Fractal Design R4

[lilrayray69]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811139010

I was looking at getting a new case, preferably <$100. What do you guys think of this Corsair 500R? It's on sale for about $80 after rebate. Most important to me is a case with good cooling, I'd like to have ample room, and hopefully decent cable management. Don't care too much about size/portability - it won't be moving much once its in place.

My systems an FX-6300, XFX HD7850 2GB, ASRock 970DE3 ATX mobo, Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU - if that matters.

Newegg also has the COOLER MASTER Storm Scout on sale which I was looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119196

and the Fractal R4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811352021

The case I have now is a COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119203 )
It's ok, but was a cheap buy 3-4 years ago when I got it. The front filter gets clogged up quickly, the front fan is mostly blocked by the HDD cages, and I can't fit a side fan on the panel as it vibrates and makes a horrible noise, and now my CPU cooler and video card block it (the cpu cooler bumps right up against the side panel) - also, cable management in this case is pretty bad.

 

[lehtv]

For $80 AR the 500R it's definitely a good pick. But I would rather have the windowed black R4 for $90 AP. In my opinion it's a better case for your config, and there's no rebate to hassle with.

There's also Antec P280 for $80 AR AP. It's quite similar to R4 but it's a bit bigger, and lacks some features like an integrated fan controller, blockable fan slots, 140mm fan support.

Lian Li PC-7HX is also worth checking out if you're interested in having an aluminium chassis. It has two 140mm front fans and a 120mm rear fan.

 

[lilrayray69]

Yeah I am beginning to lean more towards the R4. The Corsair looks fancier and has the Corsair name, but the R4 seems just as good for a bit less.

Any other opinions?

 

[dma0991]

Go for the FD R4 case. It has a simpler design and would be a lot quieter than the Corsair 500R as it has sound dampening material on the panels.

 

[MoInSTL]

Yeah I am beginning to lean more towards the R4. The Corsair looks fancier and has the Corsair name, but the R4 seems just as good for a bit less.

Any other opinions?

Have you seen the Corsair in person? I was leaning towards it until I saw it on display at Micro Center. If you live near an MC store you can check it out. When I bought my R4 last summer, they hadn't gotten it in yet, so I compared it to the R3. At the time I didn't think the R4 fan controller mattered much. After record breaking heat for most of the summer I was glad to have it. Even when I had to run them @ 12 volts, it was quiet.

If you search this forum, you will find many tips and mini-reviews by R4 owners.

 

[billyevans]

I've owned both the R4 and the 500R. They're honestly both great cases, and I don't think you'd be wrong to pick either of them.

 

[Sunny129]

without a doubt the R4 is going to be quieter than the 500R. but of all the things the OP is looking for in a case, great cooling appears to be at the top of the list...not silence. now i've never owned the R4, but i do currently own a 500R, and i used to own the R4's predecessor, the R3. while the 500R struggles to keep noise down in comparison to the R3, its also quite a bit better than the R3 in terms of thermal dissipation. and while i'm sure the R4 is an overall improvement over the R3, its still designed first and foremost for silence, not great cooling.

as far as the AT reviews go, the Corsair 500R review does not include the Fractal R4 in its comparison charts, and the Fractal R4 review doesn't have the Corsair 500R in its comparison tables...which is unfortunate. however the 500R review does include the R3 in its comparison charts, so extrapolating from the R3's figures might help give folks an idea of how the R4 might compare to the 500R.

don't get me wrong, i loved both my 500R and my R3, but if cooling is a higher priority than silence, i'd go with the 500R.

 

[MoInSTL]

The OP said "good cooling" and the R4 is on his list. Can run the R4 @ 12 volts and IMO, it's plenty cool with both included 140mm fans in the front and a third for exhaust.

Ambient room temp is 67F and temps range from 23C to 30C @ 7 volts while basically idle just browsing various sites.

 

[Sunny129]

The OP said "good cooling" and the R4 is on his list. Can run the R4 @ 12 volts and IMO, it's plenty cool with both included 140mm fans in the front and a third for exhaust.

