Fractal Design North Mesh: Case like a piece of furniture

Exterior

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.

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

• Contents
• Exterior
• Interior
• Test methodology
• CPU and GPU cooling tests
• Motherboard cooling tests
• SSD cooling tests and under-ceiling temperature
• Conclusion