Reviews - Fractal Design Define XL R2

[HEXUS]

Does bigger mean better?

Read more.

[Andi-C]

Would be nice if they bring in a window'ed side panel, this would help push the brand towards other user's !

[Bagpuss]

Overclockers in the UK have stopped selling Fractal Design cases because of concerns over build quality, they were getting quite a few cases from the factory with scratches,dents,poorly fitting panels and combined with a rapidly deteriorating returns policy for both them and customers decided it was no longer worth it.

It's a shame because the R4 case is thing a of beauty, and would like one, but these sort of reports make me think twice about buying 'anything' from Fractal.

For one of the UK's largest online retailers to completely drop a product line, tells me there's no smoke without fire.

[Brewster0101]

Would be nice if they bring in a window'd side panel, this would help push the brand towards other user's !

I don't like the idea of a case designed for silence but has a hole on the side panel. Would rather see the panel with no holes and dampening foam on the inside or a clear window.

Overclockers in the UK have stopped selling Fractal Design cases because of concerns over build quality, they were getting quite a few cases from the factory with scratches,dents,poorly fitting panels and combined with a rapidly deteriorating returns policy for both them and customers decided it was no longer worth it.

This case is almost a copy of the Corsair 650D, but with a reduced price tag, some corners cut and no doubt less quality than Corsair.

You get what you pay.

[iworrall]

I have the XL R1 and note that the R2 has lost 2 internal drive bays.
Instead of the lower 4-bay cage, the R1 has 2 3-bay cages mounted side-by-side as below:-

-4
33

[voxstream]

Overclockers in the UK have stopped selling Fractal Design cases because of concerns over build quality, they were getting quite a few cases from the factory with scratches,dents,poorly fitting panels and combined with a rapidly deteriorating returns policy for both them and customers decided it was no longer worth it.

How strange? I've just bought one of these and it arrived in perfect condition. It's beautifully made and everything fits perfectly. As for the side panel, the fan hole is internally covered with a removable sound deadening panel.
I'm extremely pleased with it, it's also very quiet. Very true, "you get what you pay" and this case is worth every penny. with no corners cut. If you need a good big case at a sensible price, this is it.

[AGTDenton]

I really like my original Fractal Design XL R1 but the biggest problem I have with it is the gap designed for the PSU cables, at the moment the cables have to bend back on themselves to get out of the gap which has meant that with a modular PSU I cannot connect all the cables.

While this has been addressed in the XL R2 it has been at the expense of the hard drive bay as mentioned above, all they had to do was move the gap further along, and it would have solved the problem without having to decrease the amount of hard drive bays.

The question for me now is, do I replace the chassis or the PSU...

[voxstream]

Mmm, tough one. How old is your PSU AGTdenton, if it's an older less efficient unit, maybe replace that. Unless you really need more than eight drive bays? maybe replace the case.
The cable routing on the XL R2 is exceptionally good.

[hero1]

I have this case and I am in love with it. However, I do wish that the door could be mounted on either side and that they only included one drive cage that can be re-oriented. The bottom drive cage can only be re-positioned if you remove the bottom fan and for me that's a fail. They need to work on that. They should come out with a better XL R3 that can take 3x140/120 mm fans at the top and 2x140/120 mm fans at the bottom for optimal water and air cooling. I would like a choice of a window, they can easily use a 5mm thick acrylic panel as it is great at sound deading. SSD mounting brackets behind the motherboard tray. The fan controller is fine as I use Y adapter to add more fans to it and they all work just fine.

[AGTDenton]

Mmm, tough one. How old is your PSU AGTdenton, if it's an older less efficient unit, maybe replace that. Unless you really need more than eight drive bays? maybe replace the case.
The cable routing on the XL R2 is exceptionally good.

In all honesty now that I have a backup machine I no longer need quite so many disks in the XL however, I do tend to find other uses for them. I'll have to have a think when more spare cash is to hand - a new chassis is too much of a hassle though. So I think a replacement PSU will win this skirmish, the current one I believe is 84+ bronze so there is room for improvement on the efficiency side.

