Introduction and First Impressions

What happens when you shrink the Carbide 600C?

The Corsair Carbide 400C is a mid-tower enclosure that offers a very large window to show off your build through a side panel that’s also a hinged, and latching, door.

With the Carbide 600 series Corsair introduced a new full-tower enclosure with an understated style, and some very nice features. The matching 400 series offer a slightly smaller version of these enclosures, with a few changes. These new Carbide 600 and 400 series cases offer both noise-reducing quiet versions (600Q, 400Q), as well as clear side-panel versions (600C, 400C). We recently looked at the full-tower Carbide 600Q, which performed well from a thermal standpoint, and, to a greater extent, with noise output.

The case we’ll be taking a look at today is the mid-tower cousin of the Carbide 600C, and this 400C drops the larger enclosure’s inverse ATX design in favor of a standard layout, but retains most other aspects of the design. Corsair’s 400 series duplicates many aspects of the larger, and more expensive, 600 series full-tower enclosures, and are priced $50 less. From the outside the 400C looks like a slightly smaller version, but once inside there are some notable differences.

The Carbide 400C does not offer the noise dampening of the 400Q, dropping in favor of a large window and hinged, latching door. This tradeoff has allowed Corsair to market both version at the same price point, leaving it up to the consumer to decide where their priorities are. As mentioned, the 400 series are not simply smaller version of the 600C/600Q, as the internals are quite different. For instance, the PSU mount (and plastic shroud covering it) moves down to the case floor with to o400 series, and there are no 5.25-inch bays this time.

Beyond the changed layout, this clear version will likely differ from the results we saw with the 600Q. Thermal performance might be affected by the ATX layout, but the lack of insulation could mitigate this. Another factor is the noise output from a “C” version, which would presumably be significantly louder than the very quiet 600Q previously tested. We’ll cover all of that – along with build quality and ease of installation – in this review.

Before continuing here’s a look at the full specs from Corsair:


Specifications:

  • Form Factor: Mid-Tower
  • Material: Steel
  • Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX, Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX
  • Expansion Slots: 7
  • Drive Bays
    • (x2) 3.5in
    • (x3) 2.5in
  • External Connections
    • (x2) USB 3.0
    • (x1) Headphone Port
    • (x1) Microphone Port
  • Fan Mount Locations
    • Front: (x3) 120mm or (x2) 140mm
    • Top: (x2) 120/140mm
    • Rear: (x1) 120mm
  • Fans Included
    • Front: (x1) 140mm
    • Rear: (x1) 120mm
  • Radiator Mount Locations
    • Front: 360mm
    • Top: 240mm
    • Rear: 120mm
  • Power Supply ATX (not included)
  • Maximum GPU Length 370mm
  • Maximum CPU Cooler Height 170mm
  • Maximum PSU Length 200mm
  • Dimensions 425 x 215 x 464 mm (16.73 x 8.46 x 18.27)
  • Weight 8.2 kg (18.08 lbs)
  • Warranty Two years

Thanks to Corsair for providing the Carbide 400C for our review.

First Impressions

Packaging is in line with most enclosures we see, from the brown carton to the generous styrofoam padding and protective plastic bag within.

The accessory pack offers individual bags for each type of screw (always appreciated).

The first thing you’ll probably notice about this enclosure is that huge window, which dominates the side panel, and the hinge and latching mechanism make it effortless to access your system components.

Oppsite the hinged door is a standard slide-off metal panel

And now a look around the rest of the enclosure:

Case I/O includes a pair of USB 3.0 ports, 3.5" audio, and power/reset buttons

The top of the case is covered by a magnetic dust filter

Next up we'll take a close look at the interior of the Carbide 400C.

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