Corsair Carbide Air 240 Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Case Exterior4. Case Interior5. System Installation6. Testing Methodology and Thermal Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

I like the Corsair Carbide Air 240 and applaud its novel design. The dual chamber layout separates the hot processor and graphics card from the power supply and drives, and that makes the cooling path as straight as an arrow. On the other hand the form factor means you are limited to either a Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboard.

That may sound like a problem but it actually reflects the way that Corsair is slicing the PC case market into a bunch of tiny segments. If you want it big, tall and luxurious you can have an Obsidian 900D or you can save money with the Obsidian 450D.

The mainstream market is catered by the Graphite 730T and 760T and the Air 540 is a large dual chamber design, and so on, and so forth. By my reckoning Corsair has 30 different cases in its range that come in all shapes and sizes, with each model aimed at a specific segment of the market.

The way I see it is that any given Corsair hits some five to ten percent of the market, and is irrelevant to the other 90 or 95 percent.

The Carbide Air 240 fits that brief precisely as it is useless if you use an ATX motherboard and questionable if you don't want a PC plonked on your desk but instead want to keep it out of sight under the table.

On the other hand you may love the dual chamber design, applaud the whacky drive bays and admire the way you can remove every last panel in about 30 seconds.

One thing is for sure, the £69.95 price tag is impressively cheap and about £10 less than I would have predicted.

Buy from Overclockers UK now. Both black and white models are listed at £69.95 inc vat.

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Pros:

• Dual chamber design separates the hot components from power supply and data drives.
• Low price.
• Large window.
• Quick and easy to remove side, top, front and bottom panels.

Cons:

• The Air 240 is slightly too short to accommodate a 12-inch graphics card with a 240mm radiator at the front.
• No optical drive bay.
• Restricted to Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX components.
• The compact nature of the Air 240 makes the PC build laborious.
• No scope to install 140mm fans.

KitGuru says: Carbide Air 240 is precisely aimed at a select bunch of PC builders and they will be overjoyed with this new chassis.

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