Anyone using Fractal Design "Define Mini" case for micro-ATX?

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muffinMan

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I'm looking for a tower enclosure for my first build with a Supermicro X11SSM (micro-ATX). Where I want to put the NAS (against a wall), makes the Fractal Design Node 804 a bit too bulky. I'm looking at the Define R6, which almost seems like overkill because I'm not looking to utilize any expansion slots or extensive cooling systems. Is anyone using the Define Mini? It's a bit smaller and cheaper. My pool will be 6x HDDs, so the only difference with going with the Define Mini is that I think it doesn't have separate bays/mounting for a boot SSD like the R6 does. Anyone using this enclosure? Looking for input. Thanks!
 

DaLAW1

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I’ve been using that case for a couple of years. It has space under the Hard Drive Sleds for an SDD mounted with Velcro or you can do what I did and just drill out the holes needed to mount the SDD. It also has two 5.25 inch drive bays, so you could put it there too. Really the only problem I had with this case was I needed to put two 120mm Fans in the front to cool my 6 HGST Hard Drives, as they were getting a little warm for my liking. Now they run at 30 degC at 20 degC ambient.
 

muffinMan

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I’ve been using that case for a couple of years. It has space under the Hard Drive Sleds for an SDD mounted with Velcro or you can do what I did and just drill out the holes needed to mount the SDD. It also has two 5.25 inch drive bays, so you could put it there too. Really the only problem I had with this case was I needed to put two 120mm Fans in the front to cool my 6 HGST Hard Drives, as they were getting a little warm for my liking. Now they run at 30 degC at 20 degC ambient.

Was it easy to add fans? Would you advise I pick up fans right off the bat? It looks like the R6 has fans mounted in the front already.
 

DaLAW1

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For me, I’m particular about using Noctua Fans in my builds, so I replaced the stock fans with two 120mm in front and one 120mm in the back. I believe the two 120mm fans in front were the industrial 2000 RPM and the one in back I used a 3000 RPM.

Now I’m talking about the Define Mini here, not the R6. Looking at the link you provided, the mini does still come with two fans. You could try using them both in the front and keep an eye on your temps. If they seem fine, then leave it at that. Otherwise, add one in the rear to exchange the air quicker. Just make sure you are intaking air from the front and exhausting out the back, blowing across the Hard Disk Drives and keep the filters clear of dust periodically.

Adding or rearranging the fans is pretty simple, so have fun with it and experiment. You may learn a lot in the process.
 
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