Fractal Design Arc XL Full Tower Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 11 years ago

Final Thoughts

Price

£100 / $130 is no small investment, but you do get a lot in return for your money. Fractal Design have always been known for rock solid build quality and a flawless finish both inside and out of the chassis products, the Arc XL is no exception to this and while you may be paying a premium, you get a premium grade product in return.

Overview

The Fractal Design Arc XL is one of the greatest chassis on the market, but not in the way you might expect. There is nothing about this case that makes me go “wow”, it’s all pretty standard stuff and there is little to nothing in the way of innovation. However, it’s still one of the greatest chassis Fractal Design have ever made and still one of the best options for a high-end system build. The fact is, most Fractal Design cases are quite similar and the Arc XL is just the bigger brother of the Arc Mini R2 we reviewed a couple of months ago. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the R2, it’s awesome and it has everything you could want in an mATX chassis, which is why it won our editors choice award. The Arc XL looks just like it, only it supports much larger motherboard and generally more of everything.

Fractal Design may have a somewhat uniform design to their products, but since they all look stunning I’ll let them off. The make the Arc XL look so bold and clean, yet still manage to be a little understated is no easy task, you often find expensive and big cases like this are overbearing and loud in terms of design, but the Arc XL isn’t and it looks and feel more mature for it. We don’t all want beaming LED lit front panels and cooling fins on the top, and because of its tidy design the Arc XL would look just at home as a high-end water-cooled gaming rig as it would a profession use system in someone’s office.

It’s very easy to work with despite its size, all the components have been beautifully finished and everything fits with precision that makes installing and un-installing components a joy. The ample cable routing options and extra elbow room on the inside means even beginners should have no trouble getting great results and a clean-looking build. Full removable and modular hard drive bays are a welcome bonus too and while I doubt you’ll need to make room for even the biggest GPU’s on the market, I like having the option to have front mounted water cooling and using the 2 x 2.5″ drive bays that are hidden behind the motherboard.

Air cooling option are very good on this case, with room for 2 x 120/140mm fans on the front, 1 x 120/140mm in the bottom, 1 x 120/140mm in the back and 3 x 120 / 140mm in the top, backed up by a full array of easily accessible air filters. Water cooling users will love it even more, especially those wanting to install a custom loop as there is loads of space for installing pumps, thick radiators and reservoirs.

Pros

Loads of space for high-end components and system
Great air/water cooling capabilities
Large air filters on all intakes
Modular storage bays / 2.5″ stealth mounts
Great cable management options
Support for XL-ATX motherboards
Tough build quality
Built in fan controller

Cons

Lacks innovation

“There is a lot to love about the Fractal Design Arc XL, it packs everything you could need for a high-end system build and it does it all incredibly well. It’s not the cheapest solution on the market, but it’s worth every penny.”