Fractal Design Define R4 PC Case - Black/Pearl

This is a great case!I've had this for almost 6 months now and there is basically nothing I dont like about it, so ill start with what I dont like (its really short)Negatives: The blue LED on the front can be a little bright at night, its hardly a negative and I almost never notice it.The positivesThis case is very well build. It doesnt budge, nothing really flexes, the doors fit perfectly. Its got a very nice matte finish all round, the front panel is a high quality plastic front door with a shiny metal looking finish, its looks very good. I actually didn't realise I was a plastic front at first, it blends in very well with the rest of the metal body.This is a mid sized case so you could easily put this on a big enough desk or on the floor. It has raised feet that gives enough clearance on carpets. I get about 1/2cm of clearance on carpet which is plenty of room for the ventilation on the bottom of the case.The case is slightly wider than some cases this size, this gives you masses of room and the extra width allows them to put in a good amount of cable management room in the back of the plate that holds the motherboard.The inside is somewhat modular, There is room for 7 hard drives or SSDs and an additional 2 SSD mounts on the back of the motherboard plate. The 7 hard drive mountings are in a set of removable and rotatable rack or 5 and rack of 3 bays, this gives you some options if you need more room in the case or want more airflow in the case. But if you need a case for a workstation that needs hard drive space there is masses of room for hard drives in this case.It has plenty of room for fans or radiators, it comes with two top vents and one of the side that are covered by sound proofing material that can be easily removed or put back on. You get dust filters on the bottom of the case where the power supply will be and front of the case that are easy to remove and clean.The fans that come with the case are pretty good, I find they do a great job at moving air and are pretty quiet, you can use the 3 stage fan controler on the case to control these fans. I find leaving it at the middle setting allows it to push plenty of air and you can just hear it.Speaking of sound. The case is quiet, the sound proofing really helps and if im not gaming I sometimes forget its even on.It looks great too. Its very minimalist and I like that. I think you could probably put this anywhere and it would look like it belonged.Long story short, if you're looking for a high quality, quiet, modular case that will do you a long time, definitely consider this. Alternatively look at the Define R5, its the R4 just with a bunch of refinements and improvements.(you also get a bunch of accessories for installing hardware into the case, screws, ties etc)

