Fractal Design North in test - a PC case for the living room?

Wood in a PC case? Mesh side panel? No, we are not talking about a new case modding project here, but the new case that lives up to the name of the manufacturer Fractal Design. The Fractal Design North completely stands out from the mass of cases and is put to the test here. What does the user have to expect in terms of design? How is the handling and what does the performance do? We clarify all that here in the Fractal Design North review!

Specifications

Mainboard compatibility	ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX
Front interface	1x USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2), 2x USB-A (USB 3.0 ), headphones, microphone
Maximum fan setup	8x 120 mm or 6x 140 mm
Factory fan	TESLANOL 26045 Isopropanol 1l 99,5 % Alkohol Reiniger zum Entfetten & Reinigen von Oberflächen Desinfektionsmittel / Reinigungsalkohol / Flächendesinfektionsmittel / 1000ml*
Radiator compatibility front	120 mm, 240 mm, 280 mm, 360 mm
Radiator compatibility top	120 mm, 240 mm
Radial compatibility rear	120 mm
Maximum graphics card length	300 mm with front radiator, 355 mm with front fan, 360 mm without front fan
Maximum air cooler height	170 mm without fan bracket on top of side, 145 mm with fan bracket on top of side
Size (L x W x H)	44.7 x 21.5 x 46.9 cm
Weight	7.6 kg
Price	€ 147.12 *

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Packaging

The packaging of the Fractal Design North is an understated brown box. However, inside it quickly reveals the front of the case, albeit still covered by a plastic sheet and held in place by foam around the edges. Pulling out the case now reveals a manual for it. And below the case is another brown box, in which you can find a bracket for additional fans on the side panel.

Braune Verpackung vom Fractal Design North — Die Verpackung des Fractal Design North ist simpel gehalten.

Offene Verpackung vom Fractal Design North mit Blick auf die Front — Das Gehäuse steckt in einer Plastiktüte und wird von zwei Schaumstoffpolstern gehalten. Man sieht bereits die Holzstreben.

Thus, the usual plastic portions can be found in the big box, but at least the mounts are made of regular soft foam and not Styrofoam.

Scope of delivery

What stands out in the scope of delivery of the Fractal Design North is the fan mount for additional fans on the side panel. This is of course only included with the mesh version, as the Fractal Design North is also available with a glass panel. This gives a better view of the interior, but is closed.

Fractal Design North mit Zubehör im Test — Das Fractal Design North Mesh mit der Zubehörbox mit dem Lüfterhalter und der Anleitung.

Zubehörbox im Innenraum des Fractal Design North — Im Innenraum befindet sich in einer Festplattenhalterung das sonstige Zubehör.

Box mit in Plastiktüten sortierten Schrauben und Kabelbinder — Das sind Schrauben für Festplatten, SSDs, das Netzteil, das Mainboard, ein zusätzlicher Abstandshalter und Gummiringe zur Vibrationsdämpfung von 3,5″-Festplatten. Außerdem ein paar Einweg-Kabelbinder.

Inside the Fractal Design North’s hard drive mount you’ll find all the necessary mounting screws, an additional spacer, rubber rings for mounting 3.5″ hard drives, and a couple of disposable cable ties.

Design

Black with standout accents in warm tones
Real wood front grille
Elegant-looking details
No RGB lighting

Wow. Okay, this really is a different case. The design of the Fractal Design North is kept very classy. The front is made of real wood strips of walnut on the black model (oak on the white model). Rings around the feet and the connectors of the front panel, on the other hand, are gold-plated. Otherwise, Mesh Paradise in black prevails here. The view into the interior isn’t quite as clear as you’re used to from other cases with glass panels, but is still possible due to the finely perforated side panel. The shape of the case is also different than usual, as the edges are rounded. This look then deviates significantly from the usual square-cornered design of other Fractal Design cases.

Fractal Design North Test — Das Fractal Design North fällt durch sein herausstechendes Design auf.

Holzfront des Fractal Design North — Sein Lüftergitter in der Front besteht aus Echtholz.

