Fractal Design Node 804 Micro ATX Case - Black

This is THE solution for building a home NAS, especially with 3.5 inch drives, vertically mounted for great cooling and up to mATX motherboards. What isn't mentioned is the slot for a blu-ray or dvd (thick laptop drive only). It's reasonably easy to construct, and all drives were reachable with standard size sata cables. The integrated fans come with a fan controller and h/m/l switch on the back. They're barely noticeable on low. The case is a tad flimsy but nothing terrible, and they should have put the usb slots on the other side, as when you need to work inside the case it's easier to pop it on that side - so you have to remember to take everything out of those ports first. Mine came with a dented top, which is removable, as well as the sides, making it easier to ... MoreThis is THE solution for building a home NAS, especially with 3.5 inch drives, vertically mounted for great cooling and up to mATX motherboards. What isn't mentioned is the slot for a blu-ray or dvd (thick laptop drive only). It's reasonably easy to construct, and all drives were reachable with standard size sata cables. The integrated fans come with a fan controller and h/m/l switch on the back. They're barely noticeable on low. The case is a tad flimsy but nothing terrible, and they should have put the usb slots on the other side, as when you need to work inside the case it's easier to pop it on that side - so you have to remember to take everything out of those ports first. Mine came with a dented top, which is removable, as well as the sides, making it easier to route the cables.You could possibly fit 2.5 inch drive adaptors in the 3.5 inch bays although the mounting is a little bit different, so you'd have to think about which adaptors would work best.It would have been nicer to have thumbscrew screws that don't come out completely (so you don't loose the bolts) but again that's a minor niggle. The clearance under the case is very poor and not great on carpet, much like the two 2.5 inch bays on the floor of the case where the motherboard sits.The side window is plastic but that doesn't bother me at all and makes the case lighter (something to appreciate when it's populated with drives. None of the 2.5 inch bays are easy to fit, relying on directly screwing them to the frame of the case, very utilitarian.I would have liked a reset switch, but that's denied with this case, only letting you do a hard-off, which isn't really the best, especially for a NAS enclosure!So, it was slightly pricey at ~£115 given the quality and design shortcomings but overall it's pretty good.Designated bays:8 HDD 3.5inch bays mounted vertically in the right compartment with the PSU2 SSD / 2.5 inch bays directly on the floor adjacent to the mobo2 SSD / 2.5 inch bays mounted on the front panel that you break away from the case to access1 thick laptop DVD/Bu-ray drive mounted on the front right of the front panel.Front panel:2xusb3 (type A)Power switch.

Awesome mini-ATX case

This is probably the best case that I've ever built in. There's plenty of space to work in. It's nice that it comes with plenty of standoffs and screws for install. I usually have to beg, borrow and steal screws for my drives, or I'm missing one (and only one) standoff. The instructions are pretty well written. I like how half of the case is for the motherboard and cooler and the other half is for the power supply and drives. The biggest problem I had was pretty much my fault. I assumed the hard drive screws that they call "3.5 drive screw" would work for screwing in the removable drive bays. But once I did that, I realized I had the wrong drives in there (it was a new rebuild of my media server, but I didn't put in my media drives). But once I got the screws in ... MoreThis is probably the best case that I've ever built in. There's plenty of space to work in. It's nice that it comes with plenty of standoffs and screws for install. I usually have to beg, borrow and steal screws for my drives, or I'm missing one (and only one) standoff. The instructions are pretty well written. I like how half of the case is for the motherboard and cooler and the other half is for the power supply and drives. The biggest problem I had was pretty much my fault. I assumed the hard drive screws that they call "3.5 drive screw" would work for screwing in the removable drive bays. But once I did that, I realized I had the wrong drives in there (it was a new rebuild of my media server, but I didn't put in my media drives). But once I got the screws in those holes, I couldn't get them out. They wouldn't catch on the screwhole, so it spun like it was stripped. I probably should have used the 2.5" drive screws instead. I had to snap the screws off. But other than that last part, which I admit was my fault anyway, this was a near perfect case for me. I would have liked a reset button or a brighter case light, but those are minor issues.

