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Mesh securely ‘double box' the system. The image above shows the inner Fractal Node 304 box, which directly holds the Mini Gamer system.
An additional box includes all the accessories, which include the driver discs, manuals and extra cabling, left over from the build.
This is the first time we have had a ‘hands on' with a white version of the Fractal Node 304 Mini ITX chassis. We reviewed the black version of this chassis last year – you can see the full review on this chassis over here.
We like the understated front panel, it has no distracting buttons, or fans, but there is a vent running along the top, at the front.
Along the side are two USB 3.0 ports, alongside microphone and headphone ports. The power button is also located here, but you have to look closely to find it.
Both sides of the chassis have mesh vents to help ensure there is adequate airflow for the components inside. The bigger vent is directly in front of the intake fan of the graphics card.
MESH are using a WIFI enabled MSI Z87 motherboard. There are plenty of connectors at the back of the case, including another four USB 3.0 ports. It is important not to use the HDMI or DVI connectors on the motherboard, as MESH have installed a significantly more powerful AMD R9 290, with associated connectors running vertically at the side.
We feel it would make sense for MESH to use plastic covers on the motherboards HDMI, Displayport and DVI-I connectors as many inexperienced users may hook up their computer monitor here bypassing the R9 290 discrete solution, without thinking.
The insides of the MESH Elite Mini Gamer Plus System are neatly put together and we can see that they are using a Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 cooler on the Intel Core i7 4770k processor. MESH told us that they have upgraded the cooler since we received this review sample – they are now using the Thermalright True Spirit 120. They say this will not cost the consumer any extra even though it is £10 more expensive to incorporate into this build.
MESH have opted to use a reference cooled MSI R9 290 graphics card, which raised a red flag, especially in such a confined space. These are very hot running cards and the reference cooler has proven less than stellar in KitGuru's previous tests.
Well its a lovely looking little system, nice routing too on the cables.
I can concur, the R9 290 is a monster. I bought one and had to return it after a few days, its loud as hell and way too hot running. I think if MESH had used a GTX770 or something like that from MSI it would have worked a lot better. Reference AMD cards are sucky.
I knew it would be too hot going on the list at the start. I have that case, and I do like it, but its going to struggle with that GPU, even larger cases are although they have more room for the hot air to move around, not hang over the mobo.
A custom Palit GTX760 would be ideal IMO.