Specification and Test Methodology
Fractal Design Define Nano S Specification |
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|---|---|---|
| Motherboard Compatibility | mini-ITX | |
| Expansion Slots | 2 | |
| Drive Bays | 2x 3.5/2.5in, 2x 2.5in | |
| Total Fan Mounts | 6 | |
| Cooling System | Front | 2x 120/140 mm fans (included is 1x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan, 1000 RPM speed) |
| Rear | 1x 120 mm fan (included is 1x Fractal Design Dynamic GP12 fan, 1200 RPM speed) | |
| Side | Oversized vents over CPU/motherboard and expansion area | |
| Top | 2x 120/140 mm fan (not included) | |
| Bottom | 1x 120 mm fan (not included) | |
| Dust filters | Bottom and front intakes | |
| Water Cooling Compatibility | Front | 120/240mm, 140/280mm (max width 147, length 312; some radiators extend beyond the screw holes) |
| Top | 120/240mm (max component height on motherboard 35mm. Big heatsinks on RAM or power regulators around CPU could conflict with this restriction) | |
| Bottom | 120mm (max thickness & length: 85mm x 160mm) | |
| Pumps | Pre-drilled holes on multi-bracket, supports many DDC and D5 variants (see manual for detailed measurements) | |
| Reservoirs | Adjustable mounting brackets allow for almost any rectangular mounting screw pattern. Maximum distance between the mounting bracket screw positions: 270mm height / 80mm width. | |
| Front I/O Ports | USB 3.0 x 2, audio x 1, mic x 1 | |
| Power Supply Support | ATX (not included) | |
| Max. Expansion Card Length | 315mm | |
| Max. CPU Cooler Height | 160mm | |
| Space Behind Motherboard Tray | 17mm - 35mm | |
| Net Weight | 4.6kg | |
| Volume | 27l | |
| Dimensions | 203mm (W) x 344mm (H) x 412mm (D) | |
Comparison Chassis |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chassis | Form Factor | HEXUS Review | Reviewed Price | Product Page |
| Fractal Design Core 500 | Mini-ITX | October 2015 | £50 | Fractal-Design.com |
| Fractal Design Define Nano S | Mini-ITX | January 2016 | £50 | Fractal-Design.com |
| Fractal Design Node 202 | HTPC | July 2015 | £115 | Fractal-Design.com |
| SilverStone Milo ML08 | Mini-ITX | January 2016 | £70 | SilverStoneTek.com |
HEXUS Mini-ITX Test Bench |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware Components | HEXUS Review | Product Page | |
| Processor | Intel Pentium G3258 and reference cooler | June 2014 | Intel.com |
| Motherboard | MSI Z97I Gaming AC | - | MSI.com |
| Memory | 16GB Adata XPG (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 1,600MHz | - | Adata.com |
| Graphics Card | MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming 2G | June 2014 | MSI.com |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Straight Power 10 (500W) | - | Bequiet.com |
| Storage Device | 120GB Corsair Force Series 3 SSD | June 2011 | Corsair.com |
| Monitor | Philips Brilliance 4K Ultra HD LED (288P6LJEB/00) | - | Philips.co.uk |
| Operating system | Windows 8.1 (64-bit) | October 2012 | Microsoft.com |
Test Methodology
Putting recent components to the test, our Z97 platform consists of an MSI Z97I Gaming AC motherboard, an Intel Pentium G3258 processor with reference cooler, 16GB of Adata XPG DDR3 memory and an MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming 2G graphics card.
To find out how well the above chassis can cool this particular setup, we log CPU temperature while encoding a large 4K video clip. This task puts full load on all available CPU cores and in order to provide a stabilised reading we then calculate an average temperature across all cores from the last five minutes of encoding.
To get an idea of graphics-card cooling performance, we log GPU temperature while playing Aliens vs. Predator at a 1080p resolution with maximum quality settings. Last but not least, we also measure chassis noise by using a PCE-318 noise meter to take readings when idle and while gaming.
All chassis are tested only with the standard manufacturer-supplied fans (any/all of which are set to 'default' in the MSI BIOS or low-speed using a fan controller if present), and to take into account the fluctuating ambient temperature, our graphs depict both actual and delta temperature - the latter is the actual CPU/GPU temperature minus the ambient. For the record, the ambient temperature while testing Fractal Design's Define Nano S was recorded as 20.1ºC.