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If you plan on not using the top of the case for ventilation, then the Define 7 looks better because it has a full top panel.
The front is made of brushed aluminium throughout, except for a small recess at the top in the middle, which releases the lower part of the white LED of the Power Button. The front is a door that opens to reveal a blind-like screen with the first of a total of three dust filters. The screen can be removed with a handle on the top. Behind it are two of the three pre-installed fans. Fractal Design has opted for 140mm fans that draw in air through side inlets that are located in the frame around the front door. Alternatively, three 120 fans can be installed here. The fans can also be replaced with correspondingly large radiators. The frame itself is made of plastic. The hinges of the internally insulated door can be placed on the right or left side. All you have to do is remove the screws of the hinges on the door and reposition them. Easily Accessible I/O panelConducting thermal tests requires careful measurement of temperatures in the surrounding environment. We control for ambient by constantly measuring temperatures with thermocouples and laser readers. We then produce charts using a Delta T(emperature) over Ambient value. This value subtracts the thermo-logged ambient value from the measured diode temperatures, producing a delta report of thermals. AIDA64 is used for logging thermals of silicon components, including the GPU diode. One advertised feature of the R6 is the optional “open layout.” The conversion isn’t anything as dramatic as invertible cases like the Dark Base 900, but it’s also a little beyond just removing the hard drive cages. After the 5.25” bay and 3.5” HDD bays are removed, the metal plate used to hide the HDDs can be moved inwards to extend the motherboard tray, like the eATX plate included with the Bitfenix Shogun. This is mostly an aesthetic change, but it does remove some airflow obstructions and allow more clearance for radiators. Liquid cooling support is pretty good for a mid-tower (see the spec chart), and there’s even a space for a fill port under the top cover.
For AiOs with fixed connections, this is likely to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, due to the limited height. In addition, the recess for the power supply unit is considerably narrower than 140 millimetres, which is why a 120 millimetre wide radiator without connections, which must also be fitted with fans beforehand, can pass through without much fiddling at most. To ensure that the cables for the power supply have enough space, the radiator must also be pushed all the way to the front. Only then can it be connected to the water circuit through the recess. It may then collide with another radiator on the front. In the open design, i.e. without the drive cage, a 120 mm or 140 mm radiator at the bottom of the front panel or better a compensation tank as part of a custom water cooling system fit stress-free in the open design. Comprehensive Conversion Campaign There’s no wasted space on the interior of the R6. Motherboard installation can be a little cramped without removing the hard drive cages, but there’s still a generously-sized grommeted cutout above the motherboard for the CPU power connector, typically a weak point for compact cases. GN’s Steve may think rubber grommets are a waste of money, but Fractal’s have a clever zig-zag pattern that allows small cables to be routed subtly. Cable management is decent, but there’s so much space inside the PSU shroud that it’s hardly worth worrying about.For extra tests, we removed the front panel (not just the door), mounted the GPU vertically, opened the top ModuVent, and reconfigured to the “Open Layout.” Removing the front panel has become one of our regular tests, as it provides an absolute best case scenario for airflow that other results can be compared against. Fractal Define R6 Thermals - CPU Torture (Case Study) According to the instructions, the 5.25-inch slot must be omitted in the open layout. Nevertheless, we managed to install a Blu-Ray player without any problems, even with a subsequent 280mm radiator on the upper side, even though the optics aren’t flawless anymore, because the DVD drive is then visible through the transparent side panel. PWM Fan Hub with Many Slots To be sure, the FD fans included in FD cases are definitely high "quality" fans. That is, they are well designed, well made, and use quality precision (thus quiet) bearings.
