[OPEN BOX] Fractal Design Pop XL Silent Black Tempered Glass Clear Tint / OB-FD-C-POS1X-02 / OB-FD-C-POS1X-02

The Fractal Design Pop XL Silent is a black tower case with a clear-tint tempered glass side panel, built around noise control rather than open airflow. Bitumen side panels and sound-damping foam line the chassis, and four 120 mm Aspect 12 fans are fitted from the start. A concealed front compartment carries two 5.25 inch bays and a storage drawer behind a magnetic cover.

The overview video tours the Pop XL Silent from the front panel to the interior, showing the XL footprint, the detachable top panel and the drive mounting positions inside. It gives a clear sense of how much room the chassis has for a full build and where the sound-damping material sits behind the panels.

The Pop XL Silent balances a plain, understated black exterior against a functional interior, so nothing on the outside advertises what the case can do. The clear-tint tempered glass panel is the one visual break, showing the build without the heavy colour cast of a darker tint. It suits a desk or a lounge just as readily as a workshop.

The video opens the concealed front compartment, which holds two integrated 5.25 inch bays alongside a storage drawer, all sitting behind a magnetic cover. Optical drives, fan controllers or card readers stay accessible without breaking up the clean front face, and the drawer keeps spare screws and small parts with the machine rather than in another room.

The top panel lifts away, opening two more fan positions above the motherboard for builders who want more exhaust than the stock configuration provides. That turns a case tuned for quiet into one that can shed noticeably more heat, which matters once a high-wattage graphics card and a hot CPU share the same chassis.

The front interface is USB-C ready, with an optional USB-C module that installs into the panel when you want it. Buyers who do not need a front Type-C port are not paying for one, and the option stays open later if a phone, a capture device or an external drive makes it worth adding.

Storage runs across three flexible trays, each able to take a 3.5 inch and a 2.5 inch drive at the same time, with a separate bracket for a further two 2.5 inch SSDs. The video shows the trays coming out and going back in, so a mechanical archive and an SSD boot volume can live in the same chassis without improvised mounting.

Four 120 mm Aspect 12 fans come fitted, using rifle bearings and Trip Wire technology on the blades for steadier airflow. The video shows them running in the chassis, which is where the count matters most: a silent-oriented case with restricted intake needs enough fans to keep air moving without any single one having to spin hard.

Noise insulation comes from specialised bitumen side panels backed with sound-damping foam, which absorb the vibration and fan noise a bare steel panel would otherwise pass straight into the room. The video shows the lined panels off the chassis. This is the feature that separates the Pop XL Silent from the standard Pop range.

Cable routing is handled by tie-down points, cable ties already fitted at the factory and large pass-through openings between the two sides of the motherboard tray. The video follows a loom through the chassis, which is worth watching before a build in a case with a clear-tint window, since untidy cabling is visible through the glass.