Fractal Design North Mesh: Case like a piece of furniture

Martin Bednár

1 year ago

Conclusion

North: a case that is designed to be closer to the modern home. In some places, Fractal Design has replaced plastic and metal with wood and faux leather. The tested variant of the North case, with the additional Mesh designation, not only has a perforated front, but also the side panel, which makes new cooling options available. In addition to the factory configuration, we will also test the case with fans in non-traditional positions.

Basic parameters


Parameters	Fractal Design
	North Mesh

Supported motherboard formats	Mini-ITX, mATX, ATX
Supported PSU format	ATX
CPU cooler	up to 170 mm
Graphics cards	up to 355 mm
Fan	6× 140 mm (2× preinstalled)/8× 120 mm/1× 80 mm
Supported liquid radiators	1× up to 360 mm + 1× up to 240 mm + 1× 120mm
2,5" positions	2 + 2 shared + 1 optional
3,5" positions	2 shared + 1 optional
5,25" positions	0
Dimensions [H/D/W] (and volume)	469 × 447 × 215 mm (45 l)
Weight	7,6 kg
Materials	steel + plastic + wood + faux leather
Connectivity	2× USB 3.2 gen. 1 + 1× USB 3.2 gen. 1 type C + 2× 3,5 mm jack
Approximate price	155 EUR

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Exterior

Everything is packed in a standard cardboard box with labels for quick overview. The case is wrapped in polyurethane foam. It does not leave behind such a mess as, for example, polystyrene. The contents, as we are used to with Fractal Design, are somewhat plentiful. Compared to the usual screws, single-use zip ties and anti-vibration pads for 3.5″ drives, you also get a fan holder for the left side panel. But this is only supplied with the Mesh version of the case. Of course, there is also a detailed manual showing the different mounting options for the case.

With most cases with the “mesh” designation, you’d think they’d have something perforated, usually the front panel. With the North we tested, it takes on a bit more meaning and the left side panel is perforated as well. If you were worried about the sheet metal being flexible like that, you don’t have to be. On the inside, the sidewall is reinforced with a sheet metal frame. The perforations here are 0.9 mm in size, which at the given perforation area size will ensure sufficient airflow. While I’ve become accustomed to Fractal Design’s more expensive cases using a latching system, here they’ve stayed true to the simple screws in the back. Luckily, they are double threaded so at least they stay in the side panels of the case even after they are removed.

The first thing that catches the eye on the case is the front panel, which is partly made of wood. The white case is made of oak, the black case is made of walnut. The entire wooden panel can be removed.There is a cut-out at the bottom that can be pulled. So you don’t have to lift anything, as is usual. Inside is a nylon dust filter that will prevent most dust particles from being sucked in. Behind the front panel, two Aspect 14 PWM fans in 140mm format await you. If you’d like to fit other fans, there’s room for three 120mm fans or even a liquid cooler radiator of up to 360mm.

As far as compatibility is concerned, the top I/O panel with connectors doesn’t impress, but it doesn’t disappoint either. You get one USB Type-C and two Type-A connectors. The audio side hasn’t been forgotten either, so you’ve got two 3.5mm jacks for headphones and a microphone. The power button is elegantly done. I must note that the response when you press it is pleasant. Power on is indicated by a subtle LED illumination, which is placed in a line intersecting all the elements on the control panel.

The rest of the top is perforated, as is the left side panel. The metal panel can be removed by simply pulling it backwards, making it easier to install components inside the case. Also on the ceiling, according to the manufacturer, fans can be mounted, two 140mm ones, or a liquid cooler radiator of up to 240 mm. The I/O panel cover can also be removed via two screws on the top and two on the front. This gives you easy access to the controller with connectors should you decide to do some “service” work at home as well.

