Installation & Finished Look
Installation of our ASRock Mini-ITX motherboard was quick and painless; just be sure to install your motherboard before the power supply as per the advice of Fractal’s user manual. I will note hear that removal of the rear 140mm chassis fan was not necessary during this installation phase. In fact, the Node 304 supports tower CPU coolers of up to 165 mm tall!
We then installed the power supply with the intake fan face down, whilst also plugging in the interior power cable extension.
Installation of a 2.5″ HDD or SSD does in fact require screws, as do many chassis currently available in the market. Using the appropriate screws we simply install the SSD on either interior side of the bracket. Two drives may be installed in each bracket for a total of six maximum.
Once mounted back inside of the Node 304, we can see that there is just enough clearance above the power supply to fit comfortably enough.
Since there is no available space for an optical drive, we can skip that step and proceed to install the rest of our hardware accordingly. In order to have a longer graphics card installed, it may be necessary to remove the last storage drive bracket to make ample space.
While the Node 304 does support graphics cards up to 310mm in length, it is necessary to keep the length of your power supply unit in mind, especially if your power supply is modular. Graphics cards longer than 170 mm will conflict with PSUs longer than 160mm.
In no time at all, some basic cable management was accomplished and not only serves the setup aesthetically, but for improved airflow as well.
The Node 304 does have a certain appeal, don’t you think? Well done Fractal Design.
And there we have it readers, another solid chassis offering from Fractal Design! Let us review some points and final thoughts in the conclusion of our review.