We recently validated our test methodology using a thermal chamber, finding our approach to be nearly perfectly accurate. Learn more here. We simply replaced the fans – of course with RGB LED lighting. After all, we wanted to put the tidy interior of the Define R6 in the limelight. The Corsair HD-140s run at higher rpm, but unfortunately are also louder than Fractal Design’s HD-140s. Only then did the temperature of the graphics card remain within a reasonable range, but it still became too hot when doddling graphically more demanding games. Heat Wave as Hardness Test Well that is in "comparison" of other cases, in my opinion is really "thermal obsession" and the temperatures even with air cooling are totally acceptable. And to be honest I don't really see the point to buy a case like the Define R6/7 and keep the front panel open or even remove it since that is it's main aesthetical feature with that clean sleek look, at that point I would just buy another case (like the Meshify which offers more or less the same features but is more air- and less noise-focused). We never bothered to review Fractal’s popular Define R5--by the time we got a chance, it was already old news. Since the R5’s release, we’ve reviewed both the Define C (and Meshify C) and given them very high marks. Now, the R5’s successor is here, ready for 2017 with a full PSU shroud and a tempered glass side panel. There are no LEDs, though, so we must all mourn. There is a single 5.25” bay included, a somewhat unusual feature in modern cases. It’s just a removable metal rectangle behind a bay cover, but it’s nice to have the option for an ODD, especially in a silent case that could be used as a media PC. Like the R5, the R6 has an oddly fancy 5.25” bay cover with a little latch with a handle that swings out for easy removal.Rendering our blender test on the CPU, average CPU dT was 36.9. That’s cooler than any case we’ve run that test on except the Silverstone RL06, including the DB Pro 900 and DB 700. The R6 is definitely capable of keeping air-cooled CPUs at safe temperatures under load. Essentially they are the same case, the R6 is already an excellent product and the Define 7 is it's natural evolution, there are some minor improvements (which is what it's supposed to happen with these products!) or aesthetical changes.
As usual, we’re starting with only temperatures for the Define R6 in different configurations, then we’ll look at comparative data with other cases. A lot of this comes down to that shroud: Although the enclosure gets decent airflow into it -- roughly on-par with a case that has 2x 200mm front fans, no less -- the shroud is trapping some heat from the open face card. There’s not much that can be done about this, aside from focusing more airflow toward the bottom of a chassis. Fractal Define R6 3DMark My point is, we use FD cases on many of our builds here, including my own personal computers. Granted, my ears are 68 years old and I worked next to a military flight line for 24+ years, but my ears are very sensitive to fan noise. I hate fan noise. I mean I really hate fan noise. And I note FD cases, including the R6, are excellent at suppressing noise. I certainly can't complain about my cases and we have never had a complaint from any client about their FD case fans making too much noise either. Prior to load testing, we collect idle temperature results for ten minutes to determine the unloaded cooling performance of a case's fans and air channels. Thermal benchmarking is conducted for 1400 seconds (23 minutes), a period we've determined sufficient for achieving equilibrium. The over-time data is aggregated and will occasionally be compiled into charts, if interesting or relevant. The equilibrium performance is averaged to create the below charts.In standard layout(storage layout), you'll only be able to fit a 240 or 360 mm radiator. The 240 mm radiator will fit without any restrictions, but with a 360 mm, you would have a maximum motherboard component height of 36 mm. This mainly is affected by the motherboard I/O-shield, big VRM heat sinks, and RAM, so I'd recommend having low-profile RAM in combination with the top radiator. 280 and 420 radiators will not fit in this layout. In my situation, the ambient noise almost always is what I hear - not any fan noise from my case. If I am really tasking my computer and the FD fans ramp up in speed, typically by that time my CPU, PSU and GPU fans have ramped up speeds and sound levels too - not to mention Led Zeppelin is a few dBs higher too! The front panel is now magnetic on the Define 7 (not a big change TBH) and the 5.25" drive bay in the Define 7 has a small dust filter instead of a plastic cover and allows for fans to be shifted "up there" meaning the front now supports maximum 3*140mm instead of 3*120mm as it was on the R6. The filters are massive. The top, front, and bottom sides of the case are all fully covered by individual filters, which is the most basic and practical approach possible. The one downside to the top filter not being a cheap square of mesh is that it is essentially the top of the case and must always be installed, or else there’s just a big ugly hole left behind. Top exhaust will always be obstructed by the filter, especially with a top-mounted radiator. Still, most users will probably keep the steel plate in place, which prevents top exhaust altogether. Case Testing Methodology If you believe your FD fans are making too much noise, try using the R6's fan controller to reduce rotation speeds. Watch your temps to make sure they don't increase too much. I recommend you also verify any fan noise you are hearing is really coming from the case fans, and not the CPU fan, GPU fan(s), or the PSU fan. You could easily replace your case fans only to find out the fan noise was really coming from the PSU or something else. And if using water cooling, note pumps can make a lot of noise in comparison.
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