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Fractal Design Node 202 Owners Thread

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621 - 640 of 835 Posts
#621 ·
therock003 said:
Guys heres the clearance behind my TV. I'm thinking of putting the Node there to save some space. Would that be a good or a terrible idea?

In terms of either not getting enough cool air from envirnoment by sitting there, and or outputting heat on the back of my TV?

I'm also looking for a way to power my pc remotely without having to jam a pci card inside, or use an ethernet cable for WOL. Are there any easier alternatives?
Click to expand...
why not on the side of the tv instead of the bacK?

also regarding storage I was able to put my other 2.5 1TB hdd inside my Node 202 together with my 512gb ssd(which originally was a m2 but my viii gene doesn't have m2) . I guess once I got the time for the cable management I will show a photo 'coz I don't like my cable management now that I'm using the 2.5hdd.
 
#622 ·
Ok I ordered everything, and is on the way... to arrive by Wednesday.
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/EuphoriaZX/saved/#view=v8b9WZ

The only thing I already had and am still keeping is the Nvidia GTX 1070 FE from Zotac...
I will keep it till the next-gen GPUs arrive from Nvidia.

Considering I am currently on i3770k and 16GB DDR3, just the CPU and Mem upgrade will give me at least 30-40FPS boost in games. Should be enough to keep playing at 1440p.

Not sure yet about delidding my i8700k... I'll keep it as it is unless temps are really becoming an issue.
 
#623 ·
Finally finished my build, I've been just busy playing with it :)
Here is the final build: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/MNsZxr

Love the case! Pure silence when surfing the web and doing regular work.
When playing games fans slightly increase but still reasonably quiet.

A lot of power in just one third of my old lian li case.

Let me know if anyone wants to buy my old PC. i3770k, 16GB DDR3 2400, 600GB RAID 0 7200RPM, 2TB 7200 HD, and GTX 570. all in a Lian Li aluminum black case.
 
#624 ·
Hello,
How are you?
Going to build in a 202 soon.
I am still waiting to see if I go Ryzen or intel.
Either way, what is currently the best cpu cooler to use with the node 202?

Here is what I have so far:
- Node 202 case
- Enermax Revolution 650w sfx psu
- Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500gb
- Gigabyte 1070 Windforce OC.

I just need to choose the motherboard, cpu and memory combo and also the cpu cooler.

What do you think of the build?
Will the 1070 be ok temperature wise?

Thank you.
Cheers
 
#625 ·
Gdourado said:
Hello,
How are you?
Going to build in a 202 soon.
I am still waiting to see if I go Ryzen or intel.
Either way, what is currently the best cpu cooler to use with the node 202?

Here is what I have so far:
- Node 202 case
- Enermax Revolution 650w sfx psu
- Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500gb
- Gigabyte 1070 Windforce OC.

I just need to choose the motherboard, cpu and memory combo and also the cpu cooler.

What do you think of the build?
Will the 1070 be ok temperature wise?

Thank you.
Cheers
Click to expand...
From all the research I've done, without doing any mods to the case "Scythe - BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B 45.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler" is what you want.

1070 is running great. I have the Zotac AMP! version and when idle, fans are not spinning and temp sit at 27-30C. Under load I get around 75C.
 
#626 ·
EuphoriaZX said:
From all the research I've done, without doing any mods to the case "Scythe - BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B 45.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler" is what you want.

1070 is running great. I have the Zotac AMP! version and when idle, fans are not spinning and temp sit at 27-30C. Under load I get around 75C.
Click to expand...
Hello, thank you for the suggestion.
I'll look into that cooler.
From what I see, without the dust filter, an amd wraith spire can fit.
If I go ryzen, dies the Shuriken offer improved performance?
Also, are you running cade fans on the gpu chamber?

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
 
#628 · (Edited)
Gdourado said:
Also, saw this site:
https://ru.gecid.com/cases/fractal_design_node_202/?s=all

They say the L9x65 fits without the dust filter, wuth the fan against the case mesh.
Anyone tried fitting one?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
So the Shuriken heatsink fan is 58mms in height and I can tell you it's 1mm short of touching the case.
Now this will also depend on the motherboard, screws and washers you use. In a small build like this every millimeter counts (thickness of motherboard and washers)

Now the Noctua CPU Cooler NH-L9x65 is 65mm in height which means, unless you are planning to cut a hole in your case it wont really fit in. Not sure how they did it in the website you linked... There is a groove/lip on the inside of the case where the CPU opening is, to hold the filter. Maybe if they removed this lip via sand paper or some other alteration and the motherboard they used provided couple of more mm of work space.... they might have been able to fit in these additional 6mm.

