Fractal Design R2 and the Xigmatek Midgard?

Gundog48 · 2 Oct 2010 at 16:58

There is something going on here! I have a Midgard that I got to review and I happened to stumble across an overview video of the Fractal Design R2. They are almost identical. Same motherboard tray, HDD mounting, bottom fan holder, bottom dust filter, fan controller, poor quality side panel etc...

See for yourself, watch an overview video of the Midgard and then the R2, they are almost identical apart from a few bits and the bezel of course.

What do you think is going on here? Are they either made to the companies specifications and they just buy them direct from a chineese factory? Do they use the same factory to make both but with different designs, but the factory uses stock parts?

nightmare99 · 2 Oct 2010 at 17:45

Are they even made to the companies specifications and they just buy them direct from a chineese factory? Do they use the same factory to make both but with different designs, but the factory uses stock parts?

Yes thats right it is very common, Xigmatek and Fractal are not going to have thier own case factories and on the cases you mentioned are probably using the same oem manufacturer. You will notice a lot of low and mid range cases are actually based on the same designs as the factories provide a base case and the compaines buying them will be able to make certain customizations.

Moeks · 2 Oct 2010 at 19:14

They are certainly similar on the inside, but then so are a lot of cases. I don't know about the Midgard but the FD R2 doesn't have a poor quality side panel, it's pretty decent quality all in all.

The bezels are totally different and the Midgard has all that orange plastic tooless stuff in it. Over all the Fractal Design case strikes me as being rather better than the Xigmatek ...even if the metal chassis is the same.

Gundog48 · 2 Oct 2010 at 21:28

Moeks said:
They are certainly similar on the inside, but then so are a lot of cases. I don't know about the Midgard but the FD R2 doesn't have a poor quality side panel, it's pretty decent quality all in all.

The bezels are totally different and the Midgard has all that orange plastic tooless stuff in it. Over all the Fractal Design case strikes me as being rather better than the Xigmatek ...even if the metal chassis is the same.

The bezels and design are a lot better on the Fractal, but the similarities really stood out. What I meant from the quality of the side panel was that judging by the videos, they both seem to get stuck when removing them.

Gary* · 2 Oct 2010 at 22:10

Gundog48 said:
poor quality side panel etc...

My side panel is fine ...

Gundog48 · 4 Oct 2010 at 01:41

Gary* said:
My side panel is fine ...

There seems to be a common fault in both cases where the side panel gets stuck when opening it and you really have to yank it. It is present in the xigmatek cases and most of the videos I have seen, although a lot are fine.

BTW,I'm not knocking the case, I think it looks fantastic! Funny how I can like the HAF and this! I would love to see a full 2-3mm aluminium version of that case with mountings for a triple rad, that would actually be the best case ever!

Off topic, how are the fractal fans for cooling, I know they are silent, but do you think they move enough air as I am planning on getting some.