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Aimed squarely at the modern gamer, the Corsair Carbide SPEC-ALPHA grabs your attention with its funky visuals.
That being said, I cannot help but feel Corsair are limiting themselves by going with such an aggressive design. If you like that sort of thing you will love this case, but it could well alienate those who prefer a more minimal approach.
The SPEC-ALPHA is not just about the visuals though, as there are a range of decent features across the chassis. For one, there is an integrated fan controller – something that is fairly uncommon at this price point.
Speaking of fans, the 3x 120mm fans installed out-of-the-box provide excellent cooling. This situation is also helped by the mesh panels at the front of the case – airflow is much less restricted than it would be if a solid panel had been used, for instance.
That being said, building in the case is tricky. There are not enough cut-outs for the front panel and CPU power cables, while there are too many cut-outs to the right of the motherboard – all of which results in a messy build with cables being too visible for my liking.
That does hold back the Corsair Carbide SPEC-ALPHA, but it could still be an option if you love the aggressive styling – particularly given the impressive out-of-the-box cooling performance.
You can pick one up for £79.99 inc. VAT from Overclockers UK HERE.
Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.
Pros
- Funky visuals.
- Great cooling out-of-the-box.
- Fan controller.
- LED intake fans.
Cons
- We had to route the CPU power connector across the motherboard.
- No tie-down points in the middle of the motherboard tray.
- Aggressive styling may not be for everyone.
KitGuru says: If you love the angular design, the Corsair Carbide SPEC-ALPHA offers great cooling out-of-the-box. However, it is quite tricky to build in – more thought is needed in that area from Corsair.
Fugly
nice housing
£80 for this?
Poor cable management, weak cooling options, angular with red accents (ie the standard “gamer” aesthetic, a marmite design to say the least) .
For ~£15 less you can have the NZXT Source 340, which offers a simpler, cleaner look with far better cable routing. If you want a Corsair equivalent, the carbide 270R comes in at the same price as the nzxt option, with similar cable management, a similar look, and even better cooling options, for multiple rad water loops.
Or for £75 is the king of this price range – the Fractal Define S. Excellent cable management, solid build quality, and room for up to a 420mm rad on top (or a 360 if going x120), up to 360mm on the front, a 120mm on the bottom and a 120 or 140mm on the rear.
Not sure what corsair are thinking with this tower, they lose to one of their cheaper cases for functionality (the carbide 270r) and gets demolished at the price point by the define S.
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what would you recommend around those prices for someone who ‘d like to have the possibility to mount at least three 3.5″ mechanical drives without sacrificing quality-usability-neatness
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s
The define S, fits 3x 3.5″ and 2x 2.5, can fit multiple radiators too (should you aio cool your cpu and have a hybrid cooler for your card, along with solid cable management. For me it’s the best case in its price point.
where i stay its price at the moment is more than £85 ( >100 euros ) and that’s a bit over the price range i have in mind.
besides this i am skeptical about the way the drives are mounted. is that convenient ? isn’t a problem that ssd’s are behind the mobo ?
what about CD/DVD drives? Where is the slot for them outside?
there isn’t one