Cleaning a Dusty Node 202 PC

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale! Today, we have a story of a very dusty PC and what happens when I loan a computer to a buddy of mine without checking on its upkeep for close to half a year. Fractal Design's Node 202 is a fantastic PC case and still remains to be one of the best ITX form factor cases in the market today despite being almost 6 years old. At just 10.2 litres in volume, the Node 202 still remains to be one of the smaller ITX cases and a suitable choice for both new and seasoned builders alike.

On top of ease of building with its dual compartment layout, the Node 202 also has excellent cooling with direct venting for both the CPU, GPU and PSU. Running a Ryzen 5 5600 and Radeon 5600 XT, the components in this PC never came close to being thermally throttled nor were the fans too audible. Unfortunately, the direct venting does come with a major downside, being that it collects dust fairly quickly. This particular Node 202 was my main PC for the better part of 2020 before I upgraded to a newer Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini housed system.

Not wanting to leave the PC unused seeing as the components were only a year old, I loaned the PC to a close buddy who is wisely waiting to the price of PC components to come down. During my tenured ownership, I would clean the case and its contents every 3 month ensuring it is as dust-free as possible. Fortunately, the Node 202 comes equipped with 3 dust filter, one for every directly vented component. 

The biggest hassle was needing to remove both the outer casings from of the Node 202 in order to get access to the dust filters. The largest dust filter is a magnetic one for the GPU which can accommodate up to two 120 mm fans. Dust had really started to cake on and form a pretty thick layer over the GPU dust filter. If not for the other vents on the perpendicular side of the case, I would have been worried about the GPU being choked for ventilation. 

Where the layer of dust on the GPU was the thickest, this was followed by the CPU and PSU which did not seem too bad. Till today, I absolutely love how the Node 202 comes included with a magnetic dust filter over the PSU. The power supply unit in question is from Corsair's SF series of SFX power supplies. The three dust filters were cleaned under a running tap and left to dry on a rack. With the case opened up and the dust filters removed, the internals of the case was actually not too dusty which turned out to be fantastic news. Less cleaning required!

Since the case was opened up, we took the opportunity to upgrade the CPU as well. Removing the CPU cooler gives a very good view of the Frankenstein-ed CPU cooler that I had made for the Node 202. It consisted of a mounting bracket from Noctua's LH-9A, heatsink from ID-Cooling's IS-50X and fan from Noctua's NF-A12x15. You can read my full build log of it here.

Currently populated by a Ryzen 3 2200G, this venerable CPU while great for budget PC gaming was showing signs of CPU bottleneck in several games. Care was taken to remove the existing thermal paste using rubbing alcohol. It is important that all excess thermal paste is cleaned off and all surfaces are dried off before proceeding further.

In place of the Ryzen 3 is the original Ryzen 5 5600 CPU which till date, remains to be a very formidable CPU for gaming. This 6 core 12 thread CPU is able to handle even the most demanding modern titles and I would expect it to hold its own for a while longer too. Resitting the CPU was simple and faultless. When it came time to re-apply the thermal paste, it was then I noticed that the two tubes of Noctua NT-H1 that I had were running out. They were only just enough combined to be applied for this CPU. I did have a two small tubes from ID-Cooling and Cooler Master remaining but, I would need to look into getting more thermal paste soon.

Installing the new CPU and reinstalling the cooler gave ample time for the dust filters to dry. While waiting for the filters to dry completely, we also took the opportunity to wipe dust off from several tight nooks and crannies which had formed a thin layer of dust.

With the filters back in their place, it was time for one last visual inspection to ensure that everything was properly seated before buttoning up every thing neatly. Every time I inspect the contents of the Node 202, I am always deeply impressed at how all the parts are so tightly packed yet fit so well. This case is indeed very well space optimized!

Now cleaned and reassembled, the next step was to bring it back up to the desk where all the necessary cables would be reattached. When put next to the other peripherals, the slim chassis of Node 202 fit in so well and looks almost console-like. The moment of truth had arrived, would the PC boot properly now that the CPU had been swapped? My builder's experience tells me no, seeing as how this CPU had already been previously used and the motherboard itself was up to date with its BIOS.

Thankfully, the PC booted up just fine with the NVME SSDs booting up to Windows 10 in no time at all. A slight notification appeared at POST to notify of a new CPU installed and choosing to load the default settings brought the PC to the boot screen shortly after. Immediately, I noticed the Node 202 running significantly quieter now that it's vents have been cleared of any obstruction. Now, just to ear mark a date 3 months from now where I will have to repeat this entire process all over again. Maybe that time, we will see the inclusion of even more new hardware? Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!