Fractal Design's Define XL - REDEFINED!!! (and LC'd!)

[SXS]

Like some on here, we like to not follow the norm, and try to do something unique, makes it all the more challenging.

So here I was with a dillema, most of the current crop of cases like the Corsair series and Silverstone series and LianLi and a number of Coolermasters are commonly used for liquid cooled configurations. It was hard enough trying to find a case which no one has liquid cooled before at an extreme level, ie. custom work rather than an off-the-shelf H50/H70 etc...

So....

I came upon Fractal Design - I fell in love with the simple design and solid build, the build quality of the XL was just outstanding. The powder-coating was top-notch, and fairly resilient to regular scratching etc... And to top it off, it was a pre-silenced case with some serious weight to it (great for me as I have a few mastiffs which have a habit of sleeping next to the case and knocking them over!)...

The box-of-tricks which controls all the fans and pump is the wonderful mCubed T-Balancer BigNG.
With the pump at 50% duty, and the fans at 2% duty, regular use and idle barely hits 30c! On full load with Prime (heat-gen mode) it barely peaks 49c.
This is a 3.8oc'd quad 6600, with an FSB of 470.

I'm in love with this build, not only does this case look the part, but cable-management and hose management is out of this world. I've literally hid everything. Also have added my own liquid level sensor to the res so that a blue led flashes with a buzz sound when it gets halfway

The hoses have plenty of slack to work on this board without even having to deal with watercooling hoses, the idea was a clean build that one could jump into and switch ram and CPU and even swap out the MB without barely any extra effort on-top of say an air-cooled configuration.

Anyway, enough of the chit-chat, heres the pictures, hope you enjoy... I'm not much of a photographer, but I did my best with the little compact camera...


Case: Fractal Design Define XL (redefined)



















. . .



LC configuration:

1 x Triple 140mm Magicool Hi-Flow Slim Radiator
2 x EK XT Dual 120mm Hi-Flow Radiators
1 x EK Supreme LT waterblock
1 x Swiftech Chipset waterblock
1 x Danger Den GPU Full Card waterblock
1 x Swiftech v2 Reservoir
1 x DDC 18w Pump with XSPC Hi-Flow Top
1/2" ID plumbing between radiators, res, pump
Dual 8mm OD plumbing to Legaris hi-flow Banjo fittings to CPU waterblock
Single 8mm OD plumbing to Legaris hi-flow Banjo fitting to Chipset waterblock
Single 8mm OD plumbing to Legaris hi-flow Banjo fitting to GPU waterblock
The usual drain-ball-valve and Bitspower fillport, etc etc...
Pump and fans controlled by the mCubed T-Balancer BigNG
Yate Loon SH's 140mm and 120mm





...


Conclusion:

Hope this encourages more to do unique custom builds using rare cases! The fun in modding is to put that dremel, jigsaw and drill to good use
Oh and apologies folks for not putting any lighting in there, I mean come on, would you stick a neon light in a Ferrari engine bay??!

Fractal Design - I applaude you chaps, lovely case!

[CoSm0s]

Great work.. Your case turn out amazing. All the detail is just right. Thanks for the shared. Looking forward to any future build.

[DARK_01]

Amazing work man. It is truly unique..
Where u get thows hose fittings from. They look mad as. 2 hose into on port i like it..

[SXS]

Amazing work man. It is truly unique..
Where u get thows hose fittings from. They look mad as. 2 hose into on port i like it..

Thanks man! Uniqueness was the idea, hiding everything without stealing the 5.25" bays was also part of the idea.

The fittings are from Italy, they are laboratory grade, not your standard push-fits, nearly an inch depth with tough thick nickel grips. The hose is for special lab use, ordered from Farnells, it stays crystal clear, and has a bend radius of 15mm.

The res and pump are mounted in the cable management workspace behind the bays and board thats why I love this case! had to mod it a fair bit, but the framework was already there. I've even got enough room to mount another pump hidden away back there if I need to. But this config is probably going to eat-up everything I throw at it.

[SXS]

Great work.. Your case turn out amazing. All the detail is just right. Thanks for the shared. Looking forward to any future build.

Cheers!

another build is already under the hammer

[ValueDriven]

Very very nice.

What did you use to trim out the top rad holes...a little hard to see. Does it have a filter or since it is an exhaust did you just use a coarser mesh?

[Frag Maniac]

That's the only way to build with one of Fractal's XL cases, because their air cooling really sucks.

Nice that someone is using clear tubing and fluid, looks nice. It never stays that clear for long though does it.

[v1ral]

I have a quick question..
If you were to mod the psu mount to make the psu go side ways.. will you be able to mount the 240 radiator and a 360 radiator side ways too, kind of like the TJ07?