Corsair Carbide 500R

[ArchAngel777]

I had a P180B case that I really have not been happy with for a long time. After checking out the Coolermaster, Rosewill and Corsair cases, the choice became clear to me.

I picked up a Corsair Carbide 500R (White) yesterday and migrated all my components to it. Wow! What a case... She is beautiful but she is even more functional than she is beautiful. This case is easily one of the best cases I have ever had the pleasure to work with.

What is even better is my graphics cards were baking themselves to death in my Antec P180B. I even installed some extra case fans. But, airflow in that case just isn't what it should be... With all the cabling in the way and all the sectional compartments made it a pain to do anything. Remove a video card? Ahhh... Crap, what a chore.

This case is not only quieter than my Antec P180B with fans on 'low' but it cools substantially better. My Zotac card (has a crappy non reference cooler) dropped 10 degrees celcius under load. My MSI Hawk dropped about 6. Idle dropped a bit more, 3 and 2 degrees celcius respectively.

My Antec P180B was a dust magnet (despite the 'dust covers')... I had to clean that thing out every week. I don't know how often I will have to clear this case, but at least I can access everything in this case, far, far easier. So removing a video card, or a drive is so easy.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a mini review. There are far more detail reviews out there, so I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. I am just very impressed with this case and thought I would share.

 

[stuup1dmofo]

Glad to hear you're so happy with it. I too recently went from an Antec P180 from 2006 to a Corsair 500r and you echoed my sentiments exactly. THe p180 was a great case...in 2006. Man the cooling in that thing was a nightmare. Only a single intake fan in the front meant having to turn it up high to even cool a single video card. I was running my crossfire 6950 overclocked in the p180 and they were baking to death. With the front panel door closed and the fan grill shut, my cards would get into the mid 80's. Only way to keep it below 80c was to throw in a scythe ultra kaze and run it at 2000rpm along with keeping the front door open and grill unlatched. Loud case because of poor cooling. My 6950's barely could fit in the case and my WD 750gb caviar black would get to 44 degrees Celsius on the bottom HD chamber.

So along comes the 500r and i decide to kick the POS p180 to the curb. Best case decision i have ever made. All my temps drop by at least 7 degrees Celsius and everything is quieter because i can run all of my fans on the low setting. 7 case fans keep my 6950's runing at 74 while playing bf3 on ultra (60 fps constant) and 38-40 idle. My HDD never goes above 32 and my ssd stays a frosty 23. Funny how the less sound dampened case does better with acoustics and thermals because the fans don't have to run like madmen to keep my components cool.

Acoustics and thermals aside, the 500r definitely has one of the best cable management systems i have had the pleasure to work with. So much room in the back to route cables and so many grommets compared to the non existent cable management on the p180. Aesthetically, the case manages to avoid the "I'M A GAMER LOOK AT ME" syndrome many high performance cases suffer from at this price range.

Overall, a great case with so much going for it.

 

[red454]

Same case for me and I love it...

 

[Elcs]

Supplied fans aren't great and have propriety connectors, even if you can use them with a normal fan controller. Installed fan controller can only be used with the included fans. HDD cages are a bit small for elastic suspension and very airflow restrictive. No filters for the top fan mounts.

Other than those minor points, I love mine. Very spacious in general and cable management is a dream except on the back of the motherboard tray which is pretty bad IMO. Might just be my Seasonic PSU with a million cables.

 

[napes22]

The Carbide series in general is fantastic. I just recently started putting all my purchased parts together in my 400R and the wire management is fantastic. I can't wait to see the cooling enhancements given the wire management and excellent airflow.

 

[SithSolo1]

The Carbide series in general is fantastic. I just recently started putting all my purchased parts together in my 400R and the wire management is fantastic. I can't wait to see the cooling enhancements given the wire management and excellent airflow.

I completely agree. I picked up an Antec 300 when I was building my system, for $50 I couldn't complain. This week my little brother and I went to the local TigerDirect store. They were having a special on the 400R, $79 plus a $10 rebate, so we picked it up. Night at day difference between the two, I have never had an easier case to work in. With the dual removable sides cable management was a breeze and the mobo cutout was a life saver mounting his heatsink. The only issue we ran into was that only 1 screw would fit in his 520HX if the fan was facing down, 3 if it was facing up. We left it face down and even with 1 screw its not going anywhere. Overall definitely worth the extra coin. I've been using Antec cases since the late 90s but form now on Corsair gets my money.

 

[lavaheadache]

Picked my 500R a couple weeks ago aswell. Absolutely love it. I came from a 6 year old antec 900. My components were so easy to put in it almost fell together.

 

[Kinesis]

I just got mine and I am in the process of building my new system and so far I share the comments here...great case, love it. I am going from a CM Praetorian II case to this Corsair. I am generally a loyal customer, but I had a cheap Antec years ago I impressed had better layout than the Coolermasters of the time.

The best part I got this case at the price of the 400R on Boxing day (89.99 CAD).