Ambient room temp is 67F and temps range from 23C to 30C @ 7 volts while basically idle just browsing various sites.

ok, so the OP is only looking for "good cooling"...although you're just arguing semantics at this point. the fact of the matter is that while the R4 is on the OP's list, his most important requirement is "good cooling"...and silence isn't even mentioned as a requirement. based on that information alone, i'd have to recommend the 500R.

also, your well-below-average ambient room temp skews your internal temp results quite a bit. if one doesn't have the luxury of removing a GPU, downgrading to a CPU of lower TDP, or adding fans and/or increasing rpms at the expense of additional noise, the single largest influence on internal temps at that point is ambient room temp. i'm not disagreeing w/ you about your R4 being able to stay sufficiently cool, but without a doubt your well-below-average ambient room temp is a major contributing factor to that effect.

don't get me wrong...i find no fault w/ folks recommending the R4 based on personal experience, particularly given the hardware configuration the OP is planning. but again, he did mention cooling as an important factor, and didn't even mention silence. so while the R4 should be sufficient in this particular instance, if the OP had specified a dual or triple GPU setup under prolonged high loads, or if he plans on adding GPUs at a later date, then he might be better off going w/ the 500R up front.

 

[MoInSTL]

I posted the ambient as temps are useless without it. It's 72F outside which is above average for St. Louis this time of year so naturally the inside is cooler and it's now 68F. I consider that pretty average and not well below average. I no longer live in Phoenix.

Edit: I should of mentioned a mild OC of 4.3. Both drive cages are removed as well. Door is closed.

 

[lilrayray69]

Thanks for all the input - I've decided on the R4. Seems like a good case and the sale price without having to deal with a rebate made it a bit more attractive.

It comes with 2 140mm fans, correct? I'm wondering if I should go for another 140mm to put as exhaust and possibly get a top radiator fan as well...also, the description says it has a side fan slot but seeing as it had that window I'm not sure where exactly it is.

 

[lehtv]

I would go for another 140mm fan, yes. Corsair Quiet edition for example.

 

[MoInSTL]

I would go for another 140mm fan, yes. Corsair Quiet edition for example.

I agree with lehtv. I'm using that for my exhaust. Rubber corners to reduce vibration and 3 color rings to customize it a bit. It's much more quiet in the back. Low RPM of 1150 helps too.

You may want to hold off on the top fan. You can start with the 3 and see how effective they are first.
http://www.corsair.com/en/cpu-cooli...140-quiet-edition-high-airflow-140mm-fan.html

 

[lilrayray69]

Thanks again for the info/input/opinions

I'll probably remove those drive cages once I get it - I only use 1 HDD, hopefully will get a SSD some day soon.

I'll get either another Fractal R2 140mm or that Corsair AF140 and see how that goes. I've still got 2 120mm fans from my current case if there's any sense in using those.

I've not ever done much cable management myself, mostly because my previous cases were all low-end ones. So hopefully I get this one set up nicely, I will post back once it's all set up and report on the temps. Thanks!

 

[lilrayray69]

Got the case and got everything put in it today. Surprised at just how well built the case is, although as I said before I've only ever had cheap-o cases before.

As for the temps, not much of a change. The CPU does seem to be running a few degrees cooler, probably due to more room for the heatsink to breathe. I'm most concerned with the GPU which is still topping 81-82C during FurMark and the like.

I need to do some better cable management when I get a chance. I've got the 2 fans it came with in front as intake and that Corsair AF140 in the back as exhaust - all hooked up to the fan controller and at 12V.

Oh and when mounting the PSU I put it in fan-down as the case has a bottom grill for airflow, wasn't sure if that's how it is supposed to be or not

 

[lehtv]

81-82C during Furmark is nothing. It should be much lower in games, Furmark stresses the GPU more than any real use scenario. Personally I don't even use it, there's no reason to because it doesn't represent any real world load.

How are your temperatures in Unigine Heaven 3.0 or Unigine Valley when looped for 20 minutes or so?

Yes, the PSU is supposed to be facing down.

 

[MoInSTL]

As for the temps, not much of a change. The CPU does seem to be running a few degrees cooler, probably due to more room for the heatsink to breathe. I'm most concerned with the GPU which is still topping 81-82C during FurMark and the like.

Did you leave both HD cages in? Do you need both? If not, you can remove one nearest the GPU. Those temps are fine btw.

