Review on Fractal FBA_FD CA NODE 202 BK Design Node 202 by Amrit Barla ᠌

Name: Fractal FBA_FD CA NODE 202 BK Design Node 202
Item: Fractal FBA_FD CA NODE 202 BK Design Node 202
Rating: 5

December 28, 2022

The quality exceeds all expectations, I recommend to buy.

For a long time I thought to put 4 or 5, but after a week or two of active use, I still put the top five without a doubt. Well deserved. This is the perfect case for assemblies a la "Console-PC" if you do not need any exorbitant power. For my purposes (couch gaming on the big screen in the bedroom with my wife) is the ultimate dream.

There are already a lot of very cool reviews with a bunch of useful information written, I advise you to read them all (which I did when I chose the case myself). I will try not to repeat myself, but to highlight still untouched moments, briefly describe my config, temperatures and tests, experience for a week or two and give some thoughts on the case as a whole.

The problem that many people face is the power cable socket, which prevents installing a second cooler to blow the video card. I didn't want to remove video card support. Yes, this is definitely an easier option (than the one I went for), but I still think that support for the video card is not superfluous here. Still, the vidyushka stands upside down. And every time you assemble / disassemble the case, you have to turn it on all sides, the video card there without support can walk a lot. So I went the other way. I decided to take the socket out of the body into the so-called pigtail ("pig's tail"). In this case, this bulky socket will not interfere with anything. But there's a problem. The manufacturer, apparently, did not think about this, so there is no detail for fixing the wire so that it does not walk back and forth (something after all, the wire should still be held firmly in place). I modeled and printed this detail on a 3D printer and stuck the wire into it with a silicone gasket for secure fixation. As a result, the wire sits ultra-tightly, the socket does not interfere with anyone, and the second cooler now stands up as it should, "as if it was there." Of course, I had to drill a couple of holes for the fan mounts, but these are already trifles.

( has the dumbest limit of 2022 characters here, so I'll continue in the comments)
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Pros

- Nice minimalistic design - Good and very high quality assembly. Absolutely nothing backlash, no creaks, everything is tightened, fitted and processed as needed (but maybe I'm so lucky, because I see some people had problems here) - Lightweight, but at the same time durable, the design inspires confidence - Everything is thought out quite well in terms of the distribution of components inside - Same size as PS5, very compact

Cons

- The large dust filter (which is for the video card compartment) has a too soft mesh, plus it is not stretched as tight as possible, but walks back and forth for a couple of millimeters, because of this it is sucked into additionally installed coolers. In general, for me this is not entirely a minus, since I initially wanted to take this grid out for easier cleaning of dust (which I eventually did), but still a moot point - A solid riser is not the most intuitive to install, and, most importantly, it must be installed BEFORE installing the radiator. I overlooked this point in the instructions. Purely out of habit, I first stuck the radiator onto the motherboard, and only then I noticed that the riser had to be additionally screwed with three bolts, and the radiator just hindered this. I was too lazy to reinstall the radiator, so with the help of thin-nosed pliers and a Phillips bit, in about ten minutes I managed to tighten the bolts without removing the radiator, but it was still a hemorrhagic - By default, the power cable socket is not taken out of the case (there is not just one piece for this, the cost of which is, at most, fifteen kopecks). Because of this, the second 120 mm spinner does not fit (the power cable gets in the way). You have to either remove the support for the video card, or make the missing part yourself (I chose the second option)