High-quality housing with small drawbacks

High-quality housing with small drawbacks

Fractal Design FD-CA-NODE-304-BL PC case (Mini ITX, Mini DTX, 6x 3.5, 2x USB 3.0) black (accessories)

Customer Review

The processing is _sehr_ quality, really strong and it will be more screws than you need. The design I find excellent. The housing is not shaky, not sharp and painted everywhere. For that alone, the case is worth already.

On the housing are the way a blue and a white LED for power and HDD attached.
There are three HDD brackets, in the two respective 3.5 "drives can be installed, making it ideal for a small FreeNAS. I do not know why some people write something here of the four brackets. For 2.5" drives no place seems to be provided, In any case, even the manual is silent about it.

Anyone who wants to install a graphics card or other, longer card, should better use a PSU with cable management, otherwise you have to accommodate the power supply cable and the card in the same place. Cable guides were definitely a bonus.

I have several small defects found, for I will have to deduct the sum of one star (one-half would feel better, but is not):
1. The housing is largely, but not completely without tools installed. Why that was implemented only half-heartedly? One can solve the lid without tools and the disk holder (which are still protected by another Phillips screw). For everything else, you need a screwdriver.
2. The housing has no reset switch and no speaker. Although this is in principle not necessary, but nevertheless desirable. In a headless home server as a NAS you want to maybe spend an audio signal via Speaker and software problems can at least temporarily incurred a lot reset -> press and hold, press again ...
3. The power supply is not reachable from the outside and is connected via IEC extension cable to the housing. In addition to this power supply is not a power switch is located on the housing. If I want to have switched off the device properly, so I need to disconnect the cable, or use a switched outlet. The power supply switch, I can see through a ventilation grille; it would be open from the outside, could the power supply switch still operate. Some power supplies should a switch for its built-in fans (eg for continuous operation / demand / off), which is then also unavailable.

With the built-in fans, I'm not completely satisfied: They are quiet, but not almost silently like Noctua fans that I have in use. Compared to several hard drives that are installed in the housing, but is relativized the back.
On the fans I see yet another lack: they have only three terminal pins instead of four, so are not regulated. For a connection has been installed by the manufacturer, which is supplied from the power supply and can adjust the tension of the fan via a switch on the rear panel on 5/7 / 12V. I find that a little half-heartedly implemented; I have installed a high-quality motherboard, which can control all fan connectors and I have to dodge instead for low revolutions at a fixed voltage of 5V.

On manual I have to complain that it does not clear up some things:
1. What are all the screws? There are those to attach the motherboard and there are those to attach hard disks and which to attach the power supply and then there's still a bag of about 20 for no idea what.
2. I was not at all clear where the power switch is (he is at the front of the page under the USB ports); an arrow with notice would have done no hurt, the other parts are indeed explained (even if only in the form of a list next to the exploded view; piece together the positions you have to yourself).
3. The installation of components is explained not shown. When power supply I was eg only not sure if I should install the rotated up or down (my power supply is fanless, since the notice does not help, one should the fan down to install), because the housing internal, angled IEC extension cable without undue distortion seemed geared upside.

And last even a design question, no shortage: What are the Disk Holder knows? One side of the Geäuses has a very large ventilation grille and thus I see shining through the white metal. In black it would have remained hidden.
Perhaps should be in harmony with the white fans, not seen from the outside?

I'll have a little modding: make the rigid Ventilation movable to come to power supply, dim white parts, replace fan.

Works well, but poor quality headphones Rank: 4.0 stars out of 5 "height =" 12 "border =" 0 "/>/5
August 30
Excellent! 31 2 Rank: 5/5
December 1
very disappointed 217 Rank: 2/5
March 1
Great product 621 1 Rank: 4/5
August 7

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