The Corsair Carbide 400Q Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 29, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- ATX
- E-ATX
- Carbide
Test setup
Professional testing requires the emulation of real-world situations but with repeatable results; thus, a perfectly controllable test setup and environment are required, especially for comparable results. Testing the thermal performance of any case with a typical real-world setup technically limits the comparability of the results to this setup alone, as an active system interacts with its environment and the change of a single component would alter myriads of variables. As such, we developed synthetic loads that emulate the thermal output of real systems, which however are passive, steady and quantifiable. As such, the thermal testing now displays the thermal capabilities of the case alone, as if it would have to deal with the entire thermal load by itself, regardless of the system that would be installed inside it. Laboratory data loggers are being used to monitor the PT100 sensors and control the safety relays, which are fully accessible via our custom software. Three such loads have been developed; the ATX version simulates a 200W CPU, 50W VRM, 30W RAM and 4 × 120W GPU card thermal load. Finally, three 3.5" HDD dummy loads have also been created, with each of them converting 30 W of electrical power to thermal, bringing the total thermal load of the ATX test setup up to 850 Watts. As such, the thermal load is immense and only the best of cases will be able to handle it for more than a few minutes, we are also performing a test with a thermal load of 400W, with all of the aforementioned components except the HDD drives at about 42% power, which is more suitable for the majority of cases.
Thermal testing has been performed with all of the case's stock fan operating at maximum speed. Noise testing has been performed with a background noise level of 30.4dB(A). Advanced noise testing is also being performed, in order to assess the ability of the case to dampen the noise of the components installed inside it. This includes the installation of two noise-generating sources (strong fans) inside the case, one positioned approximately over the first expansion slot and one over the CPU area, which generate ≈ 44.2 dB(A) when unobstructed. During the advanced noise test, all stock cooling options of the case are entirely disabled.
Note: The Carbide 400Q can only hold two 3.5" drives, so only two such loads are installed and the actual maximum thermal load is 820 Watts.
Results and discussion
Considering the size and class of the Corsair Carbide 400Q, its performance landed almost exactly where we anticipated it would. Having insulated panels and inferior stock cooling than the SilverStone Fortress FT05, it falls a little behind, but its thermal performance is unexpectedly better than that of the similar (yet significantly smaller) NZXT S340. It cannot outperform but holds its ground well against larger tower cases, such as the Cooler Master MasterCase 5 and the Corsair 450D.
Corsair has installed two of their AF series fans inside the Carbide 400Q, which are designed to provide high airflow with low noise levels, making them the ideal choice as case fans. Combined with the sound dampening material, they made the Carbide 400Q one of the lowest noise ATX tower cases that we have ever tested. The Carbide 400Q showed very good sound dampening capabilities as well, reducing the sound pressure generated by our dummy noise source by 5 dB(A), from 44.2 dB(A) to 39.2 dB(A). The dB(A) scale is logarithmic and that translates to a sound pressure reduction of over 60%, which is easily discernible by the human ear.
Nevertheless, do note that the above acoustic performance figures were for the stock cooling only and with the top panel installed. If the top panel is removed, even if no other fans are installed, all figures increase by nearly 2 dB(A), nearly negating all of the advantage the Carbide 400Q has over most typical ATX tower cases.
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niva - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
My Antec TITAN 650 is still in use, I don't think I'll ever need/want another case for a workstation... but yeah, it does make my back hurt thinking about it :)kmmatney - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
I am still using my P182 from 2007. I'm been wanting to replace it for the last 4 years, but always spend the money on cpu or video card upgrades instead. I clean and oil the fans 3 years or so, and still have the originals. About the only thing that wears out on a case (besides the fans) are the front USB ports, and mine barely work. There are no 2.5" drive mounts, so my 2 SSDs are mounted with tie straps. It's big and heavy, but virtually silent, and keeps everything cool. I hate the stupid divider between the motherboard and PSU compartments, but other than that it's still a nice case. I've always felt monitors and cases are worth spending a little extra on, as they can last so long.Valantar - Sunday, May 1, 2016 - link
What happened to Antec, really? Ten years ago, they were the bee's knees when it came to stylish, quiet, high-performing cases. These days, they're hardly relevant at all. I remember when the Fractal Define R3(?) first came to market, and everyone was raving that "it's a P180 for half the price!" Did Antec's R&D department die of shock? The P280 looks half decent, but it's huge and unwieldy, and has some odd solutions. The P183 looks like it was designed in 2005, and is hideous compared to the P180. Don't even mention the P193. And their other cases? Blergh.Jeff7181 - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
No external 5.25 inch bays? Really? Optical media is not THAT dead...jardows2 - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
I would think without the 5.25 bays, it could have been designed a bit smaller. Wouldn't fit EATX that way, but not sure there is a big market for enthusiast EATX motherboards and compact cases like this.Black Obsidian - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
There isn't really much space to be saved without sacrificing other use cases. Making the case less tall or less wide isn't really possible, as there's already no slack room to speak of. Reducing depth by more than 1" means sacrificing front-mounted radiators, long video cards, or both.Compared to, say, the Corsair 450D, the 400Q already trims 2.8" of height and 1.3" of depth. It's 0.2" wider, but that's just as well, given that the 450D was a bit tight on space for cables behind the motherboard tray.
Realistically, if you want a smaller case, you'll have to accept the mATX form-factor, with the trade-offs that entails.
jardows2 - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
Even with mATX, it seems that any case forgoing the 5.25 drives do not make use of that deletion to save space. The cases either have the 5.25 drive bays, or might as well due to the size. It isn't until you get to mITX sized cases that the space savings gets fully realized, and even then, there are some rather large mITX cases.Black Obsidian - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
You *are* saving space by forgoing the 5.25" drives, though. Look at my comparison above; the 450D has 2x 5.25" bays, which together are 3.2" tall. The 400Q omits those, and is 2.8" shorter. There's literally no more space to be saved, because the interior height is the sum of ATX PSU + ATX motherboard + 25mm top fan.To get any smaller while still supporting the same basic component set would require Time Lord science.
jardows2 - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
I compare this to my NZXT Source 210 case, which, I know, is a budget case. This Corsair is taller and wider than my case by about an inch each way (height difference may be simply the large feet of the 400Q). It is about 3" less in depth. For that mere 3" of depth, I lose 3 5.25" external bays, and 3 internal 3.5" bays. I would think that it would be possible to make an even more compact ATX case than the 400Q with the elimination of the 5.25" bays.Ninhalem - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
Grab an external optical drive if you need one that badly, or go for some of the higher end carbide or obsidian series for the 5.25" bay. Media consumption is almost exclusively streaming now.