A year of saving, a first PC build, and a parts list built around AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X and an RTX 5090. It all lives in a Fractal Design North XL in Chalk White, and honestly, the cable work behind the glass panel got just as much love as the hardware itself.
A North XL in Chalk White With a Wood Front
The case really sets the vibe here — Fractal Design's North XL in Chalk White with a tempered glass side and a wood-slat front. That contrast is what makes it work: warm wood against clean white steel, with all the lit components glowing inside. It's the kind of thing that looks way better in person than you'd expect.
Up top you've got the power button, USB-A and USB-C, and a headphone jack. Nothing flashy on the outside, which honestly makes the lit hardware inside pop even more when you're taking photos against a plain background.
Inside: 9950X and an RTX 5090
The meat of the build sits in the middle. You've got a Ryzen 9 9950X cooled by a Valkyrie V36 AMG Dracula — that cooler has a tiny display on the pump block showing CPU name, temps, load, and clock speeds. Pretty useful for quick glances. Next to it is an Asgard Bolari II DDR5 6000 C28 64GB kit (2×32GB, black) that looks sharp against the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi motherboard.
For the GPU, there's an Inno3D X3 OC RTX 5090 with that FORCE RTX branding on the shroud. Storage-wise, a ZhiTai TiPro9000 PCIe 5.0 at 2TB handles the fast stuff, and a Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 4.0 at 4TB fills in the secondary drive. Power comes from an ASUS ROG Strix Platinum GaN ATX 3.1 (1200W), and airflow is handled by Valkyrie S12 Max fans in black.
Back Panel, Ports & Cable Management
The back is where the practical side kicks in — Wi-Fi antenna posts, the PSU inlet and switch, and a dust grille on the lower half.
The MSI board's rear I/O is loaded: HDMI, USB-C at 40G and 10G, stacks of USB 10G ports, Flash BIOS and Clear CMOS buttons, 2.5G and 5G LAN, Wi-Fi 7 antenna connectors, plus S/PDIF, mic-in, and line-out for audio. Open up that second side panel and you'll see the cable work is tidy — everything routed down the back, held together with hook-and-loop straps, kept flat so the panel closes without any stress.
Summary & Full Parts List
First build or not, every single component was picked and installed by hand, cable routing included. Here's what went into it:
| Component | Part |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 9950X |
| Motherboard | MSI MPG X870E CARBON WIFI |
| Memory | Asgard Bolari II DDR5 6000 C28 64GB (2×32GB), black |
| Storage | ZhiTai TiPro9000 PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD, 2TB |
| Storage | Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD, 4TB |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, Inno3D X3 OC |
| Power supply | ASUS ROG STRIX Platinum GaN ATX 3.1, 1200W |
| Cooling | Valkyrie V36 AMG DRACULA |
| Case | Fractal Design North XL, Chalk White, tempered glass version |
| Fans | Valkyrie S12 Max fans, standard blade, black |
10 comments
I heard it’s luck of the draw — the one you get might have structural defects.
How does it run? Weren’t there reports of it catching fire?
Also that light somehow turned red. I originally wanted the top-spec build, but once I saw it would run over 30k, I went for the better-value one.
The Noctua fans and the custom cables go really well with this case.
I only have a 5080, and my case is one size smaller — not the XL.
How much did this whole setup cost? I’m interning this year and start work next year, I’ve gotten into gaming, and I want to build something like this too.
Your hands-on skills are seriously impressive, man.
At the time it was 40k; the 5090 has dropped in price lately, so building this now should come out cheaper.
I couldn’t afford this case, so I bought wooden strips and hand-carved them to look like this. I never expected the wood to be such good quality, but I really like it.
You’re right.