Fractal Arc Midi H100 system rebuild

MOOGLEYS · 27 Jan 2012 at 23:30

I have just rebuilt my system from a coolermaster 430 to a Fractal Design Arc Mid and added a H100 cooler as well. The difference in quality between the cases is phenominal. The Arc is a stunning case with plenty of room to work and hide cables. Here are a few pics of the rebuild.

Final build the H100 is making a horrid grinding noise it looks like it will go back. Removed hard drive cage mounts.

Testing the H100 with 4 Arctic F12 PWM fans. I have now connected all the fans using the motherboard header and an akasa PWM splitter as it gave much better results

Old to new, case size difference.

Bits to install

Starting to strip down the Elite 430

The H100 was simple to fit into the Arc there is so much room.

Thanks for looking

MOOGLEYS · 28 Jan 2012 at 13:28

I have just removed the top and bottom hard drive cage mounts. Fractal even include a small right angled screwdriver so you can do this.

MOOGLEYS · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:08

SouthEastBlue said:
Very nice. What are those fans like by the way? Need some new ones for my case project and seen them for fairly cheap.

The 4 on the H100 are Arctic F12 PWM fans and they are suprisingly good for under £4 each significantly better than the stock H100 fans. At full load they are quite loud so you would wan't some kind of control on them.

MOOGLEYS · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:10

Top work, how heavy is that case?
My Define XL weighs in at approx 30Kg fully laden.

The case is very heavy loaded up even empty it is a fair weight. Fractal have used fairly thick steel in the Arc.

MOOGLEYS · 30 Jan 2012 at 16:28

Gangster said:
nice build. how are the side panels? I had a fractal r2 and the side panels were really flimsy just wondering if they have sorted that out?

The side panels are really solid even with the grill cut into one. The whole case is really solid and weighs a ton...

MOOGLEYS · 7 Feb 2012 at 12:50

Apem said:
Moog can you tell me the fan options for the case m8 please as in 140mm and 120mm and what position they will fit cheers m8.

All here mate would take me ages to list them all...

Fractal Arc Mid

How is the H100 Corsair kit and is it possible to fit a single rad in the front of the case (Above the HDD Cage)

The H100 is a lot better than I thought it would be tbh. I built a pc using a XPSC RASA 240 kit and it was only marginally better at cooling a 4.5ghz 2500k. Only downside is you cannot upgrade or add to it but for what it does it's very good.

I imagine you could get a 120mm rad in the front and if you removed all the cages a 240 should fit. I imagine with a few mods you could get a 360 in the roof and 240 in the front..

MOOGLEYS · 7 Feb 2012 at 12:50

Abz Hussain said:
This really is the best Mid Tower case out there for me. The 600T is too big to be a midi tower IMHO, but this one is just right for me. Nice build mate.

Thanks it is a superb case, Highly recommended from me...

MOOGLEYS · 10 Feb 2012 at 15:16

flame696 said:
hey is you push/pull pulling air from outside and pushing it into the case or pulling air from inside and pushing it out through the top?

the reason i ask i'm using the first option and my GTX 580 gets very toasty. how are your temps?

Mine is blowing out of the case. the temps are very good under 70.c @ 4.8ghz...