Built my PC with one of these. Fantastic case...

Built a machine earlier in the year using one of these cases and whilst it is not perfect due to the issues already mentioned, for me it was the best looking case on the market and so I went for it. Happy with the purchase, but would be even happier if the issues were sorted out.

Yeah I really love the fractal design S. It's a really nice case and its £70. 3 bays is enough for most people.

If you need the larger storage all internal the Design r5 is a really good edition. You can get what like 10hdd+?

Just a word of warning. I own this case and it has a fan header splitter/hub in the back. connected it up all correctly and after turning it on it started smoking! Something is causing a short with that fan hub. did a online chat with Nzxt. took an age as they take over 10 mins to reply and they promised me if i filed a RMA on there page i would get it sorted. This was back in July and STILL no replies to my request or any additional ticket.

This IS an amazing case but ruined by poor CS and support. :disappointed:

Is this aluminium or plastic?
This is the daddy

I went for the Red/Black build - very happy with the case, cable management, noise, clean & distinctive look etc. Your blue/black build looks amazing though, good effort!

I have this exact case. My build is quiet and cool. I have an overclocked Skylake 4700k with a Corsair H100i v2 in it and my processor is running at 25 degrees C idle, the mobo at 28 degrees and rarely gets above 40 degrees under load.

Very nice build. Would the s340 be any different ? the negatives still apply ? ie airflow . anyone know.

Great write up on your experience with it! I personally love the case but the negatives you point out are valid.

I haven't added any other fans bar the stock ones so the case is incredibly silent, especially coming from a 5 year old NZXT Tempest Evo... Although I did add 3 top 120mm fans when I first got it and it made it too loud for me so I sent them back straight away.

My temps are pretty good with this case, but then again I rarely game or do any heavy tasks anymore, the most stress is video encoding and music recording which is very little. My GPU idles around 24-29 and CPU is 18-23 over all cores, another factor being my room is constantly freezing, I just love the cold so my room is an overclockers dream.

The PSU shroud was my main factor in purchasing it, I hate messy cable management and this looked like the perfect way to keep it to a minimum. It turned out exactly how I wanted so I couldn't have been happier. I haven't changed anything since building but I can definitely imagine adding components would be a huge pain. I've purchased the black case for a new build so everything will be moved at once.

I agree on the PSU mount for the SSD, could have been thought out better.

I can't remember the last time I've used a 5.25" drive so like you it's never been a real issue, my brother however constantly uses his so it would be nice to have an option for the case when purchasing if you'd like the door with or without one, but then it would ruin the front fan configuration so I guess they'd have to change a lot with the case.

I'd say if you are a hardcore enthusiast looking to get the best OC's and are constantly upgrading it's definitely not a case best suited for that. It's more of a build once, sit and look damn pretty for the rest of it's life kind of case. The Fractal is also a great case, I think it's just down to personal taste. The H440 is my dream case, it's appearance just ticks all the right boxes for me!

Anyway here's my baby, nothing special internally but it makes me happy :smiley: Can't wait to get this black one, as the only thing that I haven't been content with is the blue, my whole setup is black/white so it'll be nice to have a matching set.

I bought this case a year ago. I had the black/red. I have some major issues with this case.
There really isn't much airflow for the front intake. It looks like enough but when you do a simple temperature comparison from the front panel on vs off you will see huge temp differences + noise.

So yes this is a silent case which is what I bought it for, however due to the lack of airflow because of the little air vents plus the silence foam makes it a little hot. Hot= faster speeds to cool the components = more noise. I ended up with all the covers off and just the shell to maximise airflow. Kind of defeated the point of a PC case when you have the covers off.

The second issue I had with this, which I thought was good before buying it was the PSU shroud. Yes it does indeed hide the ugly cables coming out from it as much as possible, however if you want to add a cable to the modular psu or take one out you are unable to unless you unscrew the psu mount then undo all the cables then add the ones as needed. I had to do this when I bought a couple of extra ssds which needed another sata cable.

You can try and do it from the front but unless you have the front panel off and no HDD you be cursing trying to get cables in and out.

You can mount ssd on the PSU shroud but you are forced to use a straight sata cable. It would have been a nice touch to have the mounting tray a bit further back so you still have plenty of room for a 90 degree sata cable which goes directly down for managing cables.Not a huge disadvantage but added to my decision.

Third issue you have a similar air flow on the top of the case so the 3x 120mm mounting you can intake room temp air into the case or you can try and push the hot air out of the case. Neither really works well I tried both configs. Also you don't have a magnetic filter/dust filter so if you wanted to use it you would have to deal with the dust for intake.

I guess a disadvantage is the lack of 5.25" drive but I don't use it at all. For the annual time I do use it I have a usb 3 dvd drive which was similar to the cost of a DVD drive anyway.

The things I like about this case was the LED light on the back of the motherboard I/O that is a really nice touch. Rarely do people have good lighting for the back of their PC.
Also the screws for the side panels don't fall off which again is a nice little touch.

So TLDR:
+ Sexy looking case
+ LED backlight
+ Nice side window/resistance to minor scratches.
+ Plenty of room for multi gpu set ups.
+ Useful mounting trays both for 2.5" drives or 3.5"
+ Adjustable fan positioning at rear
+ So much potential storage you could have like 8HDD and 2 SSD so could use it as a NAS?

- Thermals ( main factor for me)
- Noise (secondary)
- Hard to cable manage PSU after installation/upgrading
- Shroud is an interesting design. I would LOVE to have it be able to take it out if needed. Modular cases are great.
- Dust filters would be nice on all intakes or at least make an accessory similar to the front which fits on the top as needed.
- No door for front panel. Its either on or off, Plastic pins to push into case or pry off. Some force needed.
- There is a fan splitter but its only 3pin in and out so limited fan control. Have to buy NZXT Grid+ for that (which I love)
- There is technically a lot of space in the hidden side panel for cable management but once you have the 1cm of silence foam you don't get a huge amount of flexibility. (I'm not a cable management pro)


I just wanted to point out some of the flaws I didn't see when looking at the multiple videos on YouTube. I will try and answer some questions if you have any further comments.

I am currently using the Fractal Design S which a nice quality with features for watercooling in the future. It does everything I want it to (about £70). Another option might be the Fractal Design R4 (£75) which is this direct competitor or the R5 which I built for a friend which is currently £90 ish for colours/window etc.

I don't comment on cases which I haven't built in but I was disappointed.

A what?

Great price. Just be aware that there is no front slot for a DVD or blu-ray drive, so if you want one you will need to use an external USB drive.