Define R4 questions

[Rhotis]

So I am thinking of replacing my current case with a Define R4 but I have one concern about the case which is air flow and clean air.  For those of you that have them I have some questions

 

1-  That little "door" that is over the front fan filters that folds down.  Can that little door be removed without breaking things?  It just seems like it would stop a lot of potential air flow.  Mind you I am not talking about the main door but the little fold down cover infront of the air filter.  

 

2 -  The front air flow.  From looking at pictures and videos it almost seems that the front fans are grabbing air from the side of the fans themselves and not the front making the air filter on their useless.  Is this the case or am I simply seeing this wrong?  

 

3 -   Are there any quirks about the case that after using it you are unhappy with or have had to work around?  

 

Thanks in advance.  

[Magic8Ball]

1. There are some screws holding the latches, so I think you could. I've never tried. I honestly would go for a different case if you dont' like the door. The plastic beneath is as ugly as a sin. If haven't had any problems with air flow, but then again I'm not a huge overclocker.

 

2. Some air is definitely restricted, but there's actually a hole at the bottom-front area of the case that fans can grab more air from. It's not a case I would put on a carpeted floor for this reason.

 

3. My fan controller for some reason makes a feedback kind of sound when it contacts the metal. Kind of like a low pitched coil whine. I'm not quite sure why and I've Googled extensively. I doubt you'll have that problem because it seems unique to my case or build. Also, the fan controller switch is a little cheap. Kind of like the On-Off switches you see on kids' toys. On the other hand, that makes it small and very stealthy. I ended up removing the fan controller and just using resistors to control the voltage. Other than that, I'm in love with the case. It's definitely not the most rad-friendly case despite its size, but silent cases generally aren't meant to be.

[Rhotis]

1. There are some screws holding the latches, so I think you could. I've never tried. I honestly would go for a different case if you dont' like the door. The plastic beneath is as ugly as a sin. If haven't had any problems with air flow, but then again I'm not a huge overclocker.

 

2. Some air is definitely restricted, but there's actually a hole at the bottom-front area of the case that fans can grab more air from. It's not a case I would put on a carpeted floor for this reason.

 

3. My fan controller for some reason makes a feedback kind of sound when it contacts the metal. Kind of like a low pitched coil whine. I'm not quite sure why and I've Googled extensively. I doubt you'll have that problem because it seems unique to my case or build. Also, the fan controller switch is a little cheap. Kind of like the On-Off switches you see on kids' toys. On the other hand, that makes it small and very stealthy. I ended up removing the fan controller and just using resistors to control the voltage. Other than that, I'm in love with the case. It's definitely not the most rad-friendly case despite its size, but silent cases generally aren't meant to be.

 

Thanks for the response.  I am however not talking about the main door on the front.  If you open the main door there is another little "door" that opens down and has slots in it directly infront of the fans.  That is the "door" I am speaking of.  It seems to block a lot of the air flow.  I guess you could call it a "cover" rather than a door hehe.  

[Magic8Ball]

Ah, yes That one. I think you would have to break it off because I don't see any screws that hold it in place. Just two plastic prongs that go into holes that keep the door in place. I don't think it would help airflow that much anyway since all of the air in front of the mini door is blocked by the outer door anyway. 

[Rhotis]

Ah, yes That one. I think you would have to break it off because I don't see any screws that hold it in place. Just two plastic prongs that go into holes that keep the door in place. I don't think it would help airflow that much anyway since all of the air in front of the mini door is blocked by the outer door anyway. 

 

Ok so the air is actually coming in from the side of the fan meaning its not actually even hitting the air filter so its coming in unfiltered?  If that is the case that makes up my mind for me

[Magic8Ball]

Ok so the air is actually coming in from the side of the fan meaning its not actually even hitting the air filter so its coming in unfiltered?  If that is the case that makes up my mind for me

No, it's coming in filtered. It's a little bit hard to describe to be honest. There's an outer door, which fits snugly against the small door. Behind the small door is some space for the fans to breathe from the holes throughout the front. Behind the empty space is the filter and the fans.

[BeyondNight]

Ok so the air is actually coming in from the side of the fan meaning its not actually even hitting the air filter so its coming in unfiltered?  If that is the case that makes up my mind for me

No it hits the filter, i have an R4 and it comes in the sides of the front and from the bottom aswell, but the air filter sits right over the fans, and all of the air Has to pass through the filer to get to the fans, its hard to explain but yes the filer does work.

[NamelessTed]

The way the fans are located, it is sort of recessed into the case. Meaning that air comes in the side of the front panel, where the slits are, but all that air will feed through the filters, and not the sides of the fans. It is a whole housing unit where solid plastic rounds around the entire outside, and only allows air through the filter. The door the clicks open and folds down looks like it is removable, but it might be a bit tricky. It probably wouldn't make any difference in airflow if you removed it.

