How much room for a long GPU in the Fractal Design Define 7 XL?

shilka · Oct 3, 2020

As some of you might know i built a system late last year and its been nothing but a total trainwreck nothing worked and many things still dont work a year later

The motherboard is sometimes unable to boot and will get stuck on 00d and A6 errors for no reason and as soon as Zen 3 is out and i have enough funds my Asrock X570 Taichi will be going into the nearest dumpster or i might give it away for free here on OCN if someone wants to pay for shipping and deal with the cursed and possessed by the devil motherboard

The Phanteks 719 is another problem its a case that on paper looks good but has a ton of problems some of them being flimsy frame that can flex no room for cable management and no room in the top of the since the roof is too close to the top of the motherboard which means even having fans in the top will block the top of the motherboard or in other words if you want to remove the EPS cable the fans will have to be removed first

Long story short the Phanteks 719 sucks and having looked around the Fractal Design Define 7 XL looks like my best option i just have a big question left that i cant find the answer for how much room is there when you have the Fractal Design Define 7 XL configured to hold HDD´s in the front?

The Phanteks P600S only has room for a 29 cm long GPU when you have HDD´s in the front and my GPU is 33 cm and the new ones i am looking at are all around 30-33 cm so the P600S is useless for my use case

I have 5x HDD´s now by the way and i need room for at least 8 which is why i went with the 719 in the first place rather than being limited to at most 6 in the P600S because of my 33 cm long GPU

Trying to find a case with room for 8 HDD´s a 33 cm long GPU and having room in the roof and room for cable management is really hard and a friend of mine bought a Thermaltake Core V71 to fill the same need but i really dont like Thermaltake and would rather buy the Fractal Design Define 7 XL if it can fit everything i have and want in it

Below is a picture of my dumpster fire PC

skline00 · Oct 3, 2020

shilka, I measure the inside of my Fractal Define 7XL and I come up with at least 20.75 inches from the back of the gpu where it connects to the case to the inside front of the case.
I only use ssds which are mounted on the mb (NvME) or the back side of the case. I have a 3900x/Rad VII custom water cooled so I have an EK D5-140 Pump /res combo mounted in the from and there is plenty of room for my Rad VII.
Here are the specs from the manual
Case dimensions (LxWxH) 604 x 240 x 566 mm 3.5”/2.5” Universal drive positions 18 (6 brackets included) Dedicated 2.5” drive positions 5 (2 brackets included) Motherboard compatibility EE-ATX, E-ATX, ATX, mATX, ITX Power supply type ATX Front ports USB Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, Audio & Mic Front radiator 480 mm max Top radiator 480 mm max (see pg. 43-48 for more details) Rear radiator 120 mm Bottom radiator 280 mm max PSU max length 250 mm with two HDD cages
GPU max length 359 mm storage layout, 549 mm open layout, 524mm open layout with fan CPU cooler max height 185 mm S

shilka · Oct 3, 2020

skline00 said:
shilka, I measure the inside of my Fractal Define 7XL and I come up with at least 20.75 inches from the back of the gpu where it connects to the case to the inside front of the case.
I only use ssds which are mounted on the mb (NvME) or the back side of the case. I have a 3900x/Rad VII custom water cooled so I have an EK D5-140 Pump /res combo mounted in the from and there is plenty of room for my Rad VII.
Here are the specs from the manual
Case dimensions (LxWxH) 604 x 240 x 566 mm 3.5”/2.5” Universal drive positions 18 (6 brackets included) Dedicated 2.5” drive positions 5 (2 brackets included) Motherboard compatibility EE-ATX, E-ATX, ATX, mATX, ITX Power supply type ATX Front ports USB Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, Audio & Mic Front radiator 480 mm max Top radiator 480 mm max (see pg. 43-48 for more details) Rear radiator 120 mm Bottom radiator 280 mm max PSU max length 250 mm with two HDD cages
GPU max length 359 mm storage layout, 549 mm open layout, 524mm open layout with fan CPU cooler max height 185 mm S

So 35,9 cm with storage layout which is almost 3 cm more than my current GPU so thats more than enough room so thank you very much for that
The Asus RTX 3080 TUF i am looking to get is 30 cm so there is almost 6 cm of room left in that case

I have heard some stuff about the Define 7 XL having somewhat poor thermals is there anything to that?
Already found that there is good room in the roof and room for cable management and room enough for HDD´s and long GPU´s so all those checks out

skline00 · Oct 3, 2020

shilka I love the case. I'm running a Corsair XR7-480 on top with 4 Corsair ML120 fans and a Magicool thin (30mm) 360 rad in front with 3 XSPC 120 fans. All are intake and the exhaust is a 140 mm Noctua (EXCELLENT). My thermals are fine and the hinged front door is so easy to open for more cooling.

