Fractal Design Node 605 ATX Case Black 4X3.5INT No PSU Front Audio 2XUSB3.0

Comment:
The Node 605 is quite a well designed HTPC case. While being on the large side of HTPC cases due to ATX support it has less depth than many competing ATX HTPC cases (such as the Silverstone GD07 and GD08) which allows it to fit on more entertainment centres. the overall size of the case is rather similar to a large multi-channel audio receiver.Look-wise the Node 605 fits in very well with your standard home theatre equipment. The fit and finish would not be out of place as well. The front panel has a fine brush grain similar to most AV equipment (many other cases have a rather coarse grain). The smooth slow action flip down panel is impressive, especially with it's hidden magnetic latch that keeps it in place when closed. The only drawback is a rather bright blue led in the power button that can't be dimmed or turned off (unless it's unplugged). Personally I would have preferred a dimmer white LED with a smaller window then the entire power button.Internally, the case is laid out like a newer style, power supply on the bottom case, just laid on its side. Even though the case is fairly cramped it is just large enough to swallow most of the common full sized ATX components. However it is worth noting that GPU cards with a higher than reference board/cooler will have issues with the card and top power port interfering with the centre brace. Also, power supplies larger than 180mm (not including modular plugs or cables will likely conflict with the left case fan.Even though the specs states that the case will only fit a slim ODD with a maximum of a mATX board, it is physically possible to fit a drive with a fill ATX board provided that the motherboard does not place top inserted connectors (such as power switch and case LED pins) on the front left corner of the board (however many motherboards do). The reason is that the rails that hold the ODD don't actually interfere with a full ATX board. With a full sized ATX motherboard, the ODD drive is cantilevered over the front left corner of the motherboard with a few additional milimetres of clearance. So as long as nothing comes of the board vertically at that location the drive would work.Cooling wise, the included two R2 120mm fans are sufficient to cool most systems, however any passively cooled components would get rather warm unless the built in controller is set to high. It is also worth noting that the built in fan grill/filter is fixed in placed by metal tabs and isn't removable unless the tabs are unbent (which could possibly deform the grill).It also needs to be noted that my case came with a slight nick and dent on one of the fan grills, but it isn't significant enough to RMA to NCIX or Fractal Design. As the box was in good shape it appears to be caused during manufacturing.

Comment:
Used this solely as my audio pc. Having a built in fan controller is nice for when you want to keep the fans slow and quiet. The unit itself looks right at home with the rest of your AV components, the one problem is, if you have a closed cabinet or shelf that covers the sides of this unit, you pretty much block all air flow. So please make sure you have a shelf unit or tv console with proper ventilation for the side of this unit. Not an issue for me since I use it on an open stereo stand. But should still be noted.I wish Fractal made this case a bit taller and managed to add cable management to it. It would pretty much be perfect if it was a tower lying on its side with feet and support braces in the right spots. It doesn't really affect performance for most HTPC set ups, but the case has such great fit and finish that its a shame the inside can't look as nice because of the wiring.I have owned an Antec Fusion HTPC case as well as a Silverstone LC10 and this Fractal is the nicest case so far, of course it has the advantage of being newer. I'm a big fan of Silverstones front fascia, but small fans tend to create  more noise, so this wins with its large 120mm fans.This product gets a 5 star rating from me, I did a lot of reading up on it before purchasing so there were no real surprises, just be sure to go over what you plan to install and make sure you have room for the desired components. It does what it's designed to do and does it well while looking great.

Comment:
Just a note on the video card situation, i've got a matx board in the case and am able to stick a powercolor 6970 inside without the hard drive bays being a hindrance and i've still got room to run cables, etc in front of the video card.I don't think I'd be able to crossfire the 6970s (don't know who would want to in an htpc case) there is room between the card and the hard drives (if you mount the hdd facing the other way) but considering the width of the card i dont think 2 could fitSecond, the fan controller in the case has 3 Fan connectors but they only fit 3pin connectors (i bought 3, 4pin fans -_-)I know Fractal includes 2 Fractal fans but even at high speed they're only pulling 40cfm (they're the FD Silent R2 fans) and that wasn't enough imo so I replaced them with some Cougar Vortex fans.I contacted Fractal Designs about the 3pin connectors and I must say their customer service is amazing, they sent me a step by step email including pictures on how i could cut the 3pin fan connector to accommodate a 4pin fan which they said would work with the fan controller as they've tested it.Instead of going that route though I found some 4 to 3 pin fan connectors online, even 3pin extension cables that could support a 4pin connector.Also the molex connector for the fan controller, in my case, was loose so it was a big hassle getting it connected to the power supplies female molexThird, the slim optical disc drive, Fractal supplies a mounting kit but no slimline sata connection to power your drive you'll have to buy that yourself you can find them online for as low as a dollar.The mounting kit is a bit difficult to install, it was for me anyway, since i left it for the last thing to install -_- and because the screws supplied were larger than the holes on the mounting kit (ever so slightly) so I really had to use some force to screw it inFourth, CPU cooling, There is not much height to the case to attach a large heatsink, Fractal recommends no higher than 125mm if the fans are attached on the sides; this was difficult for me to find a suitable cooling unit,, hydro cooling units won't fit btw there's no room to mount the rad+fan unless you do some modding like having it stick part way out of the case. I was fortunately able to find the Noctua NH-U9B SE2 at ncix which fit perfectly inside the case with both fans mounted.Lastly areas for improvement:I wish that there was a fan on top of the case to help suck air out (like silverstone does, i believe) I'm not sure on what my temps will be like since I haven't gotten it up and running yet but it would certainly ease my mind as that whole right side of the case is really congested with hard drives the gpu and psu and there's only that 1 fan blowing in on the right side but its completely restricted with the grill/the hard drives and the cables; again I don't know what my temps will be like but it would certainly ease the mind and there is certainly room for a fan in that area.There's also room, believe it or not, to stick more hard drives in the case and it would be nice if Fractal had included mounting brackets for this but I can understand why not. I bought a pci expansion slot hard drive mount to mount my SSD and a 2.5" driveAlso the aforementioned lack of a slimline sata cable, it would be nice if Fractal had included this considering the price of the case and Fractal needs to improve Quality Control (the loose molex and mounting holes)Overall though I'm impressed with the build quality and the looks of the case and I can't wait to start using it, but i've been very frugal in my build using hand me down parts and waiting for all my cables/parts from different vendors.

Comment:
Very nice case. Bought one for myself as well as a second one for a friend. Looks just like a power amp in the multimedia cabinet. Easy to setup but not sure if a CD/DVD Rom would fit in the case under the HD brackets. Also has room for 4 hard drives in the provided brackets. If your motherboard does not have USB 3.0, you should consider replacing the front USB port accordingly. IMO, this is the best HTPC case on the market today.