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Review on Fractal Design Node Computer Case by Dimitar Nikolov ᠌

Revainrating 5 out of 5

The right product for me, there were no problems.

This case is already more than 10 years old and it still remains the only option for building a miniature home server. Of the worthy alternatives, I can only remember Jonsbo N1. But the N1 has a limitation of supported components (coolers limited to 70 mm and an SFX power supply) and the price is higher by an average of 3-5 thousand.

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Updated 1 year ago
Rating has not been changed

You can now see some pictures to accompany my review and enhance your understanding.

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Pros
  • 1. Holds 6 3.5 inch hard drives, but there is a caveat. It's exactly what people still buy it for, the perfect home server case. The corps is already more than 10 years old, and during this time worthy analogues have not appeared. 2. Supports ATX power supplies. This is also a huge plus, ATX blocks are still quieter and cheaper than standard mini-ITX SFX blocks. 3. Build quality. The case has no functional "chips", it is simple and reliable. 4. Comes with decent fans. The fans are quiet, but unfortunately without PWM. Silent at minimum and medium speeds, tolerable at maximum (not very loud, but at night they are clearly audible). 5. Noctua NH-D15 can fit into the case (if you remove 2 HDD bays) and a large 3-fan video card (provided you remove the rightmost HDD bay, for illustration I attached a photo from INNO3D GeForce GTX 1070 Ti X4 - length 302 mm)
Cons
  • All the disadvantages are the costs of the mini-ITX form factor - that is, the lack of space. 1. When installing 6 hard drives, blowing is reduced to zero. I checked it on my own skin, when installing 6 disks, their temperature soared to 50 degrees, and the processor began to warm up behind them. In an attempt to cool this misunderstanding, the fans began to thresh at 100% and there was no trace of the "silent NAS". If your NAS is in a bedroom, it's best to use a maximum of 3 3.5" drives (1 for each rack). 2. It is better to use the power supply as short as possible, there is not much space for extra wires. Also, if the power supply is modular, a long video card may not fit. 3. Cable management no. So that the cables from the PSU and hard drives do not interfere with cooling (and do not climb into the fans), more or less neatly lay and safely forget. Clean assembly in this case is almost impossible. 4. In white, it successfully mimics a microwave.