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This fractal information helps us read distances and depth in the environment. Doing so gives us an effortless understanding of the geometrical order of our environment. We’re aware of this only as a pleasurable sense and not, coincidentally, as an important survival need, from an evolutionary point of view.
Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis Review: Versatility and Refinement
Since the steel side panel can’t be screwed into place, there needs to be an extra line of reinforcement to keep bulky cables from pushing the panel open. To that end, we’d like a couple screw holes on either the plastic cover or the steel side panel to allow us the option to screw them down tightly. Even still, with this noted, the case is doing better in CPU thermals than a few others on the chart. An extra 1dBA worth of fan RPMs honestly wouldn’t change much in this setup, anyway, but might propel it more toward the O11 XL or Helios.
Cable management
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.
Concealed storage
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.
Comparatively, the Fractal Define 7 isn’t particularly impressive or unimpressive for GPU thermals. It’s not great, but it’s also not anywhere as close to the bottom as in the CPU testing. The Define 7 ends up about where the Corsair 680X is, and that’s a glass-fronted cuboid-like case, and isn’t far from the 220T Airflow or Core P3.
Standardized Fans
The included Multibracket lets you convertany unused fan position to an HDD, SSD or pump mount. The series debuts with a tour of a tranquil upstate New York retreat designed with Passive House principles. The Define 7 and the Define 7 XL are available worldwide now, and will soon be complemented with a unique range of accessories to help customize your building experience.
The top panel shares the same snap mounting mechanism and can be removed by hooking a finger under the front corner and pulling it up. Versatile new multi-brackets allow you to convert any unused fan position to an HDD, SSD or pump mount. The new front panel features an improved reversible hinge design with magnetic latching, and the fully removable top panel opens to provide totally unhindered interior access. The results are nearly identical across the board and are within test error. We think there would be actual changes to performance if Fractal had a fan positioned lower on the front, but the lack of GPU-focused fans means that changes to the front panel have minimal impact.
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.
Interior
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.
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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.
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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.
The Define 7 XL also comes with two new and versatile multi-brackets for converting any unused fan position to an HDD, SSD or pump mount, which will be welcome news for anyone not utilizing all eleven 120 mm (or nine 140 mm) fan positions. The Define 7 is the latest pinnacle of the renowned Define series, setting a new standard for what you should expect from a mid-tower case when it comes to modularity, flexibility and ease of use.
If you were to fit another expansion card in here, it’d potentially have drastic impact on GPU thermals since most of the air comes through the rear of the case. The Define 7 lists support for E-ATX motherboards, and it does indeed have support for motherboards up to 11 inches in width by our measurement. We think Fractal has missed a trick here by not allowing even wider boards. The EVGA SR-3 that we’ll be using to build a production system in an upcoming stream is an E-ATX board 13 inches wide.
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.
Cable management is fine, and there are NZXT-style built in velcro straps and cable channels, but they’re somewhat superfluous given the cavernous interior of the PSU shroud. Even with the HDD cage installed, it’d be hard to create a scenario where the shroud wouldn’t fit every inch of slack cable. To help with this, Fractal has included a plastic shield that clips over the shroud opening to keep all the cables mashed in where they belong.
We can also reproduce fractal patterns in a computer, often with strangely beautiful results. Some graphic designers use fractal methods to reproduce very realistic-looking landscapes and other natural phenomena. We somehow recognize them as being “natural” and connect with them emotionally. We seem to be wired to “read” fractals in our environment, probably for two key reasons. When we look at a long vista, structures that repeat (trees for example), repeat at smaller apparent scales when they are farther away.
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