Corsair Carbide 300R Case Review: Corsair For the Masses
by Dustin Sklavos on June 29, 2012 2:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Corsair
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
As I've belabored time and time again, Corsair's strength has always been their ease of assembly, while thermal performance has generally been more middle of the road. I'm fairly optimistic about the 300R's ability to dissipate heat, but not as optimistic about its acoustics. That's due simply to the amount of ventilation in the case. I think the competitor to watch here may be the more expensive Antec Eleven Hundred.
As summer is beginning to set in in California, ambient temperature during testing was ~25C. For reference, this is as hot as our ambient temperature testing has gotten, with the lowest low being ~22C.
As it turns out, at least at stock, thermal performance is pretty excellent. The Corsair Carbide 300R is very competitive here.
Fan speeds are competitive, too, although Antec's solution continues to show a substantial lead. All told, Corsair's solution is at least a solid performer under stock circumstances, and that's nice to see.
As it turns out, the 300R is also pretty efficient. Noise levels are actually quite tolerable under both idle and load. Corsair appears to be on the right track with the design of the Carbide 300R, though it remains to be seen how well it'll handle the increased thermal load of our overclocked testbed.
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lbruce - Sunday, July 1, 2012 - link
Got one of these a few days ago. It's worth what you're paying for it, but it's not worth more.The USB 3.0 connectors do not look rugged, it will be painful to see them break. The side panels are unbraced sheet metal just like any cheaper case, they may need sound deadening sheets to quiet and strengthen them. In every other way though, it's a nice case.
losttsol - Monday, July 2, 2012 - link
Your review is fairly late coming, but you did it justice I think. I've owned this case since it came out 5 months ago. Only cons I can give it are 1. they should have gone ahead and punched out the water cooling holes on the back. The steel back there is very thin and its easy to damage the case punching the holes out...and 2. just a few more millimeters of cable routing space behind the motherboard would have done a world of good. For the price, this case gives you a lot of options and the ability to put 6 x 140mm fans in it. You can buy the cable routing hole grommets from their site if you want that option. The Obsidian grommets fit it. Having that large open cavity below the 5.25" bays requires some creative cable routing if you want a clean look, but it can be done. The USB 3.0 cable is black thankfully, not blue like so many other case makers feel the need to do. I immediately switched out the included Corsair fans, so I can't comment as to their performance. The expansion ports aren't tool-less, but at least they give you thumb screws for them. I was coming from a Lian-Li PC-P50 and I actually like this 300R better. It has a great use of space for it's dimensions.TOMM3KE - Monday, December 17, 2012 - link
I know you say the form factor supports mini-ITX, but Corsair won't guarantee me it when I contacted them. I have an ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE mini ITX motherboard and want to be sure it fits the Corsair Carbide 300R. If not I was thinking about using the Fractal Design Core 3000.l_a_g - Thursday, July 10, 2014 - link
Did the hyper 212 evo fit with the case closed?