Introduction
Most of us can remember when picking out a case for your next build was a relatively easy thing to do, but during the last 3-4 years there are so many new companies as well as different style and size chassis to choose from, that picking a new case is no longer somethingthat’s easy do.
We have super towers, full towers, mid towers, ITX, and Mini ITX cases, so how do you get started? Thankfully Corsair is here to help you make the right choice, seeing as they have every size and style available for you to choose from.
Today we will be taking a look at the new Corsair Carbide Series Clear 400C mid-tower chassis, so let’s see what Corsair has in store for us.
Corsairs take on the 400C: Easy to build, hard to beat:
With a one touch side panel, tool-free drive installation, and three point dust filter access. The 400C is easy to build and even easier to clean. You’ll spend less time on setup and maintenance and more time enjoying your PC.
Hinged and latched full side panel window:
Easily access your components with a single touch-and when it’s closed, enjoy viewing every part of your build through the full side panel window.
Clean, modern lines with an all steel exterior:
Get rid of those plastic cases-the 400C has steel front and top panels for extra durability and gorgeous good looks.
Direct Airflow Path:
One way to reduce noise is to make sure your fans do not work harder than they have to. By removing the drive cages behind the intake fans, we provide a more efficient direct airflow path to your hottest components, the CPU and GPU. It’s just a smarter design.
Compact design, full size capabilities:
Don't let the compact dimensions of the 400C fool you, It can house a full size ATX motherboard and multiple GPUs
Liquid cooling capable:
With room for up to a 360mm radiator in front, a 240m radiator up top and a 120mm radiator in the rear, you can choose to quiet down your CPU & GPU with liquid cooling just about whereever you want to.
Two included AF series fans:
Great airflow does not have to be noisy, the AF120L and the AF140L fans can push good amounts of air across your hottest components without that annoying hum, and the direct airflow design of the 400C provides an excellent path for cold air to reach your hottest parts.
PSU and 3.5” Bay Cover”
Clean up the inside of your case by tucking all those cables and less attractive drives behind two modular, clean, and refined PSU and 3.5” bay covers, or remove them for assembly, it’s up to you.
Easy to clean:
Easily access dust filters on front, top, and bottom means you’ll never spend more than a minute getting dust out of your system.
Contents and Specifications
Package Contents:
- Carbide Series Clear 400C Compact Mid-Tower Case
- Accessories Kit
- Warranty and Support Information
Technical Specifications:
- Dimensions [L x W x H ] 425 x 215 x 464mm
- Maximum GPU Length: 370mm
- Maximum CPU Cooler Height: 170mm
- Maximum PSU Length : 190mm
- 5.25” Drive Bays: 0
- 3.5” Hard Drive Bays: 2
- 2.5” Drive Bays: 3
- Fans Included: 1x 140mm 1x 120mm
Compatibility:
- Motherboard: EATX 12´x 10.6, ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX
Cooling Layout:
- Front: 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm, 1 x 140mm included
- Top: 2 x 120mm / 140mm
- Rear: 1 x 120mm included
Radiator Compatibility:
- 360mm Front only
- 280mm Front only
- 240mm Front or Top
- 120mm Front, Top, or Rear
- Dust Filters on all sides
- Front I/O Panel includes 2 x USB 3.0 ports, Headphone and Microphone jacks. Power on and Reset buttons
Packaging:
Our Corsair 400C sample arrived in a brown box, it seems to be that a lot of companies are doing this now it’s a way to save them money and pass that savings on to its customers by lowering the price on new cases.
Here’s a couple of more photos showing the rear and sides of the 400C package.
Like other companies Corsair also covers each new chassis with a plastic bag to help keep their products free from dust.
Closer Look - Exterior
Let’s move on to the exterior of the Corsair Carbide Series Clear 400C chassis. The front panel is plain and simple, compared to other cases we have seen from Corsair, but it gets the job done.
The top of the 400C has a magnetic fan filter which is very easy to remove for cleaning as seen in photo 2.
As you can see the magnetic filter is very easily removed for either cleaning or installing a radiator inside top.
The front top I/O panel consists of a power and reset buttons, HDD activity light , Headset and Mic jacks, as well as two USB3.0 ports.
Moving on to our next photo, the Corsair Carbide Series Clear 400C chassis gives us a striking stance showing us just how great looking this chassis truly is.
