Corsair Carbide Series 400R Review

Testing:

To test the Corsair Carbide Series 400R, temperatures will be recorded for the CPU, GPU, chipset, hard drives, and the overall system during both idle and load phases. Load will be simulated by running HD Tune and small FFTs in Prime95 for one hour, while recording maximum temperatures using RealTemp. The GPU load temperature will be determined using the maximum value as recorded by Catalyst Control Center after five loops of 3DMark06’s Canyon Flight test. For idle temperature readings, I will allow each setup to remain idle for one hour and record the minimum value achieved during this period. Each case will be tested as is from the factory. The fan configuration for this Corsair case is left in its default state, which comprises of two front 120 mm intakes and one 120 mm rear exhaust. I will not be using any fan throttling for these tests.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel i7 920
• Motherboard: MSI Eclipse SLI
• Memory: Mushkin Blackline PC3 16000 9-11-9-27
• Video Card: XFX HD6970
• Power Supply: Mushkin Joule 1000W Power Supply
• Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-On DVD-RW
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• Ambient Temperature: 25°C
• CPU Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P
• Case: Corsair Carbide Series 400R

Comparison Cases:

• Corsair Graphite Series 600T
• Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
• NZXT H2 Classic
• Cooler Master Storm Enforcer
• Sentey Burton
• Cooler Master HAF 932

From these tests, we can see that the Corsair Carbide Series 400R gravitated towards its older brothers but came out relatively warmer than the bunch. The CPU temperature was the highest value of all of the ones we tested – though tied with the NZXT H2 Classic – but is the only comparison case that does not come with a top exhaust fan. I'm sure with that addition, the CPU temperature would be much more satisfactory. The hard drive temperature was recorded as a low one at 29°C loaded – I'm sure this was nudged down by the two 120 mm fans and low-restriction cages.