Our first look at a power supply from Fractal Design leaves us rather impressed. If you're in the market for a mid-range PSU, your wallet begs you to check this out.
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.
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.
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.