| Corsair Carbide 400R Computer Case |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |
| Written by David Ramsey | |
| Wednesday, 14 September 2011 | |
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Page 4 of 7
Closer Look: InteriorBoth side panels are secured with captive thumbscrews, a nice touch. I've seen some cases that use thumbscrews on one side and screws on the other, presumably to save a nickel or so in production costs.
Take a moment to examine this, because this is where this case excels: note the fully painted interior, the four large, grommeted cable routing holes, the pre-installed motherboard standoffs, the six hard drive bays, and the overall spaciousness of the interior. 3.5" hard drives snap into the plastic drive sleds without any screws; all card slot covers use thumbscrews, and the 5.25" devices automatically lock into place when you slide them in. Also look at the CPU cooler mounting hole in the motherboard...I think this is the largest one I've ever seen!
There's a mounting area for a 120/140mm fan directly in front of the power supply, but even the tidiest case will probably have enough cables in this area to significantly obstruct any airflow from a fan there. The hard drive cage is not removable.
Behind the motherboard tray, I found several plastic packets containing screws and motherboard standoffs, which you can see on the lower corners of the image below. How they escaped from a taped-shut accessories box is a mystery! Notice the square cutout at the upper right of the motherboard tray: this is for your EPS 12V power cable. It's amazing how many cases with bottom-mount power supplies omit this. One thing I'd like to see more of is tie-down points. While there are a few near the grommeted cable pass-through holes, there are none under the main motherboard area.
Looking at the back of the case, we see the power supply area, eight card slots, four hose pass-throughs, the I/O back panel area, and the included 120mm exhaust fan. 
Let's take a closer look at some of the interior features of this case in the next section.
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Comments
Concerning the fan screw issue, let me know the thread pitch and I'll round you up some nuts and washers; in lieu of having the proper guages, contact me, send me a sample if available, and I'll fix you up.
just wondering..
thanks
This sentence may be missing a word.
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This case is a good deal as I see it. It looks to have a whole lot of functionality and that's where I think that it's beauty lies. I'm going to buy one of these and build my next system with it. Thanks for your review.
At least that's what I see now, and I haven't edited anything...
I go back and forth on the utility of filters on computer cases: they catch some dust, as I see on the cases I use that have them, but most cases are hardly hermetically sealed, and a lot of dust gets in anyway. Also, I made allowances for the $100 price point. In the end the design and utility of the case won me over.
The simple fact is that this is a $100 case and you get what you pay for. Want more filters? Buy a more expensive case, or purchase some after market filters (there are tons of them out there).
As for fan mounting, did anyone try the fan screws that come with fans? Are the heads too small or something? Couldn't use a washer?
For the reviewer, you could still clean up the cabling a bit more.
This case will hold any hardware you throw at it and keep it all cool at a very quite level. You simply can't beat this case at $100. Even if it cost $150, it would still be the best case out there!