Vergoldete Front-Panel-Anschlüsse am Fractal Design North — Die Knöpfe und Anschlüsse am Frontpanel sind vergoldet. Das macht einen edlen Eindruck, ist aber nicht zwangsweise jedermanns Geschmack.

Abgerundete Kande am PC-Gehäuse Fractal Design North — Die Kanten am Fractal Design North sind intensiv abgerundet und wo man an anderen Gehäusen eine Glasscheibe findet, sitzt hier ein Mesh-Panel.

Standfuß und vordere linke Kante an der Unterseite des Fractal Design North — Auch die unteren Kanten sind abgerundet und die Füße sind ebenfalls mit vergoldeten Akzenten versehen.

Leserlasche am schwarzen Gehäuse — Auch die Kunstlederlasche zum werkzeugfreien Abnehmen der Oberseite ist ein besonderes Merkmal am Fractal Design North.

The gold-plated switches, connectors and rings on the stand feet make a coherent impression, but may not be to everyone’s taste. Also, overall the design is in great contrast to the RGB case with lighting that has become common. In contrast to these, the Fractal Design North looks more like a Nordic-inspired design element for the living room. I can also imagine this model perfectly as a case for the designer workstation in the office, where you also receive customers and business partners.

Workmanship

High-quality workmanship
High metal content
Mid-range fan

The workmanship of the Fractal Design North in our test is really very good. The metal content is quite high and its finish is clean with no sharp edges. The details are also nicely implemented and the tool-free assembly of many parts is efficiently solved. As expected, however, some of the thumbscrews are so tight at the factory that you still need a screwdriver for the first solution.

Fractal Design Aspect 14 von vorne — Die Werkslüfter in den Fractal Design North sind die Fractal Design Aspect 14 PWM.

Fractal Design Aspect 14 von hinten — Der Aufbau der Lüfter ist sehr simpel und sie sind natürlich frei von RGB-Komponenten.

Only the factory-installed fans, the Fractal Design Aspect 14 in black, are more mid-range. While these are torsionally stiff and robust, they are very basic in design aside from that. For example, these fans do not have any rubber pads for vibration dampening. Don’t worry: the fans are fine and not token fans found in some other cases, but they are not premium class.

Features

Sensibly limited front interface
Helpful details for maintenance
Fan hub

There you can find some details that make testing, working and operating the Fractal Design North quite pleasant. For example, they completely omit USB2 on the front panel, saving a connector and making the cable more manageable. The reset switch has also been omitted, as well as the HDD LED, which is of limited use in this day and age anyway. The front fans each come with one input and one output and can therefore be connected in series, which saves necessary headers on the motherboard. Speaking of headers: The integrated fan hub can drive four additional case fans with only one cable to the mainboard.

Kabel und Stecker — Insgesamt sind die Frontpanel-Anschlüsse und Front-Lüfter-Kabel recht übersichtlich gehalten.

Anschlüsse für vier Lüfter — Auf der Rückseite befindet sich oben ein Lüfter-Splitter.

Ein Luftfilter unter der Netzteilabdeckung des Fractal Design North — Der Staubfilter für das Netzteil kann werkzeugfrei entnommen werden zur Reinigung.

Abgenommene Netzteilhalterung an der Rückseite des Fractal Design North — Außerdem kann das Netzteil im Fractal Design North ganz einfach extern angeschraubt werden, was den Einbau erleichtert.

Drei herausgenommene Erweiterungskartenabdeckungen. — Zwischen den Erweiterungskartenslots befinden sich keine Stege, was den Einbau von vertikalen Grafikkartenhaltern ermöglicht.

Kante mit gelöster Seitenpanelschraube am Fractal Design North — Wie viele Teile im Gehäuse sind die Seitenpanels mit Schrauben ausgestattet, die nicht herausfallen, was versehentliche Verluste weitestgehend ausschließt.

If you want to install a power supply, you will benefit from the easy mounting on the removable bracket. Underneath sits an air filter for the PSU that can be pulled out the back for cleaning, which is a very simple solution. There are no bars between the expansion card slots. This allows for horizontal installation of graphics cards with an appropriate riser mount, such as the Fractal Design Flex B-20. Incidentally, most of the case screws are thumbscrews for tool-free use. However, many of the screws are initially so tight that they have to be loosened with a screwdriver for the first time. Many of the screws are mounted in such a way that they do not fall out.

