Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hello everyone this is Dmitry with Herrick knucks and after the release of the final 5 from fractal design many of our viewers have expressed their interest in seeing how it compares to the widely popular NZXT H 440 both of these are pretty much and topping the charts for silent oriented builds and we decided to do this our 5 versus H 440 showdown two outstanding cases if you are considering water cooling they offer plenty of storage potential and solid build quality starting with the price both cases are released at $119 that I think is competitive from what they offer there are a dent just for both cases and we hope this video will help you narrow down your decision so the r5 is available in black white and titanium gray both in window and solid side panel options while the H 440 blends a little bit more variety into the mix with blue red and white and now the Razr edition of the case with a windowed side panel only both the h4 40 and the r5 are very minimalistic with the fractal case looking like every other defined release with a matte brushed plastic front panel while the atrial 40 brings a bit of a unique character into the mix I personally like the h4 40 more thanks to those rounded edges and glossy or matte accents depending on color combination but let us know which design you prefer in the comment below the i/o ports are located up top for both I like this location with four USB ports two of which are USB 3 PR buttons and your audio jacks the power button illuminates on the r5 in an attractive and non-distracting blue and that's the only letter portion of the case very subtle while the H 440 has a few extra illuminated spots so we have the power button the NZXT logo and the power supply shroud and the rear i/o is also illuminated now notice how the H 440 does not have an optical Bay this was a complaint many people had when we first released the full review but the r 5 has two optical base so that's definitely a bonus for fan controllers Bay reservoirs etc the age of 40 is slightly taller as top cover is built to act as a sound barrier while the r5 is slightly longer at the front the r5 has the upper hand for front intake layout as ventilation is on both sides with the large gap between the fam and the front panel while the intake ports on the h4 40 are only on the left side with a rounded corner on the right side that looks fantastic but the intake suffers easy removal dust filters are available for both with three 120mm fans included on the h4 40 with support for 140 millimeters as well while only a single 140 member fan is present on the r5 with dual fan mount available and they've done a fantastic job with getting rid of airflow barriers here the front utilizing a more open hard drive design and while the HR 14 does not have your conventional cage design instead they use a spaced out drive caddies that are independently mounted and I love this approach for top airflow options the extra top cover on the age of 40 allows the utilization of this space without totally sacrificing that silence element although the events on the top panel are facing the left side meaning if you are facing the side panel window you can easily hear the fan noise the r5 on the other hand utilizes these module ends that are in conveniently removed from the inside with difficult-to-reach clips and if you decide to install an Almond cooler in there you're effectively getting rid of any sound barriers although the ability to remove one or two of these covers for the slots that are utilized is appreciated for you know build specific scenarios and I would recommend these to stay closed for a totally silent build the r5 can support triple 120 s and 140 member fans up top while the h4 40 can do triple 120 s but only dual 140 million air fans so there is a bit of an advantage on a defined case with fan mount but notice there is no dust filter so the h4 40 has that slight advantage of the cover as it will prevent from any dust from settling in they also have very similar view layout with flexible fan mount to accommodate for top radiator clearance it ones 40 millimeter fan on each there are seven PCI slots and bottom dust filtration is present for the r5 spanning the entire floor and conveniently removable from the front and getting inside this is where the magic happens the main difference you see here would be the clear chamber separation is on the h4 40 the power supply is hidden so this means you have to do very little to make it they'll look clean plus all the drives are hidden behind this piece while the r5 is more conventional with modular drive cages so you can remove them reposition them depending on your system and how you want things to look and either case is very simple to work in the age of 40 supports a total of six three and a half inch drives with five on the metal drive caddies that also support SSDs and a single mounting slot on the floor and from the power supply while the dual cage on the r5 can accommodate four eight three and a half and two and a half inch drives both with dedicated SSD mounts as well I love the location of those on the h4 40 that is revealing you know you want to showcase your fast SSDs and they're also not very difficult to wire while it carries on the r5 are located behind the motherboard also an effective