Fractal Design Define XL R2 Titanium - Full Tower Computer Case E-ATX - Optimized For High Airflow/Performance And Silent Computing with ModuVent Technology - 2x Fractal Design R2 140mm Silent Fans Included - Water-cooling ready

I bought this case as I have a live video studio and wanted to reduce the noise from the PC. I'm not bothered by the size of the thing, however I was disappointed by the build quality. It rattles and makes a buzzing vibration noise in the drive bay area. As this PC is a new build, I was able to install SSD drives to lessen the vibrations. It is now quieter, but the expense of fitting SSD drives pushed my budget up somewhat. The side doors also needed extra padding on the joints as the doors did not fit tightly. I can't give this 5 stars as it needed some work and unwanted expense to get it to do the thing it is supposed to.

Purchased for an X299 PC Build project the XL-R2 was selected for it’s internal space - in particular the headroom between the motherboard and the roof so as to accommodate the Corsair H115i Pro RGB all in one dual Radiator with 140mm Fans.Whilst the clearance is acceptable it was disappointing that the radiator/fans mounting holes didn’t line up, necessitating drilling additional holes. This was something I was aware of from a review several years previous and something I hoped Fractal Design had addressed by now.A further disappointment was that whilst the Define R6 enjoys an upgrade front panel (additional purchase) to incorporate a USB C Gen 2 socket no such replacement front (with door) is available for its larger brother, the Define XL-R2.Fortunately, I was readily able to adapt the radiator fitting with a few extra holes and also to incorporate a Gen 2 USB C port to the top panel with a little imagination and some careful fabrication.During any future upgrade to this case design (XL-R3 perhaps?) consideration should be given to addressing these shortcomings.As to improvements, a refinement of the door hinge design to allow wider 270° fold back to the case side (as is commonplace with many case designs of a comparable quality) given that the current 90° is extremely restrictive.Another improvement would be to incorporate a number of 2.5” SSD mounting points directly to the internal case wall which would require minimal re-tooling (small change to the sheet metal press and additional tapped holes) and instantly increase the storage capacity whilst retaining the extremely versatile HDD drive bays in their 2 caddies.A further simple refinement would be to extend the removable HDD trays (or similar mechanism) to make the 4 Optical Drive bays similarly versatile with tool-less extraction.Despite these minor criticisms I was highly impressed by the overall design and build quality.The XL-R2 is a super solid, cavernous case which should satisfy most requirements for the PC enthusiast.Aesthetically, whilst the XL-R2 is quietly understated it is especially pleasing that the ‘quiet’ theme extends to ‘sound deadening’ were much attention to detail has been focused upon lining the case with materials which ensure that it is similarly quiet in operation!!

To start with, this case is big and heavy. It is a proper full tower so if you are looking for something for LAN parties this is not it (possibly look at the Define R4). However, if you are looking for a case to put under your desk, and leave it there, you should definitely buy this case. It is the Fractal Define R4's bigger and better brother. The case oozes class with its simple and elegant styling as we have come to expect from Fractal. There is absolutely no flex in the side panels and the overall build feels very solid for the asking price. Obviously its not same as aluminium Silverstone Fortress or Lian Li cases but in almost every other aspect it equals or better these more expensive cases.In its default configuration, with the included (but surprisingly good quality) 3 x 140mm fans, it is seriously quiet. No computer is silent but this is probably as close as you are going to get without sacrificing performance.At this moment in time, I have one r9 290 msi gaming and an i5 4670k cooled by a hyper evo. At idle you can here a low pitched hum from the case if there is complete silence in the room. Above that ambient noise level it is to all intents and purposes inaudible.If you need more cooling you can add more fans at the top and side but then you will lose some of the sound insulation and obviously gain more fan noise. The best thing about this case is it can be silent and cool, loud and freezing or anywhere in between depending on what you want to do with it. Its even pretty good for watercooling if I want to go that way in the future.All in all, this case has the best noise/performance to price ratio on the market and I would definitely recommend this case to anyone.

Case was delivered with no damage and everything included. Having had a Compucase previously I was a bit disappointed by the internal engineering, the hard drive cases are a bit primitive and the is no specific accommodation for SSD other than adapting the HD slides. As someone has commented the fitting of side panels is easy but the thumb screws are very small and need a screw driver to tighten. I have installed my system and everything works fine, cabling on the other side of the MBD is hidden but needs to be tidy to fit the side panel. Lots of screws and fittings provided, Would buy again.

This is a big, heavy (very) case with lots of room for building a system. Has removable sound deadening pads to allow choice between sound volume and airflow. Front 3.5" bays are not removable which is not ideal but the HDD racks are removable. However you will need to leave one of these in as there is nowhere esle to put an SSD. There are newer, better, more expensive cases out there but for the price this is very, very high quality and looks a lot nicer than the flash RGB ones that are now popular. Ideal if you need a large cheap case that blends in a bit. The power LED on the front is very bright though!

Build for a low noise high spec PC. The case looks good, contains sound well, has a lot of space for drives. The included fans are very quiet and with a quiet PSU and Noctua NH-U14S CPU cooler all optimised by the Asus Q-fan system and all solid state drives, the PC is almost inaudible. The included hardware / fixings are comprehensive. On the down side, the back panel does not sit at 90° to the motherboard back plate, so if you use the hold down screws on your graphics card, it will be lifted from its slot. Modification was required.