Node 304 Cooler Question

[maclem8223]

Picked up a Node 304 for a project and I have a cooler clearance question for Node 304 owners. I'd like to stick with Noctua throughout so with 4 HDD's (3.5") what would be the best Noctua cooler clearance wise? It will be for an i5 6500 so no overclocking or anything worry about. I see a ton of pictures of Node 304 setups but not a lot of specs regarding coolers. No GPU either in this build so my main concern is clearance for 4 drives. Also questioning whether my EVGA G2 550w will fit as well. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Man]

D15 fits but it will depend on the motherboard (check compatibility lists on the Noctua homepage). And you probably have to use it with just 1 fan...butwith a 6500, you could probably use the d15 without it's fans and just use the main fan on the 304 to blow coolr air in from the outside.

 

[Ftt]

if it's just a 6500 then no need for D15 unless you're chasing cool numbers. Anything you're comfortable with from Noctua will work; the clearance is 165mm tall.

ATX PSU sizing is mostly a concern when graphic cards are used.
This is a GS 550, which is 150mm long with a 970 graphics card. The G2 550 is 165mm. A 970 is ~40mm thick.

http://www.overclock.net/forum/50-s...-fractal-design-node-304-owners-club-578.html

 

[maclem8223]

if it's just a 6500 then no need for D15 unless you're chasing cool numbers. Anything you're comfortable with from Noctua will work; the clearance is 165mm tall.

ATX PSU sizing is mostly a concern when graphic cards are used.
This is a GS 550, which is 150mm long with a 970 graphics card. The G2 550 is 165mm. A 970 is ~40mm thick.

http://www.overclock.net/forum/50-s...-fractal-design-node-304-owners-club-578.html

This is what I was looking for! Yeah the D15 would be overkill for my needs. Went with an NH-L9x65.

 

[Smitty2k1]

I use my node304 as a storage server. It has 6 3.5" HDDs and no graphics card.

However, I recently upgraded my motherboard and found out that the SATA ports on the motherboard came out the side instead of the top. With how little clearance there is between an ATX PSU and the motherboard, I had to replace my ATX PSU with a STX PSU.

Just something to look at while ordering parts!

 

[maclem8223]

I use my node304 as a storage server. It has 6 3.5" HDDs and no graphics card.

However, I recently upgraded my motherboard and found out that the SATA ports on the motherboard came out the side instead of the top. With how little clearance there is between an ATX PSU and the motherboard, I had to replace my ATX PSU with a STX PSU.

Just something to look at while ordering parts!

Thanks for the heads up. I have a z-170 gaming 5 gigabyte board I'll be using since I had it on hand. It has sata ports coming up off the board and not to the side. Should be sufficient for my needs.

 

[faugusztin]

I use my node304 as a storage server. It has 6 3.5" HDDs and no graphics card.

However, I recently upgraded my motherboard and found out that the SATA ports on the motherboard came out the side instead of the top. With how little clearance there is between an ATX PSU and the motherboard, I had to replace my ATX PSU with a STX PSU.

Just something to look at while ordering parts!

You could have used http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=445 , those should fit even there.

 

[rfarmer]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a z-170 gaming 5 gigabyte board I'll be using since I had it on hand. It has sata ports coming up off the board and not to the side. Should be sufficient for my needs.

I have a Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 5 and it looks like this.

It has 2 SATA headers coming straight up, the other 4 come out the right side.

 

[maclem8223]

I have a Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 5 and it looks like this.

It has 2 SATA headers coming straight up, the other 4 come out the right side.

correct, I mispoke, hadn't looked at the board in a while. I will only need two of the four on the side. Should be ok for my needs, if not, then an sfx psu it is.

 

[Smitty2k1]

You could have used http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=445 , those should fit even there.

Cool! Didn't know those existed. Silverstone got my money anyways, as I ended up buying one of their SFX-L PSUs to solve my problems!