Corsair Carbide Air 540 Review

Performance Analysis

Best performing air cooled case ever? Not quite, but it wasn't far off, and the Carbide Air 540's CPU delta T of 48°C made it the best case we've seen from Corsair in terms of cooling and the joint fourth best ever. The GPU delta T of 47°C is slightly warmer than the typical large high-airflow cases on test, for the simple reason the the fans didn't make a huge din and were quite a way from the graphics card.


Even so, their modest airflow was enough to beat the NZXT Phantom 820 and Fractal Design Define R4. Noise-wise the fans were certainly noticeable, but lacked any unpleasant whines, producing a calm but steady airflow noise that was overshadowed by the graphics card and CPU cooler. Again, it's a shame there's no fan controller as normally on cases this size, you can wind the fans down to near-silent levels with little compromise on cooling.


Conclusion

We have to admit that we're quite taken with the Carbide Air 540. Cube cases aren't for everyone but there's something about the ease with which you can build a system into it as well as it's unique look and water-cooling-friendly design that makes it a much more appealing option than your average enthusiast tower case. In fact, we'd much rather own it than its big brother, the Obsidian 900D, or any of the large tower cases we've seen recently.


Its price tag makes it especially attractive and combined with the fact it would stand out (for good, not bad reasons) at a LAN party means Corsair has pulled off something special here - a case that's different but actually good and doesn't cost a fortune. When the cube cases of last decade became popular they proved quite tricky to get hold of, and were snapped up by eager enthusiasts in the second hand market.

A few have been made since, such as Lian Li's Lian Li PC-343B, but it's enormous and costs a fortune, as do those from Mountain Mods. The Carbide Air 540 is relatively quiet, well-made, offers good cooling and costs less than £120. It's not quite feature-packed but if you're after a unique-looking case with good air and water-cooling potential or are fed-up trying to cram cables in to dark corners, this is the one to get.