WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.960 I'm going to start this video with a quote from our new employee, Taran. Is 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:12.800 that a printer? The answer is no. In fact, it is a computer. Cube cases are 00:00:10.559 --> 00:00:17.199 back in fashion, and Fractal Design has thrown their hat into the 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:21.279 proverbial box to compete with the existing offerings like the Prodigy M 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:25.920 from Bit Phoenix, the Air540 from Corsair, and the HalfXB from Cooler 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:31.119 Master. 00:00:31.119 --> 00:00:37.200 The CMTORM SF17 uses a massive 18 cm fan 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:41.840 to cool your gaming notebook and it adds a four- port USB hub. Click now to learn 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:46.960 more. Starting with the outside, Fractal's traditional clean Scandinavian 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:50.399 design aesthetic is definitely present here. The front of the case is a 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:55.280 combination of brushed aluminum with a subtle curvature to it and mesh for air 00:00:52.879 --> 00:00:59.520 flow with a small fractal design logo and power LED as the only ornaments. On 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:05.119 the right hand side, we find two front USB3 ports, headphone and microphone 00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:08.320 jacks, and ooh, a slimline optical drive 00:01:05.119 --> 00:01:10.960 mount that actually hides inside the 00:01:08.320 --> 00:01:15.520 front bezel. This is a really smart compromise between wasting space on a 00:01:13.119 --> 00:01:21.280 bunch of 5 and a/4 in bays and omitting them entirely like NZXT did on the H440. 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:27.119 And when we pop the front bezel off, we find not only that slimline mount, but 00:01:23.759 --> 00:01:29.920 also a couple of 2 and 1/2 in SSD mounts 00:01:27.119 --> 00:01:36.320 with some cable management room, two dual 120 mm removable fan filters, and 00:01:33.759 --> 00:01:40.640 the cleverness continues. Very, very nice. The top cover slides off with a 00:01:39.119 --> 00:01:46.240 couple of thumb screws at the back just like the Ark Midi does, revealing some 00:01:43.479 --> 00:01:52.159 unfortunately difficult basically impossible to remove noise dampening 00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:56.479 foam as well as dual fan mounts on each 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.960 side. On the right is a dual 120/40 mm 00:01:56.479 --> 00:02:04.159 fan mount that will work with a 240 or 240 mm radiator if you remove the hard 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:09.599 drive cages first. And on the left is a dual 120 140 millimeter fan mount that 00:02:07.759 --> 00:02:13.040 looks like it would support a 280 millimeter radiator, but due to 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:17.760 clearance constraints with the cooling on your motherboard and memory, it 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:22.319 supports only a 240 mm radiator like we've got in there. On the back of the 00:02:19.760 --> 00:02:27.120 case, we find a three fan speed controller with settings for low, 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:31.040 medium, and high. Definitely nice to have, but it would have been even better 00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:35.040 if it was pre-cable managed and, you know, already like plugged in and ready 00:02:32.640 --> 00:02:39.200 to rock like NZXT does on their cases. And we also find a couple more fan 00:02:36.959 --> 00:02:45.519 mounts. Boy, this case has a lot of those. Up to 10 fans total in the front, 00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:50.319 the top, and the back. The last thing on the back is motherboard IO and five PCI 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:55.200 slots, which is a great configuration since it allows two dual slot graphics 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:59.840 cards and an additional PCI Express expansion card in between with certain 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.680 motherboards such as the Sniper that we have installed right now. On the bottom 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:07.760 of the case are a couple more fan filters. It looks like Fractal expects 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:12.239 this case to be configured for negative air flow since one of them sits right 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:17.680 under the power supply and the other sits kind of in the middle of nowhere 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:20.000 just as a random extra filtered intake. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:24.800 There are a couple of drive mounts on top of it that can be used for 3 and 1/2 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.959 in or 2 and 1/2 in drives. We did one of each just to try it out. And the only 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:33.760 complaint here was that the drives are so close to the bottom of the case that 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.400 many SATA power connectors will not fit very well. And there's only one cable 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:43.120 management spot running to one of them. So, the one on the left is a bit of a 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:45.040 tight fit to run power and data to. On 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:50.080 the left, we've got a nice large side panel window that we can remove to 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:51.920 reveal one side of the segregated 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:57.280 internals. So, on this side, we've got the skinny white PCI slot covers. And 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:03.280 then on this side, the powerful black power supply cables are well, wait, hold 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:07.959 on a second. Both sides actually have both black and white stuff on them 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:12.319 because this is the 21st century, Donald. Anyway, with the side panels out 00:04:10.799 --> 00:04:16.400 of the way, we can see that the inside is segregated only for the purpose of 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:20.639 creating thermal zones. So, on this side, we've got the NATX motherboard, 00:04:18.239 --> 00:04:24.720 which takes up pretty much the entire height of the case. That's what makes 00:04:21.919 --> 00:04:29.680 the Node 804 so short. Those two drive