It's a big case without feeling overpowering.

I have a Thermaltake Core X9 for my custom water cooled GTX1080TI/5960x rig. THAT is a big case!

shilka · Oct 3, 2020

I am looking at reviews right now and it seems the like built in the fan hub only has 3 PWM headers which means i either have to use spliters or buy a stand alone fan hub
I was planing on re-using my 6x Phanteks 140MP fans since i already spent a lot of money on them

I was also thinking of maybe going all out on the bling with A-RGB fans but thats means getting a A-RGB hub as well as a fan hub besides new fans and while i can spend the money it will take longer for me to save up the more stuff i want to buy

DeusM · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
I am looking at reviews right now and it seems the like built in the fan hub only has 3 PWM headers which means i either have to use spliters or buy a stand alone fan hub
I was planing on re-using my 6x Phanteks 140MP fans since i already spent a lot of money on them

I was also thinking of maybe going all out on the bling with A-RGB fans but thats means getting a A-RGB hub as well as a fan hub besides new fans and while i can spend the money it will take longer for me to save up the more stuff i want to buy

If you like having awesome cable management and decide on new fans, i dont know how well they perform but the new lian li uni fans look amazing. I am cursing i got corsair and the commander pro ( corsairs icue is terrible).

Falkentyne · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
So 35,9 cm with storage layout which is almost 3 cm more than my current GPU so thats more than enough room so thank you very much for that
The Asus RTX 3080 TUF i am looking to get is 30 cm so there is almost 6 cm of room left in that case

I have heard some stuff about the Define 7 XL having somewhat poor thermals is there anything to that?
Already found that there is good room in the roof and room for cable management and room enough for HDD´s and long GPU´s so all those checks out

The thermals issue is from the front door which blocks air intake from the front grill with only limited intake remaining on the side openings.
If you're using a top mounted radiator or fans at the top the thermals issue can be mitigated by either opening or removing the front door if you are not using fans at the top, or by simply switching the top to intake, rather than exhaust.

You will know if the thermals issue is fixed by with top intake, opening the front door and if the temps are identical to with the door closed, you have perfect intake.

414347 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
I am looking at reviews right now and it seems the like built in the fan hub only has 3 PWM headers which means i either have to use spliters or buy a stand alone fan hub
I was planing on re-using my 6x Phanteks 140MP fans since i already spent a lot of money on them

I was also thinking of maybe going all out on the bling with A-RGB fans but thats means getting a A-RGB hub as well as a fan hub besides new fans and while i can spend the money it will take longer for me to save up the more stuff i want to buy

I'm not trying to discourage you from Fractal Design cases, but the 7 is horrible, to me feels like is downgrade from 6

.

Big grape with that case is, they removed the thumb screws at the back to hold the side panels in place, so If you happen to have few extra cables that might be slightly to thick, or if you just lift that case not perfectly straight, you will struggle to keep the panel in place, I purchased that case 3 weeks ago and returned the same day, watch linus straggling with the same thing in one of his videos.

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

DeusM said:
If you like having awesome cable management and decide on new fans, i dont know how well they perform but the new lian li uni fans look amazing. I am cursing i got corsair and the commander pro ( corsairs icue is terrible).

I did watch Jay´s video about those fans and i am thinking about buying them but the fact that they are FDB fans and the fact they dont come in 140mm are both minus
I still have 6x Phanteks 140mm MP fans from my 719 that i could carry over

NewUser16 said:
I'm not trying to discourage you from Fractal Design cases, but the 7 is horrible, to me feels like is downgrade from 6 .

Big grape with that case is, they removed the thumb screws at the back to hold the side panels in place, so If you happen to have few extra cables that might be slightly to thick, or if you just lift that case not perfectly straight, you will struggle to keep the panel in place, I purchased that case 3 weeks ago and returned the same day, watch linus straggling with the same thing in one of his videos.

