Overall and Final Verdict

What I love about Fractal Design cases is that they have always seemed to know what they are about. When they came to the US for the first time they had a clean and simple styling and they have stuck with that same look all of these years. Of course, they have taken some of the trends like modular designs, improved cooling, and tempered glass side panels and incorporated them into their designs. But even those features manage to have a Fractal spin on them, still being less flashy and more likely to be something an adult would want in their office. The Define S2 is no different, like the Define R6, it has been updated while still lot losing what it was about in the first place. 

I ended up really liking the Define S2 as a simple but customizable case. What I was surprised with though is that I don’t think this case can house just your standard every day build without you wanting to add custom water cooling to it later. That big open area to the right of the motherboard is just too open for any other configuration. Sure you can add an AIO loop and that might scratch the itch for a while, but that won’t really fit that space. I also don’t think that some of them will even reach. Beyond that, the Define S2 fully takes advantage of the new Gen 2 full speed Type-C header connection with a Type-C port on the front I/O where you will be able to use it. The design is also careful to have a filter on every possible intake area, even in areas that don’t have any fans pre-installed (the bottom) and where you don’t even know you can install fans (up top). All of those cooling options help with good cooling or if you want you can keep things quiet by keeping the top panel blocked off.

Now the case is heavy, like most other Fractal cases. So don’t plan on moving it around a lot, tempered glass is heavy but it's really the thicker steel that Fractal uses as well as the sound deadening that set the Define S2 apart from the competition both in weight and quality.

Now with an MSRP of $149.99, the Define S2 isn’t exactly a cheap case, but I could have guessed that with their use of thicker materials. It isn’t going to completely blow up your budget, but you are buying a quality case that should last for a long time. The price is in line with the always popular Define R6 as well and I love that Fractal does give a few color options. None of those color options are flashy, but they will all look good as long as simple and clean styling is your thing. What it comes down too is if you need more hard drives go with the Define R6 and if you want to have room to add a custom loop later the Define S2 is your case.

fv5recommended

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Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

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