So, I wanted the first Noth because it looked good. However it was not compatible with my 360mm AIO.
With the announcement of the North XL i jumped in the hype train and ordered one. Here are my intakes about it:
- If you have a thick gpu such as a 4090 FE you cannot use the side frame for the fans.
- If you have a thick 360mm AIO in top you cannot use the side frame either.
Those two points could be improved by providing a 15mm Fan Frame instead of the current one.
Noise point:
- As shown in Hardware Canucks video at high speed turbulences are happening and noise is high with the default fan. But who would run those at 1800 rpm ? So it's not really an issue but it could be in certain case.
- Fractal is still using the old dual design (120 or 140) for fans mounting which means that accoustic turbulences can happen if you decide to mount the front fans behind away from the filter, as shown here : ; of course this is only if you plan to change the default fans.
I don't really care about the IO. My B650E-E doesn't have two USB3.0 port nor does it have two USB-C port. In my previous case I had two useless USB port on the front due to that. Also i never use the reset button (worst case if it happens a long press on the power button makes a shutdown).
With the announcement of the North XL i jumped in the hype train and ordered one. Here are my intakes about it:
- If you have a thick gpu such as a 4090 FE you cannot use the side frame for the fans.
- If you have a thick 360mm AIO in top you cannot use the side frame either.
Those two points could be improved by providing a 15mm Fan Frame instead of the current one.
Noise point:
- As shown in Hardware Canucks video at high speed turbulences are happening and noise is high with the default fan. But who would run those at 1800 rpm ? So it's not really an issue but it could be in certain case.
- Fractal is still using the old dual design (120 or 140) for fans mounting which means that accoustic turbulences can happen if you decide to mount the front fans behind away from the filter, as shown here : ; of course this is only if you plan to change the default fans.
I don't really care about the IO. My B650E-E doesn't have two USB3.0 port nor does it have two USB-C port. In my previous case I had two useless USB port on the front due to that. Also i never use the reset button (worst case if it happens a long press on the power button makes a shutdown).