Mounting options

High flexibility

From the factory, the Fractal Design North comes with two 3.5″ caddies for mounting hard drives. But in total, there is room for three of these hard drive mounts in the case. Alternatively or in addition to the 3.5″ hard drives, 2.5″ drives can also be mounted in them. There is also an additional bracket for two 2.5″ drives under the mainboard opening. There is room for up to two fans or radiators of 120 to 240 mm in the top of the case. There is no fan in the back from the factory. I’ll get to the reason for that later. Still, there is room for fans up to 120 mm here. Up to? Yes, because the slots can all be used as mounting holes, you can install fans of various sizes.

Festplattenhalterung im Fractal Design North — Bis zu drei 3,5″-Festplatten-Caddys können im Fractal Design North angebracht werden.

SSD Halterung im Fractal Design North — Dagegen ist die Halterung für zwei 2,5″-Laufwerke auf eine Position beschränkt.

Oberseite des Fractal Design North mit Lüfterlöchern — Die Lüfteröffnungen an der Oberseite geben Platz für Radiatoren bis 280 mm oder bis zu zwei 120- und 140-mm-Lüfter.

Obere Rückseite des Fractal Design North — Hinten ist kein Lüfter vormontiert, aber die Lüfterlöcher sind groß.

Lüfterhalterung im offenen Gehäuse unten angebracht — Die Mesh-Version des Fractal Design North kommt mit einer Lüfterhalterung, die in verschiedenen Positionen eingesetzt werden kann. Hier die tiefste Stellung.

Lüfterhalterung im offenen Gehäuse oben angebracht — Und hier die höchste Position.

When testing the Fractal Design North, I mounted 120mm, 92mm, and 80mm fans in the back on a trial basis. The problem: If the bracket for the fans is mounted in the direction of the mesh side panel in the middle or on top, no 120 mm fan will fit in the initial position. However, it is quite possible to place a 92 mm fan then. With the top position of the fan bracket, there is one more restriction, because air coolers are now allowed to have a maximum height of 145 mm. Apart from the close-fitting Noctua NH-D12L, you have to resort to smaller air coolers or top blowers. The latter might be a good choice since you can feed them with fresh air from the outside right away.

Ventilation concepts

Few factory fans
Flexible fan installation options
Extremely high airflow

Even though the Fractal Design North only comes with two 140mm fans in the front, creating a low-direction overpressure that dissipates from all vents, the case gives you an unusually high degree of flexibility to come up with your own ventilation concepts. For example, this setup could be particularly efficient: An AIO radiator up to 360 mm can be installed in the front for the processor. And when the graphics card is inserted horizontally, it can be directly supplied with fresh air with the fan mount for the mesh side panel at the bottom. Now equip all free fan slots to pull the warm exhaust air out of the case as quickly as possible.

Fractal Design North von vorne ohne Frontpanel — Das Frontpanel des Fractal Design North ist sehr einfach durch ein nach vorne ziehen von unten zu entfernen. Verbaut sind zwei 140-mm-Lüfter.

Das Front Panel lehnt am Fractal Design North — Die Abstände der Holzstäbe versprechen einen guten Airflow.

Das Front Panel von hinten mit Staubfilter. — Auf der Rückseite des Frontpanels befindet sich ein Staubfilter.

Der Staubfilter wird entnommen. — Dieser kann bei Bedarf auch entnommen werden – sei es kurzfristig zur Reinigung oder dauerhaft zur Verbesserung des Luftdurchsatzes.

Abgenommener vorderer Gehäuseteil des Fractal Design North — Um von innen an die Frontlüfter zu kommen, kann man auch den separaten vorderen Teil des Seitenpanels herausnehmen.

Vorderes Seitenteil des Fractal Design North entnommen — Das Fractal Design North im Test mit entnommenem vorderen Seitenteil.

But that’s only one option. If you mount the side fan bracket at the bottom or don’t mount it, you can also mount large air coolers up to 170 mm high, which are more reliable and often quieter than water coolers. You can also decide whether to leave the air filter in the front for better dust protection or remove it for the best possible airflow and thus cooling. It is easily clipped in and can also be removed briefly for cleaning when you want to use it.

