fractal design r5 vs enthoo pro

[Lord Davidson]

Sorry for the short post, I don't have a lot of time.
I heard that the r5 has sound dampening... stuff.
How much of a difference does it make?
when you run the same build inside both cases, which one would be quieter and which would have better airflow?

 

[jollypirate]

the enthoo would have better airflow while the r5 would be quiter. you can choose the fractal design define s which has excelent airflow and has sound dapening on the side pannel

 

[jollypirate]

Oh sorry do you mean the enthoo pro or enthoo pro m?

 

[Lord Davidson]

what's the difference?
Knowing me, I probably meant the cheaper one (with the closest price to the r5)

 

[jollypirate]

The entoo pro m is the cheaper one, its a bit smaller and newer

 

[Karadjgne]

Quiet is relative. My R5 is wonderfully quiet, but so is my mesh front/top CM 690 II Adv case. It's all pretty much a moot point under certain circumstances. The R5 has nice acoustics until you add top mount fans, then it becomes the same as any other case in that regard, you'll get top fan noise, and in the case of a 280mm radiator I have mounted there, it's basically the primary source of noise as there is no way to mount a rear exhaust unless it's a slim model, and the front has a nice thick door that hides the intakes noise. Only by using stock fan setup does the baffles have any real function. I still like the case though, but that's my taste in aesthetics, and it is quality built and designed. I would rate any of the Enthoo series as a step up, in both quality and functionality, although I personally prefer the looks of the Fractal Design cases.

 

[Lord Davidson]

and how does the NZXT N-450 compare to both this? I experience major pleasure whenever I look at it.
It's love at first sight.
Of course, if it's a bad case, my relationship with that case is over.

 

[synphul]

All are good cases. Fan quality and speed control is likely to benefit 'noise' from the case more than foam or other things applied to the inside and like Karadjgne said if you have noisy(ier) fans at the exterior of the case on the top or at the rear they'll be audible. My enthoo pro is one of the quietest cases I've had and it's about as open air as you can get. That includes moving it from under the desk to on top of the desk next to my monitor which makes sounds from the case more apparent. All the fans I have in it are speed controlled with a hardware controller though which helps.

Some of the differences come down to personal preference. The nzxt and enthoo pro and pro m all have psu covers which I personally think is a nice touch. Another difference between the enthoo pro and define r5 is the location of the front ports. The enthoo pro put them front facing behind a door panel, the enthoo pro m has them accessible from the side of the front panel exposed and the r5 has them on top exposed like the noctis 450. When I got my case that was one of my personal considerations as I use the usb ports somewhat frequently for thumb drives and other things. If I wanted to place the case under my desk it would make plugging thumb drives into the top of the case tedious and may be more prone to snapping them off if I slid in my keyboard tray. It's not a problem that everyone faces but it's an area where personal needs come into the picture that may make one case more suitable than another for the individual situation when comparing two otherwise excellent cases.

 

[Karadjgne]

I bought my R5 Window for 3 reasons. 1) it's a fractal design R5 window, please, that's a gimme. 2) It was $30 because of a tiny dent on the right side that's visible only from a certain angle. 3) The pc sits in the cubby between the drawers and my feet, so an interchangeable door was a bonus, but more importantly, it has top mount USB ports which are much easier to reach from my chair, than having to lean way over to get front mount, and side mount definitely will not work as there is only 1.5" of clearance on each case side.

As synphul said, some things are just more intrinsically valuable, and for me, these were overriding factors.