A user-friendly micro-ATX chassis that’s awesome for water cooling
If you’re familiar with Fractal Design’s Arc Midi R2 then you’re already familiar with the new Arc Mini R2 – other than a few sensible design changes, this micro-ATX case is otherwise a smaller version of the Midi R2. That’s no reason not to be excited though; while the understated design may not quite have the allure of SilverStone’s gorgeous Fortress FT03, Fractal’s micro-ATX chassis may well become the new best friend of every water cooler in town.
However, let’s start with the outside first. The Arc Mini R2 is a well-built and sturdy chassis, particularly for its £70 asking price. The right side panel is bare, but the left is dominated by a large window. The window’s brown tint might not be to everybody’s taste, but the window certainly improves on the original Arc Mini, which had just a plain fan mount here.
Meanwhile, the front and roof are dominated by large rectangular mesh sections, which are backed by soft dust-filtering material. Both sections are also easy to remove – the front one pops out directly via push-release clips, while a pair of thumbscrews lets you pull off the top roof section to clean it and access the fan mounts on the core structure below it. A third filter is located beneath the PSU and lower 120mm fan mount, but it’s difficult to slide back into place without tilting the case on its side.
The final feature of note on the exterior is the front I/O panel, which now has an extra USB 3 port over the original case, as well as a three-speed fan controller, which can conveniently be used to control all three of the default fans, albeit on a single channel.
These three Silent Series R2 fans are positioned in the same way as before, with the top front mount and rear exhaust mount sporting 120mm models, and the further back roof mount housing the larger 140mm fan as an exhaust. Twin exhausts around the CPU are often effective, while the front fan combined with the meshed front should ensure that a steady stream of cool air reaches your graphics hardware.
Accessing the chassis is simple, thanks to the panel handles and thumbscrews, but it’s a joy to work with the Arc Mini R2 in every other way too. The padded PSU area, large CPU cut-out, reusable backplate brackets with thumbscrews, as well as the
individually sleeved and colour-matched cables, are all well implemented and indicative of attention to detail. There’s ample room for storing cables behind the motherboard tray, as well as numerous routing holes with secure rubber grommets that prevent your case from looking like a spaghetti junction.
The six metal drive trays fit securely into their housings, yet they’re a cinch to remove. They’re all painted in stand-out white, and can each hold a single drive, be it a 2.5in or 3.5in model. They’re also equipped with silicone mounts to dampen vibrations from mechanical drives. In addition, a pair of SSD drive trays are found behind the motherboard.
The top drive cage can also be rotated to improve airflow from the front fan, or removed altogether to further improve airflow and make way for graphics cards longer than 260mm. However, removing a handful of screws will also let you remove the lower and optical drive cages to make room for additional water cooling.
The roof can comfortably house a full-thickness 240mm radiator thanks to the offset mounting holes, but this can be extended to a 360mm unit without the optical drive cage in the way. Likewise, there’s adequate room behind the dual front fan mounts to fit a full-thickness 240mm radiator when you take out both hard drive cages, although it could do with a metal mount here, rather than having one integrated into the plastic front panel. Impressively, this means the Mini R2 boasts more out-of-the-box watercooling support than many ATX cases, including its own bigger sibling, the Midi R2, which you’d have to mod to fit a 360mm radiator, for example.
COOLING
With its default cooling setup, the Arc Mini R2’s CPU temperatures are decent. SilverStone’s tiny Sugo SG10 trumps it, even at its lowest speed, but this chassis is very low-volume and features a powerful Air Penetrator fan just a few millimetres above the CPU. We’ve seen our test CPU reach a delta T of over 60°C in previous cases, so by comparison the Arc Mini R2’s best result of 44°C is excellent. Despite there being no noise insulation, the trio of Silent Series R2
fans never become too loud either, even at high speed.
Again, the Arc Mini R2 is a little warmer than the SilverStone SG10 when it comes to GPU temperature, but this is largely because the latter case positions the graphics card so that it essentially has its own supply of cool air through the side of the case. However, we lowered the delta T by 2°C with no increase in noise just by removing the top hard drive cage; worthwhile
if you don’t need more than three hard drive bays.
At the 7V and 5V speed settings, the CPU delta T rose to 48°C and 51°C respectively; still fine results given that they correspond with a pleasant reduction in noise. Meanwhile, the GPU delta T increased by 2°C and then a further 3°C. Therefore, while the three speeds don’t offer as much flexibility as a variablespeed dial, the middle speed setting provides an excellent compromise between noise and cooling.
CONCLUSION
There’s very little to dislike about the Arc Mini R2, unless you’re particularly appalled by its looks. Working with this case is a joy; it’s well built and offers amazing flexibility when it comes to cooling your hardware. The options available even exceed the flexibility of the similarly sized Corsair 350D (see Issue 116, p48), and the Arc Mini R2 also boasts fan control,
while being £25 cheaper too.
However, the Mini R2 is certainly big for a micro- ATX chassis, which many will consider a turn-off. SilverStone’s TJ08-E, which is slightly shorter and 100mm shallower, offers equally good value for money, and includes an aluminium front panel and first-class air-cooling performance too. That said, the Mini R2 uses its extra volume efficiently, providing extra storage options and outstanding water-cooling support. If you’re considering water-cooling a micro- ATX PC, this case should be your first calling point.