Fractal Design Node 304 mITX Case Review: Paving the Way to the Future
by Dustin Sklavos on November 23, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- Fractal Design
- mITX
Testing Methodology
For testing Mini-ITX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
| Mini-ITX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i3-2120 (65W TDP) |
| Motherboard | Zotac Z68ITX-A-E |
| Graphics Card |
Intel HD 2000 IGP Zotac GeForce GTS 450 Eco (dedicated) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives | Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD |
| CPU Cooler | SilverStone NT07-1156 with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 750W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested with just the Core i3's integrated graphics as well as with a discrete graphics card. The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running four threads (three with a dedicated GPU) in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU, and OC Scanner (maximum load) is run when the dedicated GPU is installed. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. If the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
We try to maintain an ambient testing temperature of between 22C and 24C. Non-thermal test results aren't going to be directly comparable to the finest decimal point, but should be roughly comparable and give a broader idea of how the enclosure performs.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i3-2120.
- Thank you to Zotac for providing us with the Z68ITX-A-E motherboard and GeForce GTS 450 Eco.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply and NT07-1156 heatsink/fan combo.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
80 Comments
View All Comments
Mumrik - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
You have pretty high expectations for a case the size of two shoe boxes.Grok42 - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
Since every nicer case and MB support it, I would LOVE to know what actual percentage of hand built gaming rigs have dual graphics. I really have no idea but it has to be very small. It really only makes sense when you want more horsepower than best in class single cards can give you. This means that a dual setup is going to be $600+ in just video cards. I guess it would be different if reasonable priced monitors weren't stuck at 1080p. To justify a dual setup you would need two 2560x1440 monitors which are $700+ each. Not saying this wouldn't be a great setup, just that there can't be that many of them.Death666Angel - Saturday, November 24, 2012 - link
3 x 1080/1200 is also on the verge of being unplayable at max settings for a single GPU card. Multi GPU use should be in the single digits percentage wise.infoilrator - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
Good review:Typical comments in the "it is what I want/ no it is not" catagory
Question is do you excuse small cases for origami like configurations to become smaller?
What criteria are absolute, which not?
Personally, after larger cases, except some low budget one, have acquired cable management,
I do not see the need to squeeze so tight.
A half inch wider and an inch deeper would appeal a lot more to me.
I like USB/Audio plugs top front or top front side. I use these things. Neither thumb drives or USB cables seem to be 90 degree connectors,
Card readers are cheap enough to be there but it looks like USB external is the future (where is that..?)
Pretty much the same external DVD, oh well.
Power Supplies are more problemic.
SFF is possible
The Seasonic 360G is 140mm, could not find size listings for 450/550/650 G Series.
Rosewill Capstone is my wish list "go to" power supply
450 is 163 mm and the modular 450M is 170 mm, no so good
My budget "go to" is the Corsair CX430 AT 140 mm Deep, though you can argue this is not a budget case.
Which makes it function vs elegant, and no answer correct.
Elegant outside, less so inside. Functional inside vs functional outside so so.
They are going to sell a lot of these.
lwatcdr - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
Blu-Ray drive or an LCD display. If you are going to use this for a home media center I can see some uses.Since this is a home server maybe you should have used 3 or more hdds and skipped the SSDs for some testing.
just4U - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
I shudder every time I see Dustin's cabling handywork in assembling these testbeds.. (chuckle) Keep up the case reviews though, love them!Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, November 24, 2012 - link
Assemble and then tear down three to four cases a month (on top of your other work) and see how much you still care about tidy cabling. ;)Grok42 - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link
Seems like everyone thinks this case is ideal for a NAS server or HTPC. I get the server angle given that it has pretty good capacity for 3.5 and 2.5 because of the awesome decision to not include external bays. What I am surprised is that I get the idea no one would consider this for a workstation. What does everyone feel knocks it out of consideration? I'm seriously considering this over my current pick of a Lian-Li QB25.Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, November 24, 2012 - link
I've actually been mulling over exactly that. The only thing that really keeps me from doing it is that there are no Z77 mITX boards with FireWire.Metaluna - Monday, November 26, 2012 - link
I guess it depends on what your definition of a workstation is, and whether it includes gaming. I have never needed a gaming-level GPU in any work I've done in my professional life, for example, but I occasionally do need lots of memory and CPU power, plus ECC is always nice to have. In other words, I'd be looking for something that could fit a Xeon-class motherboard, but is small enough to tuck away somewhere on my desk (maybe behind the monitor) and still be fairly quiet under load. These large mITX shoebox cases have an awkward form-factor for the desktop, and if you're going to put it on the floor anyway, you probably won't save much space over a micro ATX or even full ATX mini-tower.I'm really not a fan of this style of case, and by that I mean the "huge shoebox" style, not the lack of ODD bays, which is a very worthy tradeoff. But if you need anything larger than a single-slot video card, they're pretty much the only option these days with a few exceptions.