A Closer Look - Outside

The front of the Midgard is constructed of plastic as well as metal mesh. This seems to be a popular combination for cases of this price range these days. Xigmatek has chosen to paint the entire chassis black - including the rear and interior. There are a few orange accents, which is the signature color of the company. As you can see the power supply is to be installed on the bottom of the case. This is certainly not something you would expect from an enclosure in this price class.


Both sides of the chassis have multiple openings. The side above the mainboard tray has two holes for fans with up to 140 mm dimensions. Interestingly enough, these two holes are of different design, so the bottom one can only fit a 120 & 140 mm, while the top one may be used for 80 & 92 mm versions as well. The other side has an opening right across from the hard drive bays and another one just under the mainboard tray opening. You cannot mount a fan in either of these locations, so they do not seem to benefit the user in any way. A small downside is the fact that you will clearly see the cable mess by the hard drive bays.


The front is visually divided by the I/O panel. The case includes a 120 mm fan behind a metal mesh grill on the bottom. An extruded Xigmatek "X" can also be found here for good measure. Above the pair of audio, two USB 2.0 and single eSATA ports are the five external drive bays, the very bottom one of which may be used for a 3.5 inch device as well.


Turning the Midgard around, starting at the bottom, you will find the power supply bay right there. It has two sets of mounting holes, so you may choose the direction of air flow created by the PSU. Either pull fresh air in from under the chassis or pull hot air out of the case. The middle part is home to the seven expansion slots. Xigmatek has also placed two cut outs for water cooling tubes as well as several break out pieces to route serial ports or HDMI connectivity around this area. Moving up, the top is taken by the 120 mm rear exaust fan, as well as two additional water cooling tubes.


The opening for the PSU is covered by a removable dust filter. The shape of the filter seems to suggest, that it was not intended for this location, as it has has mounting holes and lips on the top and bottom edge facing the rear. Nonetheless, it should work just fine at keeping the dust out.