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Like most of Fractal Design's cases, the Arc Midi R2 is constructed mainly from steel, with a brushed aluminium effect panel attached to the front. The materials may not sound premium but Fractal Design build them so well, they do look and feel great.
The front panel of the case features two 5.25″ optical drive bays at the top, with the bottom two thirds being reserved for a large mesh air vent which feeds cool air into the front of the chassis. This air vent features mounting points for twin 140 mm or twin 120 mm fans. The case is supplied with a single Fractal Design branded fan populating one of these spaces.
The fan mounting points are compatible with a 240 mm radiator too, although this requires the drive bays to be removed. The front vent pops off to allow easy access to the dust filter, something that wasn't so straightforward with the original Arc Midi.
The front panel connections are located on the top of the case at the front. Here we find two USB 3.0 connectors and headphone and microphone jacks alongside the power and reset buttons. The case also features a fan speed controller which is able to control up to three fans.
Almost the entire of the top panel of the case forms a large vent which also has fan mounting points for twin 120 mm or twin 140 mm fans. Again, there is one 140 mm Fractal Design branded fan supplied with the case which is installed in this location. There is room for a 240 mm radiator here too, should you want to use water cooling in the system.
Moving round to the rear of the case we find a 140 mm exhaust vent which is also populated with a Fractal Design branded fan, out of the factory. Everything else is fairly standard, with seven expansion slots and the power supply mounting points located at the bottom of the chassis.
The only other item worthy of note on the exterior of the case is the side panel which features a rather unusual tinted window which has replaced the mesh side panel of the previous version. We prefer having a window as we think that it looks more classy, however some users may prefer the extra ventilation offered by mesh.
Their cases are always very quiet which I rate highly. I would love them to make a £200 aluminum high end case though.
The only problem with high end aluminum cases is that Lian Li do them so well already and the market is small at that price. I think they deliver good cases at tight prices.
I’d rather se brushed steel. Many of Lian Li’s Al cases are so flimsy, and the metal itself has poor noise absobing properties. Anyway I hope Fractal Design sticks to the Arc series as far as designing for big water cooling applications. The Define series doesn’t need that imho.
Super content .
It does look quite similar to my Xigmatek Asgard Pro case.Atleast to me.Does anyone agree?
I’ve had this case for a couple of weeks. It’s great although fractal really need to improve their quality control. The box was sealed but the plastic covering the case and styrofoam were really dirty. Also a couple of other QC issues such as firment of fans (one not screwed in properly) and 5.25″ bay covers not lining up flush with the front bezel.
The stock fans are also pretty bad quality and have really bad ticking at any voltage, definitely not ‘near inaudible’ I replaced them right away.