Corsair Carbide 500R Review

Corsair Carbide 500R Review

Manufacturer: Corsair
UK Price (as reviewed): £84.75 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $139.99 (ex TAX)

Corsair's solid, rather than spectacular entrance to the case market a few years ago was generally down to price; its cases were fairly attractive and unique-looking, well built and sported plenty of features you'd expect to see in a modern case such as USB 3 ports, fan controllers and oodles of fan mounts.

The Carbide 400R and Graphite 600T are classic examples that were just a teeny bit too pricey to be a real threat to more established cases such as the One Hundred from Antec or the Fractal Design Define R3. This hasn't stopped them being very popular, though, with their spacious innards and unique looks making them very modding-friendly.

The Carbide 500R retails for just under £85, however it immediately appeared to us that it's a much more impressive case than the Carbide 400R, which retails for just £8 less. It feels very well made and looks less 'plasticy' than the 400R, with the black and white colour scheme of our review sample standing out proudly from other cases in our lab.

It's beauty isn't only skin deep, though, and a quick glance around the case reveals a number of interesting features. The front fascia pulls off easily (but not too easily) thanks to several metal prongs holding it in place. These should be much hardier than the plastic ones you usually find. This reveals a large dust filter which covers two white LED 120mm fans that sit in the bottom half of the front panel, blowing air over the six internal 3.5in bays.


The bays themselves are made up of tool-less trays, which allow you to fit a hard disk in seconds and they also support 2.5in hard disks - as you'd expect given Corsair also makes SSDs. Above these are four external tool-less 5.25in bays and a fairly packed front panel, which sports two USB 3 ports, a FireWire connector, the usual headphone and microphone mini jacks and a multi-channel fan controller, which can deal with all four of the included fans (three 120mm and one 200mm), offering three speed settings. There's also a light toggle switch if you'd prefer to turn the fan's white LEDs off.


A further dust filter protects the PSU bay at the bottom and it's easily removable at the rear of the case for cleaning. In front of the PSU mount is a 120/140mm fan mount allowing you to install a further fan, which is also in reach of the dust filter.


Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 206 x 520 x 586mm (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel and plastic
  
• Available colours Black/ black and white
  
• Weight 8.43kg
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone, Firor(s)[/b] ATX, micro-ATX
  
• Cooling 2 x 120mm front mounts (fans supplied), 1 x 200mm side mount (fan included), 1 x rear 120mm fan mount (fan included), 2 x 120/140mm roof fan mounts (fans not included), 1 x 120/140mm base fan mount (fan not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 165mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 316mm with hard disk caddy, 452mm without
  
• Extras Dust filters, light controller, fan speed controller