**Fractal Design Define C Review: A Strong Contender in the World of Quiet Cases**

The Fractal Design Define C is a well-made and logical case that offers a great balance between performance, silence, and affordability. In our review, we put this case through its paces to see if it lives up to its promise.

**CPU Temperatures**

One of the key areas where the Define C shines is in its ability to keep CPUs cool. When testing the CPU temperatures, we noticed that Fractal Design has done a great job in keeping the CPU temperatures within a safe range. However, it's worth noting that adding another fan and rearranging air flow in the front and rear of the case could improve performance by a few degrees.

**GPU Temperatures**

The downfall of cases with full shrouds is normally poor GPU temperatures. Fortunately, the Define C has made some improvements in this area. While not perfect, it still outperforms many other cases on the market. In our tests, we saw a GPU delta-T of 57.4°C with the top open at maximum case fan RPMs, which is slightly warmer than the s340 elite but still respectable.

**Noise Levels**

One of the most impressive aspects of the Define C is its noise levels. With top closed, it produces a remarkably low 34.8 dB(A) noise level, making it one of the quietest cases on the market. This is due in part to the specially designed fans that rotate about 130 RPM slower than those found in other cases. While not the only case to beat the Define C at this price point, it's still a strong contender.

**GPU Thermals**

The thermals are the only weak point of the Define C. If you're running high boost clocks on your GPU, you may encounter some issues with temperatures. However, if you're content with lower fan speeds, the case is perfectly capable of handling it.

**Design and Features**

The Fractal Design Define C has a more minimalist design than some of its competitors, which makes it a great option for those who value discretion over flashy aesthetics. It's also an excellent choice for office environments where a professional look is required.

**Value for Money**

At $90, the price of the Define C seems about right. It competes directly with other high-end cases on the market, including the be quiet purebase 600. While not identical to its competitors, it offers great value for anyone looking for a smaller footprint case that still packs a punch.

**Conclusion**

The Fractal Design Define C is a strong contender in the world of quiet cases. With its excellent noise levels and performance capabilities, it's an excellent choice for anyone looking for a reliable and efficient case. While thermals could be improved with additional cooling solutions, they're not a major issue for most users. Overall, we would definitely encourage looking at the 400 series Corsair cases, which offer similar value and performance to this case.

**Additional Resources**

For more information on the Fractal Design Define C, including our written review, please visit the following links:

* [Full Written Review](insert link)

* [Patreon Page](insert link)

