are 2 sets of cables, and a dual power LED uses 3 cables, but also because...I took them apart to look.
Now there is only one LED, with the Define 7.

newtekie1 · Feb 22, 2020

Alexandrus said:
You are both technically wrong.
The previous Fractal cases actually have 2 LED, not only because there are 2 sets of cables, and a dual power LED uses 3 cables, but also because...I took them apart to look.

Isn't that exactly what I said...

Alexandrus · Feb 22, 2020

The R6 definitely has 2 LEDs, two sets of cables for each LED, just the HDD one is placed in such a way that is looks way brighter. Plus, Power Button, HDD LED and Power LED are all part of the same assembly, basically the power button assembly.
I played a lot with them as I wanted to change them to a different color.
I don't know if that is "exactly" what you said, but close enough.

rtwjunkie · Feb 22, 2020

Alexandrus said:
LOL, wut ? No dude, it says that one can use the LED as whatever one wants, Power LED or HDD LED. But it's just one LED. Plus, they probably did copy&paste that from the R6.View attachment 145561

Fractal has been this way for many model years. Either a solid on power light, or the light strobes with drive activity.

Raendor · Feb 22, 2020

Another boring giant atx case to take up your space.

Tsukiyomi91 · Feb 22, 2020

looks nice.

ShurikN · Feb 22, 2020

Raendor said:
Another boring giant atx case to take up your space.

Well, no one is stopping you to put your MoBo on top of a shoe box, hang it on a wall, put it in the desk drawer, under your armpit...

Assimilator · Feb 22, 2020

This is a great case but the front door makes the thermals atrocious. There are a lot of cases that come pretty close to this one's featureset at a much lower price, e.g. Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic.

Joss · Feb 22, 2020

I still find the Define R5 as the PC tower. Classic as they come and yet so versatile.
btw, It's good to see proper case testing at TPU, finally.

rtwjunkie · Feb 22, 2020

Joss said:
I still find the Define R5 as the PC tower. Classic as they come and yet so versatile.
btw, It's good to see proper case testing at TPU, finally.

I would have to double down on that and bote for R4 since it still swallowed anything you put in there, quietly and cool as expected, but was overall a little more stiff and strong than the R5. But no argument at all on the R5 being great.

Octopuss · Feb 22, 2020

I have Define R6 and can't see much of anything different with the newer one, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. The case is pretty damn good.

EarthDog · Feb 22, 2020

rtwjunkie said:
I’ve always been happy with Fractal cases for they're built like a tank and acoustical properties while swallowing any PC components I can throw at them. Build quality has always been extremely high.

This though, seems like they managed somehow to take a step forward!

ftfy and agreed.

System Name	Meshlicious Monster
Processor	Intel Core i5-10600T
Motherboard	MSI Z490I Unify
Cooling	NZXT Kraken Z53 with 2x Noctua Redux 1300 RPM PWM fans
Memory	ADATA 16 GB 3200 Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage	TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s)	Asus ProArt 27" 1440P, 75Hz
Case	ssupd Meshlicious with mesh side panels
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion 660 W Platinum ATX
Mouse	Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro Wireless
Keyboard	Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Home

System Name	Bragging Rights
Processor	Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard	It has no markings but it's green
Cooling	No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory	2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s)	Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage	32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s)	10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case	Veddha T2
Audio Device(s)	Apparently, yes
Power Supply	Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse	MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard	Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD	Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software	W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores	I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.

System Name	Bayou Phantom
Processor	Core i7-8700k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard	ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling	All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory	2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
Storage	1x 500 MX500 SSD; 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 4TB WD Black; 1x400GB VelRptr; 1x 4TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s)	HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Seasonic X-850
Mouse	Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Meshlicious Monster
Processor	Intel Core i5-10600T
Motherboard	MSI Z490I Unify
Cooling	NZXT Kraken Z53 with 2x Noctua Redux 1300 RPM PWM fans
Memory	ADATA 16 GB 3200 Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage	TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s)	Asus ProArt 27" 1440P, 75Hz
Case	ssupd Meshlicious with mesh side panels
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion 660 W Platinum ATX
Mouse	Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro Wireless
Keyboard	Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Home

Fractal Define 7

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer

Chrispy_

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Alexandrus

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer

Alexandrus

Xzibit

Alexandrus

Xzibit

Alexandrus

Xzibit

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Alexandrus

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Alexandrus

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

Raendor

Tsukiyomi91

ShurikN

Assimilator

Joss

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

Octopuss

EarthDog

Processor	Intel Core i7 11700
Motherboard	Asus b560-i ROG
Cooling	Thermalright Assassin King Mini
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z 3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 FE
Display(s)	Dell S2721DGF
Case	Ncase M1
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	HyperX
Keyboard	HyperX

System Name	Rainbow Puke Machine :D
Processor	Intel Core i5-11400 (MCE enabled, PL removed)
Motherboard	ASUS STRIX B560-G GAMING WIFI mATX
Cooling	Corsair H60i RGB PRO XT AIO + HD120 RGB (x3) + SP120 RGB PRO (x3) + Commander PRO
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB RT 2 x 8GB 3200MHz DDR4 C16
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX2060 Twin Fan 6GB GDDR6 (Stock)
Storage	Corsair MP600 PRO 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD
Display(s)	LG 29WK600-W Ultrawide 1080p IPS Monitor (primary display)
Case	Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow (White) w/Lighting Node CORE + Lighting Node PRO RGB LED Strips (x4).
Audio Device(s)	ASUS ROG Supreme FX S1220A w/ Savitech SV3H712 AMP + Sonic Studio 3 suite
Power Supply	Corsair RM750x 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular
Mouse	Corsair M65 RGB FPS Gaming (White)
Keyboard	Corsair K60 PRO RGB Mechanical w/ Cherry VIOLA Switches
Software	Windows 11 Professional x64 (Update 23H2)

Processor	Ryzen 3600
Motherboard	X570 I Aorus Pro
Cooling	Deepcool AG400
Memory	HyperX Fury 2 x 8GB 3200 CL16
Video Card(s)	RX 470 Nitro+ 4GB
Storage	SX8200 Pro 512 / NV2 512
Display(s)	24G2U
Case	NR200P
Power Supply	Ion SFX 650
Mouse	G703
Keyboard	Keychron V1 (Akko Matcha Green) / Apex m500 (gateron milky yellow)
Software	W10

System Name	Firelance.
Processor	Threadripper 3960X
Motherboard	ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming
Cooling	IceGem 360 + 6x Arctic Cooling P12
Memory	8x 16GB Patriot Viper DDR4-3200 CL16
Video Card(s)	MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Ventus 2X OC
Storage	2TB WD SN850X (boot), 4TB Crucial P3 (data)
Display(s)	3x AOC Q32E2N (32" 2560x1440 75Hz)
Case	Enthoo Pro II Server Edition (Closed Panel) + 6 fans
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion+ 2 Platinum 760W
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Logitech G613
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64

Processor	Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard	Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S
Memory	32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage	HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s)	HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case	Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse	Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software	Windows 10 x64