Fractal Design Reveals Node 804 Micro-ATX Enclosure
Fractal Design's Node 304 has had a growth spurt, and can now accommodate Micro-ATX motherboards.
Fractal design has announced a new enclosure – the Node 804. Inspired by the looks of the Node 304, this case brings the same appearances to the Micro-ATX platform.
The case is based on a dual-chamber design, one in which will sit the motherboards, graphics card and up to two SSDs, while the other will house the power supply and hard drives. The case offers room for up to eight 3.5" drives, two 2.5" drives, as well as another two drives either in the 2.5" or 3.5" format. Graphics cards can be up to 320 mm in length, with CPU coolers towering up to 160 mm. The case measures 370 x 307 x 412 mm.
The case also has support for up to one 240 mm radiator, as well as another 280 mm radiator, at the same time. Fractal Design has also equipped the case with three fans out of the box, though there is room for yet another seven.
The case also has five expansion slots, which with certain motherboards will allow you to install two graphics cards while keeping the middle slot free, which will improve airflow to the upper card.
Availability is scheduled for May, with U.S. MSRP pricing set at $109.99.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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rajangel My last case was a Fractal, and it quickly became my favorite one of all time. It was solid, clean, simple, and functional. This might be my next case.Reply -
major-error If you really want to pack this thing solid (costs notwithstanding) for gaming & storage, that middle slot free bonus goes away since the most SATA3 connections current boards support is 8...Reply -
Haravikk I don't really get why a dual-chamber design is important if the GPU and CPU end up in the same chamber. Hard drives don't take much to cool and most PSUs can handle their own cooling anyway, so separating them into their own chamber doesn't seem like much of a selling point.To me a true two-chamber design would have an installable shelf that separates the PCIe cards from the CPU cooler. Each chamber then has one intake fan each, with the CPU chamber using a rear exhaust, and the PCIe chamber using a top exhaust (or PCIe covers with grills) for venting air. Bundle a decent temperature based fan controller and you've got yourself a significant two-chamber setup. I mean, this is what many workstations do, and with good reason, a proper gaming rig would be no different.I dunno, just feels like this dual chamber thing is a marketing point and little else, as it's not like you're wasting a ton of extra energy cooling your hard-drives and PSU, and in fact you'll probably waste more energy by giving them their own, separate cooling.Reply -
codyleemanofaction While haravikk shares my thoughts on "dual chamber" cooling, I want this case.Reply -
Marcus Lewis ReplyI don't really get why a dual-chamber design is important if the GPU and CPU end up in the same chamber. Hard drives don't take much to cool and most PSUs can handle their own cooling anyway, so separating them into their own chamber doesn't seem like much of a selling point.To me a true two-chamber design would have an installable shelf that separates the PCIe cards from the CPU cooler. Each chamber then has one intake fan each, with the CPU chamber using a rear exhaust, and the PCIe chamber using a top exhaust (or PCIe covers with grills) for venting air. Bundle a decent temperature based fan controller and you've got yourself a significant two-chamber setup. I mean, this is what many workstations do, and with good reason, a proper gaming rig would be no different.I dunno, just feels like this dual chamber thing is a marketing point and little else, as it's not like you're wasting a ton of extra energy cooling your hard-drives and PSU, and in fact you'll probably waste more energy by giving them their own, separate cooling.
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scout62 ReplyI was hoping they would come out with a M-ATX 250d...that would be nice.
The 350D is the mATX Obsidian case. -
zephyrus17 There's no way you can design a partition between the CPU and PCIe that can totally block the heat. Different motherboards have different designs. However, if you use AIOs or watercooling, you can effectively make it a dual-chamber design by putting the radiator in the 2nd chamber. Though the components produce heat, they will be isolated from the source. You could have the heat from the CPU and GPU go to 2 radiators in either chamber. Thus, obtaining effective heat isolation.Reply