We'd also like to thank our Patrons at patreon.com/gamersnexus for their support.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enanyone remember these These are called cases with all the CPUs and gpus lately cases and cooling haven't gotten a whole lot of attention really out of any of the media coverage so we are back now with a case Revival this is the fractal defined C is a relative newcomer to the market at least in fractals lineup we'll be looking at that today it's got more of a stout nature it's professional and discreet rather than gamer e so that means a lack of the RGB LED lighting grze before get into the fra case this content is brought to you by EVGA and their 1080ti ftw3 IX card the ftw3 will be available within the next few weeks and aims to leverage its icx sensors to track vrm and vram temperatures in addition to usual GPU temps click the link below for more information the fraxel Define c ships in two main variations there's the taller version which is this one it's still a mid Tower and then one that chops a few inches off the top to accommodate only Micro ATX and many ITX boards this is a ATX support case so those are the two options the second one is the Define mini C and then there's also a non- windowed variant that's got some extra foam padding in there we have the windowed variant in terms of competition the main things to look at would be things like the be quiet pure Bay 600 which we somewhat recently reviewed the Corsair 400 q and 400c sort of a mix in terms of fractals windowed and non- windowed versions and then the NZXT s340 non Elite which is the oldest out of all of those cases all of those tend to be in about the7 to $95 price range including this one which has an MSRP of $90 the defin C has an emphasis on noise suppression and at $90 it's got a lot of competition in the midtower market the price point right now is burgeoning with those options from Corsair NZXT B quiet fractal Cooler Master and basically everyone else so it's a very competitive price point let's run through the specs before getting to the review the Define c measures in at 400 by 210x 453 mm and weighs just 6.8 kg or about 15 lb that makes the defiency one of the lighter smaller cases we've looked at in recent history and looks are pretty plain with this case it's all black steel and plastic with roughly 1 millim thick steel for the motherboard panel construction is good and materials fit the price with cost primarily cut in the form of axing unnecessary extras like the optical drive limited Drive cages and things like that externally the defined seat is made up of soft brushed plastic paneling and steel side panels with side ventilation for the single intake van and that is in the front our version of the defined C has a window which means no foam on that side but it does have foam padding on the other panels for the most part the windowless version has additional foam padding on the left side panel and those side panels for what it's worth hinge out like a door rather than reline on eclipse and we like this small function focused move it's something that a lot of case manufacturers have started doing and hopefully they can move away from the fragile metal tabs the PSU and drive cage are hidden by a shroud that covers the entire bottom of the case as the s340 said into standardization a few years ago but there's one notable change here the front of the Shroud on the defined sea can be popped out allowing the drive cage to be removed and replaced with a 120 mm bottom front intake fan or a radiator that covers the full height of the case or both technically the defiency can support 360 mm radiators in the front that would be a tight fit and restricts 3.5 in drive support 240 mm is still perfectly usable and top mount radiators are also supported up to 240 mm this can be done by removing the ventilation cover at the top and replacing it instead with an included mesh dust filter you'll want to install the CPU Cooler prior to installing the motherboard in this case as space is limited in the enclosure and doing so after the fact would be a bit rough and likewise while you're at it try to Route those eps 12vt cables before installing the board for the same reason it does get tight in there once you actually have components in the system so do all the pre-installation you can before actually assembling the thing cable management is done without the help of a cable management bar instead resorting to a more traditional rear panel channeling the defiency has one channel that's 35 mm deep and that's enough to fit really every Cable in the system if you wanted to with the rest of the side paneling granting about 15 mm of space still plenty the though the 24 pin should probably be routed through the deeper channel the defiency we're looking at has its intention somewhere between the 400c window and the 400 Q quiet version of the case and then the pure Bas 600 which is a very quiet case so it's somewhere in that range the two included 120 mm fans that are installed on the defin C are in the same orientation that the 600s were the B quiet 600 that is and it may be the most valid direct comparison for both thermal and acoustic tests case fans were at Max RPM for all tests with the defined C and as always for testing methodology check the review linked below written by Patrick lean that's got all the test methods that we have for thermals and for noise you can learn more about how they are conducted there for performance tests we tested with the Maji vent cover on and off and the Mau vent TM is a section of the top of the case that can be removed