Node 202 Build w/ R9 Fury

[VikingJoe]

Short story, my wife did not like my test stand PC setup and made me store it away when I wasn't using it. I stumbled on SFF builds shortly after and have been researching since. I wanted to keep as many of my original components as possible which landed me at the Node 202 for my case of choice.

Components:
Case - Fractal Node 202
CPU - Intel Core i7 6600K
Board - Gigabyte GA-H270N-WIFI
Cooler - Cryorig C7
PSU - Corsair SF600
GPU - Sapphire R9 Nitro Fury OC
Ram - 2x 8 gig sticks of G.Skill Ripjaw DDR4 2133
Storage - 2x Sata 2.5 SSD's
Case Fans - 2x 120mm Thermaltake 15mm thick fans

Everything has arrived except my PSU so I have been messing around today getting everything ready.

New board and cooler next to my old ATX board and Evo 212 cooler.


Testing out my new board and cooler to make sure everything is functional.


Node 202


And this is where the fun stops.... Specs per Sapphire for this card claim 307mm length and the Node states 310mm length for the GPU slot. The GPU's shroud extends oddly at an angle at the end of the card and also the front of the shroud extends unnecessarily towards the brackets and hits the case keeping it from seating. I had to pry the case a bit just to get it in the bay to figure out it wouldn't seat.



I really don't feel like hacking up a perfectly good GPU but with the prices of video cards right now I can't afford to upgrade and I definitely won't be downgrading either. I will be pulling the shroud off and cutting it per below (cringe).



Hopefully I will have an update tonight with the results of my butchered GPU shroud. Any future on-lookers considering this case with the Tri-X fan R9 cards, don't.

 

[jmarin]

Cutting a little plastic never hurt anyone

Going to look nice when you're done, Cryorig cooler looks good

 

[VikingJoe]

I ended up cutting the shroud last night. It went as well as could be expected with a dremel.



The GPU fits after the cuts. I will say that anyone using a long GPU, you are in for a bunch of fun trying to maneuver the USB 3.0 cables on the front panel. The cables are pretty inconvenient to say the least.


I put everything in and hooked up my old Rosewill PSU to test everything out and it all works.


I think heat is going to be an issue as far as the GPU is concerned. I knew this from the jump but didn't know how bad. I could run games at 1080p maxed settings and my GPU fans wouldn't even turn on most of the time when my computer was on the test bench. I tested last night in the case and the fans spin up almost immediately and they are spinning fast. It was showing temps stabilizing at 75c. This was with the top off so it will be interesting to see temps with the lid on. To be fair I only had one of the case fans hooked up and I didn't even realize I had it pulling air out of the case so hopefully having both fans on and in the correct orientation will help.

I will update when I get my Corsair SF600 PSU in tomorrow.

 

[VikingJoe]

Cutting a little plastic never hurt anyone

Going to look nice when you're done, Cryorig cooler looks good

I cringed the whole time I was cutting lol.

It did end up turning out Okay though and it looks great in the case.

 

[jmarin]

Yeah looks good in there. Your temps will definitely come down with both fans hooked up and blowing the right direction

 

[VikingJoe]

PSU came in and I am glad I went with the Corsair SF600 instead of the Silverstone SX700-LPT like I originally planned. Without the room behind the PSU which I would have lost with the Silverstone, I would have been completely lost where to put the excess wiring.






I do have a few complaints about the case:
1. The USB 3.0 cables make working with a longer GPU extremely difficult.
2. They should probably advertise slightly less GPU length than the 310mm they claim.
3. This one seems to be a common one and that is the dust filters, specifically the one for the GPU area. It touches the fans and makes a lot of noise. It was pressed up hard enough against one of the fans to stop it from spinning. I had to remove it and slap it on the outside of the case. This isn't really a big deal for me since I will orient my case horizontally but to anyone standing their case up vertically, it sucks.


Other than that, I think the Fractal 202 is an amazing, good looking, and well thought out case.

I will hook it up to my 4k TV tonight to stress it out on Witcher 3 so I can see what the temps do. That is my only concern at this point but hopefully it won't be an issue with the two fans in the GPU bay. I also undervolted my GPU last night so that should help with temps.

 

[VikingJoe]

Temps are better than I could have hoped for.

I was averaging 76c while running Witcher 3 at 4k resolution. This is with the case all buttoned up, 2 fans and a mild -48mV undervolt on my GPU.

I am very happy with how everything turned out and I can never go back to having a monstrously sized computer.

SFF convert for life!

 

[jmarin]

Glad to hear the temps were better! I was positive they would be, but of course the proof is in the pudding. Great build all around.