Fractal Design Define R4 Review

On top, the Define R4 has the capability of supporting two more 140mm (or 120mm) fans.  Each of the fan mounts come populated with sound dampening foam to reduce noises from within the chassis.  These foam pieces also do a good job of keeping dust out.  The fan placement will allow for a 240mm radiator to be installed without too much trouble.  There may be some clearance issues depending on your choice of radiator with a motherboard installed.

Around back you have some pretty standard fair.  The 7+1 expansion slots, the IO cutout, and a 140mm fan.  There are no water cooling cutouts as this case is designed to home water cooling components from within.

The sides are standard; this flavor of R4 didn’t ship with a side window but does allow you to install an additional 140mm fan.  Again, the spot comes pretreated with the same foam as the top.  Each of the side panels is outfitted with material to keep noise to a minimum.

Typically, the bottom of a case doesn’t garner much attention.  The Define R4 doesn’t have anything crazy going on down below, but it does have some nice stereo style feet and removable fan filters for the PSU intake and optional fan.

The Define R4 starts to separate itself from the competition where it counts…on the inside.  Internally, the first thing that grabs your attention are the white accents.  There are two drive cages that have a total of eight removable drive trays for your 3.5″ HDDs.  The bottom most drive cage can be installed in two places or removed.  The top drive cage can be removed completely or turned sideways so that the drives pull towards the motherboard.  Unfortunately, you can’t spin it completely around so that the drives could be pulled from the front of the case behind the fan bracket.  That would have allowed you to remove drives without having to remove the side panel.