Fractal Design Node 304 Black Aluminum/Steel Mini-ITX Small Form Factor Computer Case

Pros: -Outside of one issue (see cons), the build quality is absolutely superb and the case looks gorgeous. -Can fit a LOT of hardware into the case including decent CPU coolers and graphics cards -Dust filtering on front intake fans and over the PSU intake -Screw positions to install PSU either way (up/down) -Removable (theoretically - see below) hard drive cages with rubber mounts to dampen noise -Quality fans included, with fan controller!

Cons: One show-stopping con for this case: the tiny screws used to mount the hard drive cages in place are HORRIBLE. Not the thumb screws - those are fine - the tiny screws (one per HDD bay) near the front of the case. They are small and made of some cheap-o super soft metal. Two of mine happened to arrive fastened in tight, and because the metal is so soft, it bent/warped to the point where they CANNOT be removed at all. I tried about 10 different screwdriver heads and the metal is just too soft to unscrew them. So, 2 of my 3 hard drive cages are permanent fixtures and cannot be removed unless I go get my dremmel and cut them out for good. I am docking two eggs for this, because this is a potentially show-stopping issue for anyone who may want to remove the cages. I only have one HDD in my build so it's not a total deal-breaker for me.

Overall Review: I'm REALLY disappointed in the lapse in quality on those hard drive cage screws. It's surprising, because the rest of the build quality is SO good that to have one thing that bad is a mystery. It wouldn't have been hard for them to use decent screws there, but they didn't. I'm not going to bother with paying shipping on an RMA since I'm only using 1 HDD... hope I don't regret that in a couple years. Built this to be a quiet office/work PC: AMD A8-5600k CPU 8GB DDR3-1333 RAM ASRock FM2A85X-ITX mobo Noctua NH-L12 CPU cooler WD RE4 500 GB HDD Seasonic X-400 Platinum Fanless PSU

Pros: Out of the box and on my desk this case is great...it is so much smaller than my ATX case was. Inside the design is great with many options for keeping things organized. The one thing to note is to make sure to get the appropriate size PSU to go inside of this as most will be to big if you want to include your graphics card. I looked at the measurements and everything was just fine with the PSU I purchased.

Cons: With the thought of the PSU size in the Pros, you also have some issues with Cable Management if you do not get a modular PSU as there is not a lot of space to bundle extra cable together. The screw holes in the case also could have used another drill through as some were hard as heck to screw into. It does allow for a full sized graphics card (some limits, see measurements), but the space next to the case is very close.

Overall Review: Overall, I recommend this to anyone wanting to build a mini ITX case. Just keep in mind: -Don't buy a huge Heatsink/Watercooler -Make sure the PSU will fit. -Make sure Graphics Card will fit. (Check measurements of your components overall).

Pros: *Small Footprint *Lots of Interior Space *Understated and Stylish Design *Good Airflow *Dust Filters *High Quality, Quiet Fans

Cons: *Screws *Placement of PSU bracket

Overall Review: I've had this case for 2 years and 4 months now. Though I've occasionally looked into other cases to house my m-itx gaming build nothing else I've seen measures up to what I need. I took a long hard look at the Silverstone Raven but I could not get my CPU cooler in there. Also, I got this case on sale at it's current price when I originally bought it, so it was and is an exceptional buy in my opinion. The things I really love about thing I really love about this case is that you can fit all high end components into it and it doesn't look cramped after you are done. It houses a full length GPU (mine is nearly the length of the case), a full sized ATX PSU, a tall air cooler, or water cooling with a 140mm radiator. My initial build took some planning mainly due to the limitations on the size of the PSU due to the placement of the mounting bracket. I tried 5 different modular PSU's before I got what worked best. 2 of the others fit with my graphics card installed but were a noisier than I liked. I settled on the Seasonic S12G 750W. This fits with plenty of clearance for a big GPU. That was the only real problem I had to solve with this case. The screws included with the drive brackets are not good, but really are just a minor annoyance. There was one reviewer who trashed the case because he said he couldn't get the drive brackets off. I guess he never heard of WD-40. Better still is a few drops of Silicone lubricant applied with a Q-Tip. I can not stress enough how well thought out the airflow is in the case. The two 92mm fans do a good job of bringin cool air into the case while the 140mm exhaust gets the hot air out. What is more is the thoughtful placement of an intake vent positioned next to the GPU slot, and it being full length in order to allow all of the GPU cooler fans access to cool air. Another nice touch is the bottom intake vent for your PSU and an exhaust vent for the exit of its heat as well. The dust filters are another nice touch and they work great. The are positioned at all of your intake points and stop 99% of the dust in your environment from getting inside your rig. I've got 3 cats and a dog so that is a lot of dander, not including the stuff that the 3 other humans in the house generate. To this day when I open the case, as I occasionally do, for cleaning and component health inspection I find very little dust at all. A few blasts of canned air and a rinse of the filters and your done. These days the box resides on a shelf in my media cabinet hooked up to an AV receiver via HDMI. It's a livig room Steambox now and all of this case's winning attributes suit it well there. It's quite, stays cool even behind a glass door and passes the wife acceptance factor because it's out of sight and unheard except for a whoosh of air when it is under load. I just love it! Here's the current build: i7-4790K 8GB G-Skill Trident DDR3 2400 Corsair H90 AIO Cooler Asrock Z87-E Mini-ITX Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB SEASONIC S12G

