What would the popular Fractal Design North look like, expanded to Extended ATX (EATX) scale? This is our chance to find out. Real walnut trim was the biggest thing that made Fractal Design’s original North a big hit among ATX system builders, and the firm is ready to take another chunk out of the market (and some forest) with a $179.99 North XL version. Key improvements include the ability to fit a triple-140mm (420mm format) radiator up front or a graphics card up to 413mm deep, and all that extra capability costs only an extra inch or two of additional space on your desk. That’s a pretty good trade-off if you liked the original North but needed more interior room for your cooling, your motherboard, or your GPU—or all three. It’s our latest Editors’ Choice pick for an EATX-capable PC case.Design: A Taller Timber TowerTaller by 1.6 inches than the original North, the XL is available with the buyer’s choice of mesh or tempered-glass side panels, and the case comes in charcoal and white variants. All four combinations cost the same $179.99. Fractal Design switched things up by sending us the charcoal/tempered-glass version of the larger unit, which in turn means that we got the version that doesn’t have an extra fan bracket under the left side.
Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test.
The top panel’s port section remains familiar, with a Fractal Design-logo power button, separate microphone and headphone jacks, two USB Type-A ports tied to a first-generation USB 3.x 19-pin internal interface, a Type-C port tied to a Gen 2×2 internal interface, and a power-indicator LED hidden inside a styling groove just past the Type-C port.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Spinning the case around, we find that most of the added space is placed above (“north” of?) the motherboard, allowing for the installation of thicker top-mounted radiators. Ventilation slots are spaced to accept 120mm and 140mm fans at various distances from the motherboard and top panel.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Like the standard North, the North XL lacks the proper clearances behind its solid panel to insert a power supply from the side and thus relies on a removable bracket to enable installation through the back panel. The washable dust filter matches the one on its smaller sibling, just large enough to cover the intake vent beneath the power supply bay.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
The pull-off front panel also includes a washable filter, but this one snaps on and off, rather than sliding into position.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
The top panel slides back and lifts off to expose a long fan-mount zone. It supports up to three 120mm, two 140mm, or even two 180mm fans, as well as radiators up to 406mm long. That last number covers most (but not all) 360mm-format closed-loop coolers. We measured 71mm between the top panel and the motherboard’s top edge, and builders who aren’t afraid to let their coolers hang past the motherboard’s top edge will find around 52mm of horizontal distance between 120mm fans and motherboard standoffs.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
The North XL’s motherboard tray is flat all the way to the front, allowing motherboards of any depth (up to its 413mm max card length) to fit. Of course the maximum spec for EATX motherboards is only 330mm, and the empty holes that fit the extra standoffs required to support such wide motherboards are clearly visible just a few inches behind the front fans. A cutaway in the power-supply shroud beneath the motherboard tray provides space behind the fan mounts to install radiators up to 58mm thick.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
From the other direction we see the three 140mm intake fans, two rows of cable straps, six grommet-filled cable passages, a passive fan hub at the top, a pair of 3.5-inch drive trays at the bottom, and a twin 2.5-inch drive tray at the back of the space behind the motherboard tray.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Should we have called the passive fan hub a splitter? The small connector seen on the right uses a 4-pin PWM connector for motherboard control and connects up to four PWM fans (including the three front fans that come with the case).
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
The front 2.5-inch drive tray is filled with a box containing the case’s hardware kit and is mounted very close to the front fan bracket. Both trays can be relocated 1.5 inches farther back, but doing so reduces the power-supply space from a measured 7.9 inches (200mm) to a mere 6.4 inches (163mm).
