Fractal DesignNode 804 - Black - Cube Compact Computer Case - mATX - High Airflow - Modular Interior - 3X Fractal Design Silent R2 120mm Fans Included - USB 3.0 -Window Side Panel

I absolutely love this case. It's the cutest little box I've ever seen, and it's the perfect shape to sit on top of a 14u rack.However, if you plan to buy this for an unRaid server or other such use and want to max out the drives, the ones that sit in the middle will get warm. Run the fans on high, and make sure it's in a cool room, if you are using real NAS drives. They really generate some heat. I feel like an extra inch all around the box would probably help with airflow and not make it too much bigger, but not a dealbreaker.Love the case.

I installed 8 hard drives in the hanging cages, and a Blu-ray burner (a Panasonic UJ-265) rather easily. Installation of a Micro ATX motherboard was fairly easy, too. I like this case.

I actually LOVE the form factor, it fits perfect in the space I have for it. The fact that every panel (both sides, front, and top) come off and independent of each other make it super easy to access just what you want when you want, or remove them all if you're doing some significant work. No screwdriver is required to take the panels off either, its all done with screws with an enlarged head and grooves for finger rip to twist off by hand. The hard drive mounting system is....a victim of its environment. I can't imagine a better way to do it with the form factor and the fact that everything has to fit in somehow.....but it can be a bit cumbersome pulling the drive cages out. I bumped it down from 5 stars to 4 because of this, but certainly not as big an issue as some online videos/reviews make it out to be. Yes, obviously, having a backplane and hot swappable would be a huge plus, but that would also increase the cost, and likely the size of this particular box (which after what....9 or 10 years in existence now and still selling strong?). The thing is quiet, WAY quieter than I was expecting. I keep it in my living room next to my modem/router for direct ethernet connection since my house isn't wired for ethernet. Because of this I was really worried about what noise there might be while watching TV in the living room or whatever else, but there is basically NO noise. Its even quieter than all the external hard drives were themselves before I shucked them and put them in the server. The only knock, and this is small, is its easy for certain hard drives to start to heat up once you have more than 4 drives in. Airflow obviously gets diminished, and rather than switch the switch to manually change the ventilation fan speed from L to M to H (which is super handy to have a manual switch on the box itself to do this in addition to being able to control others in the BIOS) I may at some point look into changing around/adding some more fans or better fans specifically for the hard drive hangers. LOVE this box. Zero regrets buying it (ESPECIALLY if you can find one on a good sale like I did.)

I had a Node 304 for my (headless) main home media/file server with 6x HDDs. I decided I wanted to upgrade my home surveillance system to use Frigate for video processing and AI object detection. I could have purchased a USB Coral device, but I thought having a full-blown NVIDIA video card would also help with Plex. As the card I wanted wouldn't fit, I needed a bigger case.This thing is nice, roomy, great airflow and was a breeze to assemble. Plus, given my needs, there weren't that many options. I have plenty of room to add additional drives in the future. I would buy again, but hopefully I'll never need to.

I wanted to dive into the homelab scene, and this case turned out to be the perfect starting point. Its compact form factor is fantastic, allowing me to fit everything I needed with room to spare for future storage expansion. I’d highly recommend it to anyone starting out, and if I were to begin again, this would still be my go-to choice for a starter box.

I like this case so much I have two!The drive mounting system is excellent and makes it easy to pull and install drives.Great airflow.Large, adjustable speed fans.QuietEasy access to all componentsCable management is trivial.Great system of filters for managing dust.Nice looking caseStackable

Got this for a home server and would recommend. Can hold a ton of hard drives for its size and it's well constructed and thought out. The fans it comes with have been adequate for cooling and are quiet. If you're looking for a small compact ITX server case, this is the one.

The included fan controller isn't great; I would buy a separate unit that gets its power from a SATA connection instead of a 4-pin connector off of the motherboard. The front panel is rather restrictive so I run my case without it. It's uglier that way, but it's the way to go if airflow is a primary concern.