A Closer Look - Inside

Simply remove the two thumbscrews holding the side panel in place to access the interior. As mentioned before, the entire interior has the same black and white color theme we have come to love from Fractal Design. A large opening in the mainboard tray should give you access to the cooler backplate, while openings on three sides around the mainboard allow cables to be routed nicely. You have well over 2 cm (almost an inch) of space behind the mainboard tray, and multiple hooks to use zip ties on. All of this combined should make cable management very easy.


Fractal Design has chosen to sacrifice some external 5.25" bays to include eight hard drive bays instead. Unlike the original Arc Midi, these bays are no longer divided up into two cages equally. Instead, the top one now holds five drives, leaving three for the bottom one. The top unit can be turned by 90 degrees or taken out completely if you happen to need the space for long graphics cards. When removed, you may offset the bottom hard drive bay towards the interior of the chassis to fit a radiator in the front, or move it above the floor-fan opening to create some space for thicker radiators, or tall reservoirs, for example.


The two 5.25" bays are nothing out of the ordinary, and Fractal Design includes thumbscrews to hold such device in place. As mentioned before, there unfortunately no longer is a 3.5" tray.


Turning our focus to the rear, there is the PSU bay on the bottom. The power supply will rest on four foam-mounted knobs, while the rear is also lined with the same material. This should kill vibrations on the spot. Above that are the eight white mainboard-expansion slots, each held in place by a black thumbscrew. In the very top is another white-bladed 140 mm fan for pushsing air out the back of the chassis.


Fractal Design also equips the Arc with a third 140 mm exhaust fan in the ceiling to create the same air flow you would have if the power supply were in this position. You may also install a combination of 140 mm or 120 mm fans across the entire ceiling, or even opt for a single 180 mm unit in the center. If you look closely, some of the screw openings are wider, allowing for a bit of play. These will be used to secure a 240 mm radiator.


Fractal Design has chosen to use an internal USB 3.0 header. It is all black to match the interior of the chassis and comes with a secondary USB 2.0 connector, which will allow those with older motherboards to use the top I/O. You will also find the standard HD-Audio/AC'97 cable within the Arc Midi R2.