Inside The Storm Enforcer
A standard seven-slot panel supports full-ATX motherboards, but lacks the added space to mount a double-slot graphics card in the motherboard’s bottom slot, which some motherboards require for three-way graphics configurations. An eighth slot is available from Cooler Master's submission, but as you can see, it's set off to the side exclusively for use with port breakout plates or external cable hangers.
A Call To Large Cards
We mentioned that the Storm Enforcer isn’t designed for double-slot graphics cards plugged in to a motherboard’s bottom slot, inhibiting compatibility with three-way graphics arrays on some motherboards. Cooler Master appears to instead target extra-long dual-GPU cards by making its center drive cage removable. After all, a pair of dual-GPU cards yield four-way CrossFire or SLI.
Sacrificing four 3.5” drive bays allows cards up to 16.6” to be used in all slots. A pair of 2.5” drives can be installed in a smaller cage next to the two remaining 3.5” bays.
Behind The Storm Enforcer
The Storm Enforcer provides three holes above its 120 mm exhaust fan with protective grommets to support external liquid coolers and pass-through cables.
Storm Enforcer Cable Management
Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer does not have internal grommets to hide the points where cables pass through, but does have rolled edges on all of its cable access holes. There’s barely enough space behind the motherboard tray to stuff the main ATX power cable, and the CPU back-plate access hole is just big enough to support CPU cooler installations on most motherboards.
Storm Enforcer Dust Control
A sheet of dust-reducing mesh covers the Storm Enforcer’s power supply intake, which is important since power supplies are the hardest part to clean. Access to this filter requires flipping the case on its side and sliding several tabs out of place.
Storm Enforcer Intake
A quiet giant, the Storm Enforcer’s 200 mm intake fan uses blood-red LEDs to give the front panel a soft glow. We think its good that this isn’t very bright, since we didn’t find any way to disable the lighting effect.
Non-removable front-panel mesh provides a modicum of dust control.
Storm Enforcer Top Panel
Designed to hold a second 200 mm fan, separate mounting holes on the Storm Enforcer’s top panel also allow a dual 120 mm-fan radiator to also be installed. Only 1.6” of space exists above the motherboard, however, so a standard 2” radiator and fan stack could only be used on motherboards that have at least 0.4” of clearance between the top edge and tall components (such as PWM sinks and memory slots).
Fractal Design’s Arc Midi
Though its nearly-monolithic design makes Fractal Design’s Arc Midi appear small, it’s actually 0.3” wider than Cooler Master’s Storm Enforcer. The Arc Midi is, however, 0.3” shorter than that competing model, with two fewer external bays making room for two more internal bays.
Arc Midi Ports
The Arc Midi’s front-panel ports are located on the case’s top edge, facing straight up to allow easy access for users who place their case on the floor. Alternatively, this design prevents easy port access for users who prefer to keep their PCs on a desk. We also find the number of ports to be a little strange, with a double-row USB 3.0 internal connector feeding a single USB 3.0 port.
Inside The Arc Midi
Chief among the Arc Midi’s features are its pair of four-drive hard drive cages, which are designed to fit both 3.5” and 2.5” drives. Motherboard and graphics configurations are far more limited, since there isn’t enough space beneath the seven-slot panel to properly support a double graphics card in the motherboard’s bottom slot. An eighth slot to the side is meant to hold port breakout plates or an included slot-mounted fan controller.
Removing the center drive cage opens the case for cards up to 17.8” long, but only in slots two, three, and four. That’s only good enough for one dual-GPU graphics card, and even that pairing requires a typical motherboard layout with primary graphics in slot position two or three.
