Fractal Design Define R4 Case for Computer - Black Pearl

It is a lovely case and good looking too in a minimalist sort of way. I build a lot of servers using Supermicro 1U, 2U and 4U server cases - which cost between 5 and 8 times the price of this case - and this case is just as well built and thought out. It's beautifully engineered and easy to work with. It's very slightly taller than the average midi-tower, and a bit wider, but it has to be to be able to accommodate 8 drives AND hide all the wiring too. It's not the sort of case you want to be lugging around (it's heavy when built) but it's designed to run cool and silent, not to be portable.I bought this case to build my own PC and it's turned out to be the neatest build I've EVER made, with no loose wires or cables and everything hidden from view. The finished build looks like I've just stuck in the components without cabling anything up - it's so neat - and that's for a PC with 5 drives installed.As for being silent, it's as near to silent as makes no difference. I run the fans at full speed and if I listen very carefully (with no other noise in the room) I can just about hear it starting up. When it's running I need to move within a few inches of the case to hear anything which is a very very faint noise from the CPU fan. I also have one of our office 4U supermicro servers in the same room as me and it drowns out everything when it's switched on; it's a noisy beast.My PC runs cool too. The temperatures inside the case are lower than they are within the Supermicro case (despite it's cooling fans running at full speed all the time) and I have no worries about items potentially overheating.I'm so impressed with the build quality and silence of the Define R4 that I'm going to replace the Supermicro server case in my office with their Define XL case (need to be able to fit an EATX motherboard) just to get some peace and quiet but in the knowledge that everything will fit and cooling should be excellent.If you want a good looking, solid, silent, and well-engineered case that's easy to work with, I'd highly recommend this. In fact, I'd recommend it for ANY PC build. It's worth the very small premium for a case that you're going to have to live with every day for the next few years.

The mic socket on the front is broken....Not impressed

This case is spacious, cool, and easy to build in. The movable drive cage helps with a tidy build, and the front and bottom dust filters help the inside stay very clean. The top exhausts are also covered with removable panels (plasitc, backed with thick foam, screwed in place) so that they won't let dust in if not in use. The foam on these top panels, both side panels, and inside the front of the case (which is a hinged door) help the whole thing run really quietly. The only thing I would change is the number of loops for attaching cable ties behind the motherboard - there aren't enough, and it makes a tidy build slightly tricky. There are maybe 4 from memory, (though don't quote me on that) all near to the rubber grommets that let the cables through, and we ended up using several of them twice. Not a huge problem, but more would be nice.We have a CoolerMaster hyper212 evo with two noctua nf-f12 fans cooling an i5 3570k (slightly overclocked to 4Ghz), and a Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 Ghz OC edition. We've also added an additional Fractal 140mm silent series fan to the front of the case, along with the fans that come pre-installed (120mm rear exhaust, 140mm front intake). With the in-built fan controller at the lowest setting the PC can't be heard over ambient room noise, and the CPU is pretty cool (30-35 degrees per core at idle). With the fan controller at max the case can't really be heard over game audio, and I haven't seen it exceed 60 degrees at the CPU.Far superior to our old Zalman Z9 plus (which is admittedly a much cheaper case, and fine for the price).EDIT: There was a slight problem with this case - a piece of the noise-dampening foam inside was peeling off, and refused to stick back down. Not a major problem, but to their credit Fractal sent me a new part as soon as I got in touch and provided proof of purchase/serial number. Brilliant customer service. It's worth noting as well that you can buy replacements for almost any part if you need it - cabling for the front I/Os, drive cage, side panels, dust filters, you name it. Very handy if a piece is damaged but you don't want to buy a whole new case.

This is a beautiful case. The brushed metal effect of the front door panel makes the unit look much more expensive than it is. After I had completed my recent build I just couldn't stop myself from looking at it. It is extremely easy to work with, very versatile and comes with all the screws and spacers you could ever need. Cable management is excellent. It can take any size of graphics card, however long it is, as the housing for the multiple disc drives is removable. I am currently just running one Solid State Drive so I removed the redundant disk housings to create more airflow. There is the option to mount an SSD in the cable management area underneath the motherboard. While an elegant space-saving solution I would not recommend doing this unless you absolutely have to. There is plenty of room for multiple drives elsewhere in the case. If you had any issues with the drive in this location you would have to remove the motherboard to replace it.In conclusion if I had to complete another build right now I would buy this case again. It is brilliant.

Very nice case with ample airflow and space for a large GPU (if you remove the extra hard drive cage). Front and bottom intakes are filtered with easy to remove filters, and hard drive trays take care of vibrational noise nicely. Because of how thin the metal of the case is, the top panel has bent inwards where the two vents are (hence the 4 rather than 5 stars). In order to fix this I had to replace the vent covers the case comes with, effectively forcing the top panel to flatten out.