The Fractal Design Node 202 Case Review: Mini-ITX Gaming For the Living Room
by E. Fylladitakis on June 6, 2016 9:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- HTPC
- Fractal Design
- ITX
Conclusion
Fractal Design created the Node 202 for use into modern living rooms, yet unlike some of the other living room-centric designs we've seen in the past, for the Node 202 they did not have an HTPC in mind. The case lacks the capability to support optical and 3.5” drives, essentially preventing the use of optical media and limiting the storage capacity of the system, features that are of primary importance to a HTPC. Instead this is a case intended to accommodate a modern Mini ITX gaming system within minimal proportions, all while maintaining an elegant external appearance. It would be no exaggeration to say that Fractal Design created the Node 202 envisioning the replacement of a gaming console from a gaming PC.
Recapping the design of the case, like some other living room-centric cases, the Node 202 can be placed either horizontally or vertically. However vertical placement will degrade the aesthetics of the case, as the company logo will be sideward and the bottom of the Node 202 is not flat and clean like the top. When placed vertically, depending on the system and setup, it is wise to place the Node 202 with its left side down, as the right side offers some ventilation to the CPU/Motherboard area.
The size of the Node 202 introduces a number of limitations and the case is not very comfortable to work with. A lot of attention is needed when selecting the hardware, especially the length of the PSU’s cables, the size of the GPU card and the height of the CPU cooler. Cleaning the filters is a tedious, time consuming process, as both panels of the case need to come off. In terms of quality however the Node 202 does not disappoint, as the chassis is very strong and Fractal Design is using high quality materials.
Ultimately I can't help but to reiterate that this is a case designed for a very specific niche. It doesn’t have an optical drive bay for true HTPC usage, and it doesn't have 3.5" drive bays for use as a small file server. This is a case designed specifically to accommodate a full sized video card (or some other dual-slot PCIe card), and this is what it does well.
For its intended purpose, serving as a living room gaming machine, the Node 202 does not disappoint. With an energy efficient CPU and video card installed, the Node 202 can host a relatively powerful gaming PC. The tight space does pose some restrictions - you're going to want to stick to reference-style blower cards - but otherwise you shouldn't have any trouble getting a latest generation high-end card in the Node 202, a testament to both its design and the relatively low power consumption of the latest generation of cards.
In conclusion, the Node 202 is a case designed solely to introduce a gaming PC into a living room while maintaining a low volume and elegant form. Due to the very limited cooling options and the limiting SFX PSU, very powerful hardware will either cause issues or not fit at all. Still, the Node 202 can accommodate a potent gaming PC that will satisfy most users who want to do some casual gaming into the living room.
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ES_Revenge - Friday, June 17, 2016 - link
Sooo....basically the same layout as an RVZ-01E but with more elegant looks (flat surfaces, wrapped corners). Gotcha. Good news is it doesn't look like every other Fractal Design case out there, lol.rburnham - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
This seems like a less gaudy version of Alienware's R3 line of PCs if you stand it up vertically. This is exactly what I need in a gaming PC. Enough room for only what I need.By the way, in the Testing segment of the article, there is a sentence that reads "However digging deeper, it's clear that the is designed to assist the cooling systems of the installed devices..." There's a word missing there.
Mark Davis - Monday, December 25, 2017 - link
Hey man, first of all, I need to thank you for this amazing review of Node 202. I enjoyed the whole time reading about this case. It is the very nice case, but I think it isn't the best in this market.Design of Node 202 is amazing in my opinion. I really love the clean and simple design, colored in matte black. It looks more like a console than like a PC. However, I saw some pretty powerful gaming rigs inside this bad boy. But, as you mentioned in the review, it is more for casual gaming PCs that stands in the living room.
I love the fact that you can position the case both horizontal and vertical. It makes a fitting job a lot easier, but I think that logo looks a little weird when the case is positioned vertically. However, I am probably the only guy that cares about that. I also saw guys that put PC in this case right next to PS4. It looks so cool, trust me!
I think inside of the case is also pretty nice. It has enough space for decent size components. I built gaming PC in small cases a couple of times, and I can say that it is a complitely new experience. It is very different, and I recommend to everyone to try it out.
I love mini ITX cases because they are also easy to transport, and I can easily travel with them from one place to another. I had a couple friends that loved LAN parties, so they also needed small PCs in most cases.
All in all, I love your review, and I think you mentioned everything about this case. This was all I needed to learn about Node 202. I will definitely read other reviews on your website and hopefully learn something new.
I also wanted to share my own blog where I talk about technology. I have article around similar topic, but I talked about many mini ITX cases. If you have a couple minutes, I would like to have your feedback.
You can find it here: https://safetygaming.com/best-mini-itx-cases/
All the best!
hmazuji - Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - link
my experience with the node 202:first off, this is for the developers, for fractal design, not intended to put off the enthusiastic apprentice from pursuing their goal:
i am building a asrock b450 itx. 1. this case will not host the amd 1700/2700 processor with non-optional heatstock fan & block. i ended up having to order a smaller footprint fan, but managed to salvage the heatsink block. please redesign the case to accommodate the amd line of processors. 2. the cable management of this case is horrid. i mean to say, it is abysmal. used a modular seasonic platinum power supply that i had to cut and splice to eliminate the extra yardage. to make this case work, fractal design needs to include such a power supply but with proprietary cables made for this case. for example, the power cables to the motherboard need to be streamlined to eliminate every single inch of overage. this case needs its own, and should ship with its own cables. 3. don't make the power supply optional. placing a seasonic in this case was a feat of engineering instead of plug and chug
my build is up and running, it just could have been a lot easier. i would recommend the fractal design define s over the node 202, but there it is the exact opposite. my node s build looks like an empty box with plenty of room for a dvd/blue rw drive, so i wasn't able to port my optical drive from my old system, even though it would have been useful, for example, watching movies, or installing windows 7, because windows 7 out of the box does not support usb 3