Excellent Unraid Enclosure

A few years back I made a FreeNas server to hold my media and also do Plex. I used the Node 304 as my case for that build. That case is excellent and nicely sized. After a while something went wrong with the server and I let it sit collecting dust. Right before the pandemic, I got into a bit of a pc building binge and basically built a new gaming pc for myself and update my son’s rig. In doing so I discovered Unraid. I installed it and immediately knew this would work well for me. I also knew that I should update the hardware to be able to effortlessly serve media in 4K and also be expandable. The Node 304 is a great case but it’s an ITX case so I would be limited to how many sata connections I would have and no way of expanding. The Node 804 was my choice here. I ... MoreA few years back I made a FreeNas server to hold my media and also do Plex. I used the Node 304 as my case for that build. That case is excellent and nicely sized. After a while something went wrong with the server and I let it sit collecting dust. Right before the pandemic, I got into a bit of a pc building binge and basically built a new gaming pc for myself and update my son’s rig. In doing so I discovered Unraid. I installed it and immediately knew this would work well for me. I also knew that I should update the hardware to be able to effortlessly serve media in 4K and also be expandable. The Node 304 is a great case but it’s an ITX case so I would be limited to how many sata connections I would have and no way of expanding. The Node 804 was my choice here. I could use a Micro ATX and get a sata expansion card. And it had room for 8 3.5” drives, with the hanging caddies and 10 fans for cooling. It’s little bigger than I thought but it is perfect for what it’s for.

Fantastic Fit, Finish and Function

Historically I've given much thought to picking out a case. I've never been a gamer so cooling wasn't a priority for an average desktop build. This time, building a NAS server, the design and cooling matters. This case far exceeds my expectations in every way. From the separation of PSU and HDDs to one side of the case away from the Mobo, to the sleek look, to the support for up to eight 3.5 drives + two 2.5 drives.I did have an issue with the power button out-of-the-box and Fractal support was responsive and send out a replacement the next day. Super friendly and easy to work with. Issues happens, having a responsive company that stands 100% behind their product is invaluable.I don't think I'll ever need to think about which case company to go with in the ... MoreHistorically I've given much thought to picking out a case. I've never been a gamer so cooling wasn't a priority for an average desktop build. This time, building a NAS server, the design and cooling matters. This case far exceeds my expectations in every way. From the separation of PSU and HDDs to one side of the case away from the Mobo, to the sleek look, to the support for up to eight 3.5 drives + two 2.5 drives.I did have an issue with the power button out-of-the-box and Fractal support was responsive and send out a replacement the next day. Super friendly and easy to work with. Issues happens, having a responsive company that stands 100% behind their product is invaluable.I don't think I'll ever need to think about which case company to go with in the future. Fractal all the way every time.

Fantastic Micro-ATX Case with unparalleled flexibility!

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. ... MoreMy 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.

NAS BOX par excellence !!!

It came with the usual list of suspect items, box of screws, a small instruction pamphlet that is somewhat hard to read but was ok. Now about that pamphlet; I know that these are printed overseas and shipped in cargo containers so getting the maximum amount of pamphlets in one container is desired but Fractal Design should revisit this issue for those that have less than 20/20 eyesight. Suggest it be bigger - this goes to the PDF's as well suggest you make them a little larger when printed on 8x11 paper (Sorry EU ur A4 is still to small) Everything that was in that old server was removed and inserted into Node 804. (Dust bunnies were not)! Building the HDD cages was a snap thanks to grommets and screws. Boy You get a lot of screws and they are all BLACK don't drop ... MoreIt came with the usual list of suspect items, box of screws, a small instruction pamphlet that is somewhat hard to read but was ok. Now about that pamphlet; I know that these are printed overseas and shipped in cargo containers so getting the maximum amount of pamphlets in one container is desired but Fractal Design should revisit this issue for those that have less than 20/20 eyesight. Suggest it be bigger - this goes to the PDF's as well suggest you make them a little larger when printed on 8x11 paper (Sorry EU ur A4 is still to small) Everything that was in that old server was removed and inserted into Node 804. (Dust bunnies were not)! Building the HDD cages was a snap thanks to grommets and screws. Boy You get a lot of screws and they are all BLACK don't drop one in a dark room. In the PARTs Box there is a Chrome cap that goes over the Motherboard posts that screw into the frame so you can tighten them up (Helpful Tip - I use a small amount of Finger Nail polish to help secure the posts- color choice is yours). It will take some rather large HeatSinks for example my old Cooler Master 80mm unit worked. YMMV If you building a server - air flow is critical as is the Air temp! Using a stock CPU cooler is OK for a low CPU power NAS. But moving air around the HDD is mandatory this is why I mention the amount of fans and lack of clearance where fans could do some MAJOR good like pushing air up through the HDD cages from the case bottom. Currently My HDD's run from 84 to 90 degree Fahrenheit AT IDLE; you Metric types that about 28 to 32 C. Of course if they were all 2TB SSDs I would not care. Building this was somewhat tedious - a lot of remove and reconfigure including the PSU and re running the cables. But its working, I moved my 9 TB of vid's to the array w room now for more. This unit will sit on a desk later but is now on the top of a computer armoire. YOU MUST like the CUBIST design that FRACTAL has used to make this NODE 804 - which I do so like - A Lot !! Also Fractal if your listening. Don't get me wrong anything can be improved. It would be nice if this Case design went back to the drawing board and was looked at with certain improvements in mind. Call is NODE 804 B ( why the B - because they listen to their customers). What you the consumer's need to know is that as wonderful as this item is it's not an END ALL TO END ALL - if you get my drift. And You must love the CUBIST design... maybe a trip to the Guggenheim Museum in New York is in order since its done.."it couldn't hurt"

