Fractal Design Node 202 ITX Case Review

Up Close:  Interior 

Removing four screws enables the top and sides of the case to be removed as a single piece and grants us access to the internals.  As you can see this £119 version of the case comes with a 450W SFX PSU.  If you’ve already got a PSU that will fit or think you can do the bundle cheaper you can actually get the case without the PSU which will set you back a much more reasonable £69.  As the layout of the case is pretty unusual let’s help us orientate you by telling you that the motherboard sits in the flat area in the bottom left, with the large mesh area on the right of the case being given over to the GPU.

       

 

Looking down into the motherboard area now we can see why this is M-ITX only.  Things are going to be pretty tight in there by the looks of it, and yes, there does appear to be a wall of steel with a small window in it separating the Motherboard from the GPU.

       

 

Looking  at the case from the other side of the wall we can see that it should be able to take decent size GPUs, and although there’s no active cooling that large mesh area should afford plenty of fresh air.  Now, if you’re wondering about storage then you need to look over to the right of the dividing wall where a small frame offers support for two 2.5″ drives.  The absence of 3.5″ drive storage in a case of this type isn’t exactly a disaster as SSDs continue to fall in price and the prevalence of online storage increases.

       

 

The base of the case also comes off, but this time the job is considerably harder and a bit of a nail breaker.  Removing it does enable you to get at the mesh filters though, which means if you need to clean them you’re going to need to take the case pretty much apart.  On the plus side Fractal have added several dense rubber foam pads to this area to limit noise and vibration.

      

 

With both the top and bottom of the case removed we’re left with the bare frame of the chassis.  being able to get a case down to the bare chassis prior to commencing a build is always advantageous as it enables you to really get an idea of how you’re going to put things together, and in particular how you’re going to organise your wiring.