Fractal Design North XL Chalk White TG- three 140mm Aspect
Fractal Design North XL Chalk White TG- three 140mm Aspect PWM fans included- Type C USB- EATX airflow full tower PC gaming case
Fractal Design North XL Chalk White TG- three 140mm Aspect PWM fans included- Type C USB- EATX airflow full tower PC gaming case
Great looking case with excellent airflow
I’ve recently upgraded my PC for the first time in years and wanted to move away from the (in my opinion) tacky side panel and bright LEDs.
I was using a Corsair 275r airflow before and honestly don’t have any real complaints about it, but it was time for a change.
I’ve always been a fan of fractal’s design language and I wasn’t disappointed with the North, it just looks and feels premium and classy. (I wish the white had the nice brass coloured button and darker wood tones the black has but that’s me being picky haha)
I found building in this case as easy as it gets, plenty of room for the cables and full ATX motherboard and triple fan GPU so there’s no issue there.
Temps were excellent, much cooler than my old setup thanks to the vented front, side and top panels and the included fans, I purchased another just to keep it a bit cooler again. The fans aren’t too noisy but they’re easy to remove if you’d prefer a ‘brighter’ alternative.
Comparing to my old Corsair case, whose plastic had yellowed with age over the last 4 or 5 years, this looks and feels like a step up and I believe it’ll last a good bit longer.
Very happy with my purchase.
Classy case
This is a nicely-made and thoughtfully designed case. It has lots of airflow (I did change out the fans for Halo RGB ones) but it makes for a classy and grown-up build.
The wood and the gold/bronze switches look great.
Brilliant desig
I have got nvidia cooler master stacker edition that used to be considered as a top case,with removable mobo tray etc… so I wasn’t sure I need new case..and now I’m glad I did get this case. Its excellently manufactured with cable management, modern USB and USB c connection on the front with headphones jacks for both the audio and mic. I have got sound blaster sound card with connector to connect the supplied cable. It works great. Very stylish and super quiet. Just looks the part in my living room and also I have realized the cooler master Stacker is just not for me anymore as I grown up and I’m not young kid anymore. So all I all if you can afford this case just get it, you will not be disappointed
Beautiful and Elega
It’s not just a pc case! However, in the guidance document, it seems to have a fan hub. But, I could not find it the box. Not sure if it’s missing from the box I received. :/
Seriously outstanding quality
I dont do major PC upgrades very often (Though I certainly used to!!).
In fact this is my first upgrade for about 12 years..
My previous case is a Cooler Master ATC 201 which I absolutely love.
This case is definitely “Up There” when it comes to class..
Extremely well thought out. The instruction manual is second to none for clarity and ease of understanding.
I have an Oak PC workstation desk. This case will fit in very well indeed with it!
There is literally nothing I dont like about this case..
Made in Sweden so obviously very well engineered and thought out.
Not the cheapest because it isn’t “Cheap” (and nasty).
If you are a person who appreciates well designed and beautiful things in you life, then add this to your collection…
I did.
Highly recommended.
Stylish and functional:
This case is a lovely addition that fits very well into my office, and I would be perfect for the living room too, as it doesn’t scream GAMING and blends in well.
It boasts an attractive wood oak front with an all-mesh top.
Initially, there was some rattling which I pinpointed to my bottom-mounted 3.5″ storage hard drive, but now it’s quiet. The front fans that come with it are quite quiet as well, but I can hear them. I use Noctua fans for exhaust but haven’t noticed a significant difference in noise levels compared to the included ones. The top ports are conveniently located, including the USB ports, which make connecting devices effortless. In summary, it’s a good looking and functional case.
Both stylish and practical
Bought it for my boyfriend as a birthday present and he absolutely loves it, looks great in the room. The case is bigger than the one we had before and the improved airflow means that the components do not run as hot as they did before. He tells me that it is very well engineered and feels like quality, cable management is easy.
Beautiful case for themed builds
Its a very nice looking case and amazing for themed builds but most importantly Its easy to build in, easy to manage, great airflow and easy to clean. The build quality is great and there no sharp edges. This case is really unique in my opinion because of the clean wood finish, beautiful aesthetics and great performance. I’ve paired this case with Noctua fans and the noise levels are very low with great airflow. I’ll be looking forward to building in this case again in the future.
I love this product as a whole implementing the whole modernist/minimalist design. The flare of timber in mone it was an oak colour which goes great with whe white. Overall the athletics are pleasing other than when you turn on ARGB fans which makes a circle pattern on front of case.
The material quality is great full metal case with some plastic parts but it’s sound.
The case is easy to build in just take the panels off by unscrewing and then sliding them off and start building. Plenty of space for AIO cooling. The front hosts enough space for 3*120mm fans or 2* 140mm fans, the top has enough space for either 2*140mm or 2*120mm. The rear holds space for 1*120mm. Enough space for a custom water cooling loop but I don’t have the money for that RN.
The case is what you should expect for the price and would fit in whith a modern home and ikea furnature due to the nature of the desig
I’ll start by saying this is the best PC case I have ever owned. The style is completely unique with the beautiful wooden finish at the front, and the attention to detail second to none. The case is incredibly easy to assemble, with great cable storage (both in terms of space and organisation), and my components through the glass side panel look absolutely fantastic. Even removing the panels to do regular cleaning is easy thanks to the ‘clip’ mechanism for re-attaching the panels. This makes it much easier to line the panel(s) up with the groove, as opposed to other cases where you have to align and then slide the panel without letting it slip. The airflow on this case is great; my temperatures have been very cool, especially when idling. I added an exhaust fan as this case doesn’t come with one. The two fans that are included on the front are very quiet yet powerful. As a side note, I would personally recommend that everyone has at least one exhaust fan regardless of the case/components. I don’t begrudge Fractal for not including one, as I was planning on using my own LED fan anyway.