At this point finding a case with no flaws is completely impossible so it comes down to what the least horrible case i can find that has room for everything i need and a list with cases that has room for everything i need can be counted on one hand there is the 719 which i have and then there is the Define 7 XL and not much else that i know of

I fully understand what you said about the side panel but the 719 sucks even harder when it comes to cable management so the 7 is actually much better despite the side panel problem and if it comes to it i will use freaking duct tape on the side panels

The 719 sucks and i am so fed up with it so while i am aware that the 7 XL side panels are a pretty bad design and that the thermals suck on the Define 7 XL i am willing to live with those flaws if its better than the 719 flaws and at this point the 7 XL looks mcuh better

The PC will never be moved anywhere only time it will be is for upgrades and those are rare maybe a few times a year so i will just take the side panels off before i lift the case
With the 719 i have to remove all the HDD´s before i llift the case otherwise they will slide out and drop to the floor because the mounts cant keep them in place

I dont have the funds for any major upgrade untill 2021 so maybe FD will have an improved version by then

Right now i am just looking around and waiting for Zen 3 and the RTX 3080 availability and for me to save up enough i dont have unlimited funds so a major upgrade will take a few months for me to have enough funds

matthew87 · Oct 4, 2020

NewUser16 said:
I'm not trying to discourage you from Fractal Design cases, but the 7 is horrible, to me feels like is downgrade from 6 .

Big grape with that case is, they removed the thumb screws at the back to hold the side panels in place, so If you happen to have few extra cables that might be slightly to thick, or if you just lift that case not perfectly straight, you will struggle to keep the panel in place, I purchased that case 3 weeks ago and returned the same day, watch linus straggling with the same thing in one of his videos.

I have a 7XL and have the absolutely opposite experience.

One of the reasons I went with the 7XL was it had decent cable management and routing space behind the motherboard side panel. One of my BIGGEST pet peives with cases is when the gap between the side panel and the rear of the motherboard try is so small you have to squish and almost compress your cables into place. I hate that, and ample cable routing space was one the biggest deciding factors on why I purchased the 7XL.

I'm not sure if the there's any differences in side panel mounting mechanisms or cable routing space between the 7 and 7XL, but I have had absolutely no issues with the side panels or cable management. I also have Cablemod Modpro PSU cables which are generally thicker than most if not all standard modular PSU cables, even with these thick cables the side panel mounts flawlessly and cleanly.

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

matthew87 said:
I have a 7XL and have the absolutely opposite experience.

One of the reasons I went with the 7XL was it had decent cable management and routing space behind the motherboard side panel.

I"m not sure if the there's any differences in side panel mounting mechanisms or cable routing space between the 7 and 7XL, but I have had absolutely no issues with the side panels or cable management. I also have Cablemod Modpro PSU cables which are generally thicker than most if not all standard modular PSU cables, even with these thick cables the side panel mounts flawlessly and cleanly.

That and it actually has a good amount of room above the motherboard something the 719 completely lacks you cant even have a normal 140mm fan above the motherboard in the 719 before it blocks the EPS cable and all the fan headers

I was thinking of trying out a CLC cooler with a NON Assetek pump for the first time in more 6 years but the 719 has no room without it blocking like a quarter of the motherboard
I really like the new EK AIO EK-AIO 240 D-RGB

Dont know how reliable it is when its EK

matthew87 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
The 719 sucks and i am so fed up with it so while i am aware that the 7 XL side panels are a pretty bad design and that the thermals suck on the Define 7 XL i am willinng to live with those flaws if its better than the 719 flaws and at this point the 7 XL looks mcuh better

From my experience, thermals only suck with the stock included fans. The front intake is a little restrictive with the stock mesh filter, but that's easily overcome with better higher static pressure fans.

I have:

4 x Noctua NF-A14 1,500rpm PMW, 3x intake and 1x exhaust.
2 x Noctua NF-A14 Industrial 2,000rpm PWM with a 280mm CPU radiator

It's quiet, as it should be with nearly $300 worth of case fans alone.

shilka said:
That and it actually has a good amount of room above the motherboard something the 719 completely lacks you cant even have a normal 140mm fan above the motherboard in the 719 before it blocks the EPS cable and all the fan headers

I was thinking of trying out a CLC cooler with a NON Assetek pump for the first time in more 6 years but the 719 has no room without it blocking like a quarter of the motherboard
I really like the new EK AIO EK-AIO 240 D-RGB

Dont know how reliable it is when its EK

+1

Yep, it has enough clearance for 2 x 8 pin EPS cables - Thick Cablemod Modmesh - to fit comfortably between my 280mm radiator and its fans and the motherboard.

Very few cases on the market allow much room for routing the EPS cables and most are neigh on impossible if you threw a 280mm radiator and 140mm fan right above the top of the motherboard's EPS connectors.

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

matthew87 said:
From my experience, thermals only suck with the stock included fans. The front intake is a little restrictive with the stock mesh filter, but that's easily overcome with better higher static pressure fans.

I have:

4 x Noctua NF-A14 1,500rpm PMW, 3x intake and 1x exhaust.
2 x Noctua NF-A14 Industrial 2,000rpm PWM with a 280mm CPU radiator

It's quiet, as it should be with nearly $300 worth of case fans alone.

