Review: Fractal Design Arc Midi

Hyburnat

New member
I bought this case mainly for water-cooling. With its great cooling options it was a no brainer. The case itself is very heavy so as soon as you feel the box you can just tell its going to be quality.

What it comes with:

Well once you open up the case's side panel, you can clearly notice there is a box, which is located under the Hard Drive Docks. I found it hard to get out as the thumb screws holding them in are very tight. Once opening this box you will find the following:

  • 9x Motherboard Standoffs - This was a shame they only enclosed 9 as if you lose one you are stuck, however these are easy to get hold of.
  • 4x FDD Screws
  • 4x PSU Black screws - I know most PSUs now come with them, however this is a very nice touch for them to be added.
  • 32x HDD Screws - This gives you enough for 8 HDDs to be installed (The maximum this case can take in the caddies)
  • 1x Right Angled Screw Driver - I must say when I saw this, I was surprised as it's something I haven't seen before. However I couldn't get it to work properly on the heavily tightened thumbscrews.
  • 1x Fan Controller - This fan controller is quite a neat addition. They even leave you a separate PCI Gate for it to be inserted into. However I will go through this in more detail later.
  • 32x SSD Screws - Again, the same with the HDD Screws, enough for up to 8x SSD's to be installed.
  • 9x Motherboard Screws - They also include enough screws for a ATX motherboard, however these are colour black. A very nice addition.
  • 4x Thumb Screws - This is something I like to see, 4x Black 'classy' thumb screws, the thumbscrews in this case are a different shape
  • 2x Cable Ties - These ties are a great thing for Fractal Design, these are just the right size to put through the cable tie holders on the cable management.
  • 1x 3.5" Drive Bay Adapter - This is something every case should come with, but most don't, it makes it able to install a 3.5" Front Bay Device in a 5.25" Bay.

Front

On the front we have a very classy logo, at a guess it looks like it has been laser etched in, it just finishes the front of the case off. As you will see in the picture below.

Working our way down we have 2x 5.25" Drive Bays. These are just enough. As most people will only have an optical drive and a special feature i.e. a Fan controller. This is also what produces enough room for 8+ HDDs in a Mid Tower Case.

Working our way down the case again, we reach a mesh panel, this is a mesh panel with a kind of foam behind, I believe this is there to keep the dust out because this hides 2x 140mm Fans (1 included).

The whole front panel has a very stylish wood like finish, it's hard to describe and show in an image as it captures the light and the lights in the room I'm currently in are terrible. But I tried my best and you will be able to see below.

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Roof

On the roof, we have yet a copy of that stylish yet functional mesh and foam combination, this covers a large area of the roof, this is because underneath we have an amazing variety of fan combinations available, I currently do not know the exact measurements of them but I know there is a combination of 120's, 140's, 180's and a 230mm Fan(s)! This is how good this case is for cooling. We move promptly down the case and to the Switches and Ports. From left to right we have:

  • 1x Reset Switch
  • 1x Microphone Port
  • 1x Headphone Port
  • 1x Power Button with integrated Power LED
  • 2x USB 2.0
  • 1x USB 3.0

Sadly with all the cooling options they only include 1x 140mm Fan.

Side Panel

This side panel is a very heavy item of the case, it is not going to break if you hold it with one hand, its very sturdy. The only downside is that it doesn't come with a window, with all those cooling options it is a magnet to Water-cooled PC users, but without a window it means you have to either hide the beauty or leave the panel off. And these panels have an amazing finish and they are so precious you wouldn't want to mod/damage them. However I have recently emailed Fractal Design and know of plenty others who have too. And due to high demand they are currently producing some. I just hope that these will get to overclockers as soon as released as this is a must.

However moving onto the side panel actually contained with the case, it comes with yet again more cooling options, it has a honeycomb mesh design on it with space for a 180mm and a 220mm Fan. This would be amazing for SLI/CFX setups as they can extract the quickly and especially with the larger fans you can run low speeds with low sound but still heaps of heat removed.

Each side panel is held on with 2x Thumbscrews.

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Bottom

The bottom of the case is normally never seen, however it can become a vital part, for example Fractal send it with a removable dust filter, this is because you can fit another fan which I believe to be a 180mm. This also means you can put your PSU downward facing.

They also provide some amazing looking feet for the case, a chrome finish with a rubber base, larger ones at the front but with a smaller rubbed foot and the back ones are smaller in shape but have a lot of rubber, I do believe these provide a life of 2cm to make sure that there is enough air coming in.

Back

The back of the case carries a lot. Not only does it provide a large 140mm exhaust (included) but it carries 7 Expansion slots as well as one directed to the side for the fan controller which is included.

Also not forgetting the I/O port which it positioned as usual next to the exhaust fan which is big enough to fit the usual I/O port.

Inside the Case

Inside the case we see perfectly placed rubbed grommets to push your cables into the cable management side, these are not as tough as I hoped and I felt like if I tickled them any harder they would fall out.

A huge amount of HDD storage, 8GB with both HDD caddies in, 4GB with just one.

Bottom mounted PSU makes it better for cooling as the heat can go straight out the top as well as being able to mount a radiator at the top of the case.

The top HDD caddies can be removed for improved cooling and enough space to fit a 6990 in the case, this is easily removed by removing the two thumbscrews.

There is a huge cut out so you can install the CPU cooler whilst the motherboard being in the case, this is a big thing for me as I wouldn't like to be trying to screw in things and hold things whilst holding an expensive motherboard in just one hand.

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Here you can see the PCI Door left aside for the fan controller which is included pictured below:

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Cable Management Area

The cable management side of the case provides a huge amount of space for cables.

One thing I also like is that they have left small points for you to be able to tie down your cables with the provided zip ties.

Things I like

There are a lot of things I like about this case. I have stated most of them here:

  • Internal USB3 Header
  • Amazing cooling and options
  • Stylish
  • Small Priced
  • Great value for money

Things that could be improved on:

  • Black internal USB3.0 Header as the blue is an eyesore.
  • No window mod available at time of reviewing
  • No foam/dust filter in the side panel fan option.
  • No USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter if you don't have a 3.0 motherboard

I hope you enjoyed reading the review, I'm sorry for the poor quality of images. And of there isn't anything covered don't hesitate to ask
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After installing my complete rig into this case, I was very happy, however some things I did struggle on was things like its a very tall case so if your 8Pin isn't long then your going to need an extension. But apart from that I was very happy.

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Merry Christmas!
 
Thanks for the positive comments guys! I've currently got a 8Pin extension on order, which will be coming tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!
 
Yup, I'm on Fractals back about that one
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Today I took a day to sort out the cable management.

This is what this case can look like with a real bit of time
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Also have this case! Realy like it, have already watercooled my pc, and options for watercooling in this midtower case are great, only problem i have is pump run prety loud (DC5).

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