A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the box the Fractal Design North XL essentially looks exactly the same as its smaller brethren. It continues Fractal's new design language, featuring soft curves with wood elements providing a warm visual flow, and while there are a few plastic components, they are all wrapped in steel, so they are not really apparent.


In the front, you will find real wood strips which are certainly the main eye-catcher of the North XL. While wood has been employed by other brands and even by Fractal in the past, the North manages to keep this highlight functional instead of merely cosmetic. You may remove the plastic panel to reveal three 140 mm, retail grade Aspect fans set to pull air into the chassis. Lastly, the front panel also houses a removable dust filter for easy cleaning.


In the rear the chassis shows off its traditional layout with the PSU at the bottom. It is interesting to see that Fractal has kept the whole back so open, allowing air to pass through with as little obstruction as possible. A further design element is a leather pull-tab on the very top as an easy way to detach the top panel from the chassis. The color of this tab correlates with that of the wood in the front, so on the white version of the chassis, this leather tab is lighter as well.


While another relatively uncommon feature of the North XL is its perforated side panel, we got the more traditional variant with a glass panel instead. This variant also lacks the additional side mounting bracket for fans as it won't be of any benefit anyway. There is a metal strip at the front of the case, which may also be removed to provide full access to the interior as we will see later on. On the opposite side, there is a solid panel which is also held in place by a pair of thumb screws.


In the rear, the PSU bay at the bottom comes with a mounting frame, which means you will be sliding the unit in through the back during the assembly process. Above that are the seven expansion slots with reusable protective covers. In the very top, there is a mounting option for a fan of up to 140 mm size. The air vent also acts as mounting locations for the screws, and since those cutouts are elongated, you have a bit of flexibility on where to place the cooling unit.


On the top, there is another perforated cover, which you may pull off using the leather tab at the back. In the ceiling of the North XL, you may install either three 120 mm, or two 140/180 mm fans. This is a noticeable step up from the original North, which maxed out at two 140 mm units instead. Alternatively, the XL has room for a liquid cooling setup in the ceiling with a maximum length of 600 mm. The IO setup checks off all the boxes when it comes to the port mix, as it consists of a single USB-C with two audio and two USB-A ports. As you can see, the black variant has golden IO, while the white version sticks to silver.


On the underside, you will find that Fractal continues the same design and color as the rest of the chassis. A dust filter protects the PSU from dirt and grime, which may be pulled out the back for easy cleaning. There are five possible mounting locations for the floor mounted 3.5" drive trays.