Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 review

PC Cases and Modding 228 Page 4 of 7 Published by

teaser

Product Showcase

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Once we pop the chassis on its back we can see the bottom side, the case is resting on four rubber feet preventing resonating noises. The PSU will be located at the backside of the chassis, there's a huge mesh there for ventilation and as you can see it is protected with a removable dust filter.

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Front panel IO then, arguably it looks a little bland alright. But there you'll find two USB 3.0 ports alongside the audio I/O, Power button with LED (blue), there is no reset button though. And once powered on the power LED will turn blue, the HDD LED is red.

  • 2 - USB 3.0
  • Audio in/out
  • Power button with LED (blue)
  • HDD activity LED (red)
  • Reset button
  • Fan controller
Since there are no dedicated USB 2.0 ports you can connect USB 2.0 towards the USB 3.0 connectors as well as an adapter is included. As simple is the implementation is, we love the fan controller (support for up to 3 fans). It allows you to put the fan RPM at 3, 5 or 12 Volts. Even at low RPM these fans offer quite a bit of airflow whilst creating little noise. 

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Internals then. First impression, there isn't heaps of space to work in but it does offer surprisingly innovative features that allow you to install quite a bit. I mean take liquid cooling for example, you could mount:

  • Front – 240 mm radiators (thick and slim) when HDD cages are repositioned or removed
  • Top – 240 mm radiators (thick and slim)
  • Bottom – 120mm radiators
  • Rear – 120mm radiators

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Here we can already see the innards a bit better. The top/rear side have two additional fans. There is again a hydraulic bearing 140mm Silent Series R2 fan, 1000 RPM speed similar to the top fan.

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