Installation

Screws are used for SATA drives
Some helps simplify the installation of various components

When testing the motherboard mounting, it is noticed very positively that the middle spacer in the Fractal Design North is raised and thus the motherboard already remains firmly in position before screwing it tight and does not slide around. Also pleasant is the attachment of the power supply with the external frame. Where it can be difficult with other cases if you insert components in the wrong order, here you can install or remove the PSU virtually at any time.

be Quiet! Netzteil mit PSU Montagerahmen vom Fractal Design North — Der abnehmbare Rahmen zur Befestigung von Netzteilen.

Das Netzteil wird von hinten in das Gehäuse geschoben. — So kann das Netzteil von hinten eingeschoben werden, ohne dass es zu einem Verklemmen oder Fingerverrenkungen kommt.

Erhöhter Abstandshalter im mittleren Loch des Mainboards — Der mittlere Abstandshalter hält das Mainboard in der richtigen Position. Die anderen Abstandshalter werden zum Festschrauben genutzt.

For the 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives, screws are needed to mount them to the brackets. 3.5″ hard drives are even mounted decoupled with rubber rings. These rubber rings can be placed either further up or further down on the hard disk frame. If you put them at the bottom, the hard disks don’t need much space, but if you put them at the top, you can mount a 2.5″ drive underneath. However, these are not decoupled. There is also a separate bracket for two 2.5″ drives. In total, you can mount up to four 2.5″ drives and two 3.5″ hard drives in the factory configuration. If you buy another bracket, you can mount two more drives, but then it will be tight under the PSU cover.

Festplatte und SSD unter dem Montagerahmen — Für die Befestigung von 2,5″-Laufwerken, wie Festplatten oder SSDs, werden Schrauben benötigt, um diese an der Halterung zu befestigen..

Einzelteile am Festplatten-Montagerahmen — Am werkzeuglos montierbaren Festplattenrahmen können Festplatten entweder weiter oben oder weiter unten angebracht werden.

Festplatte wird am Caddy festgeschraubt — Wenn man die Gummiringe oben anbringt und entsprechend die Festplatte festschraubt, kann man darunter noch ein 2,5″-Laufwerk montieren.

Speaking of the PSU cover, if you place a hard drive in the very front, it will be visible through the interior.

Cable Management

Good cable management
Hard drive caddies and other cables fight for the same space in the PSU cover

Cable management in the Fractal Design North works very well. Three Velcro cable ties provide a good hold for most cables in a widened case back. It is a bit of a pity that this is not available in parallel once again, because mounting options for three more Velcro cable ties are available in principle. The cable from the fan hub is also a bit short to fit into the existing cable holders.

Back of Fractal Design North with cables — You can keep the cables under control reasonably well

It can get a bit tight for remaining cables under the power supply cover when multiple 3.5″ hard drives are installed. Wiring the 2.5″ drives also gets a bit tight with the SATA power cables. Last but not least, you have to keep in mind that a front-mounted hard drive is visible from above – as are cables that slide forward in the power supply cover. Overall, though, cable management is straightforward.

Loudness

Quiet at case fan speeds up to 50% PWM
Maximum volume is high as fans can spin very fast

The volume in the Fractal Design North test is almost ridiculously low. With only two 140 mm fans, the optimum case is virtually reached for achieving the lowest possible noise level. At least in the low speed range. The installed fans reach a maximum speed of up to 1700 RPM, which is quite a lot for 140 mm fans. At an everyday quiet 33% PWM, the entire case – including the air cooler – sits at 38 dB with a base noise level of 36 dB. If you let the two fans spin at 50% PWM, they are just under 40 dB. On the other hand, the fans beat around with 48 dB at full speed – that’s not something you want to have in everyday use.

The Fractal Design North Mesh in test use. Without lighting, you can barely see anything inside the case through the mesh.

Performance in processor test

Good airflow ensures high performance even with only two fans
Without a dust filter behind the wooden grill, performance increases even more

In the Fractal Design North test, only the two front fans are actually used, although the case has room for many more fans.

