NZXT H440 or Fractal Design Define R4 Windowed

[keycolony]

title says it i would take the white version of booth of them 

[Toddwjp]

h440, define in white looks a little meh in my opinion, and the window of the h440 is much better

[Redliquid]

i have a black define r4 with a window, only reason i bought it was becase i didnt like the nzxt logo.
But other than that i'd probably pick the h440. It has fan filters right? i find those rly important.

[chibi-edowardo]

I don't know much about the fractal design define R4 about I did a lot of research with the NZXT 440 cuz I was planning on getting that case.

I really love the aesthetic of the case but as a silent PC case obviously one of the downside of a silent optimized case is the airflow. 440s airflow is so bad that liquid cooling is generally is not recommended for the case especially if you're looking on OCing your CPU and GPU that will generate alot of heat and the case won't be able to receive adequate cold air and disperse the hot air out because of the small vent of the PC.

 

BUT if you changed the liquid cooling (H105 or a kraken) to an air cooler like the NH-D15. The D15 basically destroys the liquid cooling option for that PC and I believe that that is best cooling option for the 440, the only downside of that is the air cooler itself. It doesn't look good in the window, Its HUGE and the colors of their fans is poop brown and vomit tan. won't go along especially if you are building a build with a colour theme.

 

But then again if you're not looking at OCing the PC and doesn't mind the 5 to 10 degree Celsius warmer temperature. The case is great.

[chibi-edowardo]

Well at least the Fractal Design Define R4 looks like it has a better airflow than the NZXT 440

[EeveeTechTips]

Well at least the Fractal Design Define R4 looks like it has a better airflow than the NZXT 440

oh man I was planning on upgrading my system with h440 with gtx 980 oc with custom water cooling. Is the airflow really that shitty

[warplane95]

Mine idle at 33 degree celcius with a 4670k (stock fan).

[mightytech]

oh man I was planning on upgrading my system with h440 with gtx 980 oc with custom water cooling. Is the airflow really that shitty

No. I have the case and when I got it my temps didn't even change at all. 

[Omon_Ra]

I have the Define R4 windowed in black. It's a nice case. I can't really compare it to any others, as this is the only case I've personally built in; but as far as airflow goes, it's great. I have two 120mm fans on a Corsair H100i pulling out of the top of the case. One 120mm in the top rear location, and two 120mm's in the front. With the HDD cage removed, the second 120mm fan in the front blows a ton of fresh air straight at the video card. I keep the front ones spinning all the time, but at very low RPM's. The rear exhaust only spins up once it gets to about 50* inside the case. My 5930K OC'd to 4.4GHz on six cores idles in the low 30's (depends on room temp) and under load is ~65*.

[airdeano]

title says it i would take the white version of booth of them 

 

it comes down to needing ODD drive space, aesthetics, and cost.

 

I don't know much about the fractal design define R4 about I did a lot of research with the NZXT 440 cuz I was planning on getting that case.

I really love the aesthetic of the case but as a silent PC case obviously one of the downside of a silent optimized case is the airflow. 440s airflow is so bad that liquid cooling is generally is not recommended for the case especially if you're looking on OCing your CPU and GPU that will generate alot of heat and the case won't be able to receive adequate cold air and disperse the hot air out because of the small vent of the PC.

 

BUT if you changed the liquid cooling (H105 or a kraken) to an air cooler like the NH-D15. The D15 basically destroys the liquid cooling option for that PC and I believe that that is best cooling option for the 440, the only downside of that is the air cooler itself. It doesn't look good in the window, Its HUGE and the colors of their fans is poop brown and vomit tan. won't go along especially if you are building a build with a colour theme.

 

But then again if you're not looking at OCing the PC and doesn't mind the 5 to 10 degree Celsius warmer temperature. The case is great.

 

well i have had both cases and there isn't 2° difference between them in case

temperatures or device temperatures.

as to air/AIO cooling, again, your research turned up wrong. both cases do very

well in both instances. the R4 is limited to the thinner AIO solutions as the H440

can handle the H105/Tt water 2.0 Extreme with great cooling.

 

Well at least the Fractal Design Define R4 looks like it has a better airflow than the NZXT 440

 

neither has the best airflow over one-another.

[MourningSouls]

The H440's airflow isn't quite as bad as many make it out to be, it's certainly not ideal but that can be said about many cases. I would say it is more cooling friendly than the R4 though.

 

 

Aesthetically I prefer the R4, but the H440 is in my opinion the better case. Make sure you get some good fans too.

[EeveeTechTips]

No. I have the case and when I got it my temps didn't even change at all. 

is H440 okay then with my set up in terms of temp and airflow then?

i7-2600K(slightly OC), MSI gtx 980 OC

[STRMfrmXMN]

is H440 okay then with my set up in terms of temp and airflow then?

i7-2600K(slightly OC), MSI gtx 980 OC

The NZXT will be fine. If you see all the fan mounts it has, it was clearly designed with airlflow in mind. Honestly, both are good cases but the H440 looks better in white IMO.

H440 comes with 4 fans pre-installed BTW so you should have no problems with cooling.