Right now i have 6 of these Phanteks Innovative Computer Hardware Design
I was going to re-use them since they are not bad fans and i spent quite a lot on them since i had to import them from a seller in Germany

They move a good amount of air without being too loud
I will have to buy a PWM fan hub since the 7 XL hub only has 3 PWM headers

matthew87 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
Right now i have 6 of these Phanteks Innovative Computer Hardware Design
I was going to re-use them since they are not bad fans and i spent quite a lot on them since i had to import them from a seller in Germany

They move a good amount of air without being too loud
I will have to buy a PWM fan hub since the 7 XL hub only has 3 PWM headers

Those fans are a lot better than the 2 included Dynamic X2 GP-14 1,000RPM fans.

Your fans have more than double the static pressure 0.71mm vs 1.62m, with both having near identical flow. Your fans are also PWM, the stock included ones are not.

Also, consider a 280mm radiator/AIO instead of one based on 120mm fans. Quieter and better performance.

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

matthew87 said:
Those fans are a lot better than the 2 included Dynamic X2 GP-14 1,000RPM fans.

Your fans have more than double the static pressure 0.71mm vs 1.62m, with both having near identical flow. Your fans are also PWM, the stock included ones are not.

Also, consider a 280mm radiator/AIO instead of one based on 120mm fans. Quieter and better performance.

I am just looking at options that are using a non Assetek pump and are actually good and reliable and so far it seems like the Deepcool Captain, EK AIO and the Lian Li Galahad are some of the better options but none of those have a 280mm option

My track record with CLC coolers have been terrible i have had 6 of them and none of them lasted more than a year all of them where loud and one even leaked so i have long disliked CLC coolers but all of the ones i had where based on Assetek pumps and sold by Cooler Master, NZXT and Corsair so i blame the problems on them and not on the CLC concept itself

Truth be told a Noctua NH-D15S is my first go to option its cheaper than any CLC cooler and its reliable

414347 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
I did watch Jay´s video about those fans and i am thinking about buying them but the fact that they are FDB fans and the fact they dont come in 140mm are both minus
I still have 6x Phanteks 140mm MP fans from my 719 that i could carry over

At this point finding a case with no flaws is completely impossible so it comes down to what the least horrible case i can find that has room for everything i need and a list with cases that has room for everything i need can be counted on one hand there is the 719 which i have and then there is the Define 7 XL and not much else that i know of

I fully understand what you said about the side panel but the 719 sucks even harder when it comes to cable management so the 7 is actually much better despite the side panel problem and if it comes to it i will use freaking duct tape on the side panels

The 719 sucks and i am so fed up with it so while i am aware that the 7 XL side panels are a pretty bad design and that the thermals suck on the Define 7 XL i am willing to live with those flaws if its better than the 719 flaws and at this point the 7 XL looks mcuh better

The PC will never be moved anywhere only time it will be is for upgrades and those are rare maybe a few times a year so i will just take the side panels off before i lift the case
With the 719 i have to remove all the HDD´s before i llift the case otherwise they will slide out and drop to the floor because the mounts cant keep them in place

I dont have the funds for any major upgrade untill 2021 so maybe FD will have an improved version by then

Right now i am just looking around and waiting for Zen 3 and the RTX 3080 availability and for me to save up enough i dont have unlimited funds so a major upgrade will take a few months for me to have enough funds

Well. with your positive approach and looking at this particular "Define flaw" you can't go wrong
Overall Fractal are decent cases
Good luck

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

NewUser16 said:
Well. with your positive approach and looking at this particular "Define flaw" you can't go wrong
Overall Fractal are decent cases
Good luck

The number of cases that i have owned that never had a problem or things that where annoying can be counted on one hand almost every single case i have owned has had at least one problem or flaw

The Thermaltake Soprano DX from 2007 or 2008 was the case i had the least problems with it was the smallest case i have had but i had no need at the time for a big case

I have had these cases over the years

Thermaltake Xaser III (had a built in fan controller with a beeping alarm that broke so the alarm would go off all the time which would drive you insane)
Thermaltake Tai Chi (worst case ever ugly super heavy and full of sharp edges so the case ended up with blood strains all over)
Thermaltake Soprano DX (small and had a door on the front but i still consider that the least annoying case i have had or in other words the best since it never had major problems)
Thermaltake Xaser VI (full of cheap nasty plastic and freaking heavy but other than that it was actually one of the better cases i have owned)
NZXT Phantom (the first model could not mount a 200mm fan in the side with a 160mm tall CPU cooler nor could it mount a 200mm fan in the top with a 120mm AIO in the back and the plastic was not all that great so not terrible just too small)
Cooler Master HAF X ( 200mm fans that where terrible and the side panels would rattle and make super anyoing noises but other than bad fans and side panel noise not a bad case)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe 1 (nothing major to complain about actually other than side panel rattle and noises after a few years but overall great case)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe 2 aka the 719 (too many things to list but i have listed some of them above)