spot and it's utilized well long GPUs are not a problem for either the r5 with a cage in place we have 31 centimeters of clearance while the h4 40 until the drive caddy has 29 centimeters and keep in mind that both the cages and the drive caddies can be removed to accommodate for longer GPUs water cooling abilities on each case are super impressive for this form factor as efficient layout of the Interior means extra flexibility for water cooled systems and starting with the h4 40 having triple 120 s and dual 140 millimeter fans both at the top and the front means a combination of 360 and 240 normal radiators installed at the same time is possible and if you do install a radiator at the front of the case this means sacrificing on all Drive caddies while having a more conventional cage system on the r5 allows users to relocate the drive closer to the power supply to have clearance in the front and that's exactly what I did there for my build so you still can accommodate for water cooling without totally getting rid of your mechanical storage and the r5 is more flexible in this way that I think appeals to water cooling more you can even remove the optical drive cage and install your main drive cage there to have clearance for a bottom radiator for example and after assembly each case looks gorgeous on the inside with really clean cable management with appropriate cutouts around the motherboard with the h4 40 having a slightly better accommodation for micro ATX builds with cutouts at the bottom while the r5 perfectly accommodates for full ATX boards just fine auto coming around to the back and checking out the cable management I have to give this one to fractal design as I was able to clean up everything with no hassle and look at just our flat my cables look without any problems of closing the panel then that's a very different story with the h4 40 there isn't that much room behind the motherboard tray plus the foam on the side panel restricts so much clearance and this in turn makes it really difficult closing the panel and you can even see the indentations in the foam from my personal build because of all the tight cables and because of the power supply chamber you don't really have to deal with anything you know in front of the power supply so that element of cable management on the h4 40 is easier but the limited spacing between the side panel and the motherboard tray creates a more difficult overall process than on the define r5 and a few last things to mention is exactly how silent are these cases well the window on the age of 40 does not do a good job with noise isolation plus the exhaust vents on the left side are not ideal as you can hear fan noise regardless if you expect a totally silent system lower your expectations as you have to approach this with the new lower rpm fans and other silent components for this to be a truly silent case they define our 5 however handles sound isolation like a boss giving you keep your margins in place and of course the full side panel is more effective than the window at blocking the noise for my test system I use the same hardware but with different cooler orientation so this isn't exactly a perfect comparison but the idle CPU temperatures hovering around 32 and 35 degrees Celsius while GPU was at 30 and 31 for the R 5 and H for 40 respectively at load the CPU temperatures were just over 50 degrees Celsius and GPU is slowly rising to high 70s during game time and this effectively tells us that cooling on both cases is perfectly sufficient without adding any extra case fans aside from the dual 140 millimeter fans on the crack and X 61 and so for conclusion I think both of these cases really stand out and offer everything for the modern builder be it an enthusiast editing machine or an office PC I personally prefer the exterior design of the H 440 but I also appreciate the modest looks of the r5 the lack of an optical Bay on the NZXT case however is an excuse to choose the competition building inside each of these is enjoyable but I have to give the edge to the r5 for simpler Drive installation and having a less crammed interior plus more space behind the motherboard tray for super easy cable management but I also really love the power supply shroud on the H 440 to help with chamber separation the H 440 also comes with four fans while the r5 only with two but cooling on both is comparable and excellent and while you have to take into account the limitations on each case regarding its silent features I would still personally opt out for the r5 if silence is your priority and for my own editing rig I've gone ahead with the 840 as I wanted to utilize the top slot for the cooler but because we have the 2 extra drive caddies on the r5 I might switch to that to accommodate for more backup drives now I realize there are benefits and drawbacks to each chassis and thus one cannot be sort of titled superior or the King so it's a matter of preference and so let us know which case you would prefer for your specific build and priorities with a comment below and yours like if you enjoy this type of content and let us know what to cases should go head-to-head in the next showdown and as always we appreciate your subscription make sure to check out our full use of the definer 5 and the H 440 here thank you for watching and we'll see you in the next one