Fractal Arc Mini R2

[Guest]

So, I wanted a case that was mATX and had a plethora of different water cooling options and that also looked good. So came along the Mini R2. 

 

Image | Image

 

The good

• Cable management: I'm quite a sneaky bastard when it comes to cable management. Behind the motherboard is usually where I hide the occasional cable, leaving it to pop out where needed. I could easily take this same principle to the Mini R2 with the way its SSD mounts on the motherboard tray work - sent the SATA and power cable up under it, right angle connectors and away you go. The front panel design meant you could use the two front fans, hide the cables between the front of the case and the frame and only have to run a single molex to the black cable coming from the fan controller. Image.
• Black cables - all included components in the case from the fans to the front panel audio are sleeved in black. It's those small things that I like. 
• Construction - everything is put together with screws except for the main components of the frame. It feels well built and durable.
• Fan filters. Every single fan mount with the exception of the rear 120mm is filtered.

The bad

• The USB front panel header comes in a combo unit: USB3 + a USB 2 if your motherboard doesn't have 3. What this means unfortunately is that if you're using the USB 3 header, you still have this inch or so of cable just sitting next to it doing nothing. I would have preferred to pay more for there to be an adapter instead of it being a part of the cable. Image.
• Water cooling when using 3.5" drives: unfortunately for me, I have a problem with watercooling in this case. If you install the bottom tray of 3.5" drives, you're gonna have a bad time. You can't bolt a res onto the side panel because you need to remove it. You can't put one next to the PSU because the GPU is in the way. I think I may have to somehow secure it vertically atop the drive cage. 

 

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/arc-series/arc-mini-r2

[needmorewood]

nice little pros and cons
why dont u just cut off the udb 2 header if u dont liek it?
ya Matx can be tricky with watercooling
i think some itx cases actually do it better sometimes

[flibberdipper]

nice little pros and cons

why dont u just cut off the udb 2 header if u dont liek it?

ya Matx can be tricky with watercooling

i think some itx cases actually do it better sometimes

My grandma's HP does it better than some mATX cases, and it only has a 92mm case fan...

 

[Guest]

nice little pros and cons

why dont u just cut off the udb 2 header if u dont liek it?

ya Matx can be tricky with watercooling

i think some itx cases actually do it better sometimes

I think i've found a pump/res combo that'll work from EK. http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-dcp-4-0-x-res-incl-pump.html

 

I'm contemplating cutting the cable. 

[Mudgee1994]

So, I wanted a case that was mATX and had a plethora of different water cooling options and that also looked good. So came along the Mini R2. 

 

Image | Image

 

The good

• Cable management: I'm quite a sneaky bastard when it comes to cable management. Behind the motherboard is usually where I hide the occasional cable, leaving it to pop out where needed. I could easily take this same principle to the Mini R2 with the way its SSD mounts on the motherboard tray work - sent the SATA and power cable up under it, right angle connectors and away you go. The front panel design meant you could use the two front fans, hide the cables between the front of the case and the frame and only have to run a single molex to the black cable coming from the fan controller. Image.
• Black cables - all included components in the case from the fans to the front panel audio are sleeved in black. It's those small things that I like. 
• Construction - everything is put together with screws except for the main components of the frame. It feels well built and durable.
• Fan filters. Every single fan mount with the exception of the rear 120mm is filtered.

The bad

• The USB front panel header comes in a combo unit: USB3 + a USB 2 if your motherboard doesn't have 3. What this means unfortunately is that if you're using the USB 3 header, you still have this inch or so of cable just sitting next to it doing nothing. I would have preferred to pay more for there to be an adapter instead of it being a part of the cable. Image.
• Water cooling when using 3.5" drives: unfortunately for me, I have a problem with watercooling in this case. If you install the bottom tray of 3.5" drives, you're gonna have a bad time. You can't bolt a res onto the side panel because you need to remove it. You can't put one next to the PSU because the GPU is in the way. I think I may have to somehow secure it vertically atop the drive cage. 

 

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/arc-series/arc-mini-r2

What about going to a 5 1/4" reservoir and pump combo?

There are a few choices around, Thermaltake do one I think. That gives you plenty of room in the rest of the case without having to come up with custom mounting points (2nd recommendation). 

That case is quite a little beast as shown below with a 5 1/4" reservior (i think?)

http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1443579/width/350/height/700/flags/LL

[Guest]

What about going to a 5 1/4" reservoir and pump combo?

There are a few choices around, Thermaltake do one I think. That gives you plenty of room in the rest of the case without having to come up with custom mounting points (2nd recommendation). 

That case is quite a little beast as shown below with a 5 1/4" reservior (i think?)

http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1443579/width/350/height/700/flags/LL

The issue with a 5.25" bay is that I then can't do a 360mm rad and I can't do a 240 in the front because I need drive space. 

[wpirobotbuilder]

The issue with a 5.25" bay is that I then can't do a 360mm rad and I can't do a 240 in the front because I need drive space. 

I think the show build at Computex was the ideal configuration, sans the front 240mm radiator.

 

I think i've found a pump/res combo that'll work from EK. http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-dcp-4-0-x-res-incl-pump.html

That's similar to the one that Fractal used.