[EeveeTechTips]

The NZXT will be fine. If you see all the fan mounts it has, it was clearly designed with airlflow in mind. Honestly, both are good cases but the H440 looks better in white IMO.

H440 comes with 4 fans pre-installed BTW so you should have no problems with cooling.

yeah I was pushing for H440 for its looks.

I was planning on getting the red/black version and doing some custom watercooling with red tubes.

Hopefully goes well with my MSI card and whatnot

[STRMfrmXMN]

yeah I was pushing for H440 for its looks.

I was planning on getting the red/black version and doing some custom watercooling with red tubes.

Hopefully goes well with my MSI card and whatnot

Can you show us a PCpartpicker link please?

[EeveeTechTips]

Can you show us a PCpartpicker link please?

my mobo is outdated so doesnt show on partpicker but my specs are as followed

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core processor 3.4Ghz

 

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V

(http://www.asus.com/...rboards/P8Z68V/)

 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16gb DDR3 1600MHz

 

Storage: Intel SSD 335 series 240 GB, Seagate 2TB 5400rpm Drive

 

Case: Antec Lanboy ---------------------------> switching to H440

(http://www.antecindi...php?id=NzA0MzE3)

 

Sound card: Xonar DGX

 

Graphics card: PNY GTX 580 1536MB 384-Bit GDD5 PCI Express 2.0x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support with CPU cooling  ------------> switching to gtx 980

(http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133398) 

 

Power Supply: Corsair AX 750 -80 PLUS GOLD

(http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16817139016)

[STRMfrmXMN]

my mobo is outdated so doesnt show on partpicker but my specs are as followed

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core processor 3.4Ghz

 

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V

(http://www.asus.com/...rboards/P8Z68V/)

 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16gb DDR3 1600MHz

 

Storage: Intel SSD 335 series 240 GB, Seagate 2TB 5400rpm Drive

 

Case: Antec Lanboy ---------------------------> switching to H440

(http://www.antecindi...php?id=NzA0MzE3)

 

Sound card: Xonar DGX

 

Graphics card: PNY GTX 580 1536MB 384-Bit GDD5 PCI Express 2.0x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support with CPU cooling  ------------> switching to gtx 980

(http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133398) 

 

Power Supply: Corsair AX 750 -80 PLUS GOLD

(http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16817139016)

Pretty nice build TBH. Better than my GT610+Core 2 Quad

[Fragsa1]

As someone who has a H440 with a custom loop, I wish I had gone with the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe.

 

Better airflow, better rad support (ignoring the whole 2x 360 nonsense).

 

I've actually modded my H440 to be fairly similar to the Luxe now. (bottom mounted 240 rad).

 

The whole quite case aspect seems a bit redundant to me, having to scale fans up to account for restrictions.

[EeveeTechTips]

Pretty nice build TBH. Better than my GT610+Core 2 Quad

thanks Im gonna buy parts soon and start the project around early december.

I will probably make a log or vlog out of it to show the progress!

As someone who has a H440 with a custom loop, I wish I had gone with the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe.

Better airflow, better rad support (ignoring the whole 2x 360 nonsense).

I've actually modded my H440 to be fairly similar to the Luxe now. (bottom mounted 240 rad).

The whole quite case aspect seems a bit redundant to me, having to scale fans up to account for restrictions.

Yeah my other choices for the case were Phanteks Enthoo, Pro, Luxe or NZXT or even Corsair Graphite 760T if it goes on sale maybe.

This is my first time doing the custom water cooling so hopefully everything goes well!

[mightytech]

is H440 okay then with my set up in terms of temp and airflow then?

i7-2600K(slightly OC), MSI gtx 980 OC

Depends what cooler do you have.

[EeveeTechTips]

Depends what cooler do you have.

I'm planning on doing a custom water loop on my CPU and nothing for the GPU atm. Probably just going for MSI g4 gtx 980 which seems to have good cooling

[minicale]

H440 easier to get positive airflow with 3 in the front and it just looks better IMO.

[chibi-edowardo]

it comes down to needing ODD drive space, aesthetics, and cost.

 

 

well i have had both cases and there isn't 2° difference between them in case

temperatures or device temperatures.

as to air/AIO cooling, again, your research turned up wrong. both cases do very

well in both instances. the R4 is limited to the thinner AIO solutions as the H440

can handle the H105/Tt water 2.0 Extreme with great cooling.

 

 

neither has the best airflow over one-another.

 

I said "BUT if you changed the liquid cooling (H105 or a kraken) to an air cooler like the NH-D15. The D15 basically destroys the liquid cooling option for that PC"  also I said "But then again if you're not looking at OCing the PC and doesn't mind the 5 to 10 degree Celsius warmer temperature. The case is great."

 

So more or less what I'm trying to say was that the case made with a specific purpose and that is to reduce the sounds as much as possible and with that comes poor airflow. As @MourningSouls said "it's certainly not ideal but that can be said about many cases." I'm only trying to share what I learned to the OP and that is a liquid cooling option like the H105 won't be able to cool the CPU as much as the NH-D15 can.

 

Also I didn't do any research with the Fractal Design Define R4. I simply took a quick glance in google images and It "looked" like it has better airflow than the H440 because of the R4 has better front intake and better exhaust than the H440