CPU Fan Shroud - Node 202 Cryorig C7 AM4

thingiverse

The Fractal Design Node 202 is a great looking case, but it has some serious thermal management issues. I built a rig using a Ryzen 1700 with the Biostar mini ITX motherboard and the only natively compatible cooler to this case at the time was the Cryorig C7. The problem with that is that the case doesn't have any positive ventilation and the cooler just ends up recycling hot air inside the case. My first solution was to add a 15mm thick fan above the CPU, but that didn't really fit well, so this solution was to modify some work done by manypopes to create a duct from the vent above the CPU to the fan so it can suck in fresh air at all times, and positively ventilate the rest of the case in the process. There are two pieces here. One is the main shroud that replaces the filter that clips in above the CPU. Since this replaces the filter, you can add some filter material before you put this in, or do what I do and just use a 140 mm square magnetic filter stuck to the outside of the case. The other piece is a flexible flange that you stretch around the C7 fan, which provides a flexible interface for the main shroud to seal against. To get a better idea of how this fits together, I attached a cross section image where you can see the main shroud in blue, the flexible flange in yellow, and the Cryorig fan shroud in pink. Edit: I'll just add for anyone considering this that while it did improve the overall thermal solution, it never gave me the capability to get much more power out of the CPU. If you have a 1700X or 1800X the C7 just isn't up to the task. I switched to a Big Shuriken 2, which doesn't have an AM4 kit, so I had to manufacturing some metal brackets, shave off some of my RAM heatsink with a grinding wheel, and remove 4mm of the edge of the CPU cooler fins to get it all to fit. It took 3 days of tinkering with it, but I finally got it to fit and the difference was staggering. It's rated closer to 100W vs. the C7's 65, and it shows with as much as a 30C drop in temperature at high voltages/frequencies.