Fractal Design Integra R2 750W Review

1. Introduction2. Fractal Design Integra R2 750W (Bundle & Cables)3. Fractal Design Integra R2 750W (External)4. Fractal Design Integra R2 750W (Internal)5. Fractal Design Integra R2 750W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Today we are revisiting a power supply that hit the scene in late 2012 – the Bronze certified Fractal Design Integra R2 750W. This budget unit recently received a price reduction in the UK, taking the cost to just £60 inc vat. Today we find out if this is a good purchase for a discerning enthusiast user on a strict budget. Ideal for a new system upgrade before the end of the year?

KitGuru has reviewed other power supplies in Fractal Design's higher cost Newton R3 and Tesla R2 series but this is the first time we have looked at one of their budget Integra models.

Key features

• 80PLUS Bronze
• Silent, temperature controlled fan
• Impressive protection suite
• Extremely compact case

The Fractal Design Integra R2 750W is shipped in a diminutive box with an image of the product on the front.

Inside, is a manual, a regional specific power cable, cable ties and mounting screws.

We were disappointed to see the power supply laying loose in the box, only protected inside a single layer of bubblewrap. We noticed a little rattling sound from the unit and opened it up to check.

We found that the fan inside the unit was broken on one corner, as shown above. Part of the plastic edge was floating around inside the power supply although the fan was working perfectly.

The outer box itself was not damaged, but Fractal Design clearly need to look at protecting their power supplies more substantially inside the box. An end user would have to invalidate their warranty to remove the offending plastic from the power supply. Not much room in the box for foam, but Fractal could make the box slightly bigger to accommodate better protection.


Sadly none of the cables are the flat ribbon style, but sleeved. This makes life a little more difficult when routing cables in a new system build, especially if the case has little space between the motherboard tray and the side door.

The ATX cable is 510mm long, and the EPS12V cable is 680mm long. The PCIe cables are 520mm + 75 mm long. SATA cables are 580mm and 380mm long.

The image above shows a defect in the cable sleeving. We found three of these little flaws in various places on the cables, which is disappointing. So far, not so good.
The Fractal Design Integra R2 750W is a tiny little power supply, one of the smallest 750W power supplies we have seen actually. It measures 150 x 86 x 140 mm.

The white fan looks great behind the metal grill on top of the chassis.

On the lower side of the chassis is a nicely embossed Fractal logo.

The unit failed our screwdriver stress test. This involves running a Philip’s head screwdriver down the side of the chassis with weak to modest pressure. After all, how often have you accidentally hit a power supply with some tools during a system test phase?

The power supply would scratch quite easily.

This is not a modular power supply, so all cables are hardwired into the chassis, as shown above. There is a rubber grommet covering part of the metal, however the metal panel on the side has direct contact with the sleeved cables, which isn't ideal.

One side of the unit has a honeycomb style vent to improve air flow. Next to this is a power switch and connector.

There are two +12v rails in this design – rated to deliver 672 Watts of the total power.

Fractal Design are using a Hong Sheng fan, model number A1225M12S. This is a 120mm fan, rated 12V, 1,900 rpm with maximum noise of 54CFM. This is not a ball bearing fan, but a cheaper sleeve bearing unit.

This Integra R2 750W is made by HEC. This specific design is in place to keep the costs as low as possible. They are using a double forward topology on the primary and the secondary side is using passive rectification.

The transient filtering stage starts at the AC receptacle, with two Y caps and a single X cap. The main PCB has a single DM, two CM chokes, one X cap, two Y caps and an MOV.

The soldering quality is actually very good and we see no issues in this area.

The design incorporates a SITI PS223 which supports OCP for two +12V rails.

The primary capacitor is by Chinese group TEAPO, not one of our favourite manufacturers. It is 400V, 470uF and rated to 105c.

Secondary capacitors are all TEAPO, rated at 105c. They may be using Chinese capacitors in this unit, but at least they are all 105c rated.
On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.








Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price.

Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.

We use combinations of the following hardware:
•  SunMoon SM-268
•  CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
•  CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• Extech digital sound level meter
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA

We are combining +12V output to get the results.

