Fractal Design Node 605 Case Review

1. Introduction2. Fractal Design Node 605: Packaging and Bundle3. Fractal Design Node 605: Exterior4. Fractal Design Node 605: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

For our tests we will be using an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro to cool the Intel Core i7 3770K CPU in the Fractal Design Node 605.  Our test system also features an AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card.  We overclocked the system to 4.4 GHZ for our tests using a voltage of 1.25V.

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K.
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77E-ITX.
• Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2.
• Memory: 4GB (2x 2GB) Kingston HyperX Genesis.
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950.
• Power Supply: Corsair GS800.
• System Drive: Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB.
• Monitor: Viewsonic VX2260WM.

Software:

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit).
• CPUID Hardware Monitor.
• Prime95 64-bit.
• Furmark V1.9.2.

To test the thermal performance of the Fractal Design Node 304 we loaded our test system for 15 minutes using Prime95 and Furmark and recorded the maximum temperatures reached using CPUID Hardware Monitor.  We then restarted the system and left it for 15 minutes before recording idle temperatures.

Room temperature was maintained at 16 degrees C for the duration of our tests.

The thermal performance of our test system was quite good, although it could be improved considerably with a performance air cooler.  Those looking for decent overclocks should definitely look into the high-end C-type coolers from Noctua and Phanteks.

To conduct our noise level tests, we replaced the graphics card in our system with a AMD Radeon HD 5550 Silence which was passively cooled.  We also momentarily disconnected the fans on the CPU cooler so we were only taking into account the noise generated by the fans in the case.

The case was quiet in our tests but not silent.  Even with the fans running at full speed, it recorded less than 30 dBA on our noise level meter so we cannot publish a certain result.

The inbuilt fan controller can reduce the noise down to almost silent too which is great for those who want the quietest possible HTPC.

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