Fractal Design Node 304 - Black - Mini Cube Compact Computer Case - Small form factor - Mini ITX – mITX - High Airflow - Modular interior - 3x Fractal Design Silent R2 120mm Fans Included - USB 3.0

Product Information

The Design Node 304 is an evolution of Fractal’s earlier Mini ITX NAS Case geared primarily for server duty. How well does it manage the noise and vibration of six 3.5″ drives? Can this modest 20 litre case keep the system cool enough? Overall, I’m a fan of this case. I wanted a small, elegant PC with a focused set of hardware inside—and that’s just what this case let me build. If this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, I’d highly recommend the Node 304. I think it’s worthy of at least 1.5 thumbs up, though I’d throw up the second if there were better options for cable management and fan speed. charlie89 - I hadn't realised the case itself has a fan controller. Can the fans be controlled by way of mobo headers (i.e. variable speed), or only by the fan speed switch in the case (fixed speed)? Putting your media in your HTPC is folly. The HTPC should by as tiny as other requirements permit and your files should live on another computer in the house. Gigabit or Wireless N are perfectly capable of handling 1080p streaming requirements. With an Intel i3 (around 54W max. TDP) and an COOLER MASTER Hyper TX 3 with the fan removed the CPU gets 70°C at maximum when running some programs which make full use of the CPU.

Node 304 Server Alternatives : r/sffpc - Reddit Node 304 Server Alternatives : r/sffpc - Reddit

I haven’t built a PC in 10 years. I’ve gotten tired of the dismal gaming performance of my MacBook Pro, however, and decided I needed a change. The node is designed for front intake and rear exhaust, so yes, the way you have planned it is the best way. The best Noctua fans you can get (although you don't have to get Noctua, there are plenty much cheaper fans that will do almost as well) are the NF-A9 and NF-A14. The Hyper 212 is a very good cooler for the money, but if you're going to be spending that much money on fans alone you might as well get an NH-D14 or NH-D15, although I'm not sure if they'll fit, it depends on your motherboard.Having been away from the PC market for a long while, I’m used to cruddy things stamped out of sheet metal with sharp edges and twisty angles that assured you’d shed some blood at some point during assembly. The last machine of comparable size I dealt with was a Shuttle mini-barebones system, and I think I still have at least one scar from tinkering around inside there. Nothing of the sort happened with this case, and I was continually surprised with how much room I had to play with, even despite initial worries about PSU depth vs graphics card length. You could replace the case fans with 4-pin fans so the motherboard could control them. This is what I did on my Define R4. Has anyone used the passively cooled C2750D4I with 6 drives in a Node 304? Thermals OK or a bit marginal? What about power consumption - is a 360W supply too much for this setup?

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case - Silent PC Review Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case - Silent PC Review

Against other mini-ITX cases housing our four drive server configuration, the Node 304 measured the loudest but the difference was small compared to the BitFenix Phenom and Chenbro SR30169, and the Node 304’s noise increase from the one to four drive configuration was modest. Also, vibration effects were substantially worse with the Lian Li PC-Q18 and BitFenix Phenom, to the point where this factor was more annoying than the airborne acoustics. The Node 304 also boasted the second lowest hard drive temperatures. Rear: 1 x 140mm Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fan, 1000 RPM speed (compatible with 120mm fans) – included I choose these two cases to compare with and i just can't find any big differences between these two cases... Along the floor of the left side of the case are some spots for employing zip/twist-ties. Unfortunately, given the cramped layout, there really isn’t much room for excess cabling.Perpendicular SATA cables would help but the drives are not mounted in the same orientation. If you want the cables to face the same direction, you’ll need both right-angle and left-angle connectors. One of the particularly nice features of this case is that it can take a full-sized ATX power supply. It goes in sideways, vents from the bottom, and there’s even a thoughtful cut-out in the bottom side of the case to accommodate a screwdriver while mounting the supply.

Fractal Design Node 304 review | bit-tech.net Fractal Design Node 304 review | bit-tech.net

Feb 2013 ~ 6:01pm fatcat Guys, the real value for this case is that it's mITX with support for a shitload of 3.5" HDDs. This is the only case like it, and is amazing. http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=608&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64&g=specMaximum during spinup with 6x6TB Reds is 126W for HDDs only. On top of that I would allocate another 40W* for the board/cpu itself on 12V. Combining that we'd be at circa 14A @ 12V which the PSU has to cough out at a minimum. To be safe I'd grab at least 18-20A on 12V. The final major piece to my build was a Diamond Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card, which fit with room to spare. This is where the concern over power supply length comes into play: Had that PSU extended much farther, or had I used a modular PSU, there might not have been enough room for this card—or a larger card, should I decide to upgrade in the future. But, this turned out fine, and as mentioned earlier the case housing offers a vent grille right next to the fan for this card. My sweet spot is something not as small as Node 202 and not as large as Corsair 250D (26L). My build is going to be a mini ITX with an ATX PSU (150 mm modular) and a 10 inch GPU. But, with clever placement, this PC case can blend into almost any living room. It might even fit into your entertainment center, though it’s quite a bit taller than most components. Still, it’s not much bigger than it needs to be. Conclusion The long hard drive activity LED is diffused somewhat, making for a pleasant blue glow. The white power LED underneath the bezel shines brightly downward like a spotlight and is blinding when viewed directly. We recommend leaving it disconnected.

Fractal Design Node 304 White Mini ITX Case - Scan Fractal Design Node 304 White Mini ITX Case - Scan

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=480&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64&g=spec Besides general file serving duties, primary use is to store older Photoshop / RAW files from my Lightroom catalog. Most of my photo editing work is done on my MacBook Pro (i.e. from high speed SSD), but with only 500 GB on the MBP, I have to move off older photos, which will get edited over the LAN from time to time. Media server duties will be modest - only occasional transcoding, and [almost] never to more than one device at a time. Some very light duty MySQL / web serving duties also.We’re happy to award the Fractal Design Node 304 our Stamp of Approval for a product we’d recommend for those looking to build a clean and non-intrusive Mini-ITX build.