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Define R4 Upgrade

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Go to solution Solved by KamiKatze,

The fan controlelr on the R4 isn't that fancy. It's a switch for 5V 7V and 12V that's it. It supports only 3 fans.

 

The case is well sound dampened however. Regarding AIO watercoolers you will have to use something slim because the case doesn't have much clearance for an AIO in the top.

 

The sharkoon T9 isn't that fancy of a case but if you like it and it can hold all the hardware that you want, i would keep it. Try to get control over your fan RPMs via a cheap fan controller and if you want, get some cheap noise dampening foam for the inside of your case.

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At the moment I have a Sharkoon T9 case and it is a little noisy since the fans are always running at 1200rpm. Is it worth buying the Fractal R4 for the quieter operation, particularly due to the fan controller, better looks (imo) and better upgrade potential, such as future aio water cooling. I only bought the Sharkoon T9 about a year ago for £40 but I would like a nice case that will last. I also sleep about 2m from my case while it's on at night so that's why silence is so important.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Yes but my current fans are only 3 pin and my mobo headers are only 3 pin also, so software or bios control doesn't work.

Also I think most fan controllers are either too expensive (cf. define r4) or too ugly; whereas the define r4's works really nicely and simply.

I kinda feel like I'm wasting my money since I only bought a case a year ago. 

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The fan controlelr on the R4 isn't that fancy. It's a switch for 5V 7V and 12V that's it. It supports only 3 fans.

 

The case is well sound dampened however. Regarding AIO watercoolers you will have to use something slim because the case doesn't have much clearance for an AIO in the top.

 

The sharkoon T9 isn't that fancy of a case but if you like it and it can hold all the hardware that you want, i would keep it. Try to get control over your fan RPMs via a cheap fan controller and if you want, get some cheap noise dampening foam for the inside of your case.

who cares...

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As a Define R4 owner, it is possible to run more than 3 fans with the built-in fan controller. Just buy an inexpensive fan header splitter, I run 4 case fans from the fan controller. In terms of water cooling support, you can fit a 240mm rad in the top, and a 240/280mm rad at the front. If you remove the two drive cages, there would be room for the res, pump etc. 

 

EDIT: When I use my rig, it is extremely quiet, the only noise I can hear sometimes is the little hum of the Hard-drives I have fitted. When I game, I ramp up the fans, and the case handles the noise well. I run silence-optimized fans. Check my spec in my sig.

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The case is well sound dampened however. Regarding AIO watercoolers you will have to use something slim because the case doesn't have much clearance for an AIO in the top.

 

 

 

I've got an h100i in push pull on the top of mine. It has centered mounting holes for slim rads and single fans, but also has offset holes for thicker setups. Mine is the XL, but the regular one may be similar in that aspect.

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I've got an h100i in push pull on the top of mine. It has centered mounting holes for slim rads and single fans, but also has offset holes for thicker setups. Mine is the XL, but the regular one may be similar in that aspect.

 

The R4 also has an off centered mount, but it can hold only slim rads in push due to interference with the motherboard (may vary from board to board)

who cares...

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The R4 also has an off centered mount, but it can hold only slim rads in push due to interference with the motherboard (may vary from board to board)

 

I wonder if there is more space up there in the xl then, or if I just got lucky. The crosshair v forumula-z has a nice little heatsink there, and the 12 pins of CPU power are up on that edge as well. so I would imagine if anyone were to have a problem a motherboard such as this would do it. I suppose some other boards could (and probably do) have even taller heatsinks though.

Desktop: AMD Threadripper 1950X @ 4.1Ghz Enermax 360L  Gigabyte Aorus Extreme   Zotac 1080Ti AMP Extreme  BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 900  EVGA SuperNova 1000w G2  LG 34GK950f & ASUS PA248Q Klipsch Reference/Audeze Mobius

 

Synology Wireless AC-2600

 

 

Laptop: Alienware 17R5   Intel i7 8750H  Nvidia GTX1080   3840x2160 4k AdobeRGB IGZO Display   32GB DDR4 2133   256GB+1TB NVMe SSD    1TB Seagate SSHD   Killer 1550 Dual-Band Wireless AC

 

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I wonder if there is more space up there in the xl then, or if I just got lucky. The crosshair v forumula-z has a nice little heatsink there, and the 12 pins of CPU power are up on that edge as well. so I would imagine if anyone were to have a problem a motherboard such as this would do it. I suppose some other boards could (and probably do) have even taller heatsinks though.

 

The XL has more space. THat'sm what it's made for. ;)

who cares...

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I have an R4 and I have to say the fan controller isn't anything fancy but it gets the job done. I have 3 AF140's hooked up to it and almost always just run them @ 7v, they're pretty darn quiet, if I'm going to sleep and leaving it running I turn them down to 5v and I can't hear them over my H90 pump hum.

 

I have a H90 in the back with an AF140 pulling through it exhausting out the back with the other two in the front as intakes.

Hopefully my explanation of my setup is somewhat helpful.

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn’t always roll that way." - TS

 

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The XL has more space. THat'sm what it's made for. ;)

Makes me even more glad I went with this one then. Other than weighing as much as a small bus, it's been the best case I've ever had.

Desktop: AMD Threadripper 1950X @ 4.1Ghz Enermax 360L  Gigabyte Aorus Extreme   Zotac 1080Ti AMP Extreme  BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 900  EVGA SuperNova 1000w G2  LG 34GK950f & ASUS PA248Q Klipsch Reference/Audeze Mobius

 

Synology Wireless AC-2600

 

 

Laptop: Alienware 17R5   Intel i7 8750H  Nvidia GTX1080   3840x2160 4k AdobeRGB IGZO Display   32GB DDR4 2133   256GB+1TB NVMe SSD    1TB Seagate SSHD   Killer 1550 Dual-Band Wireless AC

 

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