There are plenty of options for installing 2.5" and 3.5” drives. There are two hard drive cages. The top one houses up to five disks, while the lower cage holds as many as three. They're attached via rails with a white finish that can be screwed on from the bottom. Larger 3.5” storage devices benefit from grommets that isolate vibration, while 2.5" drives sit directly on the rails. Fractal Design correctly assumes that most 3.5" devices are mechanical, while 2.5" drives are typically SSDs.
Both hard drive cages can be removed. There's a good chance that you don't need more than three bays, so you'd typically want to take the top cage out for improved airflow or more space to install graphics cards (you get 430 mm instead of 300 mm). If you're planning to drop in a radiator behind the case's front panel, you'll want to move the bottom cage next to the power supply and use the bottom fan's cut-out.
The top hard drive cage is held in place by two thumb screws, so that's easy enough. Removing the bottom one will probably prove more challenging for you. First, four small screws on the bottom of the case need to be dealt with. Then, the chassis' front cover has to be taken off, exposing two more screws attaching a bracket to the front of the case, which is also attached to the hard drive cage’s frame.
This bracket needs to be detached from the hard drive cage before moving the cage to the middle of the case. Unfasten the four screws holding the plastic rails to the hard drive cage. Then you're able to get at the two screws keeping the bracket in place. The process is a bit more complicated than it probably should be, but at least the cages are held into place securely.
There’s another option if you're willing to use a couple of SSDs and really want to maximize airflow. Simply remove both hard drive cages and attach a pair of 2.5" drives to the back of the motherboard tray, out of sight. It can get pretty hot back there, so you'll want to stick with solid-state storage, rather than notebook drives.
The screw holes for the lower drive are only accessible before the power supply is installed, and the ones for the upper drive sit below the motherboard. Consequently, install your SSDs first. If you're only dropping one drive back there, the lower position is better thermally, since it's farther away from the back of the CPU interface. We used the top one for our temperature benchmarks as a worst-case scenario, though.
It's very nice to have the option to hide storage behind the motherboard tray, simultaneously freeing up the hard drive trays for removal. So long as you remember not to use angled SATA cables, this is a really clean look.
- Fractal Design's Arc Midi R2 ATX Case Review
- The Arc Midi R2's Technical Specifications
- The Arc Midi R2's Exterior
- Air Cooling, Dusty Protection, And Liquid Cooling
- Power Supply Installation And Cable Management
- Installing Optical Drives
- Installing Storage: Hard Drives And SSDs
- Motherboard And Add-In Card Installation
- Test Setup And Hardware Configuration
- Results: Fan Speeds, Temperatures, And Noise
- Addressing An Issue With Vibration
- Sizing Up Fractal Design's Arc Midi R2








Some Notes and Recommendations about Replacing the Fans
Let's say everything else about the Arc Midi R2 is ideal for you, and you simply want to replace its fans.
-Bruce
As for keeping the GPU cool, I don't that is an issue with 2 the fans in the front creating perfectly adequate airflow to keep the GPU cool unless you are using multiple GPUs. Although in time I would probably mod the window and inserting an extra fan there as that isn't a hard job to do.
Heat Sources: i5-3570K @ 4.4 GHz, Hyper 212 EVO, EVGA GTX 560Ti @ 900 MHz, 3 WD Cavier Black HD
With Define R4's often available for roughly $85 (on sale) and Arc Midi 2's typically about $65 online, I find the $20 additional cost for the sound-proofing included in the Define R4 models a very worthwhile investment.
Does your GPU have its fan at one end of the card and exhaust directly outside through the rear bracket? If it does, the reason you see lower GPU temps is likely that the slightly more positive (or slightly less negative) pressure in the case from going solid makes the GPU's HSF a little more efficient at shoving warm air out of the case. Cards with "mid-mount" fans may also benefit from this due to slightly increased vertical airflow between the GPU's top edge and case panel carrying warm air up through the case faster.
That is what I like to call structured airflow. Placing fans in the most effective places and shutting off meshed areas that allow air to escape without contributing to net cooling can achieve superior results with much less meshed area and fewer fans.
-Bruce
Side fans don't always help GPU temps, they can even hurt temps in some cases by interfering with the airflow from the GPU fan. It really depends on the case and GPU (and whether or not the front intakes do anything for the GPU), but saying categorically that having an intake there will improve GPU temps is certainly not true.
As for keeping the GPU cool, I don't that is an issue with 2 the fans in the front creating perfectly adequate airflow to keep the GPU cool unless you are using multiple GPUs. Although in time I would probably mod the window and inserting an extra fan there as that isn't a hard job to do.
in an idealist situation, the top panel fans should indeed be exhaust, but there are people in the rare occasion who want to focus on CPU cooling rather than the rest of the build, this generally calls for Watercooling with top intakes instead of top exhales. There's a moderately large temperature change when alternating the fans directions, the negative impact would be directly adding dust into your system, which can be cured by a decent air filter and regular maintenance.
Otherwise I very much like the case.
-Bruce
I did have a defective release clip for the front fan filter and an email to Fractal Designs support was answered right away and they sent me a replacement free of charge.
Very happy to see the thumbscrews on the 5.25 bays. Most snap locks now still have some give when you hit the eject button on a DVD drive. I don't like that so you still have to use screws anyway. Easy thumbscrews gets major points from me.
I did have a defective release clip for the front fan filter and an email to Fractal Designs support was answered right away and they sent me a replacement free of charge.
Yes, except the define cases still have a fan grill on the side walls. I mean a completely solid side wall, no mesh, no grill, for extra quiet.
Windowed models have no side-fan opening, and they are almost just as quiet as their standard brethren.