The difference of the processor temperature to the room temperature (delta, so that different room temperatures do not distort the result) was measured in Cinebench after eight minutes of warm-up time. In the Fractal Design North test, the temperature was measured for one minute to compensate for temperature fluctuations. The processor is the Ryzen 5 3600X with a power consumption of 78W. The cooler used was the NZXT T120 RGB. For comparison, I brought in the more closed Cooler Master MasterBox 520 case and the airflow Enermax StarryKnight SK30 case – both with four factory fans – at least at 50% power.

Case	Temperature delta CPU	Volume
Fractal Design North Mesh 33% PWM	52.4° C	38 dB
Fractal Design North Mesh 50% PWM	51.9° C	40 dB
Fractal Design North Mesh 100% PWM	51.1° C	48 dB
Fractal Design North Mesh without front filter 33% PWM	51.6° C	38 dB
Fractal Design North Mesh without front filter 50% PWM	51.3° C	40 dB
Fractal Design North Mesh without front filter 100% PWM	50.7° C	48 dB
Cooler Master MasterBox 520 50% PWM	56.7° C	40 dB
Enermax StarryKnight SK30 50% PWM	51.7° C	41 dB

The Fractal Design North is already very efficient with the two factory fans and clearly beats the Cooler Master case. The Enermax case is about on par at 50% PWM, but that’s no surprise since it uses four fans, which is also louder.

Removing the front filter behind the wooden grille in the Fractal Design North improves temperatures, but this increases maintenance, as the interior then needs to be cleaned more frequently.

Graphics Card Test Performance

Even with factory fans, a higher performance than the measured competitor products

The test of the graphics card in the test unit is a bit more difficult to perform. Since it sits in zero-fan mode up to 60°C and barely increases in temperature after that and tends to scale with fan speed, I recorded both the temperature delta and the graphics card fan speed. The 3DMark Fire Strike stress test was run, and as with the processor test, the values were measured over one minute after eight minutes of warm-up to get an average value.

	Fractal Design North Mesh 50% Case Fan	Fractal Design North Mesh without front filter 50% Case Fan	Cooler MasterBox 520 50% Case Fan	Enermax StarryKnight SK30 50% Case Fan
GPU fan speed	700 RPM	650 RPM	900 RPM	850 RPM
GPU temperature delta	41.8° C	41.6°C	44.5°C	42.9°C
	Fractal Design North Mesh 100% Case Fan	Fractal Design North Mesh without front filter 100% Case fan	Cooler MasterBox 520 100% Case Fan	Enermax StarryKnight SK30 100% Case Fan
GPU fan speed	587 RPM	120 RPM	835 RPM	810 RPM
GPU temperature	41.0°C	40.9°C	43.0°C	42.1°C

Here, the Fractal Design North clearly wins over the two counter-test candidates. At half case fan speed, the graphics card fans are significantly less strained and temperatures are still lower. At full speed, the fan stalls from time to time even under graphics card full load – which is even more common when the front filter is removed. So, you could almost run the graphics card passively in this case. Impressive! My guess here is that this is the influence of the mesh side panel.

Let’s go nuts!

Any other test is off the mark of what can be considered an official “Fractal Design North Test”. But it shows what is possible. Here, for example, I’ve filled the empty seats with be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 – including the side panel fan holder. Yes, it does look impressive. However, it gets a bit tight with the air cooler – it already leans against the fan holder. Wider air coolers might already get compatibility issues here.

Fractal Design North fully equipped with be Quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 — If the fan frame is attached to the side at the bottom, a full-sized tower cooler will still fit over it – but it will be tight.

The switch to Noctua fans also comes across as surprisingly homogeneous in this case:

Fractal Design North with Noctua fans in the front — Brown Noctua fans also harmonize well with the wood. Especially without a dust filter, though, you’re also looking at front-mounted hard drives.

Conclusion

The Fractal Design North in our test knows how to convince! The design with the real wood and the mesh side panel stand out. But the pure performance is also very high, although only two front fans are installed at the factory. In addition, there is the high build quality and the modularity, through which you can adapt the airflow concept to your own ideas.