The Corsair Carbide 600Q Case Review: Upside Down But Right On

Conclusion

Corsair added the Carbide 600Q to their ranks as a case with a minimalistic appearance and similarly minimalistic noise. Aesthetics are a highly subjective matter, so the minimalistic design of the case will probably be a bit polarizing; some will love the minimalistic, plain design, whereas others will be comparing it to a refrigerator. In terms of quality, the Carbide 600Q is an excellent product, built from high quality materials and with a very well designed, mechanically strong chassis.

Under the hood, the system area of the Carbide 600Q is roomy, offering excellent hardware compatibility and maintenance comfort. Aside from its stock cooling fans, the Carbide 600Q also offers a plethora of options for liquid cooling support. The case can support a radiator up to 280 mm long at the front of the case, up to 360 mm long at the bottom of the case, and up to 140 mm long at the rear of the case. This allows for various combinations of multiple all-in-one liquid coolers as well, such as, for example, one for the CPU installed to the bottom of the case and one for the GPU installed to the rear of the case.

However it should be noted that the Carbide 600Q is limited in terms of drives support, as the maximum number of drives that can be installed is relatively low. The majority of system builders should be satisfied with the number of drives that this case can support - two 3.5" drives and a trio of 2.5" SSDs - but it clearly was not designed for systems that require a large number of drives. Considering the mediocre thermal performance within the 3.5” drive area, the 3.5” slots are probably bsed used with low RPM/low power disks, such as efficient consumer-grade drives that have been designed with simple data storage in mind.

Perhaps the best feature of the case and one that seems that is not getting enough attention in the company’s marketing is its exceptional thermal performance. The Carbide 600Q, with a size comparable to most typical ATX designs, outperformed much larger cases that have been designed with thermal performance as their primary focus. The Carbide 600Q also has excellent noise reduction capabilities but, of course, Corsair’s marketing quote that the Carbide 600Q will always be whisper-quiet “no matter what’s running inside” is an exaggeration. Even our 44.2 dB(A) dummy load would still be unnervingly loud for users that seek to build a silent setup. A truly quiet system requires the careful selection of every component - the Carbide 600Q will help, but it definitely is unable to make a loud build suddenly go quiet.

In summary, Corsair designed the Carbide 600Q to entice advanced users that want a high quality and versatile case with excellent thermal performance and sound dampening capabilities but, at the same time, prefer a subtle and elegant appearance over a fancy design that instantly stands out. The Carbide 600Q excellently combines all of these features but, unsurprisingly, the designer could not keep the cost of such a product very low. With a retail price of $140, the Carbide 600Q is a relatively expensive product, but one that we would wholeheartedly recommend to users that require both excellent quality and overall performance from a product that they plan on keeping for years to come.