Fractal Meshify 3 XL Case Review

To give a sense of scale I have installed the X870 AORUS ELITE WiFi 7 motherboard into the Fractal Design Meshify 3 XL and I must admit it fits pretty well.  The Meshify 3 XL supports a wide variety of motherboards from the standard ATX, Micro ATX and Mini ITX up to some large designs including the E-ATX, SSI-EEB and SSI-CEB.

The fancy cable cover does have more than one position to accommodate larger motherboards and space around the motherboard tray is quite good with a large opening at the bottom to support the myriad of random connectors found on most motherboards.

This slot has also been replicated at the top of the motherboard, though mostly for exhaust fans since most motherboards only have CPU power cables up there.

Early in this review I talked about how Fractal Design often has an underlying purpose baked into each of their products and that system applies to the Meshify 3 XL.  On the surface this chassis is the logical upgrade to the Meshify series with a very successful attempt to combine features from some of their best designs over the past 3 years into a single design.

At the front you have the high air flow Meshify bezel with their rockface texture to provide some depth to an otherwise plain mesh panel.  The front panel controls are using the simplified design similar to the North XL and cooling has been amped up to 11 supporting up to 10x 140mm fans along with options to support dual 180mm spinners if you are feeling feisty.

Meshify 3 XL also introduces two new products to the Fractial Design line up including the Momentum 14 140mm cooling fans available as plain PWM or PWM + ARGB.  These fans are then controlled by the Adjust Pro Hub that introduces a software component allowing users to do more than just duplicate PWM fan signals.

Sadly, I was extremely disappointed in how the expansion slot area is handled.  Having them protrude out the back of the chassis is just lazy design and cheapens the overall aesthetic.  Combine that with the lack of a vertical GPU option and this high airflow case with awesome cooling and support for DIY watercooling becomes just a basic case.

Dual 180mm Fan Support
Allowances for DIY Watercooling
Ample Venting
Great Cable Routing
No “Dedicated” Vertical GPU Option
Side Radiator Support
Available in White

No vertical GPU?
Only three USB ports
Flat expansion slot design