Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case

Pros: This tower is heavy. I like weight in components like this. It gives a lot of stability. It has a very minimal design which is great if you aren't into the gaudy rainbow-colored plastic cases ;) This tower is almost all steel, with the exception being a polished plastic front. A huge pro with this case is the sound dampening material. It's very rigid on the case sidings. The sides of the case are built like tanks. With my fans in it (Both stock case fans and a Hyper 212) it is NEAR SILENT. I'll walk into my room and forget my computer is on! Also, another big pro is the cable management. The case is a bit wide because it has about an inch outside the right side where you can pull all your cables through and hide. The rubber grommets around the back help tremendously. Sadly, my power supply is not modular so the bottom of my case has a Medusa's Head of unused cables lol.

Cons: Only con: The front LED is bright as the sun on the 4th of July.

Other Thoughts: If you're looking for a solid case that is near silent, GET THIS THING. Fractal Design knows how to make cases and fans.

Pros: Simple design, lots of space, and super quiet. With fans on lowest setting, my temps are still better than my previous case.

Cons: Front fan mounting can vibrate if not situated just right.

Other Thoughts: Great case. Loving the virtual silence!

Pros: - Good build quality
- Plenty of space behind motherboard for cable routing
- Fans are just noticeable at high, silent at medium and still quite effective.
- Good airflow, especially with middle hard drive cage removed.
- SSD mounting behind the motherboard frees up 3.5" bay space

Cons: A full egg off for the headphone jack. It's recessed slightly with a beveled edge and I cannot plug my headphones all the way in. (Sony MDR-7506 if you're curious) Will need to buy an extension cable just to use the front panel audio jack. So simple and yet so frustrating.

Other Thoughts: Put some thought into you graphics card and cpu cooler if you really care about noise. In my case the cpu cooler (a hyper 212) was the only thing I heard after turning the case fans down to medium. Replacing its fan had a big impact.

Pros: price

Cons: one of the side panel thumb screws was cross threaded.
one of the latches for the fold down panel covering the front fans arrived broken . leaving me with an askew fan cover

Other Thoughts: did this pass quality control inspection??????

Pros: This case is quite heavy, it is very solid.

The quality is excellent.

Cons: A little heavy

No hard drive led

Pros: The case is fairly heavy-duty, and everything fits together well and seems sturdy. There's plenty of space to work in, particularly if you remove the middle drive tray. The airflow seems reasonable, and the noise control is quite good (running three case fans, a single GTX670 and CoolerMaster EVO CPU cooler).

Cons: The only problem I encountered was the Molex plug for the case fan control was damaged. Plugging the fans directly into the Mobo headers works fine; even at full speed it's pretty quiet. The case is large, so the CPU power cable *barely* reached from the PS to the top of the motherboard when routed behind it. Depending on your board/PS you may need an extension cable.

Other Thoughts: This case is a huge upgrade from my previous rig (which was six or seven years old), and I'm very happy with it. Highly recommended.

Pros: If you're building a PC, chances are the selection you will make a mistake on is the case. Sure, you might like for it to look like a spaceship, but you might not be so keen on it sounding like one. Looks aren't everything, and while colored LEDs, windowed panels, and LCD screens all look cool, at the end of the day all you should want in a case is the three C's of cases: Cooling, Conditioning, and Convenience. The Define R4 stands up to all three categories quite well, and the minimalistic design is actually quite attractive if that suits your taste.

COOLING - It's hard to separate Cooling and Convenience on this one, since part of what makes the cooling so great is that you have so many options for it. While the Define R4 only ships with two 140mm fans, as many as five more fans can be added, or alternatively folks going for water cooling can swap out fans for a couple radiators. Regardless of your setup, the general airflow will run from vents on the side of the front panel through the case and out the back and base. Since the case is fairly large for a mid-tower, there's plenty of room to push air through and keep things cool. In my tests, the Define R4 kept internal components 3-5 degrees (C) cooler than my last case, using two 140mm front panel fans and one 140mm rear fan on the 12V setting. Speaking of which, yes, you can directly control case fan speed by adjusting the voltage with a switch on the front panel. 12, 7, and 5 volt settings are available and allow the user to balance cooling and fan noise as they see fit.

CONVENIENCE - Pretty much whatever you want to do with your PC, Fractal Design has already thought of and built the Define R4 to accommodate. The tower officially supports ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX motherboards, but you could technically go larger if you don't mind covering up a rubber grommet or two. The case design is, in a word, fantastic. Fan assemblies, drive trays—everything is modular to the extreme, leaving numerous configurations possible as well as making the case easy and convenient to clean (very important for airflow). If you're rocking a foot-long graphics card, no problem—just remove a couple thumbscrews and slide out the upper drive tray. Want to add in a couple SSD's without taking up space alongside regular HDD's? Mount them behind the motherboard tray. The space is there and the design allows for just about anything you could want in a PC case. Space is even left on the sides for hiding cables, which are held in place by rubber grommets and included zip-ties.

CONDITIONING - Chances are you're considering this case for its noise dampening, which is effective, but only to a certain degree. Foam and other sound dampening insulation makes a big difference in noise, but if you have a loud machine, don't expect the Define R4 to make it whisper. It will bring it down a couple notches to use its "inside voice," though.

Cons: Although it's not so much a con on the case itself as it is my motherboard, two of the Define R4's front panel USB ports use a double USB3.0 connection which my motherboard lacked, and apparently a good deal of other motherboards do, too. I have USB3.0 ports built onto the mobo itself, but nowhere to add more--only USB2.0. Also, the USB ports are very, very snug. At first I was afraid of damaging something I had to push so hard to insert a USB device. They seem to be easing up with time, though. Certainly these issues are not worth knocking down the overall score.

Other Thoughts: If you already have a PC case, it's probably not worth switching to the Define R4 for the noise dampening benefits alone, but the terrific design, cable management system, and budget-friendly price really set it apart as one of the best mid-tower cases on the market today. It doesn't provide a lot in the way of frills (although it should be noted there is a windowed version to make things a bit more exciting, at the cost of some noise dampening), but those going for function over form will find very little to complain about and an awful lot to love. I can safely say that this will be my first recommendation to PC builders...until the Define R5 comes out!

Pros: well though design, ample room, moderate silent operation

Cons: mediocre built quality, case came with two broken fans, a deformed dust filter and a hard to remove screw! I have my own conspiracy theory that fractal must have changed their OEM, otherwise I'm sure reviewers would have picked low built quality of the case. I owned antec one hundred, and even after two years, it was days and night more robust that this one, yet overall, since the case has the POTENTIAL to be used as a silent, cool case, and it has a good design, I would say, I like it

Other Thoughts: for $80 it is a good deal, yet you get what you pay for. reduce your expectation and you will be happy with it.

Pros: Wonderful cable storage. Totally silent. Very elegant in appearance. Easy install of all drives.

Cons: None that I noticed. I don't agree with the weight comment I have read in other reviews. It is heavier, but it is also larger, which makes cable management and drive installations easier. You don't carry a desktop computer around, and the extra weight adds stability, so I see the difference as a positive not a negative. Unless you are feeble, I think this case is about as good as any made.

Pros: dead quiet. Nice layout. Easy routing of cables and lots of room. Used a Cool Master silent pro power supply. 8 removal drive bays. mounts 3.5 and 2.5 drives with rubber grommets. Friends all like it.

Cons: bigger than my old case.