Fractal Design Define XL R2 Build

[MattyB]

I will shortly be disassembling my ALX and building my gear into a fractal case. This will be my first non-Alienware project. It's a shame that AW don't have some new full size towers but I think I will love the sleek lines of the Fractal and the cooling it offers.




I'm hoping it will turn into a super sexy water cooled beauty.

I start my 6 week holiday tomorrow so I will have plenty of time to get it right!

 

[holeyguy66]

thats nice man. im looking between a corsair 900d a little devil case or a caselabs magnum sth10. all in the 300 dollar and up range but plenty of room for big radiators. im wanting some serious cooling this go round with out all the noise of fans

 

[MattyB]

Well I've finally got most of the new parts I needed to get this thing going. Just been working on the cooling. Still have to sort out the mess of cables running around the back of the chassis. Way better cable management that the ALX!

 

[holeyguy66]

damn man thats nice. how much room is there to work with.

 

[sway]

Looks sick dude, I loved this case when I had it.

tappin from the neXus 5

 

[MattyB]

Cheers guys. It's been a long morning but I think I've sorted out the cables. Holeyguy, there is lots of room behind the mobo but I have 7 molex connections (due to all the lighting) so it has made the cable management a bit tricky. It's my first effort and I am not going to start again. The side panel fits so that's all I'm worried about!



Sway, did you have the R4 or the XL? I'm was going for the R4 but changed my mind at the last minute. I wanted the extra 5 1/4 bays and the extra room for cooling. Very happy with the decision.

 

[holeyguy66]

man thats got me all warm and fuzzy. lol i see you went with some noctua fans. i love how quite mine are.

 

[sway]

I had the r4, so I guess yours is exactly like mine with the extra drive bays and floor/separator?

tappin from the neXus 5

 

[MattyB]

Yeah they look identical other than the size.
I'm only running the mATX board I had in my ALX so there is heaps of room left where the extra PCI slots are. Not sure what I'll do there.
It's all up and running now! Just doing a 3DMark test.

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man thats got me all warm and fuzzy. lol i see you went with some noctua fans. i love how quite mine are.

Yeah they are super quiet. I've got the 2 x 120mm Nocturas, 2 x 120mm NB-Blacksilent PROs and 3 Fractal 140mm. The Fractals are pretty quiet too actually. The whole system is whisper quiet even with the side panel off.



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Now onto my next project. I bought a broken X51 from an online auction house for $350. It's got no internal power jack and I have found 3 broken wires so far (both wifi antennas and the CMOS battery). Hopefully it's not too bad.

 

[MattyB]

Just been doing a few 3DMark tests. Temps are super cool while playing games too. Maxing out the GPUs at around 45-48C. Cards clocked @ 1145 (boost)

 

[holeyguy66]

nice man. super strong. you still running the 3770k at 4.6

 

[MattyB]

Only at 4.4 right now at stock voltage. I reset everything a little while back so I lost all my nice stable settings. Too busy watching the cricket to get stuck into it just yet.


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[holeyguy66]

gotcha. i had to back all mine down to factory i gotta geet a new psu. eith that money going to that im just gonna use my green p1 case til i get my wifes p2 built. been way to long

 

[MattyB]

Good luck getting the new PSU. Loving my new modular one.


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[holeyguy66]

im looking at the evga nex1500. that is a monster man. has an oc mode that boost the psu to 1650. i got christmas money so im only gonna shell out 150 for it instead of 350

 

[MattyB]

So now I've gone and got it in my head that I want to try messing around with rigid acrylic tubing. Looks like it's time to tear it all down again and start from scratch! Why do I do this to myself???

 

[holeyguy66]

So now I've gone and got it in my head that I want to try messing around with rigid acrylic tubing. Looks like it's time to tear it all down again and start from scratch! Why do I do this to myself???

because your never finished lol. i want to try that as well

 

[MattyB]

What I need to do is put all my gear into the R5 chassis I have and start this one again with all new parts. Way out of the budget though right now.

 

[holeyguy66]

you wanna talk outta budget. what im doing is out of budget. its gonna take me 3 to 4 years to finish what im doing. but gonna be so worth it. im buying a titan black super clocked. same price as my vanilla super clocked and faster. prolly with a 2011 cpu. its gonna be costly but screw it. then im gonna turn around put my wifes mobo in my p1 case. give her my freshly rma'd v gene and 3770k o and my titan. til then im gonna use this titan as a physx processor

 

[MattyB]

That's a lot of hardware for sure!
My budget has been ruined because I just bought the GF a sparkly ring.