Building With The Define R4
The Define R4 separately packs a medium-sized bag of small SSD screws, a small bag of thumb-screws for optical-drives, a large bag of shoulder screws for 3.5” drives, four power supply screws, nine brass standoffs, and ten motherboard screws. That's right, Fractal Design was thoughtful enough to include a spare!
HD Audio has been the standard for over ten years, so Fractal Design ditches AC'97 from its front-panel audio connector. USB 3.0 plugs directly into a motherboard’s internal header, and Fractal Design does not include an adapter for older boards lacking the new standard.
Had we been using a 3.5” drive in our test configuration, shoulder screws would have prevented us from crushing the drive tray’s vibration-dampening grommets. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that since our SSD screws directly onto the tray.
Our mildly-oversized motherboard covers most of the Define R4’s front-facing cable management holes, forcing us to seek alternative routes. NO problem, though; we were able to wrap even the thickest cables around the tray’s front edge.
The finished build looks great on anyone’s desk, assuming your desk can support its unique heft, that is.