The perfect case doesn't- Fractal Design North XL

[Agall]

Reviews came out today, didn't even know this was a thing until then.

 

North XL — Fractal Design (fractal-design.com)

 

Its effectively a longer FD North, which isn't necessary, but for some people it might. Makes the case long enough to support a top 360mm radiator.

 

The rest of it seems to be the same spec wise, front radiator support being a little better somehow. 

 

The FD North supports eATX perfectly fine without interfering with the cable management gromits, having at least 30.5cm of support (I run an X670e Aorus Master in a FD North). 

 

 

Noting the 4 (TG) total 120mm fan mount support listed is wrong, its 6 since there's three front, two top, and 1 rear.

[Dedayog]

16 minutes ago, Agall said:

Reviews came out today, didn't even know this was a thing until then.

 

North XL — Fractal Design (fractal-design.com)

 

Its effectively a longer FD North, which isn't necessary, but for some people it might. Makes the case long enough to support a top 360mm radiator.

 

The rest of it seems to be the same spec wise, front radiator support being a little better somehow. 

 

The FD North supports eATX perfectly fine without interfering with the cable management gromits, having at least 30.5cm of support (I run an X670e Aorus Master in a FD North). 

 

 

Noting the 4 (TG) total 120mm fan mount support listed is wrong, its 6 since there's three front, two top, and 1 rear.

I think that would be good for me, with my 360mm AIO and 6900XT at 324mm since the standard North would only do a 300mm card with a front AIO.

 

Think I will finally get rid of the Lian Lia Lancool II.

[OhYou_]

I wish they made it the same height as the normal north and just made it longer.

Instead its ~40mm taller and ~50mm longer. it isnt simply longer

[WereCat]

I wouldn't call it perfect but it definitely is really nice and compelling case with some unique features.

Though I dislike that if you want to front mount radiator the PSU shroud can block the tubing if you want them on the bottom (for 420mm rad) otherwise I don't really have anything else major to complain about.

 

5 minutes ago, OhYou_ said:

I wish they made it the same height as the normal north and just made it longer.

Instead its ~40mm taller and ~50mm longer. it isnt simply longer

It is also wider which makes the side mounted fans more viable in more configurations.

I actually like that it is also taller as you can better work with cables if you already have everything mounted including fans which allows for your hand to fit in much easier... especially around bulky air coolers. But yeah, it's quite specific so everybody has different needs.

[PDifolco]

Fractal North "standard" was too small for me, need room for a 280 rad top (don't want to put it front, it blocks airflow), and a 355mm GPU...

But design is nice, will have a look at the XL

[Dedayog]

When is release?  Amazon showing out of stock, but PCPP not even listing it...

 

[Agall]

8 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

When is release?  Amazon showing out of stock, but PCPP not even listing it...

 

No idea, I can't find any info on an actual release date, so its either released and just not listed or we'll start seeing them tomorrow?

[dannys95]

Something I’d love to see someone test - the mesh version, but rather than having the side fans, just vertically mount a 3090FE and see how it performs with the GPU using the side as intake. 

[Agall]

On 3/9/2024 at 10:01 AM, dannys95 said:

Something I’d love to see someone test - the mesh version, but rather than having the side fans, just vertically mount a 3090FE and see how it performs with the GPU using the side as intake. 

Would be interesting, but the downside is that the mesh side panel is rather thick. Its about 1cm thick in itself and not flat, so I could see a set of GPU fans struggling to pull air that way.

 

The mesh normal sized version pulls air from the side panel with a traditionally mounted GPU. It'll intake from the bottom part and exhaust above it. In combination with a low mounted 140mm front intake fan, it can easily cool a 133% TDP 3GHz 4090.

[freeagent]

I dunno if its just me.. but when I see that case I think:

 

[norskfyr]

I'm considering getting this case, or the Meshify 2 XL.

My ONLY concern with it is future proofing in the sense of GPU clearance. Apparently it can fit a GPU up to 413mm in length, which is great, and plenty big enough for even the largest of 4090s. But what do you guys think about potential GPUs to come, like a hypothetical 5090, is the North XL going to be big enough?
Am I overthinking it?

[Agall]

2 hours ago, norskfyr said:

I'm considering getting this case, or the Meshify 2 XL.

My ONLY concern with it is future proofing in the sense of GPU clearance. Apparently it can fit a GPU up to 413mm in length, which is great, and plenty big enough for even the largest of 4090s. But what do you guys think about potential GPUs to come, like a hypothetical 5090, is the North XL going to be big enough?
Am I overthinking it?

I doubt cards will get longer. Outside of the current RTX 4090 designs, the only thing I can Nvidia and AIBs doing to dramatically change a card's design was that 'leaked RTX 4090ti/Titan with the horizontal PCB design. 

 

 

I have a feeling cards will get thicker before they get substantially longer. This design allows full flow through in comparison to partial flow through. Unless they start moving the die to the very end of the card, simply making the heatpipes longer won't be as effective.

 

Keep in mind too that Nvidia is the first to get their hands on these GPUs compared to AIBs, so even if this is just something they tested for effectiveness, it shows Nvidia's willingness to fundamentally redesign the traditional layout and make cards thicker. Something we saw with the RTX 3090.

 

Regarding the RTX 5090, I suspect it'll be so heavily designed for AI/tensor and heavily binned for enterprise and that we'll see that consistent 20-30% increase over the RTX 4090. The RTX 5090 being basically the bottom bin of the largest die.

[Dedayog]

The North XL is a sizeable kid.  About like the R6.

 

About to swap things over.

 

I've apologized and even bought flowers.  Hopefully fractal forgives me for stepping out .

 

It's a damn good looking and imposing case in person.  

 

And damn , my Microcenter was way busy today .  Good to see.

 

Finally read GN review....  

 

https://gamersnexus.net/cases/fractal-north-xl-case-review-benchmarks-wood-panels-mesh

[Dedayog]

I know I need to get it off the floor.

 

Damn, it's a good looking case!  So easy to build in!   And a slightly lighter single piece adds flavor...