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Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 Case Review: For Your MicroATX Build
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1. Introducing The Fractal Design Arc Mini R2

Our German team recently reviewed Fractal Design's Arc Midi R2 and Arc XL cases, finding them to be solid offerings at their respective price points. Their main critique was of the stock cooling fans.

The Swedish company is now offering a mini-tower version of its Arc cases, built to accommodate microATX motherboards. Despite more compact dimensions, though, it's supposed to offer similar features as the larger versions. This includes modular hard drive cages, an integrated fan controller, spaces for SSDs to be installed on the back of the motherboard tray, and different options for mounting radiators and compact water coolers.

So, does the company make any compromises in the process of introducing its $100 Arc Mini R2?

Packaging and Accessories

As we've come to expect, the Arc Mini R2 ships in a no-frills cardboard box sporting schematic drawings.

Also as expected, the case’s accessories can be found in their own box with a list of their descriptions and a quantity for each printed on it. There are some cable ties, a number of black screws for installing various components in the case, and the motherboard spacers, which are the only pieces that aren’t black. Noticeably absent is a piezo speaker.

Technical Specifications and Control Panel

ManufacturerFractal Design
Model
Arc Mini R2
TypeMini-tower
Dimensions (HxWxD)40.5 x 21 x 48.4 cm
WeightApproximately 9 kg
MaterialSteel
Plastic (Front and top covers)
Form FactorMicroATX, Mini-ITX
Drive Bays2 x 5.25" (External)
6 x 3.5" or 2.5" (Internal)
2 x 2.5" (Internal, back of motherboard tray for SSDs)
PCI Slots
Four

3-Level Fan Controller (12 V, 7 V, 5 V) for 3 Fans
Fans
Three-level fan controller (12, 7, and 5 V) for three fans
Front: 2 x 12 cm
Included: 2 x 12 cm (1200 RPM, blue lighting)
Top: 2 x 12/14 cm
Included: 1 x 14 cm (1000 RPM)
Rear: 1 x 12 cm
Included: 1 x 12 cm (1200 RPM)
Optional Water CoolingFront: 24 cm Radiator
Top: 24/36 cm Radiator
Rear: 12 cm Radiator
Bottom: 12 cm Radiator
CPU Cooler
Up to 16.5 cm
Graphics Card
Up to 28.5/42.5 cm (Both hard drive cages need to be removed for cards longer than 28.5 cm)
Power SupplyUp to 29/43 cm, including protruding cables (With/without bottom hard drive cage)
Cable Management
Up to 1.9 cm
PriceApproximately $100 (Street price, model with side window)
Approximately $110 (Street price, model without side window)

Compared to the two larger models in Fractal Design's Arc family, the front control panel loses two USB 2.0 connectors, leaving a pair of the more modern USB 3.0 ports. There are also HD Audio connectors, a power and (tiny) reset button, and a three-level fan controller that allows the fans to run at 12, 7, or 5 V.

2. First Impressions And 360° Picture Gallery

The Arc Mini R2 does offer some of the larger models' most important features. To begin, it's built solidly, offering resistance against bending one way or the other. It also feels great to the touch, and its front cover sports a nice brushed aluminum-inspired look that contributes nicely to the case's simple and elegant design. There are integrated mesh pieces that provide good airflow, too. Overall, you get a nice chunk of equally solid steel and plastic.

Just like the Arc Midi R2 (Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Review: Improving On A Classic Case), the Arc Mini R2 has a vertical expansion slot on the back that can be used for accessories like an additional PCI card-format cooler. That feature wasn't available from the Arc XL.

3. Cooling And Dust Protection

Air Cooling and Dust Protection

Dust filter effectiveness has always been one of Fractal Design's strengths, and the Arc Mini R2 benefits from the company's experience. It employs a tried-and-true approach in that the front filter is held by a latch mechanism on either side, which is released and snapped back in by pushing on it. There's a 12-cm fan (FD-FAN-SSR2-120) right behind it, with space for a second one immediately underneath.

We also find a familiar sight at the bottom of Fractal Design's Arc Mini R2. A long dust filter that can be pulled out the back covers the openings for the power supply, and an optional fan can be installed on the middle of the case's floor.

The top cover is held in place by two thumb screws, just like we’re used to from the larger Arc cases. There’s a dense filter protecting a 14-cm fan (FD-FAN-SSR2-140), found inside. A second fan of the same size can be installed without blocking the top 5.25-inch drive bay.

Around back, another 12-cm fan rounds out the Arc Mini R2’s stock thermal setup.

The integrated fan controller provides 12, 7, or 5 V to the fans. As a result, the large FD-FAN-SSR2-140 runs at 1000, 700, or 500 RPM, and the smaller FD-FAN-SSR2-120 spins at 1200, 800, or 600 RPM.

Water Cooling

Small 12-cm radiators can be installed in place of the rear case fan, or at the bottom of the case if you use a sufficiently short PSU.