For case fans on the GPU side I used the Noctua - NF-A12x15 FLX 55.4 CFM 120mm Fan. They are a slim (15mm) alternative to the 25mm Noctua case fans. They are quiet and I liked to have the additional 10mm space between the fans and the GPU card for air circulation, and in case my next Nvidia card (1180 or 1180 ti) does need this space.

I keep editing this post, as I look at that Russian website... :) So if you see close up of the photos you can notice that the fan of the NH-L9x65 is above the height of the power supply, this means that even if somehow they were able to fit this heatsink/fan in the case, the fan would be literally glued to the case does resulting in bad/no air circulation. Look at the placement of the CPU and Heatsink in reference to the CPU opening on the Node 202 case. I can bet that half or more than half of that NH-L9x65 is not even seeing that opening.

That will also explain their 85C-89C temps on the CPU under load.
 
#629 ·
I also wanted to share this alternative WiFI antenna solution for the Gigabyte Z370N WiFi mini ITX motherboard.
The WiFi antenna that comes with the Z370N Gigabyte motherboard has cables that end into a plastic stand with a magnetic footing... This looks ugly and also adds to the size and complexity of an already small case. So I thought of finding an alternative.
I used a pair of SMA female to RP-SMA male adapters and a Makerfire 2pcs 2.4G 5.8G FPV TX Antenna SMA Male Dipole Whip FPV Antenna.
They end up working perfectly fine with no degradation in signal and download and upload bandwidth. No more tangling antenna cables from the back of the case.

I tried using a regular antennas like the HUACAM HCM82 2x 8dBi 2.4GHz 5GHz 5.8GHz Dual Band Wireless Network WiFi RP SMA but the antenna ports on the motherboard are so close together that HUACAM antennas could not fit next to each-other due to the large diameter of the RP-SMA screw-in port. Since I had to do some research and some trial and error, I thought I share it here in case someone else is wondering and looking for an antenna alternative.
 
#630 ·
I kind of want to pull the trigger on the node 202 but then when I browse reddit or pcpacrtpicker, I keep seeing post and post of bad thermals on the case and how it acts like a toaster for your components.
That is making me hesitant.
And I understand in some respects.
Both the gpu with an open fan cooler and a cpu with also an open air cooler, both these components will dump heat into the case.
On a regular atx case, you then have intake fans and an exhaust fan to move the air inside the case.
On the node 202, there is no air circulation inside the case.
And the gpu chamber has almost no venting.
So that makes me scared.

Is this a fact?

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
 
#631 · (Edited)
Gdourado said:
On the node 202, there is no air circulation inside the case.
And the gpu chamber has almost no venting.
So that makes me scared.

Is this a fact?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Well to a point any HTPC case will have some air circulation constrains in comparison to a mini, mid or full tower cases.

For the Node 202 Would have been maybe better to have another opening behind the GPU card to help with hot air exhaust, but overall it is working quite well considering all these constrains.

The concept that works on Node 202 is creating positive air pressure within the case, and that is being done via the CPU fan being close to the opening and sucking air from the outside via this opening. I've seen online someone actually 3D printing a duct... (would love to have that :))
Then on the GPU side you have two more 120mm fans pushing cold air from outside-in. Hot air is then being pushed out via the rear (where the HDMI and D-Port are of the video card + there is slight opening below that I believe was left there for that reason.
Some people have suggested that having a blower card vs open heatsink might work better in this situation but i have not seen any benchmarks comparing this.

Originally I was thinking that i might need to dellid my CPU to keep the temps down, but now I can see it is working quite well the way it is.
I love the idea I can put this PC in a bag and take it to my friend's place or anywhere else I go and plug it into TV and work and game.

Motherboard has Bluetooth so any BT keyboard and mouse will work, thus rendering any need for cables beside power and TV/monitor

EDIT: BTW search on youtube, there are quite a few videos and reviews of happy Node 202 owners. That's what made me pick this case vs. my original idea to go Mini Tower and water cooling with all the fancy lighting :) which I really dont care about.
Anyway, at the end you'll have to weigh in the pros and cons and go with what you feel comfortable. You dont want to wake up at night screaming in fear that your case is running hot :)
Cheers!
 
