Fractal Design Integra R2 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Review

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Those who enjoy our case and cooling content will be familiar with Fractal Design and some of the products that they have to offer. Chad has always spoken highly of them with few complaints when writing about their products. So, I was quite interested in seeing what they had to offer when he told me they had power supplies. Fractal Design uses a minimalistic design approach where less is more, but do so without compromising the important factors of quality, functionality and pricing.

That philosophy can certainly be seen in today's product on the test bench, the Integra R2 750W power supply. Sometimes it is the subtle differences that you see right away in a product and that can be seen with the rounded edges on the power supply. On the surface, the Integra R2 is just a simple 750W unit without modular cabling, but there are a few details that help it stand out amongst the crowd of 80 PLUS Bronze units on the market today.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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The I/O specifications aren't anything over the top, but there are a few things worth noting. While most manufacturers have gone to a single rail design, especially with lower wattage units, the Integra R2 utilizes dual 12V rails. Each are rated for 30A and have a maximum combined output of 672W. As for the minor rails, the 3.3V rail is rated for 24A, while the 5V rail is rated for 20A. Together they have a combine maximum output of 150W. This is quite a bit for a 750W unit. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Maximum combined output for the Integra R2 is 750W.

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Being an entry level power supply, it is typical that we don't see the feature summary full of green check marks. Most of the protections are present, but the Integra R2 is lacking Over Temperature Protection. While the unit does not feature modular cabling, all of the native cables are fully sleeved with nylon mesh. The Integra R2 manages to score an 80 PLUS Bronze rating for efficiency. While Fractal Design does not certify the unit for 100% continuous output at 50C, they do guarantee the unit at 40C.

Fractal Design has an MSRP of $79.99 on the Integra R2 750W model. It is currently available at Newegg for $89.99 and Fractal Design says they will have additional partners carrying the product line in the near future. This should alleviate the inflated price a little bit. Warranty for the Integra R2 is a rather short three years.

Packaging

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The front of our box rubbed quite a bit during shipping, but it is still legible. Something we don't normally get to see is a view of the power supply from multiple angles. Also present on the front is the 80 PLUS Bronze logo and warranty information.

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The back highlights some features of the excellent voltage regulation, low noise operation, and compact size for smaller cases.

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One side gives us the DC output of the power supply and a list of the included connectors.

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The other side reiterates some of the information from the back in multiple languages.

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The top is identical to the front, the bottom is blank, and neither contains any new information.

Inside the Box

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Everything is jam packed inside the box. The only protection the power supply has during shipping other than the external box is a small layer of bubble wrap around the unit. That being said, ours arrived without issue.

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The top features the Fractal Design logo stamped into the enclosure. It also gives a nice shot of the satin black finish on the unit.

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One side simply identifies the unit.

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The other side features the I/O specifications inverted.

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Nothing is out of the ordinary on the back. Here we have the standard honeycomb mesh grill with AC input and on/off rocker switch.

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Towards the front of the unit we find the serial number and some additional venting for the Integra R2.

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Looking at the bottom, we find the white fan providing a high contrast look to the unit. Look closely at the mounts for the fan and you'll notice they are rubberized mounts to isolate vibration. We have been using them for years for mounting case fans and it is quite surprising we haven't seen anyone else do this up till now.

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Also included is the user manual, AC input cord, three cable ties and mounting screws.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

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Connectors and cables are kept to a minimum, but one shouldn't need much more out of a 750W unit. The extra-long ATX 4 + 4 connector is nice for those who have a bottom mounted power supply in a tall case. There are four PCI-E connectors spread between two cables allowing for the use of dual video cards. Peripherals are handled via three more cables. Two of these have three SATA connections each and the third has two Molex and a single FDD connector.

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Rail distribution is decent for a 750W unit. While not noted or labeled anywhere, the rails can be identified via the color of the yellow wire coming out of the Integra R2. It if is a yellow wire with no stripe, it belongs to 12V1. Those with yellow wires with a blue stripe are 12V2. For those that know it is easy enough, but for those that don't, it will leave them wondering for sure.

A Look Inside

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The Integra R2 uses a compact design and that is certainly no joke when you look at the PCB. They could have gone with an even shorter case if they had desired, but it more than likely would have required the use of a smaller fan.

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A single Taiwanese Teapo capacitor can be found on the primary side of the Integra R2 750W power supply.

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More Teapo capacitors are found on the secondary side as well.

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Hong Sheng provides the A1225M12S 120mm fan which provides the active cooling for the Integra R2.

Test Results and Final Thoughts

Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are higher than that of the Fractal Design Integra R2 750W power supply, we can test it to the maximum.

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The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different and actual loads can vary greatly even with similar hardware.

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Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V1 rail, we see 2% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .25V. 12V2 was within 2% regulation from start to finish and also had a total drop of .20V. The 5V rail managed to stay within 2% of specification as well with a total drop of .11V from start to finish. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was once again within 3% of specification with a total voltage drop of .10V.

DC Output quality for the Integra R2 750 was good and well within specification. During Test 1, we saw 18mV of noise on our scope. When we increased the loads in Test 3, the ripple climbed to 35mV at a little under half load. During Test 5 under a load of 750W, the oscilloscope showed a maximum of 52mv on noise on the 12Vrail.

The Fractal Design Integra R2 750W power supply is rated for 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 82%/85%/82% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, Integra R2 750W passed on our bench, and wasn't close to failing at any point.

Final Thoughts

It is without a doubt that Fractal Design intends for the Integra R2 to be utilized for those seeking a budget unit in a mid-range computer. In that essence, they have succeeded very well. The Integra R2 750W power supply is certainly without some of the frills that we have come to expect out of the higher end units such as modular cabling and Over Temperature Protection, but by doing so they manage to keep the cost down significantly.

Keeping the cost down isn't always that hard to do. Many simply cut the quality of their product and the performance of the unit readily reflects those decisions. This isn't the case with the Integra R2. There have been a few cuts to quality along the way, but they are so minor that they will never be known. Sure, the voltage regulation and DC output quality aren't the most superb on the market, but they are very well within specifications and we have seen many other "quality" units that have performed on the same level that the Integra R2 has shown itself to be capable of. We're fairly confident that it is simply the choice in Taiwanese capacitors that are keeping the unit from providing some better numbers.

It is probably the same choice that provides the reasoning behind the three year warranty, which is one of the few things that we really have to complain about. It seems to go hand in hand that every time we find Taiwanese capacitors that we also find a shorter than average warranty for the unit and it is not a coincidence.

Let's not forget about the fan mounts for the Integra R2. It is about time someone looked at mounting the fans via rubber mounts and it is for this alone that we are going to give the Integra R2 a features award. There are other power supplies in Fractal Design's lineup and we look forward to taking a look at them in hopes that we can find even more creative ideas being implemented.