Reviews

Fractal Design Define R2 Titanium Chassis Review

Thermal Performance

To test the performance of the Fractal Design Define R2 three tests were used. The first test gauges the chassis’ thermal performance at idle, the second at full CPU load and the third at full GPU load. The respective temperatures of each component are displayed in the graphs below. All tests ran for 1 hour and the average temperature recorded. The system was allowed to cool down for 1 hour between each test and room temperature was maintained at 20C during testing.

Verdict: At idle the Define R2 with it’s Moduvent system has the highest temperatures which is down to it’s lack of airflow with only two fans and all grills blocked up. With the Moduvent system open the temperatures reach much more acceptable levels keeping almost inline with the Cosmos and CM690. The CM690 and Cosmos however have the advantage of extra fans which keeps them ever so slightly cooler than the Define R2, however with all the fan bays filled on the Define R2 it manages to level with the CM690 GPU temperature and outstrip the CPU temperatures from both the CM690 and Cosmos.

Verdict: It’s much the same scenario again. Moduvent Closed = Higher Temperatures, Moduvent Open = Improved Temperatures, keeping up with the Cosmos and CM690 which are equipped with more fans. With the 7 fans on the Define R2 it easily manages to maintain the lowest CPU temperature, and has the same GPU temperature as the CM690 with both chassis’ having a dedicated fan for the GPU installed on the left sidepanel.

Verdict: The same trend occurs for the GPU temperatures with the CM690 and Define R2 neck and neck due to the dedicated 120mm sidepanel fans. With the CPU temperature we see how well each chassis copes with the heat from the GPU being dumped inside and not exhausted through the PCI slots. We can see here that the Define R2 with 7 fans manages to keep the temperature increase at 4C over idle temperatures, compared to almost double that of the other chassis. The Cosmos had the highest increase overall.

Move on to the next page for the Conclusion.

1. Introduction2. Specifications3. External Appearance4. External Appearance Continued5. Internal Appearance6. Test Setup & Installation7. Thermal Performance8. Conclusion

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Tags: case, Chassis, Define R2, Fractal Design

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