Introduction

In the same conversation I sat down for with Josh Smith from Fractal Design at CES during our meeting there, I was told that by the time I arrived back to my house, this chassis should be waiting there for me. As I was finally able to play catch up with some of their cases last year, one chassis I missed sadly was to have a look at the Define XL. From what I have seen in their other products, I can only imagine this chassis was a beast just like all the rest I have had a chance to look at. Even not having actually seen the chassis, I did venture back in time a bit and read a few other reviews of the original Define XL, just to brush up on its offerings and do a little bit of a compare and contrast.

When someone says they are doing a chassis revision, a lot of time I have to turn those samples down, because adding a fan or two, or painting it another color, does not warrant a full review. Here that isn't the case at all, excuse my pun. Fractal took the original chassis, but did not do much to the outside of the chassis, as to keep the sleek looks that made the original such a success. This new revision made five major changes to the interior that I could come up with in just a couple of moments looking through the specs list. In my opinion, making a whole new chassis, and well worth its own series name, but since it is in the same clothing, Define XL it is.

Some of the changes to look for in the newly released Define XL R2 from Fractal Design are things like the fan controller, the hard drive bay configuration, the lack of the second floor, the lack of the odd fan duct at the top, more expansion slots, and another form factor of motherboard to add to the compatibility list. As you can see, just in what I listed there, there have been a lot of changes to this revision, and well worth the time and effort to go over this new chassis with a fine toothed comb.

Join me as I take a walk around the Define XL R2 and see just what Fractal had up their sleeves when designing this revised chassis.