The back side is not very different from most cases. On the bottom there is an opening with a frame for mounting an ATX power supply. Above that are the PCI Express expansion card slot covers. These are modified to accommodate a single 80mm fan. This could be used to push air under the graphics card. Above is a standard hole for the motherboard I/O panel, next to it are vents with the possibility of fitting a 120mm fan. It’s surprising that they didn’t place one fan right here from the factory. Of the two in the front, you can’t put one here because of the size (140 mm). The back is finished off with a faux leather strap that serves to pull the top panel. I didn’t use it a single time. Rather, I pushed the panel from the front to the back.

The case is held off the ground by four feet, which are fitted with non-slip rubber. It puts a lot of resistance when moving the case on the desk. A fine dust filter, which is also used at the front, protects the power supply against dust.

Interior

You can mount the accessory fan holder directly behind the perforated side panel. It can hold two 120 or 140 mm fans. You can use the holder in three places. The top position is exactly opposite the CPU and according to the parameters, the tower cooler should not be more than 145 mm in height (width). The Fuma 2 test cooler has a height of 154.5 mm and I was able to fit the holder, but with the fans on there’s not enough space. Maybe a two to three millimeter smaller cooler and it would have worked. In the middle and bottom position, the holder again limits the graphics card in width. It should not exceed 148 mm including the power cable. But in order to mount the holder, one more panel had to be added. With it, of course, there is less space for handling in the case and so it is possible to remove it with a single screw on the ceiling.

You can fit Mini-ITX, mATX and ATX motherboards into the spacious interior. There is no space left for E-ATX. The mounting positions of the motherboards are marked according to their formats. The standoff posts are already pre-installed from the factory. Without the fan holder on the side panel, a tower-shaped CPU cooler can be up to a respectable 170 mm in size, giving you complete freedom in its selection. With a graphics card, you also don’t have to limit yourself to the 355 mm size with a fan mounted on the front.

Only the vertical grommets for cables have rubber caps. I certainly don’t see the lack of them on the top and on the tunnel as a minus. What I do see as a hindrance, however, is the size of the vertical grommets. Running a thicker ATX cable, for the motherboard power supply, will make it harder for you to go through them.

The top and bottom grommets are two centimeters wide, which is sufficient for a convenient pass-through of the EPS cable to power the processor. The largest opening in the case is at the front behind the panel. In it you have up to eight centimeters for a liquid cooler radiator.

As is Fractal Design’s usual practice, this new product brings decent cable management with three pre-prepared Velcro strips in the trough. This provides up to 30mm of depth space for cables. In addition, there are a further 14 cable attachment positions on the tray. For these, you can use, for example, the zip ties from the accessories. In addition, the tray also has a holder for two 2.5″ storage drives on it. This can be easily removed with a single locking screw. You also have space for storage in the tunnel. Not a standard drawer but two additional holders. This gives you a lot of flexibility in cable management, as they don’t get in the way and so you don’t necessarily have to take them out if you don’t need them. These are hybrid mounts, but not just any kind. You can fit both 2.5″ and 3.5″ storage at the same time on one bracket. You can also specify their position in the tunnel. Two of the spots are at the bottom and the third, alternative, is on the ceiling of the tunnel. With the bottom mount, the maximum length of the power supply can be 140 mm. If you use only one bracket, the length can be up to 255 mm. Without them you have a free tunnel length of 375 mm.

On the top there is a small hub for four fans. Leaving the ones supplied with the case, you can cover up to five fans. The two can be daisy-chained together to save one position in the hub. If its top positioning doesn’t suit you, you can use an alternative position. This is located at the back of the case, where the standard exhaust fan is mounted.

All of the above are held together by solid sheets of an incredible, perhaps even exaggerated, thickness of 0.9 mm.

When installing the hardware, I encountered one, quite annoying shortcoming. As the manufacturer indicated the possibility of mounting two 140 mm fans on the ceiling, they probably did not count on less flexible cables for powering the processor. Because of this, my cables clashed with the position for the fan and it was not possible to fit two, but only one. Likewise, other hardware such as the liquid cooling radiator will also be a problem. At least with the wider ones.

