Fractal Design Arc Midi Case Review

Inside the Fractal Design Arc Midi

Both panels are attached to the chassis using black thumbscrews. The motherboard tray has a huge hole for you to access the backplate of the CPU cooler without having to remove the motherboard from the case, several holes protected with rubber covers for you to route cables behind it, and several metallic clips for you to fasten cables using cable ties.

Figure 12: Overall look

Figure 13: A
view behind the motherboard tray

In Figure 14, you have another overall look inside the case. Expansion cards are fastened using black thumbscrews. The Fractal Design Arc Midi supports video cards up to 11.4” (290 mm) long, but if you remove the top hard drive cage, this clearance is increased to 18.5” (470 mm). The case supports CPU coolers up to 7.1” (180 mm) tall.

Figure 14: Overall look

The power supply is installed at the bottom of the case. Note that it can be installed with either its bottom fan facing up or facing down, so you can decide if you want the fan of your power supply pulling air from inside the case or from outside of it.

If you install a power supply up to 6.7” (170 mm) deep, you can install a 120 mm or 140 mm fan on the bottom panel, but if you install a power supply up to 7.1” (180 mm) deep, only a 120 mm fan will fit. As already discussed, the case comes with a single air filter for the power supply fan and for this optional fan.

Figure 15: Power supply compartment

The fan controller, shown in Figure 16, must be installed on an expansion slot. It is a single-channel, analog controller supporting three fans, which means that all fans are controlled through a single potentiometer.

Figure 16: Fan controller