Fractal Design Arc Midi Black High Performance PC Computer Case w/ USB 3.0 and 3 x Fractal High Performance 140mm fans

Pros: Plenty of room (will try watercooling soon), nice cable management, great styling, and great cooling.

Cons: Cut out on side,front case fan DOA, and only two 5 1/4" bays.

Other Thoughts: Great case for a great price.

Pros: Cable Management, great cooling, silent, fan controller, removable HDD case, and lots of room for long video cards and tall HSFs. Fan controller is easy to install, takes up no room in case, and allows adding two more fans, if so inclined.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Very hard to find. Either out-of-stock or discontinued, but looks like Fractal has newer version, the R2.

Pros: This is a handsome, understated, professional -looking case. The mesh front and top look great and provide ample ventilation. The power switch and a USB 3.0 port are on *top* of the case, for easy access when the case is the on floor; these are not hidden under a little door, so there is nothing to interfere with plugging in my large USB card reader. There are two 140mm fan mounts in the top of the case, two more in the front panel, as well as the usual upper rear and side positions. Excellent cable management, although I could use some more places behind the motherboard to attach cable ties. Roomy inside, easily mounts a Corsair H100 or a Noctua DH-14. Toolless case, although I needed a tool to loosen most of the thumbscrews the first time.

Cons: The supplied case fans are not very quiet. I replaced them with Cougar Vortex HDB fans, which are noticeably quieter, especially at higher speeds. The front panel fan mounts did not fit the Cougars without modification (had to cut away the plastic mounting pins and flanges, but that was easy enough). Side panels are difficult to attach and remove; they are toolless but they stick. I wish the fan opening on the side panel had received the same attention to appearance as the top and front.

Other Thoughts: Be sure you have room for this monster. It's just too big to go under a desk.

Pros: Nice Looking

Cons: The quality of the case, the provided screws/standoffs, and the fans are all abysmal. I thought I could at least expect some parity in build quality coming from an antec 300. This case rattles, and doesn't quite fit together.

Pros: 1. Made of solid steel very sturdy - The steel add some weight to this product, making it very sturdy and stable. The side case panel isn't flimsy at all similarly to my older current rig which is also made of steel but thinner.

2. Removable Hard Disk Trays - Even without the screws to secure the hard disk tray in place, it is stuck inside the Hard Disk cage like a glue! Very sturdy and does not fall off easily when the case is tilted from 45-90 degree angle!

3. Good Foam Dust Filters - One of the reason I purchased this case is due to the in-built dust foams! It keeps my internal components free of dust. As we know, dust trapped in CPU fans and GPU obstructs air flow and this results in generating more heat. The fan have to work extra harder to push in more air to keep temperature low. Unfortunately this indirectly increases the noise level of fans when running on load. The foam keeps out even the finest dust I have seen. Very nice!

4. Minimalist case - The case is in a box shape! Hi five to that, keep it that way and the philosophy of Fractal Design where you strive for minimalist design! Having bulges on the side panels is a no-no since it will require the users to remove that side panel so they will have a stable flat side to work with when they place the case on its side to work on the motherboard tray to install either motherboard, ram, gpu or heavy heatsinks.

5. Plenty of space behind the motherboard tray - I could barely fit all the non-modular cables behind the motherboard tray. It was a miracle I could place all of those cables instead of stucking them in front where the hard disk cage is located but this in return blocks the air flow of the front air intake.

6. Easy removable roof top dust filter - It was easy to remove it since its light and just snap into place. But there is a little downside to it since if its easy in, its also easy out unless secured with those 2 screws behind it.

7. Rubber case stands - To absorb any vibrations produced by the case. It's around 1 CM from the floor. It would be nice to extend another 1 CM more to easily fit in our fingers. Having said that, it will prevent sucking dust from the floor especially carpets with pillow or pet furs laying around.

8. Nice plastic filter for the bottom air intake fan and PSU - Since the power supply is mounted on the bottom, it gives some weight to the case for stability. The dust filter can easily be washed. I hope in future Fractal Design builts incorproate this method for their roof and front dust filter - easy to remove and clean (with vacuum or water - preferrable) is what most users want! This filter has kept the finest fur dust out from my case - a big thumbs up.

9. Nice color design (white and black) - Purely white or purely black is kinda plain. Matches with NZXT Fan White/Black which also uses this color scheme

Cons: 1. Very Heavy - This steel case with side panels on is 10 kg, which is much more heavier than my old rig which includes the essential components that is PSU, CPU, Motherboard, 2 RAM Sticks and 1 Hard Drive. When this Fractal Arc Midi is loaded with the essential components listed above, its around 14KG! As heavy as my old CRT Monitor (The big box type). Moving it from my workstation to another workstation in a different floor is painfully difficult. Females would have a hard time moving this around where trolley isn't accessible.

2. Difficult Removable Hard Disk Trays - This case consists of removable Hard Disk cage, which I have removed for better air flow. Since I'm adding and removing my SSD and Hard Drives, I noticed that its very difficult to remove those trays! For SSD, I have to use some strength but alot more strength for HDD. The steel tray made some scratches on the Hard Disk Cage since I had to use lots of force to pull it out but a bit strength used to placing it in back. I have tried other cases hard disk tray and it was fairly easy to pull in and pull out.

