Review: Corsair Carbide Series 500R White

Overview

Corsair has become known for some brilliant PC cases recently, and the Corsair Carbide Series 500R White is aiming to become another one.

We've tried connecting up components and trying to run them without a case, but it only makes the carpet smell funny. That burning component smell really gets the back of your throat, so what luck there are literally trillions of cuboid metal homes for your gear that'll keep them safe!

Corsair's Carbide Series 500R White is just one such case, and you should care because a) Corsair makes high-quality cases, and b) this one's fairly cheap.

Styled after the Corsair Graphite Series 600T chassis with a bit of the Obsidian 700D's angular form thrown in, this Carbide Series 500R includes four fans, six drive bays, a backplate with cable management and holes and rear CPU cooler access, and a sturdy steel build.

It appears legit, but are you in danger of being jipped by purchasing this sub-£100 case?

Verdict

We found no corners cut, no shoddy build quality (other than the usual slightly flimsy plastic drive bays, but what are those drives going to be doing in there, greco-roman wrestling?) and no missing features you'd expect from a mid-price case.

There's plenty of space to build inside and there's easy access to the back.

To fit in a monstrously long graphics card like an AMD HD 6990 you'll likely need to remove a drive bay though, which is a bit of a kafuffle.

We've seen a good few mid-range cases that sport just one fan, so it's a good sign to find a 200 mm fan on the 500R's side, and three 120 mm fans at the front and rear, with dust filters to boot - that's really good cooling capability for the price.

Now features and build quality are one thing, but every tech enthusiast is a sucker for aesthetics.

This 500R isn't about to offend anyone with it's design, but it plays things a little safer than we're used to from the current Corsair roster.

It's the Audi A4 to the 600T's Audi TT, basically.

You do get a lovely white led to play with via a toggle switch, but a certain corner of the enthusiast market won't find this anywhere near garish enough, and probably demand much more jutty-out bits and grilles.

Can't please all the people all the time, we suppose.

But this is a great value package from Corsair. It offers all the features of its rivals like CM Storm's Enforcer, but adds an unexpected level of cooling capability and above-average build quality.

If nits are to be picked, we'd like it even more if it was long enough to accommodate gert big GPUs more conveniently, and the area that the 600T sports a fan controller, the 500R has only a sad little black panel that does nothing.

The real issue is that there's so little (£30 at time of writing) in monetary terms between this and the excellent 600T (the cheaper black version, that is).

What's £30? In this case, it's the difference between a good case and a great case.

We liked:

Although a little more conservative than the lovely Graphite Series 600T, the Corsair Carbide Series 500R White is still a very pleasing chassis to look at.

It's also got a decent feature set, missing nothing you might expect from a mid-range, sub-£100 case.

We disliked:

There really isn't a lot to dislike about this great value chassis, just a few minor niggles.

The only real problem is the price is just so damn close to the price of the black edition of the excellent Graphite 600T case.

Final word:

Matches, and even exceeds, expectations for a mid-range case, but it's awfully near the Corsair Graphite 600T's price.

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Review: Corsair Carbide Series 500R White

Overview

Corsair has become known for some brilliant PC cases recently, and the Corsair Carbide Series 500R White is aiming to become another one.

We've tried connecting up components and trying to run them without a case, but it only makes the carpet smell funny. That burning component smell really gets the back of your throat, so what luck there are literally trillions of cuboid metal homes for your gear that'll keep them safe!

Corsair's Carbide Series 500R White is just one such case, and you should care because a) Corsair makes high-quality cases, and b) this one's fairly cheap.

Styled after the Corsair Graphite Series 600T chassis with a bit of the Obsidian 700D's angular form thrown in, this Carbide Series 500R includes four fans, six drive bays, a backplate with cable management and holes and rear CPU cooler access, and a sturdy steel build.

It appears legit, but are you in danger of being jipped by purchasing this sub-£100 case?

Verdict

We found no corners cut, no shoddy build quality (other than the usual slightly flimsy plastic drive bays, but what are those drives going to be doing in there, greco-roman wrestling?) and no missing features you'd expect from a mid-price case.

There's plenty of space to build inside and there's easy access to the back.

To fit in a monstrously long graphics card like an AMD HD 6990 you'll likely need to remove a drive bay though, which is a bit of a kafuffle.

