Corsair Carbide 330R Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on August 25, 2013 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- ATX
The viability of the Corsair Carbide 330R as a silent enclosure is really going to depend on what your needs are and what's available. More and more as I test, I find that cases engineered for quiet running are at a very clear disadvantage with our standardized testbed, but that's also part of the fundamental issue that bears repeating here: a dampened enclosure will make a quiet build silent, but will make a normal build loud.
In the 330R's favor, its primary competition in the marketplace consists of the Fractal Design Define R4, which it generally beats handily. That's really the target; I love the Nanoxia Deep Silence cases and would easily recommend one over the 330R, but Nanoxia doesn't have Corsair's American market presence and seems to be having trouble keeping vendors stocked. Meanwhile, the AZZA Silentium and BitFenix Ghost are both more or less dead on arrival. If you can get the 330R for the $89 Corsair asks for it on their website (out of stock as of the time of this review), then you'll have the start of a good silent system.
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Working against the 330R is the fact that it's not a hail mary, and it's pretty clear it can be beaten. Corsair is making good use of the existing 300R chassis and offering a compelling enough sister product, but the competition is hungry. Nanoxia's chief competitive issue is availability, but that's not something to rely on. Meanwhile, Fractal Design could very easily iterate the Define into an R5 that runs roughshod over the 330R.
I'm not over the moon for the Corsair Carbide 330R, but I don't really have to be. This is an iterative product that has a specific role and essentially succeeds at playing that role. The chief issue is that the 330R still doesn't fix the gap in Corsair's product line that the 550D was supposed to solve. The 550D is generally superior to the 330R where noise is concerned, but thermals are a bit of a toss-up, and ultimately Corsair still doesn't have a superior answer to the competition. Fractal Design's Define XL R2 beats on the 550D until candy comes out, and is cheaper to boot. This is a contested space and Corsair needs to bring their A game; the Carbide 330R gets the job done and for a good price, but it's a solid B when we needed something more.
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ShieTar - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I can't really imagine that being the noise floor, my mobile phone gets a noise closer to 20dB. I would assume it is rather that the equipment can not be well calibrated below 30dB, or that measurements below are just not repeatable over time-periods of several years.But I'd love to see a more detailed description of where the 30dB come from. Care to educate us, Dustin?
casteve - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
Here's your education :)http://www.anandtech.com/show/5709/introducing-our...
The noise meter has a floor of 30dB.
Also, unless you've calibrated your mobile app with known good test equipment in someone's anechoic chamber, it's just flailing around. Pretty to look at, possibly useful to compare relative things (hey! the back of my PC is louder than the front!), but not a tool for absolute measurements.
ShieTar - Monday, September 16, 2013 - link
Thanks for the link. And as I suspected, it notes "The SL130 is rated to go as low as 30dB". The instrument will realize if it is measuring less than 30dB, the software will just refuse to put a number to those measurements as it can no longer be accurate in this region.That the difference to the mobile app, of course if it is showing 20dB it might be 25 dB in reality, but a silent room (no traffic noise nearby, no AC running, etc) will easily be below 30dB. If you can hear another person breathing, its probably closer to 10dB.
Its understandable and scientifically correct for Dustin to not post results below 30dB then (even if his equipment would make a guess), but in reality there is still a slight difference between a 30dB and a 25 dB installation. It is more relevant for people trying to keep their system running while they read/sleep in the same room, and generally unnoticeable whenever your PC is generating sounds/music.
briandel - Sunday, August 25, 2013 - link
The use of 'hail mary' in the article doesn't make sense. A hail mary would be a desperate attempt at something with a low probability of success. 'Slam dunk' would be more appropriate sports analogy.Amoro - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I think they did a worse job than the 300R.CPU Stock: 0.4 degrees C lower
GPU Stock: 6.0 degrees C HIGHER
Load Noise Levels Stock: 2.2 decibels HIGHER
Primoz - Sunday, September 15, 2013 - link
"Meanwhile, the 300R is essentially overwhelmed and the 330R is able to produce better acoustics under stress."This is prolly switched around?
gelatinous_blob - Thursday, October 3, 2013 - link
"I love the Nanoxia Deep Silence cases and would easily recommend one over the 330R"It would be good to elaborate on this. I'm evaluating cases and it would be good to know in what ways the Nanoxia is preferable.
Max22258 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
I have bought a 330R to replace an Antec case that I had. Right from the start I found my old Antec case with the side panel latch was a much better design then the corsair. I wish they would have panels that latches instead of the old sliding hook that are dated from the beginning of personal computer. I had problem installing the panel on one side when the computer case was upright. Also I do have a corsair power supply, when I installed the motherboard and the video card, the six pin connectors could not reach the motherboard and video card, I had to use an extension. Also when installing SATA cable for a drive, you should use the 90 degree connectors, mine were touching the side panels. At the top if you want to install the 140 mm fans, you cannot have the top panel installed, the clips for the top panel falls right on the mounting screws. They should have design the top panel to enable the mounting of the 140 mm fans. Also there was no manual, as I searched on how did they install theses fans. The foam covering must be removed and only one fan can be mounted.All of these points should have make your review, I have look for years at Arnand Tech for advice and reviews. I am quite disappointed with this review.
Max 22258