Lose side panels is one of the least offense/annoying problem in my experience and the only reasons why i switched from the Luxe 1 was the lack of a PWM fan hub and the lack of space for more than 6 HDD´s but looking back i wished i just bought a stand alone PWM fan hub and converted two of the 5,25 bays to 3,5 inch bays

414347 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
The number of cases that i have owned that never had a problem or things that where annoying can be counted on one hand almost every single case i have owned has had at least one problem or flaw

The Thermaltake Soprano DX from 2007 or 2008 was the case i had the least problems with it was the smallest case i have had but i had no need at the time for a big case

I have had these cases over the years

Thermaltake Xaser III (had a built in fan controller with a beeping alarm that broke so the alarm would go off all the)
Thermaltake Tai Chi (worst case ever ugly and super heavy!)
Thermaltake Soprano DX (small and had a door)
Thermaltake Xaser VI (full of cheap nasty plastic and freaking heavy!)
NZXT Phntom (the first one could not mount a 200mm in the side with a CPU cooler nor could it mount a 200mm fan in the top with a 120mm AIO in the back and cheap nasty plastic as well)
Cooler Master HAF X ( 200mm fans sucked and the side panels would rattle and make super anyoing noises)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe 1 (nothing major to complain about actually other than side panel rattle and noises)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe 2 aka the 719 (too many things to list but i have listed some of them above)

Lose side panels is one of the least offense/annoying problem in my experience

I wish I was less picky and not to find problems that sometimes really shouldn't the major deterrent of my decisions. Personality like that sometime is OK, but a lot of times it literally handicaps you, especially when there isn't a whole lot of options and what is available and I'm speaking generally in life I always find something that normally you could put up with, but not me......

Good luck

shilka · Oct 4, 2020

NewUser16 said:
I wish I was less picky and not to find problems that sometimes really shouldn't the major deterrent of my decisions. Personality like that sometime is OK, but a lot of times it literally handicaps you, especially when there isn't a whole lot of options and what is available and I'm speaking generally in life I always find something that normally you could put up with, but not me......

Good luck

Made an edit in my last post and i am not trying to be picky and i dont hate everything it just seem to be that every case that i buy other than the Luxe 1 end up being annoying or have problems like lack of space for cables coolers and fans which the 719 dont have space for which is ridiculous when you consider how big that case is

Like i said convert the 5,25 bays and throw in a PWM fan hub and it would still be a great case you just cant buy the Luxe 1 new in black anymore at least not here in Denmark
My second PC is sitting in my Luxe 1 so i could buy a P400A or P500A and move the old system into that and the new system into the Luxe 1

My question is this if you have the choice between a case that has room for HDD´s long GPU´s case fans a tall/big CPU cooler or an AIO cooler and the PSU and its cables but had sides panels that has problems staying on or a case that has no room for anything of the above but has side panels that can stay on?

Like i said if the choice comes down to that for me i can live with the side panel problem i almost never move the case anyway yes it might be annoying if they cant stay on if you move the case but as long as they dont rattle and making vibration noises its not a deal breaker and i can get room for everything else that the 719 lacks

The 719 is such a stupid case

414347 · Oct 4, 2020

shilka said:
Made an edit in my last post and i am not trying to be picky and i dont hate everything it just seem to be that every case that i buy other than the Luxe 1 end up being anyoing or have problems like lack of space for cables coolers and fans which the 719 dont have space for which is ridiculous when you consider how big that case is

Like i said convert the 5,25 bays and throw in a PWM fan hub and it would still be a great case you just cant buy the Luxe 1 new in black anymore at least not here in Denmark
My second PC is sitting in my Luxe 1 so i could buy a P400A or P500A and move the old system into that and the new system into the Luxe 1

My question is this if you have the choice between a case that has room for HDD´s long GPU´s case fans a tall/big CPU cooler or an AIO cooler and the PSU and its cables but had sides panels that has problems staying on or a case that has no room for anything of the above but has side panels that can stay on?

Like i said if the choice comes down to that for me i can live with the side panel problem i almost never move the case anyway yes it might be anyoing if they cant stay on if you move the case but as long as they dont rattle and making vibration noises its not a deal breaker and i can get room for everything else that the 719 lacks

The 719 is such a stupid case

I hear you

How much room for a long GPU in the Fractal Design Define 7 XL?

shilka

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