We've seen a good few mid-range cases that sport just one fan, so it's a good sign to find a 200 mm fan on the 500R's side, and three 120 mm fans at the front and rear, with dust filters to boot - that's really good cooling capability for the price.

Now features and build quality are one thing, but every tech enthusiast is a sucker for aesthetics.

This 500R isn't about to offend anyone with it's design, but it plays things a little safer than we're used to from the current Corsair roster.

It's the Audi A4 to the 600T's Audi TT, basically.

You do get a lovely white led to play with via a toggle switch, but a certain corner of the enthusiast market won't find this anywhere near garish enough, and probably demand much more jutty-out bits and grilles.

Can't please all the people all the time, we suppose.

But this is a great value package from Corsair. It offers all the features of its rivals like CM Storm's Enforcer, but adds an unexpected level of cooling capability and above-average build quality.

If nits are to be picked, we'd like it even more if it was long enough to accommodate gert big GPUs more conveniently, and the area that the 600T sports a fan controller, the 500R has only a sad little black panel that does nothing.

The real issue is that there's so little (£30 at time of writing) in monetary terms between this and the excellent 600T (the cheaper black version, that is).

What's £30? In this case, it's the difference between a good case and a great case.

We liked:

Although a little more conservative than the lovely Graphite Series 600T, the Corsair Carbide Series 500R White is still a very pleasing chassis to look at.

It's also got a decent feature set, missing nothing you might expect from a mid-range, sub-£100 case.

We disliked:

There really isn't a lot to dislike about this great value chassis, just a few minor niggles.

The only real problem is the price is just so damn close to the price of the black edition of the excellent Graphite 600T case.

Final word:

Matches, and even exceeds, expectations for a mid-range case, but it's awfully near the Corsair Graphite 600T's price.

Review: Corsair Carbide 400R

Overview

Including features normally associated with expensive chassis on sub-£150 cases is Corsair's goal with the Carbide series. The newly launched Corsair Carbide 400R is the little brother of the more expensive Corsair Carbide 500R, released at the same time.

Although Corsair is a company usually associated with memory and PSUs, since branching out to PC cases it had built a solid reputation – one it hopes to build upon with the Corsair Carbide 400R.

This mid-sized tower is aimed at PC enthusiasts who are keen on installing the best hardware money can buy, but is priced at an affordable level, unlike the more expensive Corsair Obsidian 700D chassis.

Price is the big selling point of the Carbide 400R, and Corsair promises a lot for just £80. But does the company deliver on its promises, or have too many corners been cut when designing the Corsair Carbide 400R in pursuit of an attractive price point?

Unlike some of its more ostentatious rivals, the Corsair Carbide 400R sports a relatively straight-laced design. Next to more expensive models it might look rather plain, but there are options to 'pimp out' the chassis if understated isn't your style, such as a lighting toggle switch at the top of the case for lighting kits.

But what's really important is what's inside the case – or, we should say, what can be inside the case.

Verdict

As we mentioned earlier, the Corsair Carbide 400R is aimed primarily at enthusiasts who want to build and upgrade their own PC.

As soon as we opened the case using the thumb screws – no tools are needed to open the Corsair Carbide 400R – it was clear that Corsair is serious about attracting PC builders and enthusiasts with this case. There's plenty of space inside the case for building a PC.

Because of the size of the tower, you don't need to take it apart to fit in components like you did with the ThermalTake Armor A30. As well as easy installation, the size of the chassis also accommodates plenty of components.

There are four 5.25-inch bays and six 3.5-inch hard drive bays that can be quickly and easily converted into 2.5-inch bays for SSDs. There are eight expansion slots, 10 fan mounts (with two front-mounted 120mm fans and one rear 120mm fan included) and support for graphics cards up to 316mm in length. If you're a serious gamer or overclocker, then there's support for the Hydro Series H100 Liquid CPU Cooler and other watercooling systems.

We liked

The Corsair Carbide 400R is a decent and well-made case that offers plenty of space for building a very powerful PC. The tool-free design of this chassis makes installing and replacing components really quick and easy.

The Corsair Carbide 400R keeps things simple but still manages to pack a lot in for a great price.

We disliked

There's not much to dislike at this price. If you're after a case with features such as removable drive bays and fan controls then you're going to have to go for a more expensive case.

The materials used to build the case aren't the best, but they do the job.

Final verdict

While it might lack a few of the features of more expensive cases, the Corsair Carbide 400R offers fantastic value for money and is a great choice for gamers.

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