 

The Define R4 is designed around silence. It has solid airflow, but not the best. If you really want airflow you should check out the Arc Midi R2. The internal design is basically identical to the Define R4. The biggest difference between the case is that the Arc Midi R2 intakes air directly from the front, there is no panel that covers the two front intakes, just some mesh and a filter.

 

I think my only complaint about the case would be the SSD mounting mechanism behind the motherboard tray. It works, but it requires you to screw the SSD directly into the tray, which means you have to remove the entire motherboard to access it. Outside of that I absolutely LOVE my Define R4. Crazy thick metal, crazy good build quality. I highly recommend it.

[TB-303]

The door that folds down is in front of the intakes on the sides, and the fan filter is behind both of them.  

[NewAndreas]

Do you guys suggest switching out the fans for making it more silent, or are the case fans good enough? In that case, what fans?

[BeyondNight]

The case fans are silent and move a pretty decent ammount of air, it all depends on how much noise you can handle and how much airflow you think you need to keep the system cool.

[MrPete1985]

I was kind of dissapointed with the define R4, there is no case speaker so can't hear the post beep, a killer if you have a no post on a build and only a power LED no HDD LED

other than those 2 things it is a great caes, once the new video card come out and I upgrade I am rebuilding my old PC in a R4 for my brother

[BeyondNight]

I was kind of dissapointed with the define R4, there is no case speaker so can't hear the post beep, a killer if you have a no post on a build and only a power LED no HDD LED

other than those 2 things it is a great caes, once the new video card come out and I upgrade I am rebuilding my old PC in a R4 for my brother

buy a speaker for like 2$ ?

[MrPete1985]

buy a speaker for like 2$ ?

I got one off ebay for like $5 shipped

[Tim]

Both the front filter and the PSU filter work amazingly well. Never had to clean the inside of my case.

My brothers 300r filters let all the dust in though, despite me trying everything to fix it.

[Hyydrah]

So I am thinking of replacing my current case with a Define R4 but I have one concern about the case which is air flow and clean air.  For those of you that have them I have some questions

 

1-  That little "door" that is over the front fan filters that folds down.  Can that little door be removed without breaking things?  It just seems like it would stop a lot of potential air flow.  Mind you I am not talking about the main door but the little fold down cover infront of the air filter.  

 

2 -  The front air flow.  From looking at pictures and videos it almost seems that the front fans are grabbing air from the side of the fans themselves and not the front making the air filter on their useless.  Is this the case or am I simply seeing this wrong?  

 

3 -   Are there any quirks about the case that after using it you are unhappy with or have had to work around?  

 

Thanks in advance.  

1. I haven't tried, but I have 2 NF-A14s in the front and with the case panel on and off, no temperature difference is observable.

 

3. None other than it being tight at the top for my H100i.

[Stiffmeistro]

Hi.

 

Thought you woulden't mind if I borrowed your post. If you do mind, sorry!

 

How are the watercooling options in the Define R4?

I have a Seidon 240m Kit, and i was thinking mounting it in the front, but does anyone know if it will work?

And if so, I have to replace the 140MM fans with 2x 120mm, right?

 

Thanks.

[NamelessTed]

I was kind of dissapointed with the define R4, there is no case speaker so can't hear the post beep, a killer if you have a no post on a build and only a power LED no HDD LED

other than those 2 things it is a great caes, once the new video card come out and I upgrade I am rebuilding my old PC in a R4 for my brother

 

What cases come with motherboard speakers these days? I bought one for something like $2 at Fry's. 

Hi.

 

Thought you woulden't mind if I borrowed your post. If you do mind, sorry!

 

How are the watercooling options in the Define R4?

I have a Seidon 240m Kit, and i was thinking mounting it in the front, but does anyone know if it will work?

And if so, I have to replace the 140MM fans with 2x 120mm, right?

 

Thanks.

 

The kit should fit in the front of the case. You will have to remove the 140mm fan. But the front mounting shroud has fan holes for 240mm rads. Depending on how think your kit is you might have to remove the drive bay entirely, but it will likely work if you remove the middle piece, and then just move the bottom piece. The case has a second set of holes on the bottom of the case to give more space in the front.

[Stiffmeistro]

Okay, thank you!

 

Do you know if the tubes are long enough?

Read somewhere that the h100 will fit, and theres abit tubing in spare, so it's  not all stretched out.

But I can't seem to find out how long the tubing is on the Seidon 240m, I have it myself though, but i rather not take it out of my case, since it took forever to get it in there, because my case is not build for watercooling.