it is a panel that can be pulled out and thus deserves a trademark just like the purebase 600 the fra Define c is able to leverage some modularity of the top panel so you could swap in a mesh if you preferred over the cover for CPU temperatures CPU delta T hit 55.8 celsi with the top open and 55.7 C with the top closed which is effectively identical and well within test variants the cooler we currently use for case tests is oriented so that it pulls air from the front of the case and exhausted out the back leaving no real opportunity for air to travel upwards and Escape out the the top so these results make sense the vent at the top of the case is nice but there's no real reason to ever have it open unless you have a radiator up there or have mounted exhauster intake fans at the top the CPU temperatures are okay but not incredible compared to our other reviews the bit Phoenix Shogun with an additional 140 mm fan in the front and the s340 elite at its maximum rpm scored similarly to the fractal defined C but neither were cooling Champions the front intake fan is responsible for aiming Air at both the CPU and the g CPU in this case and a few degrees of improvement could be expected from adding another fan and rearranging air flow in the front and you do have the capacity to do that where you to buy an extra fan still the default fan Arrangement is identical to the pure Bas 600s which got a lot warmer with its tiny and restrictive air intakes at the front thanks to the heavy mesh paneling two layers of it actually and moving now to GPU temperatures the downfall of cases with full shrouds is normally poor GPU temperatures there was a slight Improvement in GPU delta T with a top open but that was less than one Dee and therefore not really a significant difference it's not worth the extra dust with the radiator installed and it's really getting kind of close to margin of error or variance within tests it's sort of outside of it but very close GPU DT was 57.4 Celsius with the top open at maximum case fan RPMs making the GPU in the defined sea slightly warmer than than the s340 elite despite its troubles and slightly warmer than the pure Bas 600 und's best effort of 55.6 De for hot gpus like blower fan Arrangements a low intake fan or replacement of the drive cage with a bottom intake is something we'd consider a must but if you have a better cooler and can withstand those slightly higher fan RPMs on the GPU then you'll probably be okay looking at noise now the defin C windowed version has one fewer noise damping panel than the non- windowed variety noise levels remain competitively low regardless of this as Patrick said in his written review the Define c is a a strong contender in our quietest cases that don't directly reference silence in the brand name category at 34.8 DBA with top closed as it generally should be and fans at maximum rpm which they might not be in fact the only case which beats the Define see at a comparable fan speed is the be quiet purebase 600 which has specially designed fans that still rotate about 130 RPM slower and bears a warmer interior this isn't a flashy or exciting case but it's wellmade and logical which I suspect might be the highest praise to fractal ears that's sort of what they do in terms of GPU thermals you could run into some issues especially with those warmer blower fan setups where you really don't generally get above 50 to 55% fan speed on the native curve for the fan but if you're running anything decent and are okay with a potentially higher GPU fan speed if you want to sustain those higher boost 3.0 enabled clocks on Nvidia or higher boost clocks on AMD then it's not a bad case The Thermals are really the only weak point here and that's not an uncommon thing when we look at cases that are somewhat silent by Design or not in this case it's a pretty quiet case 34 35 DB DBA output on the bench is one of the best performers so they've done well in that category it's also discreet it's got some professionalism to it that would allow you to put the case in an office if you wanted to but if you wanted something more flashy clearly this isn't the right case for you there are plenty of other options and we've reviewed a lot of them so you can dig through the channel or the website for those in terms of the defy and its positioning at $90 the price seems about right it competes very directly with a B quiet pure Bas 600 it's pretty close to the 400 cnq it's about $5 different not 100% the same Market but close enough that if you wanted a mix of performance and silence we would definitely encourage looking at the 400 series Corsair cases because they're strong competitors to this the defined is well priced for anyone who wants a smaller footprint case it's definitely a stout unit when compared to some of the other things we've looked at lately and it's also a good fit if you want something that is objectively quiet it is again one of the quietest cases thermals not great as stated but you could definitely deal with them consider buying a fan with this case and throw it in the front and then offset the positioning a bit so that you can align one of the fans better with the GPU and one better with the CPU you'd be in pretty good shape overall and might even be able to drop fan RPM which would mean that you wouldn't really gain in the noise category overall wellb built one shortfall being thermals is not a bad thing you can find links in the description below for the full written review if you prefer the case will be linked down there as well and our patreon page at patreon.com Gamers Nexus if you want to support these