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Corsair's new enthusiast case/chassis: first look

by Tarinder Sandhu on 2 March 2009, 17:01

Tags: Corsair

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qarax

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Earlier today, HEXUS broke the story that Corsair was going to show its first-ever chassis at this year's CeBIT trade show.

Now, firmly ensconced at The Messe after a marathon drive last night, we took a trip to Corsair's stand - still a work in progress - and viewed the case for ourselves.


Corsair's representatives state that the introduction of the chassis, which is yet to be named, is designed for the enthusiast looking for a roomy, feature-rich case that centres around cooling.

The huge chassis has server underpinnings and is constructed out of high-quality aluminium. The sample on show will have around 25 changes made before it becomes a full-production model, we were told.



As you would expect, watercooling holes are found in the back, and the relative size of the behemoth can be gauged by how small the dual DVI ports of the graphics card look in comparison.


A look at the front with the cover taken off.


Inside, the PSU sits in a separate chamber, along with space for a couple of 3.5in bays. The 140mm fan, in the middle, draws in air from the meshed bottom and pushes it around the chassis. To the right sit four 3.5in bays with hot-swappable connectivity provided, and a separate 120mm, just in front, pushes air over them to the motherboard section.

Five 5.25in bays complete the expansion options, so there should be room for practically every enthusiast's kit.


We like the fact that cables can be tidied by pushing them through sections of the motherboard tray, and there's space to mount either three 120mm fans or a triple-wide radiator at the very top.

Corsair's entry into the chassis market will be at the high end of the pricing spectrum, with prices of around £250/$300 bandied about.

The extra-large model on display seemed reasonable on first glance, but competition at this space is fierce, with SilverStone, Antec, and Cooler Master all having proven designs and a wealth of experience.

Looking forward to seeing which changes implement in the shipping model, due out in April this year, Corsair's big-boy chassis may pique the interest of the enthusiast who hankers after space above all else.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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I like the cable routing system very much. Don't think this case is particularly space efficient, but the designers probably decided to throw that out of the way and just make it ultra-expandable. This would probably make a badass water-cooling rig. If other case makers pick up that nifty idea with the cables being hidden away behind the mobo tray, I'd be pretty chuffed.
Doesn't bring anything new to the table. Definitely not worth £250, not unless it's constructed of friction welded titanium or something.
Looks good! Nice cable management, hot swap sata drives, tool free design. Safe
Looks nice but for £250 seems expensive when compared to, for example, Thermaltake's Spedo £140 which also allows the cables to be tidied and mounted through from behind the motherboard tray.
Like others have said, looks very nice, cable management looks very good.

Just one thought tho'. wrt water cooling.
If you're gonna hang your rad on a rad box off the rear fan, those holes for the tubing are not going to line up with any rads. They should be further over to the side, i.e. above where the fan is, shouldn't they??