Test System

Assembly

Adding a mainboard to the NODE 202 is done by traditional means, using screws and spacers. Things are quite tight, and you should really plan out how you will route your cables to achieve a clean look. This includes any power leads for the graphics card and all the cabling to the I/O plugs. The chassis may take CPU coolers of up to 56 mm in height.


Before you are able to add the CPU, you need to put the PCIe riser card in place. To do so, you have to remove the metal GPU bracket from the system to attach both parts of the riser to it.


With the PCIe riser in place, you may place the GPU right onto the metal bracket before putting the whole contraption back into the system. You may also install the GPU once the assembled bracket is in place, which avoids having to disassemble everything for an upgrade.


To install an SSD, you have to remove a single screw holding the simple bracket in place. The bracket can hold two 2.5" drives and can be put right back into the case once filled. You just have to make sure everything is facing the right direction as you add the storage units. Things are quite tight here, but I pre-routed the cables, so everything was easily attached once the whole bracket was back inside the chassis.


How little wasted space there is within the Fractal Design NODE 202 becomes apparent once everything has been installed, as the GPU essentially takes up most of the space.

Finished Looks

Before turning the assembled PC on, we placed the plastic stand in such a way as to make sure the NODE 202 had a solid footing in an upright position. The white power LED, a little angled strip, adds some nice contrast to the NODE 202's otherwise fairly round corners.


All three openings of the chassis are utilized by the parts behind them, which means they are well placed. Due to the dust filters on them, you won't really be able to see anything unless the fans within are LED-equipped. In the rear, with the PSU plug on the bottom, you have clear access to both the motherboard's backplate and the GPU ports.