[Fractal Design]

Following this recent post with regards to OCUK no longer supplying Fractal Design products and ‘issues’ over quality we would like to make the following comment. Yes it is true that OCUK no longer sell Fractal Design products. However this is due to the fact they were recently taken over by Caseking who are a German Distributor of products including many case vendors. They do not however have an agreement to distribute Fractal Design products. OCUK will no longer buy products from our UK distributor so hence the reason they do not supply.
As for the quality issues they have made reference to, during the time we dealt with them at no point did we have any major complaints from them or their customers as to quality of products or service offered. This you can see from their own forums which we know customers would have commented on as well as being able to track returns from our side. We feel this is their way to deter users interested in our brand to switch to brands they supply.
Fractal Design has built a great reputation in the market from many reviewers and end user on the quality of our products. We only use the highest quality components and give great detail to the products finish and looks
That said like any other product manufacturing there are the odd occasions that products do get damaged either at production time or in transit and do make their way into the market. This happens with any products be it a case, a car or clothing. To overcome with we pride ourselves on our aftercare support in which we do our best to sort any such issues in the quickest time with little or no disturbance to the user. This has not changed since we launched our products to market so has not deteriorated in anyway. We carry all spare parts within our UK Distributor and also have parts held within our Swedish HQ. Any users with any damaged parts can contact their supplier or Fractal Design and we will send replacement parts normally within 48 hours. If the part is not replaceable then we will always look to take the product back and replace with new, again normally within a 48 hour period from initial call.
If users of Fractal Design cases do have issue we have an email link on our web page to go through to customer support

[Fractal Design]

Following this recent post with regards to OCUK no longer supplying Fractal Design products and ‘issues’ over quality we would like to make the following comment. Yes it is true that OCUK no longer sell Fractal Design products. However this is due to the fact they were recently taken over by Caseking who are a German Distributor of products including many case vendors. They do not however have an agreement to distribute Fractal Design products. OCUK will no longer buy products from our UK distributor so hence the reason they do not supply.
As for the quality issues they have made reference to, during the time we dealt with them at no point did we have any major complaints from them or their customers as to quality of products or service offered. This you can see from their own forums which we know customers would have commented on as well as being able to track returns from our side. We feel this is their way to deter users interested in our brand to switch to brands they supply.
Fractal Design has built a great reputation in the market from many reviewers and end user on the quality of our products. We only use the highest quality components and give great detail to the products finish and looks
That said like any other product manufacturing there are the odd occasions that products do get damaged either at production time or in transit and do make their way into the market. This happens with any products be it a case, a car or clothing. To overcome with we pride ourselves on our aftercare support in which we do our best to sort any such issues in the quickest time with little or no disturbance to the user. This has not changed since we launched our products to market so has not deteriorated in anyway. We carry all spare parts within our UK Distributor and also have parts held within our Swedish HQ. Any users with any damaged parts can contact their supplier or Fractal Design and we will send replacement parts normally within 48 hours. If the part is not replaceable then we will always look to take the product back and replace with new, again normally within a 48 hour period from initial call.

[Chris P]

I've just come across this thread and can confirm that in Scan's experience we have never had an issue with any of the cases in the Fractal range, we use them frequently for our workstation 3XS Systems and also sell well through parts order's.

The actual RMA rate is between 0 % and 0.7 %, and for the RMA's these include damaged in transit by the courier.

Best Regards

[acemodder]

Following this recent post with regards to OCUK no longer supplying Fractal Design products and ‘issues’ over quality we would like to make the following comment. Yes it is true that OCUK no longer sell Fractal Design products. However this is due to the fact they were recently taken over by Caseking who are a German Distributor of products including many case vendors. They do not however have an agreement to distribute Fractal Design products. OCUK will no longer buy products from our UK distributor so hence the reason they do not supply.
As for the quality issues they have made reference to, during the time we dealt with them at no point did we have any major complaints from them or their customers as to quality of products or service offered. This you can see from their own forums which we know customers would have commented on as well as being able to track returns from our side. We feel this is their way to deter users interested in our brand to switch to brands they supply.
Fractal Design has built a great reputation in the market from many reviewers and end user on the quality of our products. We only use the highest quality components and give great detail to the products finish and looks
That said like any other product manufacturing there are the odd occasions that products do get damaged either at production time or in transit and do make their way into the market. This happens with any products be it a case, a car or clothing. To overcome with we pride ourselves on our aftercare support in which we do our best to sort any such issues in the quickest time with little or no disturbance to the user. This has not changed since we launched our products to market so has not deteriorated in anyway. We carry all spare parts within our UK Distributor and also have parts held within our Swedish HQ. Any users with any damaged parts can contact their supplier or Fractal Design and we will send replacement parts normally within 48 hours. If the part is not replaceable then we will always look to take the product back and replace with new, again normally within a 48 hour period from initial call.

