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Fractal ARC MINI R2 Computer Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by leeghoofd @ 2014-04-02

Swedish case manufacturer Fractal Design, know for its stylish, high quality, yet affordable cases surprised friend and foe at the last CeBIT 2014 Messe. Their latest creation the Node 804, again a stunning looking and no frills design, might be one of the hot selling case products once it will hit the retail shelves; however till then we have to be happy with the current line up and review some of their more common looking enclosures. Today we review the micro ITX/ATX compatible ARC Mini R2, a mini sized tower case with tremendous storage and cooling capacity.

The Build, Temperature and Noise Results

For the test setup we have to thank Tones for supplying us with the Intel i7-4770K CPU. The installed hardware was comprised of following parts:

Intel i7-4770K cooled by boxed cooler/ H100i for picture set
ASUS MAXIMUS GENE VI mATX mobo
16GB of CORSAIR 2400C10 memory
ASUS AMD 7970HD videocard
1 x Western Digital Green Caviar 1TB HDD
1 x ADATA 240GB XS900 SSD
CORSAIR AX 1200i PSU

Even though this is a midi case it is true childs' play to obtain a clean and sleek looking gaming machine. In the pictures we opted to include the Corsair Hydro H100i as it perfectly blends in with the rest of the hardware.

The installation of the Corsair Hydro100i and even the 280mm Hydro H110 didn't pose any problem. For a 360 radiator, one requires the removal of the Optical Drive cage; a great touch by the Fractal design team: no drilling, nor dremelling required, just unscrewing. With the top HDD cage installed our ASUS 7970HD got a few mm to spare. Removal of the same cage, increases the graphics card compatibility up to a massive 400mm.

Due to the numerous and well positioned cutouts routing all the power, audio and USB cables is a breeze. Too bad the space behind the motherboard tray is a bit too limited for the thick cables from the CORSAIR PSU.

Temperature testing time, take note these were obtained by using the Intel boxed cooler for comparison reasons, thus not with the Corsair Hydro unit in the above pictures!
Looking at the below results we spot that the Fractal ARC Mini R2 can be competitive with a Midi tower case alike the Corsair C70 Vengeance, not a bad showing at all. Of course this is the result of an optimized airflow aided by the three included Silent R2 Fans. A slightly larger interior versus the Cube versions we have previously tested: the Corsair 250D and the Aerocool DS Cube, allows the Fractal ARC mini R2 to be a splendid cooling case sporting great looks, good hardware compatibility and massive storage possibilities.

Noise wise the included Fractal Silent Series R2 Fans do their job as mentioned on paper, being close to silent at the 12V setting and becoming totally inaudible when ran at 7 Volt or lower. Time to wrap it up...

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