REVIEW Fractal Design NODE 804 Review

Firstly a Big Thank you to Lihan and Fractal for giving me the opportunity to review this lovely case.

So, Who is fractal?



Fractal is a young Swedish based company specialising in a range of computer products including computer cases, Power Supplies, Fans and now water cooling (the upcoming Kelvin series). Most may remember the widely regarded Define R2 and its follow up the Design R3 tower cases released back in 2010. The new NODE 804 takes this heritage and gives it a new spin in a new form factor.

Introducing the NODE 804.



The NODE 804 is a fractal's latest effort on the emerging "Cube" form factor in the PC case market. the 804 is newest entry in the new NODE series and the largest also.

With components getting smaller and consuming less power, the need for a huge heavy tower cases are not needed anymore like it once was. Small and Mighty are now hip.

So What makes this new case from fractal worth your consideration?

Well lets jump in and find out!

The case is packaged in a standard brown cardboard box with information about the case printed on the box. The case is secured with foam to make sure the case does not move during transport.



The Node 804 is a small compact case with a brushed aluminium front panel with a side window to show off all your gear in style. The node 804 follows fractals renowned ethos of less is more with a minimalist approach to the cases design. You won't find any flashy LED lights here. Instead Fractal has chosen to use sleek lines to show off what is good about the case. A small fractal logo is present at the front lower right of the case further enforcing the minimal approach chosen.



The Case provides a space for motherboards ranging from mini itx to micro ATX. (Don't think about fitting a smaller ATX board..it will not fit, unless you mod the case)



First Impressions of the case are good, I like the minimal design and the black/white colour scheme. This gives a nice contrast to the case. The case itself it rather light too (but has a good easy to handle weight) and easy to carry so it would make a great small gaming system or even daily PC. The only downside is the front aluminium panel can easy attract fingerprints/sweat so it is something to consider.

The case is a chambered design consisting of 2 parts. The first part is for the motherboard and the second part if for the power supply and hard drives or SSD drives. The Motherboard side has a huge cut out for big CPU cooler as big tower coolers such as Noctula's NHD14 will fit with ease.
Due to the size of the case, cabling routing is easy as the case provides many options.



If Water cooling is your thing, then this case has you covered. With space for a 240mm radiator (thickness varies, so check beforehand) up top of the motherboard chamber. (think Corsair 100i or fractal's upcoming water cooler) and space for pumps and reservoirs this case can fit it all.

But what about if you just like air cooling? Well the 804 has that covered too. It includes 3 R2 series 120mm white fans as standard. (2 back and 1 front). The user can add more if they wish for further cooling.

The Motherboard Chamber contains 5 PCI slots so a user can fit dual graphic cards if they wish or any other combination of expansion cards. But what about dust? Don't worry as Fractal has provided full dust filters for all areas that will get dust. (the top panel, back and bottom).



The 2nd chamber contains the power supply and hard drives. The Power Supply is mounted with 4 small screws. Hard drives are split into two sections of 4 hard drives each having to be screwed in (with a screwdriver, no tool less bays like lian Li has). A extra 2 SSD's drives (or 1 hard drive if you want to) can be fitted at the bottom in front of the power supply for extra storage. The power supply is protected from dust and it includes a removable dust cover underneath the PSU mount.





The case can easily be disassembled with all panel been removable and having included dust filters. This makes for easy cleaning and fitting of parts that require tricky installation. The case is also very durable so it can take a few knocks if this happens.



Installing components is easy in this case as it comes included with all that you will need to build your system. Routing cables and install large/tall CPU coolers are not a problem due to the generous space fractal provides here.



The only problem I would say is how little cable routing space is at the top of the case. This is a minor oversight which can easily be fixed.


Overall this is a excellent case which would fit well in a variety of situations. It could be a sleeper gaming beast or a awesome media box or a mini server node or even a small, clean and classy 24/7 system for work.

Fractal have really got a winner here, with a small, quiet and sleek looking case the fractal Design NODE 804 is well worth your consideration in your next build..whatever that may be.



Pros:

Scandinavian style
Solid Design
Light and easy to carry
Well Thought out 2 chambered Design
Easy Cable routing
Easy to clean
Durable
Supports wide array of cooling options
Great water cooling support
inbuilt fan controller


Cons:
Wider then a regular ATX case, so may cause issues in tight fitting areas
Brushed Aluminium Front panel attracts fingerprints
Hard drive bays and not tool less and must be removed with a screwdriver to install/remove hard drives
use of a slim DVD drives only

 

Thank you~Jimba

 

Good review!

Know what you mean about the fingerprints from doing a build the case, but I've found with the power controls on the side it's not
actually often that you put fingerprints on the most visible front side of the case though.

I've more an issue with the case window fingerprints if anything, but that's only when I need slide it out of our entertainment unit.