 

[lilrayray69]

Ah ok. I saw some threads about OC'ing GPUs and they used FurMark - personally I didn't care for it so yeah. I'll try UniEngine in a bit

I removed the middle cage which was quite easy and gave a lot more room. The little book the case came with (which, by the way, sucks - only complaint I have) said you could rotate the cage around to act as a funnel towards your GPU...but somehow I don't see that helping.

 

[lehtv]

Unigine, not UniEngine . Just so you don't end up googling the wrong word.

 

[lilrayray69]

Oh, well I ended up with the right thing. I ran the benchmark and averaged 32.5 FPS with a "score" of 818. I let it loop for a while and the temp never seemed to go over 72C for the GPU, CPU max was 31C. I do have a 212 Evo on the CPU though.

I'm hoping I'll be able to OC the GPU at some time, as I've heard the 7850 can overclock quite nicely.

Pretty surprised how quiet the case is, but the fans themselves are pretty quiet too. I like the door on the front. There was one connection, I think for the front panel, that I honestly couldn't identify. Thought maybe it was for the USB3 but not sure. Only other difficulties were in mounting the PSU and the HDD - but that's only because my previous cases were cheap pieces of crap and I had never mounted a PSU on the bottom or used those snap-in drive cages lol.

Also like how the front fan panel completely comes out and has easy clean filter. The fans themselves were snap-in but don't seem to vibrate in there. I almost removed the padding on the top of the case not realizing it was for sound dampening. It could really have used a more detailed booklet, but oh well. Most of the material is pretty solid stuff so you can't mess anything up too bad (except I did bend one of those drive cage snap-in tabs pretty bad at first cause I had no idea what it was...but I just removed it with the upper cage anyway)

 

[lilrayray69]

I am thinking about maybe adding a 140mm to the bottom of the case blowing up towards my video card. My 7850 is getting upwards of 74-75C in games, which I think is too high to consider overclocking. But since the PSU is bottom mounted and is upside down, the wires coming out of it run right to the fan slot on the bottom. I think I can fit a fan in there next to it but not sure how to keep all the PSU cables away from it, although maybe I could fit them all in the slot that runs behind the motherboard.

Also took a pic of the case, as you can see I need to work on my cable management

So far I've left out my ASUS Xonar DG sound card, as I felt it was too close between my video card and PSU and would restrict any airflow to the GPU fan... I wish the mobo was set up a bit different to help with that. I do somewhat wish this case had the side fan slot that the non-windowed version does, but I like the window too

 

[kiriki]

Fair warning with regards to putting an intake fan on the bottom panel. Make sure you find one that DOES NOT vibrate when horizontal and blowing upwards. I tried the Fractal fans that the case came with and caused a lot of noise from the vibrations rattling the bottom panel. The vibrations only happened when blowing upwards. I found a silverstone 140mm fan with ball bearings so there was no issue with vibrations when blowing upwards. Good luck.

 

[Rezist]

I am thinking about maybe adding a 140mm to the bottom of the case blowing up towards my video card. My 7850 is getting upwards of 74-75C in games, which I think is too high to consider overclocking. But since the PSU is bottom mounted and is upside down, the wires coming out of it run right to the fan slot on the bottom. I think I can fit a fan in there next to it but not sure how to keep all the PSU cables away from it, although maybe I could fit them all in the slot that runs behind the motherboard.

Also took a pic of the case, as you can see I need to work on my cable management


So far I've left out my ASUS Xonar DG sound card, as I felt it was too close between my video card and PSU and would restrict any airflow to the GPU fan... I wish the mobo was set up a bit different to help with that. I do somewhat wish this case had the side fan slot that the non-windowed version does, but I like the window too

Is that a mATX board? That case looks huge if not.

 

[lilrayray69]

Nope it is ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 7.5-in, 30.5 cm x 19.1 cm.^

Is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220056&IsVirtualParent=1 this the sort of fan you're talking about? I was thinking about just another Corsair AF140 if those work fine horiztonal

 

[dmoney1980]

you could also buy some fan grills that should keep any cable from hitting the blades. Helpful when using bottom mounted fans


these are for 140mm fans- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811998078