Except for the top mounting of the 140 mm fans, the installation went smoothly. The cables were very easy and intuitive to arrange and then connect. The free space in the tunnel and the 30 mm deep cable management trough helped the most.

Test methodology

Two 140mm Aspect 14 PWM fans are mounted in the case. Those in the 120mm format came out quite well in detailed tests. But how do they handle the cooling when they are only located on the front intake from the factory? The Mesh version also offers a less traditional fan placement, directly behind the left perforated side panel. We will test this position with the fans as well. Also with both “intake” and “exhaust” orientation, for comparison with the original setup. The holder with fans is located directly above the tunnel.

Testing is done in a home environment where I strive for the most accurate results possible. In the room during testing, the air temperature in front of the case is 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum noise level I can measure with the Voltcraft SL-100 noise meter is 32.4 dBA. The sensor of the noise meter is aligned to the center of the top of the case at a distance of 10 cm, for the best measurement of the speed difference of the fans, which I change using the motherboard. For easy comparison to other cases, they are always regulated to fixed noise levels.

Individual components are heated for 10 minutes in FurMark synthetic stress tests and with Prime95 (custom settings) at the same time. This time is long enough to allow all components to warm up sufficiently. There are then 15-minute cooling breaks between tests, during which the component temperatures (and the case air temperature as well) are brought back to default.

Noise mode levels:

36 dBA
38 dBA
39 dBA


Test setup
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X470-I Gaming
CPU cooler	Scythe Fuma rev. 2 (single fan)
Thermal compound	Noctua NT-H2
Graphics card	Asus RTX 2060 Super Dual
RAM	Patriot, 2× 8GB, 3600 MHz/CL17
SSD	Western Digital Blue 500GB (2280)
Power supply	Corsair RM750X

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CPU and GPU cooling tests

Motherboard cooling tests

SSD cooling tests

Temperature under the ceiling

Conclusion

In tests, even with a perforated side panel, the case failed to cool components at the same level as, for example, the Meshify 2 Compact from the same stable. The big downside is that you can’t use the supplied fans in the back for “pulling” due to the unsupported format. But the case has held up pretty decently. Using both fans on the side panel only improved the graphics card temperature. Even that was only when “pulling”. In the reverse position they are more of a detriment than a benefit on the holder. Mainly because of the annoying sound they start to make. The only small improvement in temperatures in this position occurred in temperatures under the ceiling.

The quality of the case is of a high standard. The thick, no-bend plates will hold everything you put on them. The wooden elements at the front are also firmly fitted, with minimal give. Although you can fit two fans behind the perforated side panel, you have to take into account that it has no dust filter in case of “pulling”. You have one in the front. Another interesting position is the mounting of the 80mm fan on the PCI Express expansion card slot covers. I see the inability to take one fan from the front and mount it behind the CPU cooler to suck out warm air as a minor drawback due to the size. The interior is otherwise spacious and you can install larger hardware inside, you don’t have to limit yourself.

When fitting hardware, I encountered a problem, maybe even with my cables, but because of the power cable for the processor, I could not fit two 140mm fans on the top, only one. Other than that, the installation went without any difficulties and thanks to the great cable management also quite fast. The freedom in the tunnel helped the most. This was ensured by the flexible positions for storage. And, of course, the 30 mm deep cable trough.

Visually, the case can fit into almost any modern room, whether black with walnut or white with oak wood. It provides different variants of mounting fans and also storage. With minor flaws and a price (MSRP) of 129 EUR (155 with Slovak VAT), the case earns the “Approved” rating.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš


Fractal Design North Mesh
+ Unique appearance
+ As much as nine fan positions
+ Included fan hub
+ Extra free space in the tunnel
+ Great cable management
+ Robust build
- No fine dust filter on the side panel
- Risk of collision between ceiling fan and CPU power cable

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