Corsair Carbide Series 330R Quiet Case Review

1. Introduction2. Corsair Carbide 330R: Packaging & Bundle3. Corsair Carbide 330R: Exterior4. Corsair Carbide 330R: Interior5. System Installation6. Testing Methodology and Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

The Corsair Carbide 330R is an elegant chassis that has plenty of room to house powerful systems in its well-built, low-noise design. The pair of included fans provides ample cooling performance and a quiet operating scenario even when set to 100% speed.

Cable management is generally good for the Carbide 330R, with the exception of the clearance that Corsair leaves behind the motherboard tray. 21mm is barely acceptable for a mid-range system; an extra five millimetres or so would have eliminated most cable management issues. Despite its barely adequate cable clearance, the routing options are very good; Corsair provides plenty of cut-outs in the most appropriate locations.

Expansion options for the Carbide 330R are very good. There is room to mount up to four 2.5/3.5″ drives – a number that should suffice for the majority of this case's target audience. Three 5.25″ devices can be housed and there is also plenty of clearance for multi-VGA configurations with long cards.

Cooling performance exhibited by the 330R was about what we'd expect it to be. The two fans provided acceptable cooling performance, but by no means ground-breaking component temperatures. They did, however, manage to exhibit low-noise performance when backed by the vibration-absorbing foam padding, even at 100% speed. A fan controller would have been welcomed as it would provide increased flexibility between cooling performance and noise output.

Appearance-wise, it's difficult to identify any major complaints for feedback to Corsair's design team. The 330R doesn't feature any hate-it-or-love-it features (for example, a window) nor is it overwhelmed by cheap plastic. Corsair's Carbide chassis is, quite simply, a good, old-fashioned, basic design; and it works.

Corsair has done a good job in managing to squeeze an acceptable cable management system, plenty of room for components, and an appropriate level of cooling performance into a low-noise, mid-tower chassis. The Carbide 330R does have its shortfalls, such as a needlessly short front panel audio cable, no fan controller or PSU screws, and limited cable management clearance, but these points aren't ‘deal-breakers'.

At £74.95 from OverclockersUK, the Corsair Carbide 330R is about the same price as Fractal Design's competing model – the R4. The differences between each low-noise case in this market segment are few-and-far-between. At less than £75, the Corsair Carbide 330R is a good foundation for a quiet system.

Pros:

• Plenty of room for large, powerful hardware.
• Elegant and subtle appearance.
• Decent noise insulation.
• Good cooling potential – lots of fan mounts.
• Supports up to E-ATX motherboards.
• Generally good cable routing options.

Cons:

• No fan controller.
• Needlessly short front panel audio cable.
• Limited cable management space behind the motherboard tray.

KitGuru says: A high-quality, low-noise chassis that is a good foundation for a quiet system.

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