Fractal Define 7 Compact Review
Special Features and Radiator Support
When it comes to liquid cooling, the Define 7 COmpact is no slouch, though it must be noted that this is an area where the Compact’s shortened design harms the case’s capabilities. The area where Fractal’s standard Define 7 would handily fit a water cooling reservoir is gone, a factor which makes this case better suited to Closed-Loop/All-in-One Liquid Cooling, rather than fully custom water cooling.
At the front of the case, the Define 7 Compact features support for radiators that are up to 360mm/280mm (3x 120mm / 2x 140mm fans) while the top of the enclosure also supports radiators that are up to 240mm in size. The base of this chassis also features a single 120mm fan mount, allowing an extra 120mm radiator to be mounted.
The diagrams below highlight the radiator and fan support that the Fractal Define 7 COmpact offers, including restrictions to Radiator width and thickness.
GPU Support
When it comes to graphics card support, we found that this enclosure can support GPUs as large as ASUS’s RTX 2080 Ti Strix with relative ease, even when the case has a 30mm liquid cooling radiator fitted. Most AIO liquid coolers have 27-30mm thick radiators, allowing GPUs up to 315mm long to fit inside alongside a liquid cooling setup.
When it comes to GPU support, below is what Fractal has to say on the matter. Note that Fractal’s recommendations appear to be lower than ours, as this extra clearance makes the building process a lot easier.
We have detailed the HDD/SSD of this case before, but the chart below should help you to visualise exactly where these HDD mounts are. By default, this case supports two 3.5/2.5-inch drives and two 2.5-inch drives.