3. Difficult to clean filters - I have tried mounting fans on many areas, moving all 3 x 140mm fan to the top as air intake fans to create a super positive airflow vs 1 x 140mm exhaust with 2 x 140mm intake. After using for 1 week, I can see a white fine patch of circle dust around the area of the intake fan. Blowing the dust out was super difficult, so I decided to wash with water. This is done for the top dust filter. It was super clean but the problem is drying it out. The top The dust foam is locked in between the aluminium honey comb mesh and the plastic bay. The dust foam can only be removed if you remove the honey comb mesh! I decided to remove the honeycomb mesh and able to remove the dust foam to dry it out quickly. Putting the honeycomb mesh back in place was a little difficult but this requires rebending the side pins which in return made the black paint came out of it. This might make it rust if its not truly aluminium.

4. Screw Design - This case uses tons of screws! I removed most of the screws and I couldn't count it no more. One of the technician who installed the components for me dropped some the screw and lost it... Best to make it at least 80% screwless (in other words, tooless design case) for the essential component parts where users usually interact, for instance the hard disk cage and the fans. Might want to apply Noctua NH-D14 type of rubber stands that allows user to fit fan while reducing the vibration of the fan when loaded. I had to keep a Philip head screw driver with me on my desk just to handle this scenarios.

5. Rubber Gourmet - Very hard and not as flexible as it seems. Difficult when pulling through power supply cables through them, especially NON-modular PSU. A temporary fix to this was to reroute the extra cables from the side hollow panel (without going through the rubber gourmet)

6. Very hard to remove and put back side panel

Other Thoughts: I bought this based on the reviews on Newegg Video and a little of my checking at my local store where it has this Fractal Arc Midi. One lesson I learnt is to never just purely based on people reviews as they might not have tested it thoroughly (and this includes loading up the empty case with components and testing it the cooling of the rig + noise level + portability/weight + easy maintenance to dust filters etc)

There are a number of ways to improve this case but keep the rest intact.

1) Reduce the case weight - Since steel makes this case so heavy, use a mix of plastic or carbon fiber material to have it below 5-7KG. The material should be able to absorb noise and vibration from moving parts within the case especially the fans. When its loaded up with the components, it should reach around 10 KG. The lighter the better for portability (best for LAN PARTY) but don't over compromised the stability and durability. The HDD Cage tray should use plastic to reduce weight as well. There is a reason why other notable companies that produces their case using plastic is due to this reason and also reduces the cost of the rig, below $100 USD to make it affordable for many customers who wants a bigger space inside their case to fit large air heatsinks and long graphic card.

2) Removable Filters and Honeycomb Mesh - Have it tooless, no need for screws. The front dust filter fan clip was very difficult to remove. Have it so that it just slide in place and automatically lock and press a button to remove the secure lock. Check how DELL applies this locking concept to your case. DELL IPS Monitor U2312HM/U2412HM 24 inch uses this locking concept to hinge the monitor to their steel stand frame, easy to remove and install! This can same applies for fan mounting to create a tooless design. Each honeycomb mesh must be easily removable just like a snap (within 5 seconds at most). Some users who does modding will cut out the honey comb grill at the rear for better air exhaust from their heat sink. In my opinion, have it removable. Maybe the grill by default is locked with screws but can be removed without cutting/damaging it.

3) Removable plastic front panels - The front panel should not need the additional steel protection in front, just make it hollow and have the front plastic cover to cover the hole. If you check other cases here (the ones around $100 USD), they have it easily removable and can clip it on back whenever you removed your CD/DVD-RW Optical Hard Drives.

4) The side panel is very difficult to put back into place. Most of the time, I have to place my case flat on its side to mount back the side panel. Check Newegg's Review on NZXT Phantom 410 side panel design where Joanne (Newegg Staff) review it. She is really happy on how its design and how easy to remove the side panel!

5) Might want to consider to have the hard disk tray removable from the back of the case instead of front just how NZXT 410 does it. Its very practical, only remo

Pros: This is the case I have been looking for for some time now. Full ATX case that has the ability to fit anything you want in it. Air filter help tremendously to keep dust out of the case and PSU. Craftsmanship is superb.

Cons: Bottom HD bays has one screw that is slightly to long if a HardDrive is installed in the top slot. I just took pliers and clipped it off and now it works fine. The fans that are included are pretty low quality but so far I have not had any issues.

Other Thoughts: USB and Power button is located in convenient spot if PC is located on ground or below eye level.

Pros: Great case for the money, TONS of room and TONS of features

Cons: Arrived missing the Motherboard standoffs. Its not that hard to count to nine. Eggs off for that.

Very poor quality control and basic mathematics from the manufacture.

Pros: - Sleek black design
- Love the front panel ports
- 3 case fans with adjustable speeds
- Good cable management, coming from a first time builder
- Removable dust filter on the bottom for your PSU
- Lots of HDD bays with brackets, fit my SSD well

Cons: - Does not come with many instructions/identifications on what everything is
- Slightly unfriendly for a new builder like me
- A few times I was confused about what certain things were for(Internet helped me)

Pros: Solid, and great design.

Cons: Top Exhaust fan was DOA.

Other Thoughts: Case is great, but I'm bummed out that my top exhaust fan was DOA, since another reason i bought this case was to take advantage of the fans it came with.

Pros: - Beautiful case
- lots of room

Cons: - Power button connector wire was completely missing
- Rear fan rattled
- thumb screws were so tight some of the scrwews were stripped.

Other Thoughts: Put the whole computer together only to find the power button had no connector. Waste of time.
The last thing i expected to go wrong with my build.