DC Output Load Regulation
Combined DC Load	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		+5VSB		-12V
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
75W	1.23	3.33	1.19	5.05	4.95	12.23	0.50	5.01	0.20	-12.02
150W	2.17	3.30	2.83	5.05	10.08	12.12	1.00	4.98	0.30	-12.04
375W	6.16	3.28	6.05	5.04	26.16	12.03	1.50	4.96	0.50	-12.06
565W	10.32	3.25	10.86	5.02	38.33	11.95	2.00	4.92	0.60	-12.07
750W	10.72	3.22	13.82	4.99	53.60	11.82	3.00	4.90	0.80	-12.09

Load regulation is not the greatest we have seen in recent months, although it isn't weak enough to cause any issues.

Fractal Design Integra R2 750W	Maximum Load
	788W

We managed to reach around 788W before the unit would shut down gracefully, after the protection kicked in.

Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.

Cross Load Testing	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		-12V		+5VSB
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
734W	1.0	3.32	1.0	5.03	60.0	11.76	0.2	-12.00	0.50	4.97
154W	15.0	3.21	15.0	4.97	2.0	12.21	0.2	-12.03	0.50	4.95

The unit exhibited noticeable fluctuation on most of the rails, with the +12V output dropping to 11.76 after being hit with 60A.

We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum.

ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.

ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
Output	Ripple (mV p-p)
+3.3V	50
+5V	50
+12V1	120
+12V2	120
-12V	120
+5VSB	50

Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.

AC Ripple (mV p-p)
DC Load	+3.3V	+5V	+12V	5VSB
75W	15	15	10	10
150W	20	15	15	15
375W	20	20	25	20
565W	30	30	35	25
750W	35	35	50	30

Ripple results are within the rated tolerance guidelines although the +3.3V and +5V are higher than many other competing units we have reviewed recently. The +12V output peaked at 50mV under full load.

Efficiency (%)
75W	84.21
150W	87.23
375W	88.21
565W	86.45
750W	85.22

Efficiency peaks at just over 88 percent at 50 percent load, dropping to just over 85 percent at full load.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the power supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Noise (dBA)
75W	32.3
150W	33.7
375W	35.6
565W	36.3
750W	38.3

The fan is very noisy, and is even audible when delivering a load of 300 watts. At full load it is extremely noticeable, and the pitch of the fan is also slightly irritating.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
75W	36	40
150W	38	43
375W	39	49
565W	45	57
750W	47	63

The 120mm fan spins fast as the load rises, ending up with a maximum exhaust temperature around 16c higher than the intake.

Maximum load	Efficiency
788W	84.7

For those interested, we measured efficiency when stressing the unit to breaking point. 84.7 percent efficiency at 823W … hardly practical, but interesting regardless.
The Fractal Design Integra R2 750W didn't deliver outstanding performance in any single area, however it has clearly been designed to achieve a very tight price point.

The efficiency of the power supply is commendable, it achieved 88 percent peak efficiency and meets bronze certification with flying colours. Ripple suppression while far from class leading was also well within the industry rated tolerance levels and the 12V rail in particular was strong.

Unfortunately the power supply feels and looks like a budget unit. Paint is easily scratched and marked, and while all of the cables are sleeved, we noticed some imperfections on the sleeving in multiple areas. It really isn't reassuring to see such a poor job on the sleeves. The fact they aren't the ‘easier to route' flat style cables may put some people off as well. Obviously we can factor in the competitive pricing, but still, the cabling quality was far from stellar.

When we initially opened the box to get it tested, we heard a little rattling sound and as mentioned earlier in the review, we noticed that a plastic corner of the fan had snapped off and was able to move around inside the chassis. We can only blame the terrible packaging of the power supply inside the box. Fractal haven't used thick foam to hold it in place and they are only protecting it inside a thin layer of bubblewrap. This is clearly inadequate.

The biggest issue I had with the power supply was not the lack of modular cables, but the noise of the fan under load. With a load over 300 watts, the fan sped up dramatically and emitted a lot of noise, which became quickly irritating.

Internally, the build quality is acceptable, although they have had to cut costs by using Chinese TEAPO capacitors throughout. Realistically we can't be too critical of this, because for the price we do expect cost cutting measures to be implemented.

Right now the Fractal Design Integra 750W can be picked up from DABS for only £60 inc vat. At this price many people will be willing to overlook some of the shortcomings mentioned above.

Pros:

• Very competitively priced.
• efficient for a Bronze certified unit.
• Decent ripple suppression especially on +12V rail.

Cons:

• very poor sleeving quality.
• not modular.
• very loud fan under load.
• inadequate packaging to protect unit.

Kitguru says: At £60 it seems unfair to be too critical, but fan noise and sleeving quality is a major turn off for us. For people on a very tight budget however it has many redeeming features.

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