types of reviews thank you for watching I'll see you all next timeanyone remember these These are called cases with all the CPUs and gpus lately cases and cooling haven't gotten a whole lot of attention really out of any of the media coverage so we are back now with a case Revival this is the fractal defined C is a relative newcomer to the market at least in fractals lineup we'll be looking at that today it's got more of a stout nature it's professional and discreet rather than gamer e so that means a lack of the RGB LED lighting grze before get into the fra case this content is brought to you by EVGA and their 1080ti ftw3 IX card the ftw3 will be available within the next few weeks and aims to leverage its icx sensors to track vrm and vram temperatures in addition to usual GPU temps click the link below for more information the fraxel Define c ships in two main variations there's the taller version which is this one it's still a mid Tower and then one that chops a few inches off the top to accommodate only Micro ATX and many ITX boards this is a ATX support case so those are the two options the second one is the Define mini C and then there's also a non- windowed variant that's got some extra foam padding in there we have the windowed variant in terms of competition the main things to look at would be things like the be quiet pure Bay 600 which we somewhat recently reviewed the Corsair 400 q and 400c sort of a mix in terms of fractals windowed and non- windowed versions and then the NZXT s340 non Elite which is the oldest out of all of those cases all of those tend to be in about the7 to $95 price range including this one which has an MSRP of $90 the defin C has an emphasis on noise suppression and at $90 it's got a lot of competition in the midtower market the price point right now is burgeoning with those options from Corsair NZXT B quiet fractal Cooler Master and basically everyone else so it's a very competitive price point let's run through the specs before getting to the review the Define c measures in at 400 by 210x 453 mm and weighs just 6.8 kg or about 15 lb that makes the defiency one of the lighter smaller cases we've looked at in recent history and looks are pretty plain with this case it's all black steel and plastic with roughly 1 millim thick steel for the motherboard panel construction is good and materials fit the price with cost primarily cut in the form of axing unnecessary extras like the optical drive limited Drive cages and things like that externally the defined seat is made up of soft brushed plastic paneling and steel side panels with side ventilation for the single intake van and that is in the front our version of the defined C has a window which means no foam on that side but it does have foam padding on the other panels for the most part the windowless version has additional foam padding on the left side panel and those side panels for what it's worth hinge out like a door rather than reline on eclipse and we like this small function focused move it's something that a lot of case manufacturers have started doing and hopefully they can move away from the fragile metal tabs the PSU and drive cage are hidden by a shroud that covers the entire bottom of the case as the s340 said into standardization a few years ago but there's one notable change here the front of the Shroud on the defined sea can be popped out allowing the drive cage to be removed and replaced with a 120 mm bottom front intake fan or a radiator that covers the full height of the case or both technically the defiency can support 360 mm radiators in the front that would be a tight fit and restricts 3.5 in drive support 240 mm is still perfectly usable and top mount radiators are also supported up to 240 mm this can be done by removing the ventilation cover at the top and replacing it instead with an included mesh dust filter you'll want to install the CPU Cooler prior to installing the motherboard in this case as space is limited in the enclosure and doing so after the fact would be a bit rough and likewise while you're at it try to Route those eps 12vt cables before installing the board for the same reason it does get tight in there once you actually have components in the system so do all the pre-installation you can before actually assembling the thing cable management is done without the help of a cable management bar instead resorting to a more traditional rear panel channeling the defiency has one channel that's 35 mm deep and that's enough to fit really every Cable in the system if you wanted to with the rest of the side paneling granting about 15 mm of space still plenty the though the 24 pin should probably be routed through the deeper channel the defiency we're looking at has its intention somewhere between the 400c window and the 400 Q quiet version of the case and then the pure Bas 600 which is a very quiet case so it's somewhere in that range the two included 120 mm fans that are installed on the defin C are in the same orientation that the 600s were the B quiet 600 that is and it may be the most valid direct comparison for both thermal and acoustic tests case fans were at Max RPM for all tests with the defined C and as always for testing methodology check the review linked below written by Patrick lean that's got all the test methods that we have for thermals and for noise you can learn more about how they are conducted there for performance tests we tested with the Maji vent cover on and off and the Mau vent TM is a section of the top of the case that can be removed it is a panel that can be pulled out and thus deserves a trademark just