Pros: Dual-chamber design accommodates a wide variety of potential system configurations. Fantastic and thorough documentation. 3 quiet 120mm fans and integrated fan controller included. Unique mounting mechanisms for installing copious amounts of storage. Flexible options for drive installation and additional cooling provisions. Easy to remove dust filters present for intake areas.

Cons: Internal optical drive options can quickly become expensive (if one is required). Two or three small areas of the frame present the potential to knick a hand. Window can become marred fairly easily.

Overall Review: My prior system was spacious, consumed considerable floor space, and was audible from far distances. The urge to return to normalcy with respect to system configuration and associate living volumes led me on a search to "upgrade" to something that was smaller and quiet, yet allowed retention of a disk array that houses media. Extensive research on other products within Fractal Design's portfolio led me down the road to consider the Node 804. The fantastic price Newegg was offering on this case provided the inspiration to pull the trigger on a system upgrade that would meet my compute and storage requirements in a much smaller form factor. The packaging that houses the Node 804 was well constructed and diminutive. Opening the box and removing the case was uneventful. The unit arrived in perfect condition with no blemishes nor crunched corners during the shipping process. The instruction manual for this case was unlike anything I've received in prior (and more expensive) offerings. All necessary hardware that was included with the case was high-quality and exceeded my expectations. Reading the manual provided a demonstration to the level of engineering Fractal Design allocates to their solutions. The process, when adhered to, will result in a very clean build with the appropriate use of included cable management. Two velcro straps on the floor of the chamber that holds the power supply, up to 8 3.5" HDD's, and the fan controller provides excellent control over the visibility and use of power feeds from the PSU. The included fans and fan controller were very serviceable. With all three fans running at the max setting, this case is very quiet. Scaling it down to the middle setting, the only fans that remain audible are the CPU cooler's fan and the GPU's fan (when it's under load). I took my time installing all of the components into the case, and did reference the manual to evaluate the options for installing the 2.5" SSD that is partitioned for use as a boot drive and a caching mechanism for the Intel RST RAID array. Use of the default locations behind the front panel made the most sense, and reduced the potential for clutter within. Dust filters cover the majority of ventilation entry points, and can be quickly removed, cleaned, and reinserted. Keeping this case clean will not be a chore. Components installed into this tiny footprint include: ASRock Z170 Extreme 4 motherboard 16GB (2x8 GB) G.Skill DDR4-2400 memory Intel Core i7-6700K CPU Arctic Cooling 11i CPU cooler XFX Radeon R9 Nano GPU OCZ Trion 100 960GB SSD (4) Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM drives in a RAID-10 configuration FSP Hydro-G 750W Modular PSU With everything in place, this system is gorgeous. The diminutive size and silence that has graced my office area once again have been appreciated by the family. With a minor investment in a small cart, I can effectively hide the computer from plain sight entirely while having a system with fantastic performance and plenty of room for future expansion. This case would also blend well when used in a HTPC type of role. The dimensions give it the appearance of a small subwoofer from a distance, and the lack of bling/lights/noise would make it a welcome edition to the family room. The largest weakness of this case is subjective and depends on your needs or desires for an internal optical drive. Believe it or not, Fractal Design did find a way to make room for such a storage device, but it comes with a considerable caveat. On the right hand side of the front bezel is a location to insert a CD/DVD/Blu Ray disk into a slot-load optical drive. Finding one of these in the appropriate form factor can be an expensive proposition. The LG DVD unit available from Newegg is reasonably priced, but will limit the capabilities of a system using this case for HTPC applications. Comparable Blu Ray units are not cost effective at all, and the lowest priced drives I've come across will ship from an overseas location. This may be a problem if you receive a faulty unit. As this system resides in a more traditional computing environment, I've opted to go the external route due to the number of available USB 3.0 ports that exist on the motherboard I selected.

Pros: Great ventilation. Easy setup. Easy install. Great cable management. Several cooling options and fan / radiator placement.

