Fractal Design Node 804 Review

Performance Analysis

The CPU temperatures are hardly spectacular, ranging from a delta T of 56°C at maximum speed to 60°C at minimum. The Silent Series R2 fans are, as the name suggests, optimised for low noise environments and as such are not particularly fast, even at full speed. The medium speed setting is definitely the best one; the temperature only drops by 1°C compared to maximum speed but there's a more significant noise reduction, while at minimum speed there's not really enough airflow for satisfactory cooling. The foam filtering material in the roof actually keeps things quite insulated, which also doesn't help – we definitely recommend installing a second exhaust fan above your CPU cooler if you're overclocking to prevent heat building up in this crucial area. Finally, the front fan is limited in its effectiveness since its having to pull air from the bottom of the front panel, rather than straight through it.


GPU cooling is a little better; the best case result of 53°C is respectable though certainly not outstanding. We were surprised to see how much difference the three fan speed settings make – there's a 4°C increase for each reduction of speed – because neither of the two fans in this chamber directly target the graphics area. That said, most case fans blow air outwards in a cone shape, rather than in a direct blast, so cool air from the front fan would definitely find its way to the area beneath the GPU. Again, medium speed is the best compromise between noise levels and temperatures, though dual-GPU users will want a beefier solution.

Conclusion

For all the talk of direct airflow, the dual chamber design of the Node 804 can hardly be said to equip it with stand-out cooling credentials. Cases with a more standard tower design, such as the Corsair Obsidian 350D, Fractal's own Arc Mini R2 and even the heavily insulated Nanoxia Deep Silence 4 are all able to achieve better cooling for both the CPU and GPU. On the plus side, the Node 804 is at least relatively quiet, even at full speed, and does a decent job of suppressing noise from the components inside too. Thankfully, there's room for large GPU and CPU coolers to aid you in your quest for low temperatures, as well as plenty of room in and around the Node 804 to expand the case cooling with both air and water. For air at least, we'd stick an exhaust fan in the roof for overclocked CPUs and a second front fan if we were using multiple graphics cards.


Elsewhere, the Node 804 is full of features and design tricks that impress, and the build quality is top notch, as it so often is. The brushed aluminium front panel is a particularly nice touch in a sub-£80 case, though a reset button and front-mounted fan control toggle wouldn't go amiss. Other than this, however, it's very hard to fault, making it a tough call between this and the Corsair Carbide Air 240. In all honesty, both cases are excellent, so it will most likely come down to how much hardware you need to cram inside. The Node 804 is a significantly larger chassis, but it uses its space well – there's a fifth expansion slot, a lot more CPU cooler clearance, more HDD positions, a slimline optical mount and room for more and thicker radiators.