Fractal Design Define R4 vs BitFenix Shinobi

[bizitaq]

I want to purchase a case soon (maybe today depending on answers/feedback I get). As the title states, those are my two candidates. At the moment the Fractal is $79.99 while the BitFenix is priced at $54.99. The Fractal seems like a solid case/has good reviews and the BitFenix is one I'm not really familiar with.

 

[RCFProd]

R4 any day of the week. I've ordered the NZXT H440 today.

 

[Karsten75]

I've built quite a few PCs in Fractal Design cases. At one point in time they were my default choice. But often-times there were strange, annoying problems - one case, for instance ,the motherboard standoffs wouldn't screw in - I had to run out and buy little nuts to bold the standoffs to the back-plate. Another time the mounting holes for the PSU were off by 1/16th of an inch.

Their tech support was responsive, but only to ask for pictures. After that it got troubling. ANd it's a hassle and expensive to RMA a case, since it's the heaviest thing in the build.

So I gave up. I'm still looking for a single supplier as Fractal was my single supplier, but haven't found one yet.

I've built with Bitfenix (not with the Shinobi, though) and the experience was good. The Bitfenix Shinobi is highly rated and you will find many good reviews on the Internet.

 

[Karsten75]

R4 any day of the week. I've ordered the NZXT H440 today.

LOL. Why not the "any day of the week R4"?

 

[bizitaq]

The BitFenix is really tempting at the moment literally because it's on special and the special ends tomorrow. That sucks that you had bad experiences with the FD cases though.

 

[Karsten75]

As I said, I like them, they great cases and the issues were relatively easy to circumvent/fix. But yea, the Shinobi is definitely a case to consider.