SPCR

Ok here's my Fractal R3....The stock fans are too loud, I replaced them with my trusty Scythe Sflex 800 rpm fans. And as far as the sound dampening material in the case, well I think this case is as quiet as an antec P180 without it...



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Very nice and clean looking build you've got there! I may have to reconsider the Fractal R3 for my build.. the cable management grommets are an immense help.

That SSD in the bottom of the hard drive cage looks awfully lonely.. haha.

You're making me jealous. My new build is going to be a fractal design define with a seasonic X series too. I hope mine looks as nice as yours.

Is the SSD attached to the case or is it just laying in that tray?

thanks

Its attached to the drive bay And yes it is lonely their.

You should do the same i did. Remove all the unused drive bays. Only if the whole 3,5" drive bay construction wouldn't be riveted but only screwed in, i would remove it ASAP.

faugusztin wrote:You should do the same i did. Remove all the unused drive bays. Only if the whole 3,5" drive bay construction wouldn't be riveted but only screwed in, i would remove it ASAP.

1/8" drill bit solves the rivet problem

Meato wrote:

faugusztin wrote:You should do the same i did. Remove all the unused drive bays. Only if the whole 3,5" drive bay construction wouldn't be riveted but only screwed in, i would remove it ASAP.

1/8" drill bit solves the rivet problem

Of course it does... Except with my skills, i would end up drilling through front panel and scratching the paint all over .

I'm planning on doing a R3 build too, shitty to hear that the fans are no good. I have heard reports of the scythe clicking at low rpm, is that the case with the ones you have? If not I will def be duplicating that build lol.

I saw that in a review as well. But my Scythe Sflex 800 rpm fans make no such noise that I can hear anyway. They are dead quiet...

Did you try using the included fan controller to slow down the fans?

Nice one. Welcome to the R3 club

The included fans at 5V can be used as intakes fairly well. They tick a little but you'd have to be very close to hear that from behind the door.

On my white R3 the rear fan grating proved to be too restrictive even for an 800 RPM Slip Stream at full speed, possibly due to the thicker paint but mostly because that particular vent has a more restrictive design.

I didn't try the fan controller. I like to keep the wires and extra's in my case to a bare minimum. I've had these Sflex fans for about 3 years or so and they have worked extreme well. I just added a 27 inch monitor to my setup and its really nice

I have a question for Define R3 owners.. how do you find the silicone HDD cage grommets for isolation? Would they be able to keep HDDs with relatively little vibration in check?

The grommets are good enough to quiet todays 5400 RPM drives like the WD or Samsung "greens". I' using three HD204UI right now. Most 7200 RPM 3,5" drives will vibrate too heavily.

can you tell us the exact video card model and also what is your cpu cooler ?

I would like to use the asus GTX 570 DirectCU II in a fractal design R3, however the card measures 292mm and the maximum card lenght for that case is apparently 290mm...

also im trying to figure out which heatsink to use, which would give enough clearance for my 40mm ram.
thx

My video card is the Msi 6870 fitted with an artic cooling twin turbo pro on it. My Cpu cooler is the XIGMATEK dark knight.....

How many slipstreams are you using in your build and what voltages are you running them at? I am choosing between getting the 800rpm slipstream or the 800rpm s-flexes.

My only worry is that 800rpm fans might not be enough to push air through the Fractal R3 case.

I'm actually using the Sflex not the slipstream. I've only got 2. One on the Cpu and one rear exhaust. They are running at full speed 12V 800 rpm and they are dead silent...

Here is a slight update to my R3



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Love the clean look.

So you replaced the 6870- does the EVGA GTX570 run quietly? Stock cooling by the looks of it?

Yes can we have more details about your GPU noise?