Fractal Design North XL Review

Fractal Design's new North XL case carries over the wood highlights on the front panel that we saw on the original North at the end of 2022. When you factor in the extra size of the case that contributes the XL part of the name, we really had to fight the temptation to load the title of this review with a bunch of childish innuendo…

Time stamps
00:00 Start
00:45 Stripped down / eATX support
04:25 Features / cooling support
05:08 Hardware for the build
07:57 Adding the cooling / system build
12:05 Leo's thoughts and testing
15:36 Worth buying?

Main features

• Enhance the look of your gaming station with sleek wood and alloy details.
• Designed for E-ATX / ATX / mATX / mITX motherboards.
• Enjoy natural ventilation through an open front and stylishly integrated mesh.
• Choose a GPU up to 413 mm, or up to 380 mm with a 420 mm front radiator
• Provide efficient CPU cooling with support for up to a 360mm top-mounted radiator with generous component clearance.
• Get a head start on your build with the three included 140 mm Aspect PWM fans.
• Slide open the side panels, unclip the front and use the integrated tab to pop off the top panel.
• Make the most of your building experience with an intuitive interior layout.
• Optimize cable management with expanded space for cable routing, additional tiedown points and more pass-through options.
• Enjoy a sophisticated looking case which integrates effortlessly into your living space.

Specification:

• Motherboard support: E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX.
• Power supply support: ATX.
• Expansion slots: 7.
• Included fans: 3x 140mm Aspect 14 PWM 500-1,700rpm front intakes.
• Fan mounts: 3x 120mm/140mm front, 2x 120mm/140mm side, 3x 120mm or 2x 140mm/180mm roof, 1x 120mm/140mm rear.
• Radiator mounts: 360mm/420mm front, 360/280mm roof, 120mm/140mm rear.
• 5.25-inch optical drive bays: None.
• Internal drive bays: 2x 3.5-inch/2.5-inch, 2x 2.5-inch.
• Front I/O ports: 2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, audio & mic.
• Dimensions: 509mm H x 503mm D x 240mm W.

Testing

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X , GeForce RTX 4080 and an SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Fractal Design North XL's cooling capabilities.

Test System:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme
• Memory: 32GB Corsair Dominator Titanium First Edition DDR5-6000
• Graphics card: Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16GB
• Power supply: FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W Titanium ATX 3.0
• SSD: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11

Custom Loop Cooling

• Pump/Reservoir: EK-XRES 100 DDC MX
• CPU Block: Alphacool Core CPU Block
• Radiator: Alphacool NexXxos ST30 280mm X Flow
• Fans: be quiet! Silent Wings 4 140mm
• Fittings: EK Quantum Torque STC 10mm/16mm
• Coolant: Alphacool Ocool TecProtect Clear

In our testing the PC was drawing 675W at the wall socket with 325W going to our RTX 4080 graphics card and 220W to the Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. As we explain in our video, AMD drives their Zen 4 CPUs to 95 degrees C under load, and while our Ryzen 9 was running at an impressive 5.1GHz on all cores we had to deal with the case fans ramping up to their maximum speed of 1,700rpm. No matter how we set the fan curves, the CPU sat at 95 degrees C and the GPU at 65 degrees C.

Closing Thoughts

If you liked the look of the original Fractal Design North but wanted to install an E-ATX motherboard with more 140mm fans, you may well find the North XL is a decent choice.

We can see how Fractal has tweaked the design to add extra space while sticking to the original design aesthetic, but this necessarily means this 2024 case is already effectively 18 months old.

In many respects the design is absolutely fine and we like the use of the wood accents on the front panel to add extra style.

Where things get a bit questionable is the conventional layout with cooling in the front and top, along with the option of two fans in the rack next to the graphics card. You do not, however, have the option of mounting cooling in the side of the case next to the motherboard and that is quite restrictive when it comes to custom loop cooling.

You will be able to buy the Fractal Design North XL for £169-£175 inc VAT in the UK.

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Pros:

• Smart styling that uses unusual materials.
• The three 140mm Aspect fans have PWM control.
• Front I/O panel includes Gen 2 USB Type-C.
• Decent range of storage options.

Cons:

• No rear fan included.
• PWM hub only controls four fans.
• The case can get noisy when the fans ramp up.
• The price seems a bit steep.

KitGuru says: The Fractal Design North XL could do with being XXL for custom loop cooling.

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