Switched On Tech Design

Tag: define

  • Fractal Design Define R4 Review – Part Two

    As promised, here’s part two of our review! We’re building one of our standard test systems using this chassis and the following components:

     

    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard

    Intel i7-3770K CPU @ 4.5GHz

    8GB G-skill Ares 2133MHz RAM (2x4GB)

    Corsair H100 self-contained liquid cooling

    Crucial M4 SSDs

    Seasonic X-560 PSU

    AMD HD6450

     

    Click through to see how the build went!

     

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  • Fractal Design Define R4 Review – Part One

     

     

    If you’re in the market for an understated, quiet case that performs well and leaves plenty of room for expansion the Fractal Design Define series is quite likely to be on your list of cases to investigate. The latest revision of the case is R4, which draws upon user feedback on the R3 and features a host of minor changes. So how does it fare?

     

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  • Fractal Design Define R4: Does a Corsair H100 cooler fit in the front?

     

     

    With the release of the Fractal Design Define R4 we have been asked a few times about whether Corsair’s self-contained liquid cooling system will fit in the front. Placement here has a few advantages over placing it in the top of the chassis; noise is reduced, for a start, and if you use the top as an intake you lose the inbuild dust filters. You could use the H100 in an exhaust configuration in the top position but temperatures will not be as good as you will be drawing in warm air from inside the chassis to cool the CPU rather than the cooler, outside air.

     

    That leaves the front as an ideal position from the perspective of noise and cooling; the Define R3 did not allow this placement without drilling out the front drive bays. Since the R4 allows you to remove the front drive trays without permanently modifying the chassis, how does the H100 fare in terms of fit?

     

    As it turns out, it fits beautifully:

     




    Given that the front has been upgraded to allow the placement of 140mm fans as well as 120mm fans there’s a little bit of space below the cooler; this hasn’t proven to be an issue in our testing though you could easily put a baffle in (foam, tape etc.) if it bothered you. You can see the coolant tube placement here:

     




    There’s a reasonable amount of slack there – it’s definitely not applying an undue amount of pressure on the tubes.

     

    From the front we can see:

     




    You can see the gap at the bottom (and a slight one at the sides) more clearly here. For those concerned about aesthetics, you can’t see anything when the filters are back in place:

     




    Comparing the top to the front mounting in practice the front is notably quieter – and temperatures are a few degrees better, which may be important if you’re pushing the boundaries with the all-in-one units and don’t want to go to a full-blown watercooling setup. It’s well worth the effort to install it in the front rather than top if you don’t need the 3.5″ bays!

  • Fractal Design Define R4 vs. R3: Size Matters

    Here is a comparison of the Define R3 and R4, side by side – the R4 is the larger, black case and the R3 is in white.

     

    When the front panels are lined up like so…

     

    The rears meet like so:

     

     

     

    Same length! As for the width:

     

    As you can see the R4 is substantially wider – it also replaces the grille and twin rubber grommets for water cooling with a  vertical PCI expansion slot, which is arguably more useful. The rear exhaust fan mounting has gone from a 120mm-mount to a 140mm mount – 120mm fans can also fit, mind. The front intake and top intake/exhaust fan mounting points are also 140mm-compatible now as well on the R4 (again, 120mm still fits).

     

    As you can see the R4 is slightly higher, too.

     

    More comparisons to come as well as a full write-up of the R4 🙂