like the purebase 600 the fra Define c is able to leverage some modularity of the top panel so you could swap in a mesh if you preferred over the cover for CPU temperatures CPU delta T hit 55.8 celsi with the top open and 55.7 C with the top closed which is effectively identical and well within test variants the cooler we currently use for case tests is oriented so that it pulls air from the front of the case and exhausted out the back leaving no real opportunity for air to travel upwards and Escape out the the top so these results make sense the vent at the top of the case is nice but there's no real reason to ever have it open unless you have a radiator up there or have mounted exhauster intake fans at the top the CPU temperatures are okay but not incredible compared to our other reviews the bit Phoenix Shogun with an additional 140 mm fan in the front and the s340 elite at its maximum rpm scored similarly to the fractal defined C but neither were cooling Champions the front intake fan is responsible for aiming Air at both the CPU and the g CPU in this case and a few degrees of improvement could be expected from adding another fan and rearranging air flow in the front and you do have the capacity to do that where you to buy an extra fan still the default fan Arrangement is identical to the pure Bas 600s which got a lot warmer with its tiny and restrictive air intakes at the front thanks to the heavy mesh paneling two layers of it actually and moving now to GPU temperatures the downfall of cases with full shrouds is normally poor GPU temperatures there was a slight Improvement in GPU delta T with a top open but that was less than one Dee and therefore not really a significant difference it's not worth the extra dust with the radiator installed and it's really getting kind of close to margin of error or variance within tests it's sort of outside of it but very close GPU DT was 57.4 Celsius with the top open at maximum case fan RPMs making the GPU in the defined sea slightly warmer than than the s340 elite despite its troubles and slightly warmer than the pure Bas 600 und's best effort of 55.6 De for hot gpus like blower fan Arrangements a low intake fan or replacement of the drive cage with a bottom intake is something we'd consider a must but if you have a better cooler and can withstand those slightly higher fan RPMs on the GPU then you'll probably be okay looking at noise now the defin C windowed version has one fewer noise damping panel than the non- windowed variety noise levels remain competitively low regardless of this as Patrick said in his written review the Define c is a a strong contender in our quietest cases that don't directly reference silence in the brand name category at 34.8 DBA with top closed as it generally should be and fans at maximum rpm which they might not be in fact the only case which beats the Define see at a comparable fan speed is the be quiet purebase 600 which has specially designed fans that still rotate about 130 RPM slower and bears a warmer interior this isn't a flashy or exciting case but it's wellmade and logical which I suspect might be the highest praise to fractal ears that's sort of what they do in terms of GPU thermals you could run into some issues especially with those warmer blower fan setups where you really don't generally get above 50 to 55% fan speed on the native curve for the fan but if you're running anything decent and are okay with a potentially higher GPU fan speed if you want to sustain those higher boost 3.0 enabled clocks on Nvidia or higher boost clocks on AMD then it's not a bad case The Thermals are really the only weak point here and that's not an uncommon thing when we look at cases that are somewhat silent by Design or not in this case it's a pretty quiet case 34 35 DB DBA output on the bench is one of the best performers so they've done well in that category it's also discreet it's got some professionalism to it that would allow you to put the case in an office if you wanted to but if you wanted something more flashy clearly this isn't the right case for you there are plenty of other options and we've reviewed a lot of them so you can dig through the channel or the website for those in terms of the defy and its positioning at $90 the price seems about right it competes very directly with a B quiet pure Bas 600 it's pretty close to the 400 cnq it's about $5 different not 100% the same Market but close enough that if you wanted a mix of performance and silence we would definitely encourage looking at the 400 series Corsair cases because they're strong competitors to this the defined is well priced for anyone who wants a smaller footprint case it's definitely a stout unit when compared to some of the other things we've looked at lately and it's also a good fit if you want something that is objectively quiet it is again one of the quietest cases thermals not great as stated but you could definitely deal with them consider buying a fan with this case and throw it in the front and then offset the positioning a bit so that you can align one of the fans better with the GPU and one better with the CPU you'd be in pretty good shape overall and might even be able to drop fan RPM which would mean that you wouldn't really gain in the noise category overall wellb built one shortfall being thermals is not a bad thing you can find links in the description below for the full written review if you prefer the case will be linked down there as well and our patreon page at patreon.com Gamers Nexus if you want to support these types of reviews thank you for watching I'll see you all next time\n"