Fractal Define R5 Airflow?

[Ifeagan]

I'm looking into Fractal Define R5 or R4 for a future case.  I would like to know from those of you who own the case whether or not the airflow is decent (being a silent case with limited front intake I am worried that maintaining positive pressure could be difficult) . I plan on adding a fan to the front and using air cooling (Noctua CPU heatsink) for my CPU cooling needs as I plan on OC'ing a i5  6600k.   Just want some honest testimony from people who have experience using the case, rather than youtubers giving it a once over and proclaiming it to be the best case ever...

 

Thanks for input!

[Aniallation]

Three of my friends have R4s with all air-cooled components and the airflow in them seems great. They're nice to build in as well.

[Sorfex0]

U can see my specs in signature, i have define r5 and my temps stays on about 70~ at gaming. I have uploaded few videos all of them with those specs and this case u can watch them and see it for your self.

[Ifeagan]

U can see my specs in signature, i have define r5 and my temps stays on about 70~ at gaming. I have uploaded few videos all of them with those specs and this case u can watch them and see it for your self.

 

Thanks for this!

[Ifeagan]

I did a build with an i7 4770k and an evga acx 780 in the r5. Even without removing any of the moduvents, my cpu with a front intake h100i stays in the 50s while gaming and my gpu hovers mid 70s up to 80 (my room is about 25 ambient).

 

Yea if I go the r5 route I'll remove at least one of the moduvents. Seems like the gpu temps are good, I'm planning on going with a r9 390 Sapphire Nitro  also.... which seem slike a cool card so I should be good on that front.

[m_tieu]

I have a define s and I have all the moduvents on. My h105 is installed as a front intake as push/pull and have a single 120mm as exhaust. GPU's are 80-90 degrees gaming and CPU is about 40.

[Nyph]

In my R5 I replaced the stock fans with three Noctua NF-A14s (two on the front intake, one rear exhaust), hooked up to the case fan controller I never have to put it above the middle setting which is still pretty much silent, most of the time it's on the lowest anyway. Inside I have 2 MSI 970s in SLI and a 4790k OC'd to 4.6 cooled by a Noctua NH-U14s. My CPU idles at around 30°c and never really gets much above 50-60°c unless I'm doing something really stressful, and the graphics cards never really go much above 70°c.

[Aurora906]

The R5 is fine for cooling, the front door isnt that restrictive imo.   Can always open the door while gaming or whatever too.

[TheCarbonPhoenix]

I own an r3 but the general exterior and to some extent the interior design has not changed too much from r3 to r4 to r5, the airflow in the r3 is somewhat held back by the drive cage from what I can see as dust is getting caught on some of the surfaces that the front intake pushes past, but I know that certainty with the r5 this was remedied with larger spaces between racks. The temps on my i5 3570k @ 4.4ghz never push over into throttling territory, and my HD 6970 reference is fine going up to the high 80's, the only thing I'd recommend is filling the front up with 2x 140mm just to make sure you maximise the amount you can get through via the front intake (which based off what you've said is covered by that extra fan). With the r3 the airflow is not impeded by having the moduvents on (top and side) but if you wanted to open the flow up a bit just keep in mind the vents are sound-dampening and so by taking them off you will have to compromise regarding airflow v noise.

 

Bit about my setup at the moment, literally only have the two fractal design fans that were shipped with the case (2x 120mm) they do a great job of keeping the air flowing through and still with only two in there the pressure is definitely positive given the amount of dust on my front intakes

 

So overall I'd say go for the r5 if you're fine shelling out for it, probably would be quieter than my r3 which running at idle can at times require a quick pause to reassure myself the case is still there! and to answer your question bluntly - no there will not be any issues with airflow ( if anything you can improve it further by removing or rearranging the drive cages), the soundproofing is flush to the top and sides encouraging that smooth airflow through the case

[shibbs]

I have an R5. Love this case. All my inlet fans are filtered! 

 

4670K overclocked to 4.6GHz, and cooled by a Corsair H90. Ran this same setup when I was using the stock cooler, just not as overclocked. I have the stock two fans that came with the case on the inlet in the front, 2 120mm fans (leftovers from last case) as inlets on the bottom in front of the PSU. The bottom is your friend! It's filtered, too. And then I have the H90 blowing straight out of the back. Temps on my CPU never get above 70 C. I don't have any top "modu-vent" things open, as I set stuff on the top of my case. I have the PSU with the inlet fan on the BOTTOM, pulling in fresh air, and exhausting it externally--not in the case. 

 

Give me a shout if you have any questions, or want a picture.