Table Of Content
It’s a lightweight load, and goes to show that only the truly terrible designs -- like the DTW case -- are able to deviate in big ways from the mean. As soon as the Define 7 was out of the box, we noticed how lightly tinted the glass was. The Define 7 TG comes in both dark tint and light tint versions, and the light tinted version with a white interior is a stark contrast to almost every other tinted glass case we’ve reviewed. For whatever reason, case manufacturers have tended towards extremely dark glass tints for years, which is a step back from the transparent plastic windows that were more common in the olden days (a decade ago). The choice is there for customers who want the dark tint, but we much prefer clear glass that lets the white interior shine. The area behind the motherboard tray features plenty of tie down points and integrated cable guides to aid in cable management.
Compact yet spacious
The tempered-glass side panel is attached to a metal frame that eliminates the need for rubber-coated locating pins or hinges. The panel on the opposite side of the chassis is a solid stamped steel panel with a thick layer of sound damping material and is held in place by the same push-to-lock system as the tempered glass panel. On the right is a much more complex and irregular pattern with recognizably similar fractal properties, a traditional urban neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq. Notice the similar patterning at different scales of bordering spaces and alternating patterns of indoor-outdoor space. For the CPU-sorted results, the Define 7 improves from 62.5 degrees stock to 56.2 degrees just by replacing the fans with significantly better ones.
Airflow and cooling
By default, as shipped from the factory, the chassis can be outfitted with seven 3.5-inch spinning disks and two SSDs. The Define 7 has a single 5.25-inch drive bay slot for those of you still using optical drives or 5.25-inch drive bay accessories. The Fractal Design Define 7 mid-tower chassis comes in black, grey or white with the option of a tempered glass side panel.
Introducing Define 7 Compact
Of course, the downside to noise-focused cases is that you can often outperform them both acoustically and thermally with an open panel, since you don’t have to run RPM as high to counter the front panel. The 56.2-degree standardized fan result has it toward the bottom of the chart, second-worst only to the Bitfenix Enso. That’s not a good result, and reinforces the Define 7’s particularly weak CPU cooling.
Define 7 XL
These boundaries are wonderfully complex structures in themselves and self-organize into larger patterns (doors or windows that become shared types over time, and neighborhoods that develop characteristic interface patterns of porches or colonnades). Just as biological structures and computer algorithms spontaneously repeat their geometric patterns at different scales, so do we, unless we’re forced to do otherwise either by legislation or by ideology. Individuals might make small repetitions of a pattern (a rectangular room shape) while groups might make larger versions of the same pattern (a courtyard) and larger groups might make a still larger one (an urban plaza). The Fractal Design Define 7 features a dual layout design that, while configured in the standard "open" layout, can accommodate up to three 3.5 -inch hard drives and four 2.5-inch drives simultaneously. The alternate "server" layout allows you to add an additional eight hard drive mounting locations in the main compartment, though only four hard drive caddies are included from the factory. An optional hard drive tray kit can be purchased separately for $10 / £9.29 from Fractal Design.
Superlative storage
Most of the air that the GPU pulls is coming through the rear PCIe slot covers and vertical PCIe slot covers, which is unaffected from front panel changes. All of that extra air intake from the front goes straight to the CPU. There are some small frequency steps in some of these, but nothing significant.
The front I/O still includes a full complement of four USB type A ports (two 3.0 and two 2.0) as well as a USB C port and separate mic and headphone jacks. The PSU attaches to a frame and is inserted into the rear of the case, which is fairly common but always an appreciated feature in cases with PSU shrouds. The top radiator mount is a removable tray, but even more so than usual, allowing most of the top of the case to be lifted off rather than just a discrete tray.
For thermal testing in this review, we’re testing four total variations of the Fractal Define 7 alongside all the other cases. We sometimes have complaints about things like drive sleds being made available for purchase separately rather than all being included with the case, but seven is a lot of HDDs. Obviously using the space at the front of the case for anything else, like radiators or reservoirs or an optical drive, will reduce the number of drives supported. The HDD cage under the PSU shroud fits two drive sleds, but with so many mounting options inside the case, that’s barely worth mentioning. What is worth mentioning is that Fractal has fully taken advantage of the extremely long case form factor by mounting the cage on rails that allow it to be placed anywhere from right against the PSU to flush with the front panel. Even better, the rails can be used to mount HDDs or fans directly to the bottom of the chassis as well.
Concealed storage
From an evolutionary point of view, it’s evident that we perceive these relationships because they are supremely useful to us. They help us understand the structure of choices that our environments present, and how the different alternatives might offer us different benefits. Importantly, fractal urban structures typically provide multiple combinations of benefits that work in synergy. And our pleasurable perception of fractals is probably related to this too. For example, the branching, layered, fractal-like paths we can take within a city help us carry out many different tasks simultaneously.
Fractal structures also give us other kinds of useful information, like complex relationships among environmental elements. The order of an essential but non-graspable structure, like an ecosystem, is more intelligible to us because we can detect the symmetrical fractal patterns of its plants and animals—another important evolutionary need. In modern times we have a greater need for urban environments to be legible to us, and there is evidence that we do this by reading fractal relationships in buildings and details (after all, we have evolved with this sense).
Define 7 and 7 XL from Fractal Design Launch, Refining the R6 - Play3r
Define 7 and 7 XL from Fractal Design Launch, Refining the R6.
Posted: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]
While I would like a quiet case, I also want great airflow and optimal cooling to ensure maximum performance (without any throttling due to heat). Some noise due to fans is okay if it helps to ensure optimal performance... Fractal’s Define 7 shows itself again underwhelming for CPU performance, ranking toward the lower third of results. The Define 7 is near the S2 Vision, which is one of the worst cases we’ve tested recently, and the C700P. That said, none of these are particularly bad in CPU thermals, and Blender doesn’t establish much of a top-to-bottom difference to begin with.
Now, of course, a higher power load configuration might be different, so keep in mind that big overclocks or poor GPU coolers would potentially change this statement. The new Define 7 Compact takes the strongest features of the contemporary 7 Series design and places them in a conveniently compact frame. Nikos A. Salingaros is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy. He has been a close collaborator of the architect and computer software pioneer Christopher Alexander. Salingaros published substantive research on Algebras, Mathematical Physics, Electromagnetic Fields, and Thermonuclear Fusion before turning his attention to Architecture and Urbanism. He still is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonioand is also on the Architecture faculties of universities in Italy, Mexico, and The Netherlands.
Today we’re reviewing the Define 7, successor to the Define R6, a case that fell on the positive end of that scale in our review. We’re sure there’s some reason for Fractal dropping the “R,” but we neglected to ask. In "storage" mode, the chassis can accommodate up to 15 drives using optional brackets.
The GPU thermals put the Define 7 actually very near the top of the chart. This, we think, is again because of the GPU intake through the rear of the case as a result of the pressure system being created. The front panel of the case is a sticking point for us, as it always is with Fractal’s non-Meshify cases, but we’ll save most of that discussion for the thermal and noise testing sections.
Boards this size are uncommon, but there’s very little stopping the Define 7 from fitting it, or at least being easily moddable to fit it. As it is, the reinforcing lip at the edge of the motherboard tray and the lack of standoff holes would make it risky at best to install the SR-3 in this case. Fractal could sell a tray extension for the Define 7 as it is now, but the raised lip would still touch the back of the board. This is something very few cases get right, because “E-ATX” doesn’t really mean anything when it comes to a defined width; at least, not in the same way that ATX does.
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