Fractal Designs Define R5 Window Case Review
- Thread starter tinytomlogan
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NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Like the case but what i didn't like was the top panels removeable sections. Didn't seem well thought out tbh to me. One other thing i didn't like was the ODD no dust filter, though i understand why they didn't include something for that.
Other than that i was really shocked when you White Gold Award. Blew me away you thought so highly of the case!
Other than that i was really shocked when you White Gold Award. Blew me away you thought so highly of the case!
barnsley
born in a.....
Well to be honest Corsair haven't exactly managed to deal with the H440 or even what is coming out of Phantek's stable yet. It seems more that everyone is going for Corsair and beating them, not the usual of Corsair trying to beat all.
Greenback
Active member
seems the top covers are easier to remove if done from the inside
The_Governour
New member
This looks like a winner for me, but I am torn between this case + Sabranco or Enthoo Primo - I would go full custom loop as I have more than enough rads to fill any case. What to do?
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Pick whichever case that you can make your loop the cleanest and most aesthetically pleasing. Though i'm more tempted to wait for the next ARC case from FD. IMO it looks better so i'm more inclined to wait for that instead.
The_Governour
New member
which one are you thinking about?
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
The Fractal Design Arc case. They haven't released any info on it but we all know its coming.
RizeAllard
New member
This is an awesome case. Its a bit small for my needs but if I have to make some room for a silence home for a secondary rig it would be my choice in grey or black edition. 
It could be a good looking one with windowed side panel and with an MSI Krait in it. 
It could be a good looking one with windowed side panel and with an MSI Krait in it. NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Makes a lot of difference. Just for laughs i switched my solid panel and the window and ran a few benchmarks with both on the left side of the case and there was a noticeable difference with it being only a couple feet away.
This case is a worthy upgrade over the r3/4.
I watched the review yesterday on the train home and just read all of the comments, it seems I might be a bit late to get on a proper argument bandwagon but i'd like to weigh in with my thoughts.
Firstly I don't find it clean to look at it, it's simple but it's not clean and that seems to be my criticism of everything lately. I mean i'll say that about a Corsair, a Caselabs, anything ffs so I definitely need to say that again(except the 330R remember, I liked that). I'd have to do something about the overall un-cleanness before I would be happy to admit it was mine and the recessed motherboard tray would make it difficult to mod the interior, so even if I did like the outside it's straight out of the window for me personally.
I do however love the removable optical drive bays, every case ever should be built like that and the remainder should just have no optical bays. The latch on the front door, also great touch not quite as slick as an old Corsair but hey beats the sh** out of any current Corsair. The window panel looks nicely put together and considering the acoustic influence of the design I can forgive it for being so small. I do also like how open the interior is, no ugly shrouds or partitioned parts like NZXT or Phanteks, lots of good points for sure.
The removable split covers look pretty poorly thought out. While the idea of cleanly covering up an unused fan mount scores some OCD points the fact that half of the case behind the fan is left open seems stupid. May as well have it all open if they only do half a job when they are in position, OCD points deducted. Corsair smashed this game with magnetic filters. Front end looks very plasticy but having seen a little fractal build quality i'm sure it's actually pretty solid, maybe it's just down to the fact it's white in the vid. Still I look all around it and there's no bit that screams quality, understandably it is built to a very competitive cost.
Bringing me onto my final point, it seems unnecessarily cheap for who it could be aimed at, a watercoolist with some big rads is gonna have £2k+ easy, easy if not £3k to sink in the rig so another £50 to make this all out quality exuding would be no object to them. Nobody needs budget watercooling cases, watercooling is expensive, fact, just fittings for a two rad, two GPU simple loop would cost double what this case is. Air beats ghetto water for looks every day.
It seems they have listened to previous feedback and the community and observed what goes down so I can understand why TTL handed out the white gold award but I think they listened to everybody all at the same time a bit too much. If Corsair responded by removing the optical bays from a 550D and an extra 10mm of headroom so it could take two 360's this would get annihilated IMO, it would cost more, but it could.
Wow that was nearly a review in itself.
JR
Firstly I don't find it clean to look at it, it's simple but it's not clean and that seems to be my criticism of everything lately. I mean i'll say that about a Corsair, a Caselabs, anything ffs so I definitely need to say that again(except the 330R remember, I liked that
). I'd have to do something about the overall un-cleanness before I would be happy to admit it was mine and the recessed motherboard tray would make it difficult to mod the interior, so even if I did like the outside it's straight out of the window for me personally.I do however love the removable optical drive bays, every case ever should be built like that and the remainder should just have no optical bays. The latch on the front door, also great touch not quite as slick as an old Corsair but hey beats the sh** out of any current Corsair. The window panel looks nicely put together and considering the acoustic influence of the design I can forgive it for being so small. I do also like how open the interior is, no ugly shrouds or partitioned parts like NZXT or Phanteks, lots of good points for sure.
The removable split covers look pretty poorly thought out. While the idea of cleanly covering up an unused fan mount scores some OCD points the fact that half of the case behind the fan is left open seems stupid. May as well have it all open if they only do half a job when they are in position, OCD points deducted. Corsair smashed this game with magnetic filters. Front end looks very plasticy but having seen a little fractal build quality i'm sure it's actually pretty solid, maybe it's just down to the fact it's white in the vid. Still I look all around it and there's no bit that screams quality, understandably it is built to a very competitive cost.
Bringing me onto my final point, it seems unnecessarily cheap for who it could be aimed at, a watercoolist with some big rads is gonna have £2k+ easy, easy if not £3k to sink in the rig so another £50 to make this all out quality exuding would be no object to them. Nobody needs budget watercooling cases, watercooling is expensive, fact, just fittings for a two rad, two GPU simple loop would cost double what this case is. Air beats ghetto water for looks every day.
It seems they have listened to previous feedback and the community and observed what goes down so I can understand why TTL handed out the white gold award but I think they listened to everybody all at the same time a bit too much. If Corsair responded by removing the optical bays from a 550D and an extra 10mm of headroom so it could take two 360's this would get annihilated IMO, it would cost more, but it could.
Wow that was nearly a review in itself.
JR
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This is the first hardware review I've seen that mentioned fisting in the first 10 minutes. 
Damn near spat out my drink on that one! Nicely done Tom, and a nice piece of kit this is, especially for us guys who need HDD space. This would make a lovely water cooled file server!
Damn near spat out my drink on that one! Nicely done Tom, and a nice piece of kit this is, especially for us guys who need HDD space. This would make a lovely water cooled file server!NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
They did with the previous ones. You would have to ask the support team if you could get one.
Lystfiskern
New member
Brill review as expected.
Tom or anyone who do have the white R5.
The white R4 had a red start button led. Does it still on the R5 or have they switched so that they all now have blue? A little bird on the interwebz said that might be the case..
Cheers.
EDIT: Found that the white case now has blue power led.
Tom or anyone who do have the white R5.
The white R4 had a red start button led. Does it still on the R5 or have they switched so that they all now have blue? A little bird on the interwebz said that might be the case..
Cheers.
EDIT: Found that the white case now has blue power led.
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