How well does the Fractal Design Define 7 really work with lots of drives?

[John Childermass]

I'm looking for a better and more future-proof case to replace the cheap and basic one that came with my system. My wishlist is:

• As quiet as possible
• Good cooling (I've noticed the drives getting warm in my current case)
• Solidly built (I've noticed vibrations in the drive cage in my current case)
• At least 8 spaces for 3.5" HDDs, and ideally 10 if possible
• Space for 2 x 2.5" SSDs for mirrored boot drives
• Tower, not rackmount, as I don't have a rack
• Fits a micro-ATX motherboard

Things I'm not bothered about:

• It doesn't need to be compact
• I'm not worried about hotswapping the drives

I'm currently using only 4 x 3.5" HDDs as RAID-Z2, but I'd hoped to have 8-10 3.5" drive slots to make it easier to expand (e.g. a change to 5-disk RAID-Z2 and/or an extra vdev) or do backups.

From reading previous threads, it sounds like the Fractal Design Define 7 might be my best bet, as various people have said it's quiet, and it accommodates lots of drives. However, @PhiloEpisteme's great build report for the Define R6 mentions the drive trays sagging as they are only supported at three corners. Also, @ChrisRJ noted that the Define R6 drive trays mean that you don't get much airflow once you fill the case up with drives, and that to get sufficient cooling you need high-power fans, making it noisy. Does anyone know if these R6 downsides are the same in the Define 7 (the drive tray design seems to be the same)? And, since compactness is not important for me, would the Define 7 XL be any better?

I looked at the Fractal Design Node cases but it seems that these are generally noisier. I'm not opposed to using a rackmount case, but from what I've read these are also going to be noisier.

Another alternative I'm considering is the older Define R5 case. It does at least have 8 3.5" bays, and these seem to have support on all sides, rather than in three corners.

I realise that my wishlist might not be realistic(!), but does anyone have other suggestions?

 

[Etorix]

Eight to ten 3.5" HDDs are not silent, and good cooling may add fan noise.

The Fractal Design Node 804 fits your requirements (8 HDD hanged + 2 screwed on bottom, good cooling, 2 SSD), except for noise: The mesh top allows for good cooling but lets the noise out.

In addition to obstructing cooling, drive trays on the Fractal Design 7 (should be the same as R6) are somewhat fiddly to put in place in "storage mode", and the exercise involves a lot of screws.
From personal experience, the Nanoxia Deep Silence 8 Pro would be a slightly better choice than the Define 7: 8 HDDs in tool-less trays, slightly easier to wire than a Fractal Design 7. No guarantee that this is fully satisfactory though.

 

[Silver]

I am in the process of putting together a system for a very similar use case. After a lot of consideration I ended up getting a Define 7. I ruled out the Define 7 XL because I didn't think I'd be able to lift the case, even empty, and I thought that would be too much of a bother; very possibly that isn't applicable to you.

I'm still working on where exactly in the room it is going to live, and I haven't gotten the side panels back on (turns out much of the weight is in them and so I have a much easier time handling it with them off), but some notes based on progress thus far:

• Eight drives is a bit louder than I was hoping, even with no fan noise. Hopefully the side panels will help.
• Even after a good bit of reading online, I was confused about how many 3.5 locations there are. Turns out that is because the case is so flexible; it would be hypothetically possible to jam in a pretty crazy number of drives.
• I wanted to space out the drives on the theory that would make it easier to keep them cool. I felt like that was pretty straightforward to do with eight drives. Ten spaced drives might be better in the XL, but it would probably still be somewhat reasonable with the regular define 7. I'm optimistic that there is plenty of extra space to negate the airflow concerns, but not tested yet.
• The three point attachment thing is true, and there is some amount of flex. The case in total is very solidly built however. I was a little worried when I bought the case but after building in it I feel fine with it, at least so far. Your mileage may vary.
• As Etorix said, it's slightly fiddly to get the drive trays in and there are a decent number of screws, but for my use case that's not really an issue. I spent way more time on research.
• With the drives spaced out, the hardest part was actually to figure out how to get the power cables to reach to all the drives- my PSU has enough connections but not much to spare for connectors that are in between distant components.
• Even not including places where 3.5 drives could go, there's plenty of 2.5 spaces.

It might be a couple weeks until I get the sides back on and tested, but I could try to remember to post an update with temps/noise if that would be helpful. Also, if you want a more detailed description of the drive layout, I'd be happy to provide it.

