Introduction

For some reason, I will never understand why I actually enjoyed the film “The Fast and The Furious”. I mean, sure, you could chalk it up to the fact that I will watch anything with Michelle Rodriguez (even reality TV…..well, OK…maybe not anything…..), but I actually enjoyed the rest of it. I grew up a gearhead with GM as my weapon of choice. 302, 327 and 350 Chevy small blocks to be more precise, and I didn’t have the vaguest interest in rice burners adorned with yellow stickers and Street Glow. So, maybe that’s part of the attraction, Dom pulling the GTO out of the garage, blower sticking through the hood like a Toyota seeking missile launcher. Or maybe it was just Michelle Rodriguez….I dunno.

There is something to be said about Dom pulling out that GTO to battle the Supra. You probably couldn’t find two cars more different if you tried, but both were made to do exactly the same thing. The Supra wasn’t just about the go, it had the loud paint, lawnmower exhaust (apparently to make SUVs aware it was there and not to run it over) and a laptop controlling the timing, air mixture, etc. The GTO was big, rough and the only thing a laptop would do for it was Googling what size wrench to use on the valve covers. Two cars, two totally different approaches, one purpose served equally by both. Me…I’d take the GTO, especially if you included Michelle Rodriguez in the passenger seat.

The Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower is the upper end mid-tower in the company’s second generation of cases to hit the US market. While the Arc Midi Tower has a distinctly different aim than its predecessors, it retains all of Fractal Design’s signature high points. The Arc Midi is Fractal’s signature black powder finish, with faux black brushed steel on the nose and white internal component hardware and fan blades. Styling is understated with no flashing lights, and makes for a very elegant presentation. As the name suggests, the Arc Midi is a mid-tower, comfortably fitting a full sized ATX, micro-ATX of mini-ITX motherboard. Two HDD bays can house up to eight hard drives, with the upper bay being removable and rotatable to suit your system configuration. Two 5.25” optical drive bays sit at the top, and a 3.5” adapter is included. There are three 140mm low noise fans installed in the Arc Midi out of the box, one for intake in the front and one each, rear and top, for exhaust. If this is not enough airflow, or if you have specific tweaks in mind, the Arc Midi can be expanded with 140mm fans in the side panel, bottom and front, as well as additional 140mm and 120mm for top exhaust. The top exhaust mounting is also capable of 240mm radiators up to 60mm thick, if liquid cooling is your choice. Front I/O features audio, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0.