The top and front of the case host more interesting options for water cooling. Under the enclosure's top, space for a radiator installation is well thought out. Screw holes for the radiator are located at the outer edge of the case to avoid collisions with any tall parts of the motherboard.

Consequently, 24-cm radiators should fit without any problems. Thirty-six centimeter radiators only fit after removing the 5.25-inch drive cage, which can be achieved by unscrewing it. Push/pull configurations aren’t possible due to the top cover being too close. The fans have to go below the radiator.

There’s enough space for a 24-cm radiator in the front of the case once you remove its hard drive cages. To accommodate radiators that are more than 27.2 cm in length, the 5.25-inch drive cage needs to be unscrewed and removed as well.

We actually recommend radiators with a length of 3 to 4 mm less than the 27.2 cm maximum, since an exact fit varies by model and how far it extends beyond the screw holes.

As word of warning, radiators installed up front have to be attached with the help of fans. The radiator can’t be pushed all the way to the front cover’s screw holes because it touches the case's internal steel structure. Unfortunately, the screw holes have the same flaw we found in the Arc Midi R2; screws with a large head might be too thick to fit into the opening. Instead, the head sits on top, making the screw too short to reach its intended destination. We solved this problem for our Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige review by foregoing the rubber grommets that are supposed to go between the fans and radiator.

4. Installation

Power Supply Installation and Cable Management

The power supply is decoupled via four small pads on the bottom of the case and a frame around the PSU screw holes in the back. PSUs up to 29 cm-long can be accommodated. That number goes down to 16 cm if the bottom case fan is installed, or increases to 43 cm if the hard drive cage is removed.

There are more than enough cable management options for a system this small. They come in the form of rubber-framed holes and built-in cable clips. There are also two openings at the top for fan and EPS power cables, should your motherboard need some auxiliary CPU power. The space for cables in the back is only 1.9 cm, though, which is rather tight.

As a result, you need to use a lot of precision when it comes to routing wires, and making good use of the built-in cable clips is necessary. Creating room for tall CPU coolers was clearly a priority for Fractal Design.

Optical Drive and Hard Drive Installation

The 5.25-inch bay covers are removed by pushing them out from the inside. Optical drives can then be screwed securely into place.

The Arc Mini R2 offers six bays for 3.5- and 2.5-inch drives. The hard drive cage features a modular design and can be removed completely if you desire.

The drives are screwed to the white retention frames from the bottom. Decoupling is only available for 3.5-inch drives, though that's fine, since 2.5-inch storage devices are typically SSDs anyway.

Two additional SSDs can be installed on the back of the motherboard tray. Due to limited space, though, it's best to first take the frame off the motherboard tray, attach the SSD, and then reattach the frame with the SSD in place.

Consequently, for those who can live without mechanical disks, the Arc Mini R2 offers a configuration option for a small but powerful system. Removing all hard drive cages and using two front fans should improve airflow.

Motherboard, Graphics Card, and CPU Cooler Installation

It's becoming common for case manufacturers to include a bit that allows motherboard spacer installation with a normal screwdriver, and the Arc Mini R2 is no exception. CPU coolers up to 16.5 cm in height fit, which is quite generous for a mini-tower.

A large opening in the motherboard tray should make switching CPU coolers with a backplate easy.

Graphics card options are somewhat limited. Our Radeon HD 7950 with HIS’ IceQ cooler design fit just so. Graphics cards up to 28.5 cm-long definitely fit. Beyond that, it might be necessary to remove both hard drive cages, depending on the position of the slot on your motherboard and the size of your graphics card’s cooler.

5. Benchmark System And Conditions

We settled on a benchmark system based on Intel's Core i5-4430 and HIS' Radeon HD 7950 IceQ Turbo that comes slightly overclocked from the factory. This was supposed to challenge, but not overwhelm, a mini-tower’s cooling capacity. Because the graphics card exhausts its waste heat out of the case, it presents a much less demanding load than a lot of the boards with axial fans, which negatively affect ambient temperatures inside the enclosure.

We removed the middle hard drive cage to allow for more air to reach the CPU cooler. The Alpenföhn Brocken 2 offers good performance at low noise levels and fits perfectly.

It goes without saying that we also wanted to take a look at how much we can slow the fans down using Fractal Design's integrated controller. Do the coolers need to be left at 12 V, or can we get ample airflow from 7 or 5 V?

Benchmark System: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 
ProcessorIntel Core i5-4430 (Haswell), Quad-core, 3 GHz base, 3.2 GHz maximum Turbo Boost, 6 MB shared L3 cache
Processor Cooler
Alpenföhn Brocken 2
MotherboardASRock B85M Pro4, B85 Express PCH
Memory1 x 4 GB G.Skill DDR3-1333 F3-1333C9S-4GNS
Graphics Card
HIS Radeon HD 7950 IceQ Turbo
Hard Drive
Samsung HD322GJ (System Drive)
Power Supply Unit (PSU)
550 W Enermax Triathlor
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium

We applied a load to the system using a combination of Prime95 (Small FFTs) and MSI Kombustor (Furry and Tessy Test), then measured the temperatures after 60 minutes.

