The fracture behaviors of low alloy steels with similar grain sizes but different sizes of carbide particles were investigated using precracked and notched specimens. The results indicate that in precracked specimens (COD), steel with coarser carbide particles has a lower toughness than steel with finer carbide particles over a temperature range from -196 degrees C to -90 degrees C. However, in notched specimens (four-point bending (4PB) and Charpy V), these two steels shows similar toughness at low temperature where specimens are fractured by cleavage without fibrous cracking. In the transition temperature range, the steel with coarser carbide particles conversely shows a little higher toughness due to the longer extension length of the fibrous crack. This phenomenon indicates that in precracked specimens, the second-phase particles play a leading role in cleavage fracture, while in notched specimens, the grain size dominates the fracture behavior.