Oh Dear. I'm the case buyer/PM at OCUK.
The UK distrubitor is a company called EntaTech (they are based in Telford). We buy cases from them still in the UK. Corsair cases for example ae all purchased via EntaTech.

Fractal - what are you doing? I hate lies!

I will quote an email between myself and Fractal.

Hi Andrew, Lee

Hope all is well. Seems a few comments have been cropping up on forums that make reference to this on your forum made by one of your staff. Keen to understand why this was put as we have checked records and see no real issue with any returns or QC on products supplied to OCUK

CANNOT POST LINK ON HEXUS DUE TO BEING NEW FORUM MEMBER......

Can you comment on this and show us the returns and issues you are referring to ?

Regards
Graham Dark Regional Business Developer
Fractal Design[/email]

Hi Graham.

This comes from a lot of cases that were damaged in shipping to customers. They would not have been returned via the normal route, as all damage in transit is claimed for via our couriers (and as a result the items become their property upon claim payment). The damages we experienced were far higher than that of any other case manufacturer we have.

I can only assume poor packaging is the main reason, but to be back up the evidence, a fair few forum users have posted saying they have received damaged unit from other sources (not OcUK also).

Regards
Lee Bryan
Assistant Purchasing Manager
Overclockers UK

Just to follow up with the comments from customers, with similar issues with other resellers who stock Fractal too.

See the posts here.

CANNOT POST LINKS ON HEXUS DUE TO BEING NEW FORUM MEMBER......

This just backs up our evidence that Fractal customers are experiencing poor quality products from Fractal.

It really is a shame, because I think that if the quality was there, then the design of the products which is really good would bring the business back. But sustained business cannot continue with such poor items. Customers claiming they have to get through 4 units before receiving a pristine unit is unacceptable 25% hit rate is not good in that instance.

Regards
Lee Bryan
Assistant Purchasing Manager
Overclockers UK

Hi Lee

Thanks for coming back, would have been good to see the actual numbers you had and what actual damage. But as you point out it was in your shipping with your courier so not down to build quality as we do not see this ‘high’ number from any other customers around the world.

We also check forums for such comments and have not seen mass remarks, obviously there are always the odd one that does get through the system.

Regards
Graham

Graham.

I truly believe the issue is not purely our courier, we don’t see anywhere near the amount of damage from any other case brand. I can only assume the problem lies at the point of packing from the factory; either with poor QC or packaging which is insufficient for the products. We have had customers who claim the boxes were pristine etc but scratched and damaged when taken out the box.

Regards
Lee Bryan
Assistant Purchasing Manager
Overclockers UK

OK thanks Lee

Regards
Graham

I'm the case buyer and product manager for OcUK. Caseking have certainly NOT put any limitations into place regarding products that I cannot buy. The buyers at OcUK have full decision making ability regarding product line ups. I'm frankly really annoyed with Fractals comments on that image, if Fractal have any real issue with OcUK I suggest they take it up with OcUK and do not fabricate lies to try to dust over the QC issues.

Fractal I supported you from the start when you first came to market, we helped create the demand - there is a massive thread on own forum discussing the cases, the discussion was started by myself. I am personally targetted on sales and to be frank high returns rate are taken into consideration as it has a cost to the business when a return/replacement is needed, this affects the business in terms of profit and on a personal level affects my performance figures/data. I dont want a brand with higher than normal returns to taint my figures. That is pure and simply the one and only reason we do not stock the Fractal brand.

[Brewster0101]

Well this has become one of the more interesting threads on Hexus for a while.. Interesting.

[Willzzz]

Well I know who I trust out of Fractal Design and OcUK, especially as Scan and basically everyone else have never had any problems.