Poor quality control and after service from Fractal

Great case with a few minor annoyances, but mine arrived with a small dent in the top and the HDD LED was a loose wire in the box and should have been glued into the front panel.Cable management is not very easy in this case as there is nowhere to tie the cables. Just a small revision with a few extra holes would fix this.Also, the chassis itself is very flimsy and not braced, so when doing your build, you can feel it flexing quite a lot as you move it round, again, a small revision could fix this.Emailed Fractal weeks ago and they never responded. Would not buy another Fractal product because of this.On the plus side, the cooling is good, I'm using it as a NAS and I replaced the stock fans with 4x Noctuas and it runs very cool and near silent.Holds plenty ... MoreGreat case with a few minor annoyances, but mine arrived with a small dent in the top and the HDD LED was a loose wire in the box and should have been glued into the front panel.Cable management is not very easy in this case as there is nowhere to tie the cables. Just a small revision with a few extra holes would fix this.Also, the chassis itself is very flimsy and not braced, so when doing your build, you can feel it flexing quite a lot as you move it round, again, a small revision could fix this.Emailed Fractal weeks ago and they never responded. Would not buy another Fractal product because of this.On the plus side, the cooling is good, I'm using it as a NAS and I replaced the stock fans with 4x Noctuas and it runs very cool and near silent.Holds plenty of storage and there's plenty of room to work with, although if you are using a large air cooler, I would check the height requirements. Not sure about graphics cards as I am not using one.Overall, a good case for my purpose, good cooling and looks fairly good. Only let down by poor quality control and after sales service by the manufacturer.

Review of Fractal Design Node 804 Black PC Case

A cases is a case, right? Nope! This is a real quality item. Very solid with every single part, from the case itself to all of the bits and bobs that come with it. With so much space inside, access, build and cable management are a dream. There is plenty of scope for extra cooling, but the airflow is already great. The case fans are very quiet and can be controlled from an external switch (warning - you need a spare SATA power connection for the case fans. Very, very happy I chose this as my case for a new NAS.

Roomy case with some flaws

Overall this case is passable if you have a need for a ton of fans or space in your case. However, I feel like the space in the case is not used very efficiently at all. The area for the motherboard is way to big. You just end up with a ton of empty space unless you have some enormous air cpu cooler. Then the power supply and drives are stuffed on the other side. And I mean stuffed. There is barely room for a sata power connector between the drive and the power supply in the right drive cage. The left drive cage has lots of room under it, but again this is completely wasted room. You can use it to stuff wires and such I suppose, but IMO it would've been much better to have the 8 drives stacked vertically instead of hanging down from the top of the case. I think ... MoreOverall this case is passable if you have a need for a ton of fans or space in your case. However, I feel like the space in the case is not used very efficiently at all. The area for the motherboard is way to big. You just end up with a ton of empty space unless you have some enormous air cpu cooler. Then the power supply and drives are stuffed on the other side. And I mean stuffed. There is barely room for a sata power connector between the drive and the power supply in the right drive cage. The left drive cage has lots of room under it, but again this is completely wasted room. You can use it to stuff wires and such I suppose, but IMO it would've been much better to have the 8 drives stacked vertically instead of hanging down from the top of the case. I think there are other drive cages and adapters you can buy for this, but I'm only reviewing how the case comes stock. The case also comes with a bunch of little HDD adapter plates. I'm not really sure what the purpose of these are. 2 of the screws line up just fine without the bracket. Maybe there is a drive that doesn't have the screw in the middle? Overall the case just feels cheap. The metal is thin and flimsy. The acrylic window is not doing it any favors either. I would have rather seen no window than a cheap acrylic one. Also the thumb screws are low quality and just don't feel good when threading in at all. The filters while all removable are thing and cheap. I know a lot of people like to use this case for a NAS build because of the large amount of storage you can get in a small area. That is exactly what I am using the case for, and I'm just very unimpressed by it overall.

[Rewarded Review] Great for a home server or home theater PC

This is my second fractal design case and I love it. It has plenty of places for fans and removable dust filters at the front and bottom. My biggest complaint is that when the two hard drive cages are in place they block 2 of the 4 fans spots in the top of the case. I would love to have exhaust fans above the hard drives but the rear 140mm fan located in the back of the case behind the drives will have to do. On a side note cable management is almost impossible if you have 8 or more drives in this case. I don't fault the case design it's just all the cables needed to connect everything.