Fractal North PC Case Review
Yes, that’s real oak
One of the defining features of Fractal’s North chassis is its front panel, which uses real wood to give their chassis a Scandinavian feel. For this white version of the case that we are reviewing, these wooden elements are oak, but for the case’s black version these panels are walnut.
If you are fan of Scandinavian interior design, you will love Fractal’s North PC case.
Out of the box, Fractal’s North enclosure comes with two 140mm Aspect series fans, which pull air though a fine mesh that is hidden behind the case’s wooden slats. This filter is removable, allowing users of the North to quickly and easily clean their system.
The top panels of Fractal’s North chassis are curved at their edges, giving the enclosure a clean minimalistic feel. The case lacks a reset button and only features a power button, with the rest of the case’s I/O being comprised headphone/microphone jacks, two USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports, and a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-C) connection.
The top panel of Fractal’s North chassis can be quickly and easily removed by pulling the tab below. This exposes two fan mounts that can fit either 120mm or 140mm fans.
The top of Fractal’s North chassis supports two 120mm fans or two 140mm fans, but in terms of liquid cooling radiators, the case only supports 240mm designs. Larger 280mm radiators would interfere with motherboard components.
Fractal’s North chassis is not designed to highlight the hardware inside. The North is a minimalistic case design with a natural Scandinavian aesthetic, which makes the case best suited for stealthy non-RGB PC builds. There is a reason why this case does not feature a full side panel window.
If you look at the bottom right of the image below, you should be able to see that cables are clearly visible past the North’s PSU shroud. It is a shame that Fractal did not cover this area with a removable panel, though it is worth remembering that this area of the case is not visible when looking at the case from most normal angles. How often do you look at your PC from a rear leaning angle?
Below is a better look at the cable visibility that we noted above.
At the rear of Fractal’s North chassis, there is space for a single 120mm fan. Additionally, Fractal has designed their PCIe brackets with 80m fans in mind, allowing users of this case to give this area of the chassis additional airflow potential if needed.
Looking down at the PSU mounting location of this chassis, you should be able to see the contrast between our black power supply and Fractal’s grey case colouring. For this chassis, we feel that Fractal’s grey colour is much better looking than black, especially when combined with this case’s white shell and wooden frontage.
When it comes to cable management, Fractal’s North chassis is a mixed bag. While it has a lot of tie down locations for cable ties, the case does not have many pass though locations at the top of the chassis, which makes it challenging to route cables for motherboard connected fans and All-in-one CPU liquid coolers. The only cable routing option at the top of this case is at the top right, and it is only large enough for 8-pin CPU power cables and not much else.
The top of Fractal’s North chassis is the only area of Fractal’s new enclosure that we feel is lacking, as we would have loved to have seen an additional cable routing area towards the centre of the case.