This case hardly needs another review, but here's another take on it:The Define R3 was already a nearly flawless case, with its beautiful, understated design, gorgeous finish and spacious interior. The only real flaw was the cable well behind the motherboard, which was simply inadequate, except for perhaps the most minimal of modular power supplies. My friend's non-modular Thermaltake power supply, with eight bulky, unused molex power connectors, two unused PCI-e power connectors and two unused floppy drive connectors would simply not fit in this cable well without the side panel bulging and without a struggle to get it back on, made harder by the fact that there were no cable tie mount points to keep everything in position.The other shortcoming was the frustrating ease with which the grommets would come out of their sockets when pushing a cable through, and the frustrating difficulty with which you would eventually get them back in position.The Define R4 remedies this with the cable space depth increased to 26mm, 6 cable tie mount points, and grommets made of a thicker rubber, with much wider rims.Other improvements include:- a reset button (absent on the R3)- two USB 3.0 sockets on the front panel, in addition to the two USB 2.0 sockets- a nicer finish (not a finger print magnet, like the satin/rubber like feel of the R3)- a fan controller with support for three fans built into the case, supporting 5, 7 and 12V- the ability to use the front LED as a hard drive activity indicator instead of a power LED; you don't need an LED to know whether the PC is on, do you?Having said that, this case is so incredibly quiet, I may need that power LED after all to know whether the PC is on or not!The case comes including two of Fractal Design's own 140mm case fans, one fitted at the front (intake) and one at the back (exhaust). I've always been a big fan of Scythe fans, so I was expecting having to replace these 'free' fans with Scythe equivalents, but I find them to be at least as quiet as my Scythe Kama Flow2 120mm 1400 rpm fans, so I have since ordered another Fractal Design Silent Series 140mm case fan and fitted it in the second slot in the front to keep my seven hard drives cool.I can't hear an audible difference between running these 3 fans at 5V and 7V, unless I put my ear right next to them (and even then!).At 12V there is a noticeable increase in noise, but this is the increased air flow rather than the fans being noisy, and while loud compared to 5/7V, it is considerably quieter than my old case, with the same seven hard drives, same Zalman CNPS9500A CPU fan, same Corsair TX650w Ultra Quiet power supply.The only differences between my old and new setup are:- losing an Xilence Red Wing 80mm fan (extremely quiet case fan even at full speed, especially for an 80mm one)- losing two Scythe Kama Flow2 120mm fans (extremely quiet case fans)- losing a GeForce GT7900 AGP card with the very quiet Zalman VF900-Cu GPU fan (I now use an AMD A10-7850K with integrated GPU,so cooled by the Zalman CPU cooler)- gaining three Fractal Design Silent Series 140mm case fansYou could argue that the net difference essentially boils down to losing the Zalman VF900-Cu GPU fan, with the only other difference being the case itself. Now losing the GPU fan itself does not explain the huge drop in noise, and yet, whereas with my old case it was a relief to turn the PC off, I can now have the PC running in the background all day long, and not notice it.So, when summer comes, and ambient temperatures increase, possibly having to run the fans at 12V is not going to be a problem as it will still be much quieter than my old setup!As with the R3, this case is primarily designed as a quiet PC case (as opposed to a high airflow gaming PC case). Should, however, the need for higher airflow ever arise, the R4 has room for an additional four case fans: one at the bottom, one in the side panel, and two more at the top of the case, all designed for 140mm but with mounting holes for 120mm fans.Finally, this case is ideal for first time builders and enthusiasts alike. There is plenty of room for expansion, so if you are building your first PC and don't know yet how many hard drives you're going to get, or what size graphics card you might buy, this case provides enough room and flexibility. The hard drive bays are split in two, with the top one being removable so you can accommodate the larger cards, and if you need a lot of storage space, you have a maximum of eight 3.5" drive bays + two 5.25" bays. All the screws you could possible need are provided, including motherboard standoffs, rubber anti vibration rings and cable ties, all in matching black.The only thing I could criticise is the supplied manual. While you don't really need one, with Fractal Design's phenomenal attention to detail (even the motherboard standoffs come with their own mounting tool (black, of course)), it is simply very sloppy to have an exploded PC case diagram with numbered legend, but the numbers have no reference in the diagram, leading to some confusion as to which description appplies to which part of the case. Also, Fractal Design is a Swedish company, but the level of English in the manual is what you would find with cheap Chinese knock-off products (no disrespect!). A problem? No, but surprising given the sheer quality of the rest of the product.I could not wish for a better case, and can only join the other reviewers in highly recommending it!

had a small case before and was needing a new case as was upgrading to a bigger atx style motherboard. my last system was quite noisy and so i wanted to buy a case that had some decent quiet fans and some 'Noise-reducing Material'.the first thing that struck me is how huge this case was. i should have paid more attention when i bought it as this case is actually like a server style size its 46.4 x 23.2 x 52.3 cm according to the description. luckily i have a big desk which it fits into nicely (65cm deep desk) so wasnt an issue in the end. just surprised me as its bigger than any of the big cases i have had in the past.The case is quite heavy,quality looking. im just using this case with the fans it shipped with, it has 2 x 140mm case fans with a switch on the front with 3 speed settings. the fans are quiet enough for me on the slowest and medium setting, which i use. not yet felt the need to use the fans full throttle.the case has 2 usb2, 2 usb 3 a mic,head phone jack and a rest and a power button on the top front of the case, very convenient good design choice. has a swing door on the front of the case (with magnets) for dvd drives and for using the fan controller. i dont use a dvd drive myself so rarely open.tons of room inside, for big graphics cards, loads of room for hdds etc. room for mounting 2 ssd drives on the back of where the mb sits (inbetween a side panel). build quality is excellent, the case is fairly quiet, i would like it to be quieter but its probably more to do with my graphics card and power supply noise levels being higher that id like than any fault of the case. cost 78 when i bought it. most expensive case ive ever purchased, happy with it tho.