Fractal Design Define R5 Review

Written by Matthew Lambert

November 24, 2014 | 12:56

Tags: #atx #best-mid-tower-case #best-mid-tower-chassis #define #define-r4 #low-noise #low-noise-case #mid-tower #quiet #quiet-case

Companies: #fractal-design

Cooling Performance

Our test kit includes an ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB graphics card and an Intel Core i7-870 CPU, which has been overclocked from 2.93GHz to 3.4GHz using a vcore of 1.305V and a CPU PLL of 1.9V. This is a modest overclock, but our test kit will spend most of its life under high load, so pushing it too far isn't in anybody's interests. More importantly, some poorer-performing cases push the CPU temperature to above 80°C, so even this overclock will prove to be too much for some cases.

The CPU is cooled by a Gelid Tranquillo CPU cooler with a Noctua NF-S12B ULN 120mm fan. The NF-S12B ULN is a low-airflow fan, so it will highlight cases with poor cooling for the CPU. We also locked the fan speed on the graphics card to 30 per cent to prevent the automatic speed control interfering with the results.

We record the temperature of the CPU using RealTemp, noting the temperature of the hottest core, and use GPU-Z to log the temperature of the graphics card. Having recorded the ambient temperature in front of the main air intake of each case, we're then able to calculate the delta T - the difference between the ambient temperature of our lab and the temperature of the hardware. To load the system, we use a combination of the Unigine Heaven benchmark and the Small FFT test in Prime 95.
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-870 CPU overclocked to 3.4GHz
  • Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
  • Motherboard: Biostar TPower I55
  • RAM: 2 x 2GB OCZ 1,866MHz DDR3
  • SSD: Corsair Force GT 60GB
  • Heatsink: Gelid Tranquillo with a Noctua NF-S12B ULN fan
  • Power supply: Antec Signature SG-650


Case performance - CPU Delta T

Arranged by CPU Delta T

  • SilverStone Fortress FT04 (max speed)
  • Corsair Graphite 760T (max speed)
  • Corsair Graphite 760T (min speed)
  • SilverStone Fortress FT04 (min speed)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Pro (no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Carbide Air 540
  • Corsair Obsidian 900D
  • NZXT Phantom 820 (max speed)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Luxe (no HDD cage)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
  • Corsair Obsidian 450D
  • Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Obsidian 750D
  • Fractal Design Arc XL (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Graphite 230T
  • Fractal Design Define R4 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Primo
  • Phanteks Enthoo Pro
  • NZXT Phantom 530 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (max speed, open)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 III (no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Graphite 780T (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 III
  • BitFenix Neos (stock + 2 x 120mm fans)
  • NZXT Source 530
  • NZXT Phantom 820 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (max speed)
  • Be Quiet! Silent Base 800
  • NZXT H630
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 (max speed)
  • NZXT Phantom 530 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Core 3300
  • Corsair Graphite 780T (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Arc XL (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (med speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R4 (min speed)
  • BitFenix Neos (stock fan)
  • Cooltek Antiphon (max speed)
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (min speed, closed)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (min speed)
  • Corsair Carbide Spec-01
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 (min speed)
  • Cooltek Antiphon (min speed)
    • 40
    • 44
    • 42
    • 50
    • 44
    • 51
    • 46
    • 49
    • 48
    • 42
    • 48
    • 47
    • 48
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 48
    • 50
    • 49
    • 45
    • 49
    • 45
    • 49
    • 47
    • 49
    • 47
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 50
    • 45
    • 51
    • 49
    • 52
    • 47
    • 52
    • 48
    • 52
    • 49
    • 52
    • 51
    • 52
    • 51
    • 52
    • 52
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 54
    • 54
    • 50
    • 55
    • 49
    • 55
    • 49
    • 55
    • 50
    • 55
    • 50
    • 55
    • 52
    • 55
    • 52
    • 56
    • 54
    • 56
    • 55
    • 56
    • 56
    • 57
    • 52
    • 57
    • 52
    • 59
    • 55
    • 59
    • 49
    • 64
    • 54
    • 71
    • 59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
°C, lower is better
  • CPU Delta T
  • GPU Delta T

Case performance - GPU Delta T

Arranged by GPU Delta T

  • Phanteks Enthoo Pro (no HDD cage)
  • SilverStone Fortress FT04 (max speed)
  • Corsair Obsidian 450D
  • Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • NZXT Phantom 530 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Carbide Air 540
  • Corsair Obsidian 750D
  • Fractal Design Arc XL (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 III (no HDD cage)
  • Corsair Graphite 230T
  • Corsair Graphite 780T (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • SilverStone Fortress FT04 (min speed)
  • Corsair Obsidian 900D
  • NZXT Phantom 820 (max speed)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Luxe (no HDD cage)
  • Fractal Design Define R4 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Primo
  • Phanteks Enthoo Pro
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (max speed, open)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 III
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 (max speed)
  • NZXT Phantom 530 (max speed)
  • Corsair Carbide Spec-01
  • Corsair Graphite 760T (max speed)
  • Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
  • NZXT H630
  • Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Core 3300
  • Corsair Graphite 760T (min speed)
  • BitFenix Neos (stock + 2 x 120mm fans)
  • NZXT Source 530
  • NZXT Phantom 820 (min speed)
  • Corsair Graphite 780T (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Arc XL (min speed)
  • Cooltek Antiphon (max speed)
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (min speed, closed)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (max speed; no HDD cage)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (max speed)
  • Be Quiet! Silent Base 800
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (med speed)
  • Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R4 (min speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R5 (min speed)
  • BitFenix Neos (stock fan)
  • Cooltek Antiphon (min speed)
    • 48
    • 42
    • 40
    • 44
    • 49
    • 45
    • 49
    • 45
    • 50
    • 45
    • 48
    • 47
    • 49
    • 47
    • 49
    • 47
    • 52
    • 47
    • 49
    • 48
    • 52
    • 48
    • 46
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 48
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 49
    • 51
    • 49
    • 52
    • 49
    • 55
    • 49
    • 55
    • 49
    • 59
    • 49
    • 42
    • 50
    • 48
    • 50
    • 54
    • 50
    • 55
    • 50
    • 55
    • 50
    • 44
    • 51
    • 52
    • 51
    • 52
    • 51
    • 52
    • 52
    • 55
    • 52
    • 55
    • 52
    • 57
    • 52
    • 57
    • 52
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 53
    • 54
    • 56
    • 54
    • 64
    • 54
    • 56
    • 55
    • 59
    • 55
    • 56
    • 56
    • 71
    • 59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
°C, lower is better
  • CPU Delta T
  • GPU Delta T

Read our performance analysis on the next page.
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