Anyone have a Fractal R4?

[Amdryn]

I'll be ordering the parts for my new build in about two weeks, it has gone through some changes but I've made a decision on everything except for the case. One of the cases I'm thinking about is the Fractal R4 windowed version. I really like the look of the case but I do have a few concerns with cooling. I'm getting an i5 3570k, as well as a Sapphire 7970 Dual X OC card. I plan on overclocking the i5 to 4-4.5ghz, and overclocking the 7970 to at least ghz edition levels, but probably beyond.

I'll be using a Corsair H60 (I know there are better air based solutions) to cool the i5, and if I got this case I would get 3 extra 140mm fans. I would have 2 front 140mm intakes, 1 bottom 140mm intake, 2 140mm top exhaust, and the back 120mm h60 exhaust. Keeping in mind that during the hottest days of summer my room can get upwards of 85-90 F, do you think this cooling setup can keep the overclocked cpu and gpu cool enough?

Thanks for your time.

 

[lostgamer_03]

I'm receiving the Fractal R4 tomorrow, so I can update you further.

The Fractal R4 beats all the cases it competes against in Tomshardware's comparison.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-obsidian-550d-fractal-design-define-r4-gigabyte-luxo-m10,3356-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/lian-li-pc-b12-nanoxia-deep-silence-1-silverstone-ft-02s-usb3,review-32596-17.html

Adding those extra fans will probably be overkill and make a lot of noise. All those fans won't probably do much when you got watercooling and only got a GPU that is blowing hot air into the case.

 

[Amdryn]

I'm receiving the Fractal R4 tomorrow, so I can update you further.

The Fractal R4 beats all the cases it competes against in Tomshardware's comparison.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-obsidian-550d-fractal-design-define-r4-gigabyte-luxo-m10,3356-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/lian-li-pc-b12-nanoxia-deep-silence-1-silverstone-ft-02s-usb3,review-32596-17.html

Adding those extra fans will probably be overkill and make a lot of noise. All those fans won't probably do much when you got watercooling and only got a GPU that is blowing hot air into the case.

Those comparisons are very encouraging. I'm not concerned with noise at all really, being that hot in the summer I have a fan running pretty much right next to me and I use a nice pair of headphones anyway. That many fans could be overkill but it's well within budget and they can't hurt. I did note from the videos I've seen that you can remove the top hard drive cage, so I'll do that since I'm just going to be running with an ssd and a storage drive.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I have an R4 non windowed version and all I've done is added a second Fractal silent fan to the front panel and my temps are fine. My Sapphire 6950 never goes above 69'C in Far Cry 3 on all high settings and my 1100T (with Corsair A70) stays in the 40s. Your parts will be newer and more efficient so you should get better temps.

The case is also very well made and it's great for keeping noise in and dust out if you leave those ModuVents in place.

I'm really pleased with it.

 

[Amdryn]

Yeah I have an R4 non windowed version and all I've done is added a second Fractal silent fan to the front panel and my temps are fine. My Sapphire 6950 never goes above 69'C in Far Cry 3 on all high settings and my 1100T (with Corsair A70) stays in the 40s. Your parts will be newer and more efficient so you should get better temps.

The case is also very well made and it's great for keeping noise in and dust out if you leave those ModuVents in place.

I'm really pleased with it.

Thanks for the input, and yea from what I've read and seen it appears to be very well made.

 

[lostgamer_03]

So here is the update.

The temperatures of the case is fine. Though it becomes quite hot compared to an "open" air case. The only temperature I think went high was my CPU - The i5-3570 with a stock fan, it reached 68 celsius during gaming. You have watercooling so it won't be a problem for you.

The GPU has only reached 64 celsius, though it's an ASUS GTX 670 Direct CU ii, I'm quite happy with that.

It's not bad, at all. Quite decent actually for a silent case. The cooling performance isn't state of the art though, so don't expect too much.

The meaning of it is to be silent, and oh my, it's so silent.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Product-Review-Fractal-Design-Define-R4-159

"Adding the side fan results in an additional 1° C drop in GPU temperatures and a 2° C drop in CPU temperatures."

So adding fans won't help much I think.

All in all, it's a great case. Cable management is easy and I think you'll be happy with it. Just want to add a last comment, because the case quite big actually. The weight of the case itself is 12 kilograms. So, it's way bigger than it looks on the pictures, so I think you'll be a little suprised.