Fractal Design North XL Computer Case Review

While most folks concern themselves with the exterior of the case it is nice to get a peek inside to see the lay of the land.  The side panels are held in place with the normal assortment of thumbscrews and swing away from the chassis.

The first thing you will notice is that the case has an extremely large opening for heatsink access and two sets of cable grommets to the right of the motherboard tray. 

Looking behind the motherboard tray you’ll see the familiar cable locations with a main harness moving down the front and middle section.

Directly behind the motherboard you’ll find a removable plate for two 2.5” SSDs in a slow profile surface mount configuration.

3.5” HDDs can be mounted in the basement of the case and you will get two removable trays.  A nice feature is the ability to reposition these trays in any of the available slotted locations.  This is primally to support different length PSUs and the associated cable packs.

The basement is fully vented for airflow and you will find specific cable cutouts near the motherboard tray for hooking up those pesky audio, usb and front panel connections.

Speaking of USB, the Fractal Design North XL supports 3.0 and 3.2 motherboard headers.  Ideally for the Type-A and Type-C ports respectively.