Quiet Gaming Cases, Part 2: Corsair, Fractal, And Gigabyte

[rodney_ws]

My Corsair 550D was also damaged during shipping and required an RMA for replacement parts. Corsair requires that I pay for shipping back on the RMA and also shafted me on two separate rebates. I really want like like Corsair, but they're making it hard.

 

[therabiddeer]

I am confused
"Surprisingly, even with two times as many intake fans as its competition, Corsair’s Obsidian 550D still runs slightly hotter. Opening the optional vents only has a minimal effect on its temperature."
The 550D only has 3 fans default while the Gigabyte has 6 and the Fractal has 2 (that are larger as well). How is that twice as many intake fans as its competition? The Gigabyte can have the top and front as intake and the front and rear as exhaust. In addition, there is no mention of the bottom fan position available.

When doing the tests you also make note of there being little/no difference with the vents off, did you use any fans there? I believe the point of the vents as you call them are for fans since it otherwise ruins airflow (as indicated by a rise in temperature). Also, is that with all vents off or just some? Personally, I use the front and side vent panels on and leave the top one off (as I have 2 additional fans there for exhaust). Just seems a little strange that these features are here to give choice but those choices arent tested except for the silly fan controller.

 

[youssef 2010]

The Define R4 is definitely an INCREDIBLE case. Although I can't help but notice the massive amount of work and thought involved in designing the 550D

 

[codyleemanofaction]

Personally I'd remove the HDD cages completely since I only run SSD's, and put those two behind the mobo tray as they put two "mounts" back there... thereby making any front mounted radiators much easier to accomodate. Not to mention they include a 5.25 to 3.5 adapter in case you do have a spin up.

 

[codyleemanofaction]

^^ on the FD r4 that is.

 

[showvideos]

BTW the configuration is ASRock P67 Extreme 6, SB 2500K, 2 X GTX 470s (one modded with the Zalman 3000 cooler the other a non standard Galaxy GC card) , The Antec H20 90 CPU cooler with push pull Cougar 120 fans. Even though (excepting the closed loop Antec CPU cooler) my cooling is air it runs as quiet as others who have dedicated watter coolers.

http://www.showvideos.info/

 

[martinigm]

Bought a R4 a couple of months ago and I'm not really that impressed. My old Antec P182 was really, really quiet almost silent. The fans on the R4 isn't noisy, but you hear them hum when you're sitting next to the computer.