For our tests we will be using a Noctua NH-D14 to cool the Intel Core i7-3930K CPU in the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2. Our test system also features an AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card.
We manually overclocked the i7-3930K to 4.7 GHz by increasing the multiplier to 47x, leaving the baseclock set at 100 MHz. We set Load Line Calibration to ‘High’, and increased the CPU Current Capability to 120% with a minor voltage increase. Speed stepping was disabled for both stock and overclocked tests.
Test System:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K
- Motherboard: Asus P9X79
- Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
- Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2.
- Memory: 16GB (4x 4GB) Mushkin Blackline 1600 MHz
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950.
- Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000W
- System Drive: Intel SSD 330 Series 120 GB
- Monitor: Viewsonic VX2260WM.
Software:
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit).
- CPUID Hardware Monitor.
- Prime95 64-bit.
- Furmark V1.10.6
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.