Fractal Design Node 605 Case Review: Is Fractal Design Ready for Primetime?
by Dustin Sklavos on January 1, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- HTPC
- Fractal Design
Conclusion: Every Family Has One
Like many of you I've been a pretty big fan of Fractal Design's cases up to this point. Some of their designs underperformed a little, but the Define series have continued to be solid options for users looking to build a silent, decently-performing system. The smaller of the two Node cases, the 304, positively bristles with potential and offers solid thermals and acoustics to match. So what happened with the 605?
First, we'll start with what Fractal Design got right. The aluminum fascia and overall build quality is frankly top notch. This is a beautiful case and it feels very sturdy, so it at least looks like it belongs in your entertainment center. I'm also happy to see the integrated card reader, and though the FireWire port is bound to be mystifying to some users, I can see where they were going with it. Hiding the slimline optical drive bay behind that door in the front was also a great choice; many of these cases forget that the activity light on an optical drive will blink regularly while you're watching a DVD or blu-ray, and being able to hide that is a surprisingly important convenience.
The Node 605 is also incredibly simple to assemble. It may not be toolless, but it's not too complicated to put together, and I never had to look at the instruction manual during testing.
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So where did Fractal Design go wrong? Even their weakest cases have typically been at least solid and usable, but the thermals of the Node 605 start off mediocre and get progressively worse, taking acoustics right along with them.
Interestingly, I think you can trace a decent amount of the problem to the price tag. Asking $159 for this case is ridiculous. This is actually the most expensive Fractal Design case on NewEgg by $40; they typically offer good value but that value is sorely lacking here. Even before you take thermals and acoustics into account, Fractal Design has priced themselves out of competition, so the fact that the fan intake next to the CPU is empty is inexcusable. To provide halfway decent performance, this case is going to need that fan.
Competing cases with comparable or superior performance (not to mention build quality) can be had closer to the $100 mark, and this is a territory SilverStone has staked out and served well. What Fractal Design needs to do to at least get the Node 605 competitive is to add that third fan, probably replace all of the fans with more efficient models (or at least figure out why these ones are underperforming as much as they are), and drop the price to $129 tops. At that point, you could make a convincing argument for the Node 605. As it stands, this is unfortunately the first real disappointment I've seen from Fractal Design, and can't be recommended.
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Aikouka - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
It makes you wonder if they were trying to compete with Lian-Li as if I remember correctly, $150 is pretty much Lian-Li's price point for their tall HTPC case offerings. Although, aren't Lian-Li's cases typically ALL aluminum, which usually lets people justify a higher price tag?ypsylon - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
Compared to Lian-Li this thing is a joke. Build quality cannot be compared to LL. Steel HTPC/Desktop case which cost 160$$$?! Somebody hold me before I explode with laughter.:runningaroundincircleslaughinglikemad:
It has pretty much only one Pro: it can hold full ATX board which many of HTPC cases can't. Still LL or Silverstone have cases which can do same thing with far superior quality and features.
alwayssts - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
When I bought a LL PC-C50b I probably would've considered this if it were available and cheaper. This is seemingly aimed squarely at that model. I have no idea if it has been successful or not, but it was essentially the only case that would do what a lot of enthusiasts probably want or will want as these setups gain even more traction:1. 120mm mounts on the sides because 80mm fans make no sense for this large of a case or it's likely environment. There are so very, very few that are not either much larger or a cube. Which doesn't make sense because you need the height for...
2. Space for an ~225w full-height graphics card (ie anything not x900/x80 length because it would likely get too hot in these cases) pc-c50 says 250mm which is exactly the spec of my 7870. There's slightly more room, but I would doubt 290mm. They probably figured space for the peg connectors, which of course are now usually on the side of cards (top when installed).
3. Clearance for a nice top-down cooler with appropriate venting (apparently only LL understands this). I'm sure I'm not the only htpc'er out there with a noctua c14 or similar that needs to pull air from somewhere.
4. Space for a regular (likely modular) power supply.
Here we are a year or so later and something is finally available that is similar, but it's still not cheaper, and with the proliferation of mobo headers and pwm fans, the fan controller is hardly a value-add IMHO. The only plus I see are dust filters (that granted I had to do myself...and wasn't fun). Neither have IR, which is also kind of a bummer but obviously remedied easily-enough if you want it.
I wish there were more cases like this. It's about as no-compromise as you're going to get while still fitting on an AV shelf and fitting in with components like an AVR/DVR etc, and really...who needs more than that with the current state of hardware and TVs?
Interitus - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
First I'm going to say +1 to the comment about AT not at least attempting to swap fan positions and add more, then reporting back with different results. Honestly, you're not doing either the product or your review any justice by skipping what anyone reading this site would undoubtedly do if they received one of these cases for free ... tinker with it. Any enthusiast likely has fans lying around, and I'm sure you guys do too. I don't even remember the last time I bought a case and just left it the way it came out of the box.As far as Fractal goes, there's a few major fails here. How much effort would it have taken to make the bar mounting holes elongated ovals (and on the white drive mounts too) so that they're adjustable to some extent? There's gobs of room in there, especially with an mITX board. And those huge front panel cables... at least raise the MB tray so you can run wires under it or something.
Overall I think it deserves a good scolding for that terrible bar placement, but it's hard to knock its other supposed downfalls when there's no effort or creativity put into solving them. Sure you could argue that the customer shouldn't have to, but are we assuming the customer is going to use a GTX560Ti? It's pretty much a given these days that the manufacturers include the bare minimum to keep costs down. In a bare minimum config, the case doesn't perform terribly. Throw some 80mm exhausts in there and it's a different story I'm guessing.
jabber - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
I mean really, after all these years most cases still look like drek. I'm talking from a visual stand-point. I'm not that anal about heat and airflow, I'm happy to compromise if it doesn't look like a turd on my desk or under it.This one doesn't look great. Just a hulking lump of black with ports etc. that look like a cut out after-thought behind a flap. Too many just seem to lose the design greatness when it comes to the functional bits. Cant the bit behind the flap or door look great too?
After 20+ years of PC use I still haven't seen a case I have truly thought.."that looks really fantastic!"
Surely it can't be that hard?
ggathagan - Wednesday, January 2, 2013 - link
What kind of stylistic touches would you find attractive?Once a decision is made to design a case to fit in with the standard home audio component look, you're somewhat limited in what can be done from a style perspective.
jabber - Thursday, January 3, 2013 - link
I'll know it when I see it.I just know that case (and others like it) is not what I want sitting in my living room.
Its a monstrosity.
For a start if its only doing home theatre work why the hell does it need all those 120mm fans? Why ATX?
A case designed by committee if ever there was one.
bobbozzo - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
Bigger fans are quieter than smaller ones.thereddog - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
Nice review, thanks.Personally, I chose the Silverstone GD06 when I built my HTPC 18 months ago. Everything performed well, but it's not that quiet nor cool (AMD 955BE + 5750).
I think that ATX is overkill and that Silverstone designs that are ITX and mATX only are superior designs. I would also love to see a slightly taller HTPC with room below the motherboard for cable management. I also agree on adding/replacing fans in the review to show what the case is really capable of.
Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
> 1x 120mm intake fan on each sideReally? Wouldn't bottom (PSU) to top airflow work better?