#632 ·
EuphoriaZX said:
Well to a point any HTPC case will have some air circulation constrains in comparison to a mini, mid or full tower cases.

For the Node 202 Would have been maybe better to have another opening behind the GPU card to help with hot air exhaust, but overall it is working quite well considering all these constrains.

The concept that works on Node 202 is creating positive air pressure within the case, and that is being done via the CPU fan being close to the opening and sucking air from the outside via this opening. I've seen online someone actually 3D printing a duct... (would love to have that :))
Then on the GPU side you have two more 120mm fans pushing cold air from outside-in. Hot air is then being pushed out via the rear (where the HDMI and D-Port are of the video card + there is slight opening below that I believe was left there for that reason.
Some people have suggested that having a blower card vs open heatsink might work better in this situation but i have not seen any benchmarks comparing this.

Originally I was thinking that i might need to dellid my CPU to keep the temps down, but now I can see it is working quite well the way it is.
I love the idea I can put this PC in a bag and take it to my friend's place or anywhere else I go and plug it into TV and work and game.

Motherboard has Bluetooth so any BT keyboard and mouse will work, thus rendering any need for cables beside power and TV/monitor

EDIT: BTW search on youtube, there are quite a few videos and reviews of happy Node 202 owners. That's what made me pick this case vs. my original idea to go Mini Tower and water cooling with all the fancy lighting :) which I really dont care about.
Anyway, at the end you'll have to weigh in the pros and cons and go with what you feel comfortable. You dont want to wake up at night screaming in fear that your case is running hot :)
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Hello,
That's what I want in part.
I was always building in large cases with large fans and huge coolers to use overclockable parts and try to push them as far as I could.
Now I guess I am tired of that and always be reading reviews and thinking what to buy next or what part to upgrade.
Age is starting to get to me, but that's why I thought about building in the node with good parts that work well and then just place the computer next to the TV on the living room and just enjoy games comfortably on my recliner.

But at the same time, I also fear the compromises especially in the cooling side of things.

I was also looking to build a ryzen system.
But then, more compromises.
The ar06 and big Shuriken aren't AM4 compatible.
Then I keep reading that all itx Ryzen boards are crap with crappy VRMs...

I just don't know what to do at this point.

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
 
#633 · (Edited)
Gdourado said:
Hello,
That's what I want in part.
I was always building in large cases with large fans and huge coolers to use overclockable parts and try to push them as far as I could.
Now I guess I am tired of that and always be reading reviews and thinking what to buy next or what part to upgrade.
Age is starting to get to me, but that's why I thought about building in the node with good parts that work well and then just place the computer next to the TV on the living room and just enjoy games comfortably on my recliner.

But at the same time, I also fear the compromises especially in the cooling side of things.

I was also looking to build a ryzen system.
But then, more compromises.
The ar06 and big Shuriken aren't AM4 compatible.
Then I keep reading that all itx Ryzen boards are crap with crappy VRMs...

I just don't know what to do at this point.

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Is there a reason you are going AMD? Perfromance-wise for gaming Intel does better, and cost wise is about the same... this is what I got with a quick search:

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor $237.89
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 $126.98
Total: $364.87

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor $288.90
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350N-Gaming WIFI (rev. 1.0) Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard $89.99
Total: $378.89

In many ways Core i5 8600k outperforms the Ryzen 7 1800x which is about $40-$50 more expensive then the 1700x.... unless you want to go with the cheaper 1500x

 

Attachments

#634 · (Edited)
EuphoriaZX said:
Is there a reason you are going AMD? Perfromance-wise for gaming Intel does better, and cost wise is about the same... this is what I got with a quick search:

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor $237.89
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 $126.98
Total: $364.87

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor $288.90
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350N-Gaming WIFI (rev. 1.0) Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard $89.99
Total: $378.89

In many ways Core i5 8600k outperforms the Ryzen 7 1800x which is about $40-$50 more expensive then the 1700x.... unless you want to go with the cheaper 1500x
Click to expand...
Hello,
I am in Portugal, so euro prices for me.
I was thinking of getting an asrock ab350 Fatal1ty board with a 1600.
The board is 80 euros and the cpu 135.
For Intel, the cheapest itx board is 120 euros.
Then for cpu, the i5 8400 is 150 for lower clock speed and less threads then the ryzen.
The 8600k is 190 and the 8700 is 250.
Both of these can be harder to cool as they are considered hotter cpus than ryzen models.

