Fractal Design North Case Review

Complete System

Building inside the North was pretty much like any quality mid-tower really, and that’s no bad thing. It’s a good size case, with plenty of room for high-end hardware, but not so big that it takes up more of your office than it needs to.

The Noctua D15S would fit in here just fine, but I do like my U12S which is why I went for the slightly smaller cooler. There’s good airflow throughout the case though, with two 140mm fans bringing in a good amount of airflow from that heavily ventilated and filtered front panel. I would have liked to see a stock rear fan pre-installed, but there’s still a lot of passive ventilation in the top too, so heat shouldn’t build up.

Larger graphics cards shouldn’t be an issue, so if you did want to squeeze an RTX 4090 in here you should be ok. Of course, measure twice before you order. There’s no vertical pass-through for the GPU cables, but there’s a huge cut-away on the PSU shroud towards the front anyway, so it’s hardly a deal breaker.

One small concern is that bulky GPU cables are going to be a little tight, especially if you’re using the 3x 8-pin to 12v adaptor for something like the RTX 4000 series. But if you’re using the native connector, it’ll be fine.

The quality of the front fans is awesome though, I’ve found these to be as quiet as my usual Noctua fans. I would like to see a version of the case with more fans, and even one without any fans too, but honestly, I’m just splitting hairs here because overall, I absolutely love this case.

Cable routing is great, there are a few large grommets around the motherboard, and the PSU shroud and space behind the motherboard leaves you with plenty of room to lazily cram any excess out of sight.

I love that with a brighter light shining you can see inside the case, if it’s in the sun or if you had some LED inside it. I’ve seen a thousand cases with windows on the side, so this mesh is more than welcome.

I should point out again though, you can get this with tempered glass if you wanted to go that route.

With big airflow up front, on the left, up on top and in the box, this case is perfect for lots of big fans running at low RPM.

However, the real star of the show is the front panel and the brass details. This is a killer design that would look great in an office, in a gaming room, and even in your living room.