My one and only complaint is that in SOME areas there seemed to be a lack of care during assembly. The screws have been overtightened and threaded on the side panels upon manufacture. The PSU casing paint chipped off slightly around my PSU. Now, these are only minor issues, but it did feel like it let the case down somewhat. I sent my feedback to Fractal and was pleased with their response. Hopefully these issues have been fixed now (I was an early adopter), but it would definitely not stop me from buying this case again.
Great case, with a few minor issues
I love this case, it looks gorgeous and I 100% intend to continue to use this, however, why there is no dust filter on the top is beyond me. I imagine the mesh on top is intended to act as a dust filter of sorts, but I can promise you it does not.
It is a somewhat small case, in that I had a fright trying to install my XFX 7800xt 319, because the card itself was longer than the width of the glass pane so I had to twist the card a bit to fit it. I would not be comfortable putting a front radiator in this case, but top radiators are better anyway.
I’d recommend 2x140mm fans in the front, not the included ones, I find the Aspect 140mm fans to be very loud for 140mm fans, as intake, a rear 120mm exhaust, and a 280mm AIO on top as exhaust.
The position the stock fans came in was great, it is almost like my cpu and gpu have their own intake fans because of this, but I find the CPU 8/16pin slot to be too small and not in a great position.
It is amazing to build in otherwise though, nice deep cable channel towards the front of the right side panel with 3 preinstalled velcro cable ties, it comes with a few(4 I think) standard zip-ties in the accessory box, the mesh model comes with a fan hub too, though the TG one does not.
It has some nice quality of life stuff with it, the middle MOBO stand-off isn’t a screw one rather a positioning one that makes installation easier, all panels are easily removable, and the HDD & SSD brackets are great, though with a Corsair SATA power cable, I had to bend the cable to plug this in.
If you are buying this case, it won’t be for price, or anything like that, it will be purely for the looks of it, and it is damned gorgeous
I bought a new PC case for my boyfriend for his birthday. His old case was a Corsair cube case a few years old but had a major dust problem as well as snapped panels and I wanted to get him a new one that had great airflow but also be great with dust. He specifically wanted a Fractal case so I settled on this one.
I was very drawn by the walnut front panel and I’m happy to say it’s solid and very good looking with the satin charcoal powder paint body. The front if the case is mostly open with two included fans mounted pulling air in. This is great for airflow as there’s not much stopping air coming in the front.
I offered to transfer his system from his old case to his new one and I’m happy to say the Fractal case is great to build a system in and is made quite easy. There is two dedicated SSD mounts and two HDD mounts in the back but I only had access to one HDD space as the PSU was too large. He has three SSDs so one had to float on some cables which is fine.
The back of the case where the wires go is quite tight even with good cable tied cables and neatly routed PSU cables; it was somewhat tricky getting the back panel to latch and slide but eventually I got it and there’s no panel buldge.
The GPU is an ASUS 3070ti, a big card and this case has plenty of space to take it. I myself have a high end Corsair smart case which is triple the price of this case and I have a similar sized card and it only barely fits so props to Fractal for ensuring we can fit our new big cards in these normal sized cases.
I really like the golden metal accents like the power button and the feet. It pairs very well and uniquely with the charcoal and walnut. The airflow was great after testing and I gave the case a positive airflow to help with dust.
In summary: The North case is a great case slightly above budget range. If you want a nice subtle case with good quality paint and building options/space but only have a small budget, I recommend putting this case at the top end of your budget as it’s worth springing for.
Looks amazing
This computer case looks beautiful.
The wood finish on the front really makes the design.
The case is well sized, just big enough to fit an RTX 4090.
Very easy to install the parts as it’s very modular, if you need extra space or find that you don’t need the drive bays you can simply unscrew them and they can be taken out.
I think this is a very good value product as it appears to be a full metal construction, comes with decent quiet fans and removable dust filters to make cleaning easy.
The airflow in the case is more than adequate and works very well at removing the heat output of my components.
Upgrading a PC can sometimes be seen as a daunting task.
There are so many components to choose from including where you house all those components.
A case is a very subjective piece of the puzzle and for me having a ‘mullet’ case is what I wanted. Work in the front play in the back so to speak.
Other considerations for me were airflow to keep the components cool and whether it meets the size for everything I want to put into the case. On top of that I did not want a HUGE case sitting on my desk, i needed something average sized.
Pros:
– This case is beautiful to look at. I have the white version and the Oak colour scheme matches the rest of my desk and room.
– The case is very easy to work in. yes it is a little compact and needs some planning of components but not a very difficult case to work in.
– Case provides very good airflow due to the front panel being fairly open and mesh on the top and back. Using quiet fans or setting fans to low noise still keeps the PC very cool.
Cons:
– Only one con for me really and that is the window panel version does not come with the fan controller. This is a little disappointing when I was building I thought it came with it (should have read more about whats included so my own fault) so had to use a bunch of fan splitter cables to get them all connected. In the end not a huge deal but something to keep in mind – you may need another fan controller or some splitters if you don’t have any to spare
Overall I would recommend this case if you like the design of it.
There are some considerations that you need to think about, like using the mesh version side fans doesnt work with alot of GPU’s or CPU coolers. You can only use a 240mm radiator on top if you are doing watercooling (I went with a 240 and its perfectly fine for my use case) – you do need to consider memory height if using 240 on top.. You can use a 360mm in the front but then are limited to what size GPU fits. so some considerations before buying components but overall a great case so far. No real complaints.