Cons: Screws are tiny, can easily be mixed up when taking apart and reassembling. Especially when removing the two top rear screws that attach the top to the rear of the case. These screws are slightly longer than all the others. I missed this at first and was going nuts trying to get the small ones to fit.

Overall Review: My first case / computer build. Since I use this for a NAS, I have a lot of open space inside, especially on the windowed side. I currently have 4 WD reds in the thing and will expand soon. Case is rather large for a NAS. The case looks like it's really designed for a beefed up gaming system. Plenty of room for PCI expansions and huge video cards. But still a great case. I really recommend it for gamers. Side window will look awesome with LED's. My system: -Fractal Design FD-CA-NODE-804-BL Black Aluminum / Steel Micro ATX Cube Case Computer Case -ASRock E3C226D2I Mini ITX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C226 DDR3 1600/1333 -Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory -Intel Xeon E3-1220V3 Haswell 3.1GHz LGA 1150 80W Server Processor -Cooler Master Seidon 120V – Compact All-In-One CPU Liquid Water Cooling System with 120mm Radiator and Fan -Antec EA-750 PLATINUM 750W 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Power Supply -LINKSYS PLEK500 Powerline HomePlug AV2 AV600 1 Port Gigabit Ethernet Kit -SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model SDCZ33-008G-B35 (For FreeNAS OS) -FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201506292130

Pros: I love the form-factor of this case, and while I was skeptical of µATX I didn't have any reason to not give it a shot. Between the Gigabyte and Asus, I went with the Z97 Gryphon because I was more likely to want Thunderbolt than m2. Having the drives caged on the other side allows for great management of temperatures on the disks, and the Hot Zone on the left has great airflow and allows the interior fans to sufficiently keep a handle on temperature when I export a large video for encoding in Handbrake, or my GPU is getting heavily used from a game. This case isn't as quiet as my Fractal Design Define R3, but I wasn't going for silent on this workstation. Adding an AIO water cooler to the CPU was trivial in this case, there are several places to orient a radiator so I had options. Since I went with an enclosed contained system I was limited to the length of tubing they built it for and I was glad this case could work with those constraints. I like that there is room for a slot-loading optical drive in this case and I thought I'd want to use one but I've never actually bothered — I have a USB 3 external BD-RW that I use when I need to, but most of my backup happens over the network anymore. It's well built, looks great, and is very stable and secure on a desktop. Hardly much chance to tip this thing over since it's a squat cube!

Cons: I'd rather have a window-less panel on the motherboard side. The window is easily smudged and hard to keep clean if you ever open it up, so it's a bit of an eyesore most of the time. The audio and LED connections for the front of the case may be a very short trip to your motherboard — when I fiddle with the SATA cables in the front for two SSDs I consistently knock the LEDs out of position and have to very carefully set them with the door almost mounted; it is an inconvenience at best, a design error at worst.

Overall Review: There aren't a lot of cases like this one on the market. There is the Corsair, though I found that design to be far too aggressive and Honda Civic for my taste. The Node 802 is understated and unusual and easy to work in when you need to get under the hood. I'd absolutely buy it again and hope Fractal Design continues to incrementally improve this form-factor.

Pros: - Cube Design (Perfect for HTPC, LAN Rigs) - Dual Chamber (Left and Right) - Room/Space (Lots of build volume on left chamber) - Cooling Support (Air and Water) - Large PSU support (Lots of room on right chamber for Power Supply)

Cons: The hard drive rack that sits over top of the power supply on in the right chamber is a bit hard to fit hard drives in while using a bigger sized power supply.

Overall Review: I would have to say of all the MicroATX cases that I've used over the years, this one takes the prize. This was an extremely hassle free case to use for my HTPC build. I really enjoyed the dual chamber design and the amount of room that this case gave me for the build. Perfect cube case by Fractal Design, I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a smaller HTPC or Lan rig case.

Pros: Holds lots of drives, 12 by design and even more if you are creative. Very spacious and cleverly separates the drives from the CPU/MB/HBA Card so they are in very different heat zones! Holds lots of Fans and can cool quite well if you put a few extra in! Great cable management to hide cables on the HDD side that isn ot visible so the CPU/MB looks really clean. Looks slick as heck -- esp. with AMD Wraith RGB Cooler!

Cons: Very little noise dampening so fans can be heard . . . but using high quality fans and fan controller greatly helps.

Overall Review: Fantastic for my Unraid Build . . . supporting my new home media server and Home Assistant home automation server via Docker Containers! Runs well, no heat problems (with additional Noctua fan blowing directly on the HDD PCIe card (LSI SAS 9207-8i), and looks slick as heck! I love this case, and design supports tons of drives in a clever layout, separate heat zones, and the support for Micro-ATX leaves alot of room for performance upgrades too! Couldn't ask for anything more!