Let’s move on to the right side and rear panel of the 400C, as you can see there’s more than enough room on the right side panel to add your favorite graphics. The very large venting holes on the side of the front panel is more than enough to draw in cold air for either your system or your 360mm radiator.
Let’s take a look at the rear panel and also the bottom of the chassis. on the left side we see the rear I/O panel cut out and to the right of the I/O cut out the grill for the included Corsair AF120L fan. We also see a total of 7 expansion slots, and at the bottom the power supply bay.
In our next photo the bottom of the Corsair Carbide Clear 400C is shown. Corsair add four tall feet with rubber mounted to the bottom if each foot, and I have to admit that it does a fine job of keeping the case from sliding around.
Towards the rear of the bottom, you will notice the removable fan filter which helps keep your PSU free from dust and pet hairs. In the last of our exterior photos you can see that the feet that Corsair used on the 400C chassis provide 1 ½ inches of clearance from your table top to the bottom of the chassis.
Before moving on to the interior photos, let’s take a quick look at the accessories package for the Corsair Carbide Clear 400C chassis and see what’s included.
Your looking at a very small accessories package, but it does have the bare essencials to help get your build started.
Closer Look - Interior
Moving on to the interior of the 400C, let’s remove the front panel and take a look at what’s going around back there.
To remove the front filter you must push down on the tab that’s located dead center top of the filter. Behind the filter we the included Corsair AF140L intake fan.
Let’s remove the left full windowed panel and see what’s going on up front. In this photo you can see how large the AF140L fan actually looks.
Moving on to the new Corsair two piece PSU and HDD cage cover, as you can see Corsair did an excellent job designing this two piece cover that actully works very well and can be easily removed to install your PSU and hide unsightly cables.
Moving on to the top of the chassis you can see exactly how much room you have to mount either a 240mm or 280mm radiator or ALO CPU cooler.
Here we see the AF120L fan, rear I/O cut out as well as a huge cutout on the back of the motherboard tray for installing back plates for air cooling or CPU water blocks.
After removing the right side panel we can to take a look at the three cable routing holes with rubber grommets. Just under the back plate cutout we find mounting for three SSDs and two more routing holes without rubber grommets.
Bottom front of the right side has a hard drive cage with two removing trays for mounting drives of your choice.
Here’s a photo of the removable SSD cage from the rear of the motherboard tray. For this review we will be mounting 3 Kingston HyperX Savage 960GB SSD’s.
Let’s install a full size ATX Z170X motherboard and get our build started.
Build and Installation
For the 400C build we will be using the following components.
- Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 6 motherboard
- Intel 6700K
- 32GBs Crucial Sport 8GBs x 4
- Dual EVGA GTX980Ti cards in SLI
- Three Kingston HyperX Savage 960GB SSDs
- Corsair H110i GT AIO CPU Cooler
- Cooler Master V 1200 with custom sleeved cables
Although the Carbide Series Clear 400C looks like a small chassis, it was very easy to work with, and better still it was able to hold everything we installed, so I can actually say that building this system in the 400C was a breeze. Everything fit perfectly, and not once did my hands get cramped up. Better still our overclocked Z170X 6700K build was overclocked to 5GHz and still ran cool.
Let’s take a look at a couple of photos of our build in the 400C
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
I understand that for a mid-tower the Carbide Series Clear 400C is a little on the small side, but you do get what you pay for and for $99.99 you actually get a lot for your money. Let’s go back and take a look at the cooling options, you can mount up to a 360mm radiator in the front section, and up to a 280mm radiator up top, then you have the rear that can hold a 120mm radiator, now that’s not too shabby for a small mid tower. Let’s not forget that you also have the option of mounting 3 SSDs on the back side of the motherboard tray, and man did they look great mounted there. The full clear windowed side panel is another great option, and lets you view your expensive hardware with ease.
With the new Corsair PSU and drive cage cover, those ugly HDD cages can no longer be seen, and it doesn’t stop there, your PSU cables are also hidden from view, so I guess that $99.99 price tag is sounding pretty good right now, and don’t forget about the three removable fan filters which cuts down time on cleaning your system to a bare minimum which leaves you more time for gaming. If you’re looking for a new chassis that’s on the small side, look no further, Corsair has everything you need in the Carbide Series Clear 400C. This is one case that your friends will envy. The Corsair Carbide Clear 400C gets our Highly Recommended Award! You can find the Corsair Carbide Clear 400C at Amazon for $95.20 at the time of this writing.