slots that I talked about before, and 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:32.479 our AIO liquid cooler that fits, but 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:36.639 required us to swap low profile memory for the Dominators that we had planned 00:04:34.320 --> 00:04:40.800 to use. The design is actually similar to other cubes, but the cable management 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:45.280 choices that we can see here seemed a little bit odd. We've got these two 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:48.800 massive holes on the right and at the bottom, which combined with the large 00:04:46.880 --> 00:04:52.639 CPU cutout at the back, weaken the motherboard tray significantly. Then 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:57.040 along the bottom, we just get zip tie mounting points instead of additional 00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:01.520 holes for front USB, audio, and the like. I'd have rather seen Fractal 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:06.000 include smaller holes for the 24 pin and video card connectors and use that extra 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:10.800 strength to put in some other strategic mounting holes instead. Moving over to 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:15.919 the backside, we've got room for as long a power supply as you could possibly 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:20.080 want and some cool Velcro tie downs in the cable management zone that reveal 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:23.919 another reason I might like to have smaller grommeted holes on the 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:28.240 motherboard tray so I could keep this rat's nest out of sight. We also find 00:05:26.479 --> 00:05:33.039 the bulk of the hard drive mounts. In total, there are eight 3 and 1/2 in 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:37.039 drive mounts here, but I suspect most people would have trouble actually cable 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:40.560 managing all of that in here. We used the little spot in the top to simplify 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:45.280 routing the eightpin motherboard connector and fan controller cables, but 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:49.919 there's still just overall not a lot of room to work back here. And it was 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:54.720 easier to mount our rear hard drive in the second from the bottom slot so that 00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:58.880 we had room for cables behind it. If you were clever enough and used tricks like 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:03.840 pre-plugging in the drives and then installing them in the case and whatnot, 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:09.440 this would bring your total up to 10 3 and 1/2 in drives and two 2 and 1/2 in 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:13.440 drives, which is extremely impressive, especially when you consider that 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:18.479 additional fans can easily be mounted to keep them all adequately cooled. So, if 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:22.160 you figure it out, wow. All right, so let's just close with some general 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:26.560 thoughts about the case. Embedded thumb screws are awesome. NZXT is using them 00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:30.160 on their side panels and I want everyone to start doing it. They don't cost much 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:33.600 more and they really are a hassle saver so you don't lose your screws. Fractal 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:38.479 would have liked to see those included. The overall build quality of the case is 00:06:35.919 --> 00:06:43.120 quite good. There is some flex to the chassis without the side panels 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:47.919 installed. So I can kind of flex it a little bit here. But once they're on, it 00:06:45.520 --> 00:06:52.720 is completely rock solid. I love the compactness of this case. It feels a lot 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:56.720 more space efficient than something like a Prodigy that with its feet isn't 00:06:54.880 --> 00:07:01.599 actually much smaller, but only accepts an ITX board and a bunch of drives or an 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:06.960 NATX board and just a couple of drives for that version. But those usual 00:07:05.039 --> 00:07:11.120 challenges with small cases are definitely here. Building in the case in 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:15.680 the first place isn't the easiest thing in the world, and upgrades will feel 00:07:13.039 --> 00:07:20.400 like a chore for full tower users when they need to remove entire hard drive 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:25.120 cages just to install one new drive, for example. It's not a hardcore criticism 00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:31.360 of the Note 804 or anything, so much as it is a warning for anyone buying it. No 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:35.360 amount of smart internal design adds volume to the inside of a case. So, as 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:39.280 long as you're aware of what you're buying, then Fractal's latest 00:07:37.280 --> 00:07:43.520 reimagining of what I felt was a pretty wellestablished case category gets a big 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:49.199 thumbs up from me. It's a great choice for a classy looking compact gaming rig, 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:52.479 and it can also double as a pretty 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.840 robust storage box as well. Thank you 00:07:52.479 --> 00:07:58.639 for watching, guys. The link for where to buy this product is in the video description below the like, dislike, and 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:02.160 share buttons, which I would love for you to use accordingly. Also in the 00:08:00.479 --> 00:08:04.960 video description is a support link that we'd also love for you to use. If you 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.240 appreciate what we do, you can get a t-shirt, give us a monthly contribution 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:11.520 or change your browser bookmarks to sites that give us an affiliate kickback 00:08:09.919 --> 00:08:14.319 when you buy stuff like Amazon. It helps us out a lot. Thank you again for 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:19.400 watching and as always, don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:29.800 videos.