Review: Corsair Carbide Series 400R

by Parm Mann on 10 August 2011, 15:30 4.0

Tags: Corsair

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Final thoughts and rating

The Carbide Series 400R doesn't have the visual lure of Corsair's previous solutions, but it manages to retain a lot of what's good about the Graphite and Obsidian Series enclosures and offer it in a package costing less than £80.

USB 3.0 connectivity, support for multiple graphics cards measuring up to 316mm in length and exceptional cable management facilities are just some of the highlights, and it's all delivered in a mid-tower frame whose volume is put to excellent use.

The chassis' ease of use makes it a joy to work with, and with 10 fan mounting points, four 5.25in bays, six 3.5in bays and eight expansion slots, there's no shortage of expandability.

The unimaginative exterior may encourage would-be buyers to stump up the extra cash and opt for the lush Graphite 600T or the suave Obsidian 650D, but if you happen to have taken a liking to the Carbide 400R's bulging panels and rounded front bezels, make no mistake; this is a rewarding enclosure armed with almost everything a budding enthusiast needs.

The Good

Offers a lot of what's good about Corsair chassis for under £80
Voluminous interior is excellent to work with
Superb cable management facilities
Room for a 240mm radiator

The Bad

Protruding side panels are an eye sore
Only two USB ports up front
No integrated fan controller

HEXUS Rating


Corsair Carbide Series 400R

HEXUS Awards


Corsair Carbide Series 400R

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Corsair Carbide Series 400R chassis is available to purchase from SCAN.co.uk*.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUSforum.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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hexus
Arriving in stores next month with a double-digit price tag of around £90, the mid-tower Carbide Series 400R audaciously claims to be the best case for under 100 bucks
ho ho :p
needs a CM 690II as a comparison case really. The USB ports being useable for both 2.0 and 3.0 is brilliant though, as transition time is here.

This and a H100 may have to be purchased to welcome in Bulldozer.
Best case under £100 :stupid:

CM690II or new Fractal Arc Midi beat this totally

What is the obsession with all those 5.25 bays? I can make do with 1, 2 at most (optical drive + bay reservoir). What do people put in those bays now?

Also why some many hard drive cages? How many HDs do people actually run? I make do with an SSD and a normal 2TB drive, I can understand people wanting 4 bays (RAID) but after that it just gets silly

Not a bad case, but not exactly an advance on existing cases.
cjs150
Best case under £100 :stupid:

CM690II or new Fractal Arc Midi beat this totally

CM690II and the Lancool K62 are both cheaper. These two cases are always over looked now as they are over 12 months old, yet they are still better than most < £100 cases.

I nearly brought the Corsair 650 the other day to replace me Lancool K62R, but after reading alot of people commenting on its poor fans and the fact they are not silent (even at 200mm) I decided to keep my case as its fans are brilliant and silent….
cjs150
What is the obsession with all those 5.25 bays? I can make do with 1, 2 at most (optical drive + bay reservoir). What do people put in those bays now?


I do actually have 4 optical drives in mine, but I guess I am a minority.

Cases looks good in my eyes, I can't justify the cost of most cases out there.