So I was leaning towards a ryzen build.

Also, the spectre and meltdown patches hurts Intel performance and nvme performance on Intel.

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
 
#635 ·
Gdourado said:
Hello,
I am in Portugal, so euro prices for me.
I was thinking of getting an asrock ab350 Fatal1ty board with a 1600.
The board is 80 euros and the cpu 135.
For Intel, the cheapest itx board is 120 euros.
Then for cpu, the i5 8400 is 150 for lower clock speed and less threads then the ryzen.
The 8600k is 190 and the 8700 is 250.
Both of these can be harder to cool as they are considered hotter cpus than ryzen models.

So I was leaning towards a ryzen build.

Also, the spectre and meltdown patches hurts Intel performance and nvme performance on Intel.

Cheers

Sent from my Le X821 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
:thumb: makes sense
 
#636 ·
Long time lurker of this thread, and owner of the Node 202, so I thought I'd finally contribute something!

I can confirm that the Coolermaster GeminII M5 LED fits right into the case if you remove the dust filter. I initially wanted to get the Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B but then stumbled upon this user review comparing a number of ITX coolers: https://www.hardwareluxx.de/communi...undup-verschiedene-ansaetze-eine-gemeinsamkeit-die-flache-bauweise-1169055.html

The Coolermaster kept the CPU quite a bit cooler than the Scythe in that review (scroll down to the benchmarks, the numbers reflect the delta degree between room temperature and the hottest core) and it was cheaper than the Scythe from where I bought it.

As for how it performs, I can only provide limited impressions. Kodi + madVR used to put enough load on the CPU that the Noctua NH-L9i's fan spun up to full speed (2200rpm) at around 70°C, while the Coolermaster keeps my i5-3570T at around 50°C at 800rpm. So yeah, quite a big difference!

Unfortunately there aren't many (professional) reviews of the Coolermaster out there yet, it's only been on the market for a few months I believe but it'd be interesting to see more reviews, especially in comparison to the Scythe.
 
#639 ·
rainmein said:
@EuphoriaZX Any benchmarks you'd like to see?

Should add I've swapped the Coolermaster fan for the Noctua NF-A12x15 as the bearing of the Coolermaster fan was noisier than I would've liked.
Click to expand...
@rainmein heh what do you know... it does look like the Coolermaster heatsink/fan can fit in... :)

Maybe post some screenshots from HWINFO temp sensors when idle and after playing games, like witcher 3 or destiny 2 and also post some temps when running prime95 stress test.

At this point it is highly unlikely to remove my shuriken 2 heatsink/fan just to get couple of deg lower temp. But is sure useful to keep in mind for new builds, or if I am to delid the CPU one day and then overclock it.
 
#640 ·
Hi guys,

So here is my 3 build update on Node 202:

builds
#1 Intel Based: z370 +6600K
#2 Ryzen Based: ryzen 1700x +x370 itx +2x8gb flarex@3200
#3 Ryzen Upgrade: upgraded my CPU to 2700x. SSD to EVO 850 500 GB, Sold 1070 Gaming X for a good price and bought gt 1030 just for now till next gen comes up.

So my build right now looks like this:

Node Build #3

Case: Node202
CPU: Ryzen 2700x - Stock Speed
Motherboard: Fatal1ty X370 Gaming-ITX/ac (Bios 4.5)
Ram: G.SKILL 16GB 3200MHz Flare X Black Ryzen CL14
PSU: Corsair SF 600
GPU: MSI GeForce GT 1030 2GH LP OC 2GB GDDR5
SSD: SSD Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-L9i (with mouting kit for AM4 socket)
Case Fans

GPU Chamber - 2x Noctua F12-PWM intake
Above CPU - Noctua F12-PWM intake
Side of Case ear CPU area - 2x Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX outtake

Temperatures (case is vertical):

Idle
CPU 34C
MOBO 35C
GPU 26

Stress ( Prime 95 @ 30 min + surfing)
CPU Max 69.5
MOBO 47
 
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