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
We placed one of the two 3.5-inch trays next to the dual-2.5-inch tray to show how the single-drive tray also has holes at 2.5-inch-drive spacing. That means the case supports up to four drives total, but only two of those can be 3.5-inch drives.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Building With the North XL: North StarFractal Design always provides a neat accessory kit for its cases. You get three extra standoffs to enable support for 13-inch-deep motherboards, a set of panhead #6-32 screws for motherboard mounting, a set of #6-32 hex/Phillips combo screws for power-supply mounting, a set of M3 screws for mounting 2.5-inch drives, a set of flange-head shoulder screws for mounting 3.5-inch drives on vibration-damping grommets, a packet of eight of those grommets, and four cable ties.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Motherboard cable-header connections include the USB Type-E for the Gen 2×2 Type-C port, a 19-pin USB 3.x cable for the chassis’ two USB Type-A ports, power button and indicator light leads, HD Audio for the front-panel headset jacks, and a PWM fan connection for the included hub/splitter.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
We were able to get our test configuration’s standard parts installed quickly, and connected the cables…after manually operating our screwdriver, of course. Look past the back-panel power-supply insertion, and the North XL is one of the simplest cases we’ve ever used in a build.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
With so few opportunities for us to mess it up, the North XL rewarded our amateur efforts with a professional appearance.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Note that Fractal Design also included its Flex 2 PCIe 4.0 vertical-GPU-mounting adapter inside our North XL package, but the company didn’t inform us that it wasn’t part of the kit until after we installed and tested with it. So we ended up testing the case both ways: with the GPU mounted vertical, as well as direct-plugged in the usual fashion. This $80 kit sadly can’t be used to justify the North XL’s $180 price (a $50 increase over the North’s original MSRP).
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
It fits together as shown, by removing the North XL’s original eight slot covers. We found, though, that the heads of the included card screws were too large to fit through the openings above them.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
After attempting to push the screws in from the back of the case and then drive the screws from inside the case, we figured out that the easiest way to fit the card was to mount the card to the adapter before installing the adapter in the case. Aha!
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Regardless of how we got there, the installed card now sits vertically above the power supply tunnel and looks pretty spiffy, if you ask us.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Though our graphics card’s RGB logo is a little harder to see from the new angle, keen eyes will still discern that the card’s fans face the tinted-glass side. Oh, and we were also able to capture the top panel power LED in this photo.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Testing the Fractal Design North XLHere’s a quick recap of the parts in our standard test build for ATX and larger chassis.
And so, on to the test results. CPU temperatures are close between the similarly shaped cases represented in today’s charts, but the North XL’s temperatures are consistently near the bottom of that tight grouping regardless of how the graphics card is mounted.
In a market where rear exhaust fans are typically included with the case, the North XL’s lack thereof is most likely responsible for the high comparative voltage-regulator temperatures it showed when our graphics card was mounted in standard orientation. As for the cool-down the North XL showed after we moved the graphics card to the more remote (vertical) mount, that’s most likely due to the heat from the back of our graphics card being moved away from the voltage regulators.
While most “vertical graphics card” cases put the card’s fans close to the glass for a better view, the North XL’s vertical adapter places it directly in the middle of the case, where more air can flow around it front and back (albeit, attracting less attention visually). You may pick your poison, but we’ll just stick with the version that gets us the best temperatures.
The Fractal Design North XL is a little noisy at full speed, partly because it has large fans, and partly because its front panel is designed for optimal airflow rather than as a noise barrier. Fortunately for Fractal Design, most of its competitors are also a little noisy.
Verdict: Wood I Ever Build a Big PC, This Wood Be the CaseWe come down here to a case of chassis aesthetics above all. If you’re smitten with the wood face of the original North, the North XL will be likely your go-to pick if your timber-lust goes along with a need for oversize components. Is it a top performer? It didn’t dominate our benchmarks, but it’s no slouch, and the build process was about as easy and quick as any of recent note.Just know that you’re paying a bit of timber tax here, and that if you want to go the vertical GPU route, you’re looking at closer to a $300 investment in the chassis than a $200 one. Still, the cost of raw materials these days is up, up, and up, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a finer-looking combo of steel, glass, and wood outside an architect’s studio.
Like What You’re Reading?
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
