Did you do a Fractal Define R5 Build?

[csmall]

I'm looking for inspiration for doing a Fractal Define R5 build.

If you have done one, I would love to hear about it, your experience, your components etc..

I purchased the case and am researching what to put inside it.

Thanks!

 

[Evertb1]

I'm looking for inspiration for doing a Fractal Define R5 build.

If you have done one, I would love to hear about it, your experience, your components etc..

I purchased the case and am researching what to put inside it.

Thanks!

While my Freenas box is build in a Sharkoon case I own actually 2 Fractal Design Define R5 cases. One for my main desktop and one for a "lab" computer. I wanted to have my drives for my Freenas box in hot-swap bays I already owned, otherwise I most certainly would have used an R5 for the Freenas box as well. The R5 is sturdy, nice looking (to me anyway), silent and roomy. It's finish is great and you don't have to be afraid to cut your hand on rough edges. It has 8 internal slots for 3.5 inch drives and behind the motherboard tray 2 slots for SSD's. If you don't need the 2 external 5.25 slots you can use that space for harddrives as well. The case accommodates all ATX format motherboards (mini-itx is also possible). There is also plenty space for case fans (7) and you can easily find place for a radiator in the top of the case. A radiator in the front is possible as well. Building a system in this case is a breeze. Everything is good accessible. And the cable management is excellent with Velcro straps.

Of course the current configuration of my desktop and lab pc is completely irrelevant for a Freenas build. But beside the fact that you can house a limited number of harddisks in the R5 you will find plenty of room room to accommodate a good Freenas system. To give you an idea about my build here is my desktop system (the configuration of my lab system is always changing)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus 650 Gold
CPU: Intel Core i7700K 4.2 GHz
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Advanced C1
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z270-A (ATX)
Memory: HyperX Black Fury 32 GB DDR4-2666 Kit (2 x 16)
SSD for OS: HyperX Savage, 240 GB
Storage: 2 x WD Black 2 TB
Graphical Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6G OC
Optical: ASUS BC-12D2HT Silent, Blu-ray combo
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster ZxR

 

[adrianwi]

My build is almost identical to this one > https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/pherans-32tb-freenas-build-with-photos.35694/ but couldn't be written up half as well!

It's a little out of date now, but should give you some ideas.

 

[DrKK]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/drkks-new-freenas-build-experiences.54242/

 

[r0nski2000]

Can one of the fractal define r5 owners be so nice as to measure the height and width of the two hdd cages stacked on top of each other? Also, I have read that the hdd can installed in the bay facing either side of the case - true?
Thanks in advance for any insight

 

[Evertb1]

Can one of the fractal define r5 owners be so nice as to measure the height and width of the two hdd cages stacked on top of each other? Also, I have read that the hdd can installed in the bay facing either side of the case - true?
Thanks in advance for any insight

Hi, I am not at home at the moment (being in India for 2 weeks) so I can't take measurments of the drive cages. I keep an eye on this thread and if you don't have an answer at the end of next week I will be happy to do that for you. About the position of your hdd's: If you mean that the hdd can be mounted on the caddy " the wrong way": yes that is possible. There is room for that and I think there will be enough space for the cabling. But I cant help but wondering why you would do that, because you move the cable clutter away from the cable management side.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

I'm looking for inspiration for doing a Fractal Define R5 build.

If you have done one, I would love to hear about it, your experience, your components etc..

I purchased the case and am researching what to put inside it.

Thanks!

I have a R5 for my FreeNAS and it's a great choice! :) Component wise, I have nothing special, just a E3-1230v5 Xeon CPU, Supermicro motherboard, 32GB DDR4 ECC memory, cheap SSD boot drive, 6x4TB HDD, etc!

 

[Evertb1]

I have a R5 for my FreeNAS and it's a great choice! :) Component wise, I have nothing special, just a E3-1230v5 Xeon CPU, Supermicro motherboard, 32GB DDR4 ECC memory, cheap SSD boot drive, 6x4TB HDD, etc!

Another happy R5 user. Could you possibly give OP @r0nski2000 the measurements of the HDD gages? I will not be home until the end of the coming week and possibly even a week longer. I dare not ask my wife to open up the PC :).

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Another happy R5 user. Could you possibly give OP the measurements of the HDD gages? I will not be home until the end of the coming week and possibly even a week longer. I dare not ask my wife to open up the PC :).

I have one that I took out of another build that also uses this case.

 

[r0nski2000]

Hi, I am not at home at the moment (being in India for 2 weeks) so I can't take measurments of the drive cages. I keep an eye on this thread and if you don't have an answer at the end of next week I will be happy to do that for you. About the position of your hdd's: If you mean that the hdd can be mounted on the caddy " the wrong way": yes that is possible. There is room for that and I think there will be enough space for the cabling. But I cant help but wondering why you would do that, because you move the cable clutter away from the cable management side.

Thank you, there is no rush, I can wait. I am looking at putting 24bays in a tower case, since I can't really do rackmount.
Depending on size of these, the alternative is cages from corsair, or custom made with a 3d printer.
The reason for the cables going the opposite/front end is that I would prefer not to cut the back of the case if not necessary.

 

[ChriZ]

If you get a rackmount case, it does not mean that you can only put it inside a rack.
You can have it on a shelf or sitting on its side
I believe that getting a tower case and making it fit 24 drives will require a vast amount of modding, plus it will cost twice the money compared to a good second-hand rackmount case.
And the end result's quality will be questionable at best.

EDIT: Having a rackmount case on its side is not the best idea ever, but IMHO it is better than modding a tower case to fit 24 drives

 

[adrianwi]

I can't think how you would get 24 drive bays into the R5, and even if you did, trying to keep them all cool would be another major challenge.

 

[Evertb1]

I can't think how you would get 24 drive bays into the R5, and even if you did, trying to keep them all cool would be another major challenge.

Short and good: It can't be done in my opinion. Even when cases like the Cooler Master CM Stacker were on the market you would have a hard time fitting 24 bays in a case like that. And with all the cabling and bays cluttering up the available space, cooling could be problematic. And getting power to 24 bays in such a rig comes with its own challenges. Like @ChriZ stated, 24 bays is well in the domain of a real server case. Of course a rackmounted server case come with it's own problems. They are not really build for a home environment. They are bulky and often can produce a fair amount of noise. The build in fans are more designed for cooling then for silence (they can be replaced for silent fans of course). And the WAF is about zero.

Edit: reading the contribution of @r0nski2000 again it is possible he only wants to use the gages of the R5.

 

[r0nski2000]

Yeah I should have been clearer - they aren't going into an r5. There are couple of large towers that should fit 24bays(b2 spirit etc), I just need to figure out the best fit between the tower and the cages to avoid wasted space, or not enough space.
We have a small house, so my 'office space's is limited, and on top of that I simply don't want a rackmount case. I don't mind spending the money to find out if a tower is a good alternative, even if it ends up being more expensive... On top of that the 24 bays is not a hard requirement, but just a nice 'round' target that would give me plenty of room for growth...

 

[r0nski2000]

Related question, one of the reviews which I read(not sure if r5 or define XL r2) said that the hdd cages are somewhat tight height wise... the corsair cages which are an alternative are very spacious height wise, which I would need for good airflow, unfortunately they would need some modding for reverse mount of the hdd, which would still be preferable to poor airflow...
Can anyone comment on the r5, or define XL r2 cages?