Specification and test methodology
Corsair Carbide Series 500R specification |
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|---|---|---|
| Material | Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces | |
| Colour(s) | Black / White | |
| Motherboard Support | ATX, Micro ATX | |
| Drive Bay | External | 5.25in x 4 |
| Internal | 3.5in / 2.5in x 6 | |
| Included Cooling | Front | 2 x 120mm fans |
| Rear | 1 x 120mm fan | |
| Side | 1 x 200mm fan | |
| Total Cooling Capacity | 6 x 120mm/140mm fan mounts |
|
| Expansion Slots | 8 | |
| Front I/O Port | USB 3.0 x 2 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) FireWire x 1 Audio x 1 Mic x 1 Lighting toggle switch Three-speed fan controller |
|
| Power Supply | ATX (not included) | |
| Graphics card max. length | 452mm | |
| CPU heatsink max. length | TBC | |
| Net Weight | 11.4kg | |
| Dimension | 206mm (W) x 508mm (H) x 521mm (D) | |
Test System Configuration |
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|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASUS P6X58D | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition (with reference DBX-B cooler) | |
| Memory | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 | |
| Graphics card | AMD Radeon HD 6970 | |
| Power supply | Corsair HX1000W | |
| Storage | Intel SSD | |
To find out how well the Carbide Series 500R chassis can cool, we've loaded it up with an X58 test platform and run a series of CPU and GPU benchmarks for comparison against a variety of mid-tower alternatives.
Firstly, CPU cooling performance is measured by setting fan speed to low and recording CPU temperature when the system is idle. We then apply a 15-minute load of the Prime95 stress test and record CPU temperature again. To demonstrate the chassis' optimum cooling capability, we also set all fans - including the CPU cooler - to high speed mode and re-run the Prime95 torture test for a further 15 minutes.
Secondly, GPU temperature is also recorded in three states; idle, load with fans at standard speed and load with fans at high speed. In this test, GPU load is defined as a 15-minute stint of Furmark.
All chassis are tested only with the standard manufacturer-supplied fans, and to take into account the fluctuating ambient temperature, our graphs depict the delta temperature - that's actual CPU/GPU temperature minus the ambient. Just so we're clear, room temperature at the start of testing was recorded for each chassis as follows:
Antec LanBoy Air - 18.1ºC
Cooler Master Silencio 550 - 23.9ºC
Corsair Carbide Series 400R - 24.6ºC
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - 18.9ºC
Corsair Graphite Series 600T - 19.8ºC
Corsair Obsidian Series 650D - 21.4ºC
Corsair White Graphite Series 600T - 20.2ºC
Fractal Design Core 3000 - 20.9ºC
NZXT Tempest 410 Elite - 22.7ºC