Fractal Design Node 804 case, Window

Fantastic case -- makes me want to buy from fractal forever.Pros:-Excellent modularity. Definitely can tell that they spent a lot of time thinking about PC builders and their needs.-Sleek, professional looking-Quiet.-Room for water cooling radiator (120mm or 140mm fan mount space)-Good air flow through case-Great dimensions-Easy to get to different parts of the case-Can fit large graphics cards-ATX PSU fits wonderfully-Dust filters!Cons:-Difficult to get at front fans sometimes-Screws holding in HDD "cages" are pretty easy to strip. Use the largest screwdriver that will fit, and replace with some of the other screws that came with the case.-Cable management can be a little iffy unless you make use of the HDD bar-No option for optical drive

I originally bought this case for a gaming rig. I had a BitFenix Prodigy build, and wanted to move to something much smaller. The Fractal Design Node 304 seemed perfect with its smaller, yet simpler design. Also, its build quality. If you didn't know by now, Fractal Design make pretty cases. Due to some issues I'll cover towards the end, I ended up building a ZFS server (19TB), but let's do the pros and cons first.Pros.Price - For what you're getting, the price may seem a bit high. However, when you compare it to other cases, Fractal Design have priced their Node 304 very well. It is much lower than any other mITX case. In terms of expanding, the Node 304 takes it. Over all, the price is actually very low. Don't feel bad (time of this purchase, $89.99)Design - The front aluminium cover is made out of plastic, but looks just as good. In fact, I actually prefer the plastic aluminium as finger print stains are virtually non-existent. Also, I'm sure it cuts back on pricing as well. So, I'm all for it.Expansion - The hard drive brackets are a very effective way of cramming up to six 3.5'' hard drives. Even with a video card installed, up to 4 hard drives can be installed. However, if you're building a gaming rig. You'll only really need one of the brackets.Cons.PSU - Under specs, the Node 304 allows up to 160 mm. However, the modular/non-modular cables are not accurately accounted for. Therefore, if you have a lengthy graphics card, the cables/plugs are surely to interfere. I recommend a non-modular power supply. Personally, I tucked the unused cables between the front steel frame and the front plastic brushed-aluminium cover. However, space in between is limited. This is really the only con. Do your research with regards to the power supply that will be used, and the graphics card.My Prodigy was liquid cooled, and I wanted to switch to the Node 304 with passive air cooling. However, the I had large components already. I ended up using this build as a ZFS RAIDZ-2 Ubuntu Server build. Houses six 2.5'' 3TB hard drives, and one 2.5'' 32GB SSD for ZFS cache memory. The dust filters work great, keeps my maintenance to a monthly.If you're going to build a gaming rig, and you're buying your components as well, then do your research. It will definitely pay off, and you'll have a nice little sleeper gaming rig.If you're building a storage server, and you're okay with no hot swapping, than go for a little, yet huge storage build (19TB).You won't regret this case either way.Best,Dan

Really happy with this purchase. I had never built a computer before but NAS'es are so expensive when you don't need all the extra features, and once I started looking at building instead this case just jumped out at me. Based on all the research I did I was confident it would suit my needs for a simple unRAID media server to place underneath my entertainment armoire (one of the few cases with low enough clearance to fit) but there were things I was apprehensive about too. Mostly about how much of a nightmare cable management would be in such a small case. But as it turned out the build couldn't have been easier. I bought a modular PSU which did help (I'd seen several reviews for this case that recommended that) but if you're not planning on installing a graphics card it really isn't necessary since that will leave plenty of room on that side of the case to tie down your cables (and the little eyelets running on down both sides of the case for your cable ties are a big help too). The other thing that helped a lot for me was going with a passively cooled board/cpu combo. Without the CPU cooler (although there is plenty of height if you need one) the case seems quite roomy despite its small dimensions.The other great thing about the case besides the excellent design and well thought layout are that the case fans are really quiet. I have my PSU powering the case fans directly instead of controlling through the mobo and when I have the fans on the low setting I don't hear them at all unless I'm close enough to the case to touch it. Even on medium setting I have to strain a to hear them from normal TV viewing distance with the hum of my UPS actually more noticeable (what sound there is isn't at all unpleasant and just blends in as white noise). About the only thing with the case that I'm not crazy about are that the LEDs for power (blue) and especially for hard drive activity (white) are too bright for my tastes. So I may still pull the case out to disconnect those or put some tape over to shade them. That's really just a quibble though. Overall this turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for an I'm extremely happy I bought it.Complete build:Case: Fractal Design Node 304Board/CPU: ASUS C60M1-I (w/dual core AMD Fusion C-60 and 6 SATA3 connectors -- perfect for low power server!)RAM: Kingston Hyper X 4GB DDR3 1333PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer MKIII 400w modularHard Drives: 3x3TB WD Reds