Gadgetory

alright guys we have a very minimalistic and simple looking case from fractal design here's the Ark MIDI tower the company specializes in cooling power supplies and chassis so designing practical cases should not be a foreign territory the case is priced around $100 and should be available now the chassis is deceivingly small and at first raise some concerns with its specifications but they had us fooled and how spacious it really is on the inside and we finally have a wide enough enclosure that can support high CPU coolers without compromising precious space from all the cable management at the back so let's take a look the case is made of steel with aluminum looking front panel that is actually plastic giving the impression of high-quality brushed aluminum without paying the premium and another plastic top panel that blends in really well with the steel side panels the buttons are located on the top to keep the front panel clean with the power and reset buttons your audio to regular USB ports and one USB 3 ports which connects to an internal 20-pin cable and the adapter is not included leaving it useless for non-supported motherboards and the front panel has 2 v in the quarter inch optical base with included 3.5 inch adapter with complementary bay cover but the main focus here is on the airflow the panel has a built in dust filter supports two 140 mm fans with one already included and are secured using fan Clips instead of screws to ease out on the assembly the fan blades are white which fits in really well with the other white accents on the inside and they are also braided in black which we really like two comma flash all the cables now the top panel is also removable with a built-in dust filter and this is where the arc really stands out from the rest similar sized enclosures the top panel can house 320 or 140 millimeter fans or 180 plus either 120 or 140 mm in a fan this means the dual rod can be installed for internal water cooling and clearance is not an issue for the fans closest to the front even with the top optical drive in place and more ventilation can be added by the side panel with marketing for an optional 180 or 140 million fan movie on we have our usual placement for the back with water cooling holes an exhaust fan io area 7 PCI slots and additional vertical one for mounting accessories and the bottom mounted power supply with a removable dual dust filter the chassis is also elevated by case feet with vibration absorbance and is very stable checking the inside we have a fairly small CPU cutout with rubber grommets around the motherboard tray the power supply is raised for anything from the bottom and the back wall is covered in any vibration surface to prevent unnecessary noise and all the PCI slots are in white and the case is equipped with two extra 140 million fans moving on the optical drives must be secured with screws so no tool is mounting here and below that are the two harddrive cages with built-in SSD support the top hard drive cage is removable just with two thumb screws this allows installation of longer video cards and direct the airflow for the internals you can also rotate the cage for more direct airflow over your hard drives all the dry brackets are secured with thumb screws for reassurance and the bracket has anti-vibration grommets for your 3.5 inch drives which you have to install using provided screws and the bracket also supports 2.5 inch drives now the white accents on the drive brackets the fans and the PCI covers is sort of a company staple and this helps to break up the black theme on the inside and adds a touch of character to the arc at the back we have some cable tie mountings and one inch of space between the motherboard tray and the panel which is plenty of room for all your cable management needs and we have not yet seen this much room on such a small enclosure now we didn't run into a small hiccup when installing our drive onto the top slot of the bottom cage now this is because the screws that hold the mounting system for the top hard drive cage did not allow clearance for the drive underneath now this is a quick fix if the top cage is removed as part of the accessories an angled wrench is included and this removes the cage rails from both top and the bottom but of course in case the user needs all the available drive space it won't have clearance unless user modified and the chassis also supports an optional 120 or 140 Milner fan for the bottom intake and power supply is up to 170 millimeters will still have clearance as part of the accessories fractal design includes a PCI fan controller which you can mount on the vertical PCI slot at the back the controller supports three fans with included fan cable extensions which are unfortunately not braided and finally with the system installed it is quite amazing and how well it handles with cable management rubber grommets are of high quality and they are large enough to pass all the needed cables and GPU support with cage removed is 470 millimeters which is 18.5 inches plenty of room for any high end graphics card and with the cage installed carton lengths of 290 millimeters will be supported and that is eleven point five inches and obviously not forgetting the CPU cutout it won't be useful for all motherboards because it doesn't support high CPU placement keys manufacturers must expend the cat out to the top just to cover a larger spectrum of different motherboards and to summarize the arc is quite impressive in almost all the fields the elegant and simple design really holds its own with the aluminum looking front panel and module hard drive cage possibilities for extremely long graphics cards or just take advantage of a more direct airflow and the cooling for the arc is a big plus with many mounting options on the top panel and generally all around the chassis with dust filters to keep the system clean with cable management that cleans up nicely with minimal effort and the best part of the arc tower is its value bringing in at around $100 the arc stands along one of the best cases at this price range despite its small size and the plastic parts the case feels very solid they've managed to cut down on expensive materials without compromising on the overall quality but there is room for improvement and we hope track design is listening the CPU cutout is too small and won't allow an easy cooler swap as if promises and the USB 3 to USB 2 adapter is not included which we believe should become available if the cases USB 3 ready and the side panel doesn't have a dust filter which consumers have started to ask for as additional cooling for your GPU is becoming very attractive the arc MIDI tower receives the hardware conducts damn good value worth as it promises to deliver exceptional cooling and Hardware possibilities similarly seen on more expensive cases and that is it for this one hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you in the next one