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Fractal Design North

Darksaber

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer
Staff member
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
3,114 (0.43/day)
Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
System Specs
System Name Corsair 2000D Silent Gaming Rig
Processor Intel Core i5-14600K
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix Z790-i Gaming Wifi
Cooling Corsair iCUE H150i Black
Memory Corsair 64 GB 6000 MHz DDR5
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phoenix GS
Storage TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s) Gigabyte 32" M32U
Case Corsair 2000D
Power Supply Corsair 850 W SFX
Mouse Logitech MX
Keyboard Sharkoon PureWriter TKL
The Fractal Design North puts the focus on a beautiful design and material mix with clean curves, a silver power button and unique wood elements. On top of that, you get to pick from a TG or side-vented variant. But is there substance underneath the surface? Read on to find out!

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That's one fancy looking case.

It looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to install some kind of plastic sheet on the inside of the perforated side panel to solve the airflow (and most likely increased noise) issues.
 
Went through manual and under optional steps it states 80mm fan can be added to PCI slots apart from all other conventional locations plus the optional fan bracket. Quite an interesting case and might get it for aesthetic reason.

Edit: Fractal has branded their fans as Aspect not Aspekt.
 
Nice review but it's more of the same really, personally it would look better if the case was black if you were after that 70's kinda styling.
 
Vented side diminishes cooling from front intake fans
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I'm, not sure this is a negative as this might actually be a benefit depending on fan configuration for airflow, and case pressure, negative case pressure would really be the negative here.
 
I think for the white one they should have used white inlay with the wood and everywhere else as well. Looks off with black.

Black all black
White all white
it’s called North. Everything should be white even the screws. :)
 
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Although I like the wood accents & a few other details, in the end it's STILL just anutha rectangular boxen...meh :D
 
Zaqq said:
Wood is now a "luxury material"? Having wooden doors or furniture is now a status symbol of upper class?
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Always has been. Only luxury cars have real wood interior accents as an option for a reason.
 
It's really disappointing that the side intakes couldn't cool the gpu any better...or anything else for that matter. I was expecting more.
 
maxfly said:
It's really disappointing that the side intakes couldn't cool the gpu any better...or anything else for that matter. I was expecting more.
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LOL it was designed for vertically mounted gpu :D they tested with standard layout ...
 
Didn't read the review yet to see how it performs but this thing looks good Good industrial design in a PC case is rare sight, Fractal is one of few that companies that gets it. Even the white one looks good with the contrast in material with the use of wood, otherwise all white cases draw too much attention to their lack of features. Good job Fractal!
 
Wood is good.
Beautiful sleek design.
Much like the ridge- make you want to build one just for fun.
 
Fractal usually has multiple different case SKUs, so I'd like to see one with solid side panel, maybe even with sound dampening foam like those BQ cases
 
Leshy said:
LOL it was designed for vertically mounted gpu :D they tested with standard layout ...
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No it's not, the case does not even have vertical mounts.
 
mechtech said:
I think for the white one they should have used white inlay with the wood and everywhere else as well. Looks off with black.
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It isn't black. With white it wouldn't have the same clean look as you'd see a lot of details around the intake, fans, and parts inside. It would mess up the design.
With gray color you can't really see what's behind the front, and that wouldn't be possible with all white.

Anyway, I think the white and gray combination looks great. There are 17000 other cases to choose from if you want to show of exactly everything inside it. ;)
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GPU temps seem high for the mesh and fan layout. I wonder if turning the front panel fans around to exhaust would help pull fresh air in through the mesh?

Very pretty at the very least and a welcome change from G4m3r-y cases like the HAF 500
 
Mats said:
It isn't black. With white it wouldn't have the same clean look as you'd see a lot of details around the intake, fans, and parts inside. It would mess up the design.
With gray color you can't really see what's behind the front, and that wouldn't be possible with all white.

Anyway, I think the white and gray combination looks great. There are 17000 other cases to choose from if you want to show of exactly everything inside it. ;)
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Fair enough. To each their own.

however the North is white and so it remains 8 months of the year. :)
 

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Would be cute if the front panel was hinged, so you could open it up, like a real wooden fence door, which I suspect is the imagery they were going for.
 
Pumper said:
No it's not, the case does not even have vertical mounts.
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mesh side is there for what ? just for looks? they have V-mount for define series .. if they wont make addon like that for this case .. its just stupid :)
 
Leshy said:
mesh side is there for what ? just for looks? they have V-mount for define series .. if they wont make addon like that for this case .. its just stupid :)
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xvwAUdbj3ZDXt0tG.jpg
 
I'm usually in agreement with majority of aesthetic comments but that doesn't seem to be the case with this one. I weally weally weally LOVE the aesthetic appeal for both the black and white models. IMO, the best looking case i've seen in a long while. I always admired the act of subtle nature with several modded case's spread across the web... just didn't have the time and skill to produce something similar. The FD north has definitely won me over (although i'm yet to view the performance review to see if it fits nicely with my soon-to-be upgrade)

FD North.jpg


Xmas came early :)
 
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