Fractal Design Define S - Define series facelift?

This week I had inexpressible pleasure of building a rig in Fractal Design Define S case. By the pleasure I mean that I'm probably a Fractal Design fanboy. My rig sits in a Define R4 ;)

Exteriors

Entire case measures 233 x 465 x 533mm and you can fit up to ATX motherboard in there.

On the front you will find a well known Define series front panel with a blue LED cutout. Define S don't have any kind of door here though, like Define R has. There aren't any 5,25" drive bays on the front, but you can mount up to three 120/140mm intake fans or a radiator up to 360mm. The whole front is covered with a fine dust filter. In stock you will find one Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm fan here. Side panels are very sturdy and thick, made of steel, with some sound dampening material. You won't find that on a panel with a window of course.

Dynamic GP14

Let's take a look on the front interface, located on the top side. It consists of two audio jacks, reset button, large power button with power/drive LED and two USB 3.0 black ports. You won't find two additional USB 2.0 ports or fan controller, which could be seen in Define R4/R5. Drive LED blinks with other tone of blue to indicate the system drive status. 

Front interface

Next, behind the front interface is ModuVent system, which is a set of three toolless panels with dampening material, easy to detach, that covers space for top fans and/or radiator. You will be able to fit up to three 120/140mm fans or one 180mm fan with a 165mm hole spacing. As for the radiators, you can slap a pretty big ones there - 420, 360, 280, 240, 140 or 120mm. For 420, 280 and 140mm rads the thickness clearance is 55mm for rad+fans. Unfortunately, when you take the ModuVent pieces off, there is a large unfiltered gap if you mount 120mm fans/rad. 

ModuVent system

Back of the case can only surprise you with a little in air ventilation depratment - less than in other Define chasis. It's rather standard looking otherwise - reattachable slot covers, space for a PSU isolated from the back of the case and it's floor with rubberized feet, another GP14 1400mm fan and steel, toolless screws for side panels, which are attached to it permanently, so you won't loose them that easily.

Back of the case

Let's look under the case. Here you will find well known Define series elements - ruberrized feet, long dust filter for both PSU and a floor mounted fan. There are some mounting points for custom loop elements too. You can mount a 120/140mm fan or 120mm rad here. There's also a handle to remove the front panel cover.

Underside

The side panel windows is colorless, very rigid and quite large to show all of your parts inside, including custom loop components. It reflects light very well too ;)

Side panel with window

Interiors

Inside Define S looks familiar at the first glance, but then you spot the lack of 5,25" bay brackects or 3,5" cages for that matter. But you will find a lot of space with mounting points for liquid cooling components, such as pump and reservoir. It's possible thanks to bigger MOBO backplate, that spans across the whole case now. 

Define S interiors

The MOBO backplate has a twist too, it's bent a little to make some additional space on the other side. It affected the size and place of some cable grommets. Frankly, the interior looks like it has been dismantled. Lets see the other side. 

Cable grommets

Here, Fractal engineers put some cool stuff. You can mount two SSDs behind the mobo tray, but check out that clever 3,5"/2,5" three mounting points on the left! Also - velcro straps for cable management are a good addition.

Magic happens behind the scene

Innovative 2,5"/3,5" mounting points

Summary

Define S, at the first glance, is very similar to it's more expensive brother - Define R5, or it's older brother - Define R4. But this chasis is a little bit different than those two, and you have to make sure to know them before you buy this case. For a regular PC user it's a stripped down and less expensive Define R5 counterpart. It lacks the fan controller, 5,25" drive bays, has less space for drives, underside dust filter is shorter and harder to access. But this chasis is a real treat for custom loop enthusiasts. There are a lot of additions that support liquid cooling in a standard ATX case for around 100 USD. You can easily mount two large rads, nice high reservoir with a pump and still have enough space for some HDD and SSD without making the chasis very big. 

Additionally you will find many well known Fractal solutions with their reliability and quality. The case is mostly made of steel, which makes it very sturdy and stable. Plastic elements don't creak or squeak and everything fits just perfectly.

As with Define series - building a rig in this chasis is just a pleasure and the effect is usually a great looking rig. This time I will put two ratings here: if you are planning on building a custom loop or throw some AiOs in there, then for this price this is clearly a 5/5. But if you plan to cool your parts with air, then lack of 5,25" bays or fan controller and only 2 front side USB ports might be an additional issue, But even taking that into account, this is still a solid 4+/5 case for me. 

That's how a regular rig looks like in Define S :)

The case used for this review was provided by a reader that I built this rig for :)