 

[ChrisRJ]

In addition to obstructing cooling, drive trays on the Fractal Design 7 (should be the same as R6) are somewhat fiddly to put in place in "storage mode", and the exercise involves a lot of screws.

For me the obstruction of airflow is indeed a big minus with the drive trays. I want to keep my 8 drives (Seagate Exos 16 TB) at around 30 Celcius and this required (in an R6) to put in two high-pressure fans. The result is that this is almost as loud as a rackmount case. It is ok-ish for me, but if noise is a concern I would seriously look elsewhere.

 

[John Childermass]

Thank you very much everyone! It does look like there is no perfect solution. Are there any really good (i.e. quiet and cool) cases if I'm willing to stick to either four or six 3.5" HDDs instead of eight (plus one or two 2.5" SSDs for the boot drive)?

@Etorix, I'll take a look at the Nanoxia, thank you. Did you find that it was indeed as quiet as the "Deep Silence" name would suggest?

@Silver, thank you, yes, I'd be interested in reading about an update if you have time!

@ChrisRJ, thank you. Assuming the Define 7 is not so different from the Define R6, that does suggest that it's not going to work for me if I really try to fit 8 drives in there.

Since quietness (include solid build quality, to avoid annoying vibrations), and good cooling (to avoid overheating drives) are probably more important to me than fitting a larger number of drives in the case, I think my best bet might be to assume I'll use six storage drives maximum — either if that opens up another case option, or simply to put fewer drives in the same case.

 

[sretalla]

Since quietness (include solid build quality, to avoid annoying vibrations), and good cooling (to avoid overheating drives) are probably more important to me than fitting a larger number of drives in the case, I think my best bet might be to assume I'll use six storage drives maximum — either if that opens up another case option, or simply to put fewer drives in the same case.

The node 304 fits 6 drives. It can run pretty quiet (the one I'm sitting next to is more or less inaudible with the stock fans and a Noctua low profile CPU cooler).

 

[c77dk]

With my R6 running CORE I hardly heard it - sitting right under my desk. To make sure I had enough airflow over all disks I put in 3x Noctua 120mm in the front, with LNA. CPU and back fans are also Noctua.

With scale the system is just running full speed on the fans - haven't gotten around to setup fanscript yet (server isn't noisy enough :P)

 

[Etorix]

@Etorix, I'll take a look at the Nanoxia, thank you. Did you find that it was indeed as quiet as the "Deep Silence" name would suggest?

This Nanoxia DS8 Pro looks suspiciously like a slightly cheaper German knock-off the Swedish-designed Define 7. (I have both.) Savings are on the non-reversible plastic front door and thumbscrews which are a bit too small to be comfortable. Side panels are similarly heavy and well-damped. Nanoxia actually ouwits its model by providing the vertical GPU bracket as standard and with its tool-less trays for HDDs and a better model for wiring—no reconfiguring to use for storage and no hassle with screws; rather, you remove the HDD cages if you don't need them. (Make sure to get the Deep Silence 8 Pro: the base model does not come with all HDD cages.)
When building a desktop the Nanoxia can be made as quiet as a Define 7—in both cases, perfect quietness and fan control involves replacing the OK-ish default 3-pin fans with PWM-enabled Noctua fans.
For storage use, well, eight 3.5" drives (or more…) are NOT silent and their humming will be heard from outside. In this mode, you'll keep the default fans or replace them with more powerful ones for better cooling—some extra fan noise would not matter much.

The node 304 fits 6 drives. It can run pretty quiet (the one I'm sitting next to is more or less inaudible with the stock fans and a Noctua low profile CPU cooler).

For what it's worth, I find that six drives in a Node 304 with three Noctua fans (to remove any hint of fan noise) already make a little too much hum for comfort. Noise and noise tolerance are very subjective matters.

 

[John Childermass]

Thank you everyone! Hmm... it looks like I'll have to give it a little more thought. I'll probably stick with my current case for at least a few weeks to get used to it and not rush into a purchase (at the moment the drives are around 40C, which I think it is a little too warm, but I haven't tried adjusting fan speeds yet).

The Nanoxia Deep Silence 8 Pro does look interesting, especially as the drive trays look like they don't have the "three-corner mount" design of the Define 7, which I'm a bit wary of. @Etorix, were the tool-less trays on the Nanoxia sufficiently solid, i.e. without vibration? Looking at this review, it seems the trays don't have anything like rubber grommets.

 

[Etorix]

Look hard and you'll actually see four thin rubber disks on the sides of the trays. The trays lock safely in place (front tabs) but can wiggle in their cage so they are very effective at decoupling vibrating disks from the case.