News Fractal Design launches Steambox and 450W SFX

Self-described as "the ultimate PC case for those looking for a beautifully designed, compact chassis that can house a capable gaming build," Fractal has just announced its new NODE 202 mini-ITX chassis with accompanied by the tagline "size does matter."

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/45585/fractal-design-launches-node-202-compact-chassis/index.html

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/45586/fractal-design-pushes-integra-sfx-450-psu-mini-pc/index.html

Not bad though looks a bit on the cheap side in quality and that non-modular PSU will be fun to deal with.

 

[Necere]

Looks pretty nice, honestly. It may be half plastic, but the styling is pretty on-point. I'd be tempted by it myself if we weren't still planning to do the LRPC.

 

[Vittra]

Corsair should take some notes from Fractal regarding size and aesthetics.

Build quality too, though they are already improving in that regard.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Lots of companies are releasing SFX power supplies to compliment their new cases, too... Even up to 600W there's now quite a bit of competition.

 

[Vittra]

Yeah, Tony had made some comments on [H] about traction being gained, I guess this is what he meant. Widespread adoption can only mean good things.

 

[Phuncz]

Damn, a Steam case people would actually want visible. Silverstone: take notes.
I'm wondering if the PSU has it's cables cut to length according to where the (most) connectors are. If that's the case, it doesn't really matter that it's non-modular.

 

[rawr]

Black USB 3.0 ports!!!

 

[Phuncz]

And the "3.0" just below them so you wouldn't be confused :rolleyes:
Still, a nice touch. I didn't notice it though.

 

[jeshikat]

Interesting, both the top and bottom of the exterior are removable giving access from both sides to the frame underneath:

 

[Phuncz]

A really awesome design, very reminiscent of the LRPC projects I've seen here and on [H]. Maybe it's based on those.

But it looks so incredibly flimsy. If it was a thick steel frame with aluminium casing, I'd happily pay $150-200 (if I needed it), but it's low price seems to also mean low quality. OK for storing the components, but frequently fidgeting with this will probably lead to bent metal and stripped plastic.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

It does look disappointingly plasticky, but for what it is, it's pretty darn good.

Fractal Design generally does a pretty good job with their aesthetic design, given the constraints that a lot of their cases have to live within (with respect to price and functionality).

 

[Vittra]

Thus far, every Fractal case I've used or been able to take a good look at in person has been very solid in terms of quality with respect to general feel, chassis rigidity and aesthetics. Although they use a lot of plastic, they are one of the manufacturers that actually utilize it quite well. There may have been some concessions in this case, I'm not convinced of that quite yet until I can see one in person.

I'm not sure I'm very fond of that empty gap for the 120mm fans beside the GPU though. Perhaps if using a blower cooler the one away from the blower coolers fan bringing air in could be of benefit.. but otherwise they suffer from the same problems the bottom fan mounts in the M1 case do. Either too close to be effective, or too far.

 

[MJVR1]

We NEED more cases like this in the market. Though lack of 3.5 inch drives is disappointing. I guess this is meant to be used with a NAS. Though the attention to detail isn't up to par with Fractal's other cases. The sideways Fractal Logo is basically a turn off for me. My OCD would kill me if I bought this case since I would use it side ways.

 

[Phuncz]

It depends if you need a NAS if you need more than 3TB (1TB SSD + 2TB HDD) without using external storage in any other form.

3,5" storage takes up so much space, along with ODD drives and ATX PSU's, because there are other good alternatives that eliminate this excess bloat. You won't reach 10L with high-end hardware support without making a few sacrifices.

 

[confusis]

I really do like the 202.

 

[Edward78]

What is this fascination with no ODD cases? I would understand if they where tiny cases, but mITX & above cases with no ODD bay, I don't get it....

 

[Phuncz]

Because optical storage is deprecated. Especially for devices that focus on the latest, most efficient technology.

 

[Vittra]

Even a slot-load drive would take up a significant amount of space in a SFF enclosure, between the drive and extra cabling. For a majority of usage cases, an external USB drive which can then be stored away is more than sufficient. Personally, a USB 3.1 Type-C powered drive would be perfect for my needs.

 

[confusis]

I've had a 5.25" DVD-RW drive in my current build for a year now.. Have used it.. never

 

[Phuncz]

I have mine installed in an external case for a number of years, can't say when exactly but more than 3 years ago. And when I bought it, I was hesitant to even buy one back then. I think I've used it twice in all this time, to convert two music CD's to MP3 which were sent to me as a promo. So it was basically not even something I had to do.