6. Temperature And Noise

Temperature

The temperatures under full load show that, even with the built-in controller set to 5 V, the case fans have no problem keeping our specific configuration cool. At this voltage, the 14-cm fan spins along at 500 RPM, while the 12-cm fans run at 600 RPM. We kept the Alpenföhn Brocken 2 at a constant 1000 RPM throughout, since it’s very quiet anyway.

Temperatures under Full Load: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2
 Case Fans 12 VCase Fans 5 V
Ambient Temperature
20.2 °C20.5 °C
CPU (Core i5-4430) TCore Ø52.2 °C55.4 °C
Radeon HD 7950
63-64 °C68-69 °C
(Fan 47% = 1835 RPM)(Fan 54% = 2188 RPM)
Hard Drive
25 °C30 °C

The reduced airflow that results from lowering the fan speed warms the Core i5-4430 by only 3 °C. This difference increases to 5 °C for the idling hard drive. HIS' Radeon HD 7950 is impacted most, though. Its Tahiti GPU's temperature increases by 5 °C, and its fan runs at 2200 RPM instead of 1800. Again, a graphics card that uses an axial fan, recirculating waste heat back into the enclosure, is going to cause platform components to rise more significantly, particularly at low fan rotational speeds.

Noise

Under full load, the graphics card contributes most prominently to system noise. With that said, the acoustics aren't as bad as we've heard from other cases due to the Arc Mini R2’s closed side wall. Enclosures with mesh sides typically far worse in this metric. Fractal Design's fans are quite noticeable at 12 V, generating up to 42.0 dB(A), but they get a lot quieter once the voltage is reduced to 7 V. This setting seems to provide the best compromise between thermal performance and noise for heavier loads. A sound pressure reading of 37 dB(A) isn't what we'd call annoying, or even distracting. The results would be almost perfect if the case included higher-quality fans. The 14 cm fan in particular generates noticeable vibrations, and its rotor doesn’t run quite as smoothly as it should.

Noise: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2

12 V, Case Fans Only

7 V, Case Fans Only

5 V, Case Fans Only

12 V, Whole System Under Full Load

Front (50 cm)

42.0 dB(A)

36.6 dB(A)

35.7 dB(A)

44.3 dB(A)

Top-Left Diagonal (50 cm)

41.5 dB(A)

36.6 dB(A)

35.4 dB(A)

42.4 dB(A)

Top-Right Diagonal (50 cm)

41.4 dB(A)

36.4 dB(A)

35.4 dB(A)

42.6 dB(A)

7. An Elegant, Well-Thought-Out Case For A Micro-ATX System

With the addition of its Arc Mini R2, Fractal Design offers a completely updated case family. The enormous Arc XL and the Arc Midi R2 mid-tower are joined by a smaller offering fit for micro-ATX-based systems. The Arc Mini R2 shares the line-up's solid build quality; its fit and quality of the covers, sides, internal frame, and hard drive cages are all top-notch, readily competing with anything that’s currently on the market. For what you pay, performance is also outstanding. And that could have earned the Arc Mini R2 our highest honor, if it weren't for the bundled fans, which just aren't up to the enclosure's otherwise high standards. It’s true that they run quietly in the 500-600 RPM range. But if you're planning to run the case fans as slowly as possible, you might be more sensitive to the noises caused by vibrations.

Apart from our problems with the fans, Fractal Design's Arc Mini R2 has a lot to offer, despite its compact dimensions. The hard drive cages are modular, and the top one is easy to remove in the event you're using longer graphics cards. CPU coolers can measure up to 16.5 cm in height, which is a lot for a mini-tower. This makes dealing with the only 1.9 cm of room for cables behind the motherboard tray easier. The integrated fan controller offers three settings: 12, 7, and 5 V. So, even if the stock fans aren't our favorite, at least you're able to balance out thermal performance and noise. Dust is kept out by a number of filters, which are also easy to access and remove. SSDs can optionally be installed behind the motherboard tray, out of sight. Beyond the already-covered caveats, 24- and 36-cm length radiators and compact water cooling solutions are viable in the Arc Mini R2 as well. Along with the elegant design and nice big side window, all of this makes for a top-notch micro-ATX case.

At $100, this case isn't cheap. But it's also a premium piece of equipment we have no trouble calling one of the best options for its form factor. A definite balance between performance and value earns our Tom’s Hardware Smart Buy award.

At the end if the day, if you're looking for an elegant, enthusiast-oriented microATX case with a window, put the Arc Mini R2 at the top of your list. It's going for $100 on Newegg right now, and again, it's one of the best entries to this size segment. Just bear in mind that if you would like to run the chassis' fans at 5 V to keep the noise level down, you'll probably want to budget extra for higher-quality fans as well.