The front USB and headphone ports on my 19L volume Fractal Node 304 have shorted out and died. Replacing them is $45/65 CAD for Germany and I’m not sure if it’s my motherboard headers or on the case so I ordered a new (different) case.
What case did you get? The one I did earlier in the year is 16L. First time I’d ever done a SFF build
The Cooler Master NR200P. Is an absolute steal at its regular price and even better on sale and seemingly universally well reviewed.
Nice. It’s great that you can get that type of sandwich case in that price range.
I can’t get Dan A4, Ncase N1 to Canada without crazy shipping and delays so it ends up costing $300+ for the case alone.
Sandwich?
Like Dan A4 or NCase, where they use a riser to put the gpu behind the mobo
Oh, so the GPU is vertical or parallel to the motherboard not perpendicular? I’ve never heard of that term but I’ve been out of new ITX hardware for a few years.
I’m quite certain my next case will be a Meshilicious. Currently in a Sliger that is also a good (but overpriced) SFF, but it isn’t big enough for an AIO.
I loved my SFF build (Bitfenix Prodigy from a few years ago). I ended up going back to big ass cases because I needed the expansion slots, but I really enjoyed the experience of building in the SFF confines.
The incredible thing about this NR200P is it will take giant CPU cooler and giant GPUs as well as (through free 3D printed adapter) ATX PSUs too.
No one enjoys this, this is always the worst part heh.
That’s nice. I was limited to an sff gpu in mine and limited cooler height, but on the plus side, room for 140mm fans on top and bottom plus radiator up top. Every case makes different sacrifices, so it’s a question of which ones you are willing to make.
ATU PXU definitely does shorten the length of the usable GPU but I’ve seen someone use an NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti (non-AIB) that comes right up against the ATX CPU.
I fear this “repair” has turned into an opportunity to waste more money on bigger CPU cooler and GPU with the additional flexibility this case offers.
Oh wait, my bad, that isn’t a sandwich style case like I thought. It was just tough to see the motherboard past the card in the pictures. Using a full size psu looks like it will really limit your gpu options, so be careful
I think you were correct calling it a sandwich style–if one uses the PCIE riser that’s included with the NR200P variant. I can’t/won’t since I have a big air cooler that a vertically mounted cooler would be in the way of.
CM just announced an NZXT H1-style NR200 MAX with AIO and 850W PSU included.
No, let me show you what I mean. Here’s mine. Behind the card is the back of the motherboard. The riser cable on the left loops around to the front of the motherboard (on the top right in the second shot)
This is the complete opposite side of the case:
Oh I see, the PSU and AIO/HSF is on the other side.
Lol… There’s a part of me that really liked the constraints. Of course, the Bitfenix Prodigy is also a pretty cool case – the ITX motherboard is horizontal, and that was part of the fun.
Between upgrade trickle down and a bit of GPU luck a couple of months ago, my 3 year old Dan A4 is still going strong. It now sports a Ryzen 3900X and an RTX 3070. Pretty sweet HTPC/second rig. A bit frustrating to work in given the tight space for cabling, but I’m still agog that a case this small can accommodate current high end components.
Yeah, my case is small, but it is more than twice the volume of one of those.