Good, inexpensive water cooling case

[Father Fuzzy]

shame to loose some of that nice tubing you did 10E

I thought TT was on a good path with the core x9

they should have stuck with that without the direct ripoff of CL

lookin forward to seeing your Arc mini

[joras]

Maybe it will be usefull to someone else, but i have found the fractal define S is somewhat inexpensive and optimized for watercooling, it's like a R5 pre-modded : they removed most of the hard drive bays, there is a space on the bottom for the pump etc, and it cost less than 100$

[bungwirez]

good on you Joras. Fractal have gotten on pretty well lately.

welcome to the forums Sir.

[10e]

Maybe it will be usefull to someone else, but i have found the fractal define S is somewhat inexpensive and optimized for watercooling, it's like a R5 pre-modded : they removed most of the hard drive bays, there is a space on the bottom for the pump etc, and it cost less than 100$

The Define R5 and Define S are excellent cases. With the Define S you should be able to theoretically finagle a couple of 360mm radiators in there if you put a set of fans between the front panel and the chassis, eschewing the front fan filters, or finding a suitable replacement.

I have the Define R5 and like it a lot. My only (minor) complaint was when I put the Alphacool Monsta 280mm in the front, the fan holes that they put the original 140mm fans in the front line up with the radiator and I had a lot of trouble putting them in through the pre-tapped screw holes. About 5 minutes with a drill fixed this. The Define S uses different screw holes in the front and doesn't have this problem.

Another place where I find Fractal Define a cut above others is in build quality and rigidity. The motherboard tray on the Define R5 is extremely stiff and exhibits nearly zero flex. Even on the Arc Mini R2 I find the same thing. The only company that nearly matches this in the consumer space (ie. not Caselabs) currently is NZXT.

This Core V31 doesn't come close in that aspect, but where it does shine is that you could put a 240mm radiator in the bottom, the front, and a 360mm up top if need be. It also has a top fan filter if you want to use it as intake as well, something the Define R5/S don't have.

I bought some PVC filter material from FrozenCPU before the issues earlier this year and have cut it and put some magnets on it to make a useful top fan filter.