Corsair Carbide 330R Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on August 25, 2013 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- ATX
I've said this before: when I'm feeling tired and need to work but don't want to exert myself too much, I review a Corsair case. The Carbide 330R continues Corsair's greatest tradition and achievement: cases that are fantastically easy to build in. If you read my review of the Carbide 300R from some time ago, a lot of this is going to be pretty familiar to you.
As I mentioned, the motherboard tray comes with a stud in the center for aligning the board, and the standoffs are all extruded out of the tray itself. That all makes installing the motherboard an incredibly simple affair. Getting things wired up early on proved to be fairly easy, too. This is nothing new.
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There are toolless clamps for the 5.25" drive bays, and the quartet of 3.5"/2.5" drive sleds snap in around 3.5" drives; 2.5" drives must be manually screwed into the bottoms of the sleds. I appreciate that the 2.5" drives are aligned on the sleds in such a way that it's very easy to line up cabling between 2.5" and 3.5" drives. I don't mean to be dismissive here, but there isn't too much to report. My experience with the clamps on the 5.25" drive bays is that they're mostly sound, but could stand to be a bit more secure.
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The power supply and expansion cards are all easy enough to line up, and cabling is really only complicated by the amount of hardware you plan to stuff into the Carbide 330R. I could be mistaken, but it seemed like the hole in the frame for the AUX 12V line was widened ever so slightly since the initial review of the 300R. I didn't have as much trouble routing that cable as I did the last time, but I've also reviewed another twenty or thirty cases since then.
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It's hard not to sound dismissive of the Carbide 330R's assembly, but the reality is that this is pretty par for the course for Corsair. Since we're dealing with a variation on an existing chassis, there isn't anything new where assembly is concerned; this is extant hardware being adapted to serve a slightly different market and purpose. The result is that the assembly inherits all the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessor, and assembly is happily one of the things Corsair continues to get very, very right.
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ShieTar - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I can't really imagine that being the noise floor, my mobile phone gets a noise closer to 20dB. I would assume it is rather that the equipment can not be well calibrated below 30dB, or that measurements below are just not repeatable over time-periods of several years.But I'd love to see a more detailed description of where the 30dB come from. Care to educate us, Dustin?
casteve - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
Here's your education :)http://www.anandtech.com/show/5709/introducing-our...
The noise meter has a floor of 30dB.
Also, unless you've calibrated your mobile app with known good test equipment in someone's anechoic chamber, it's just flailing around. Pretty to look at, possibly useful to compare relative things (hey! the back of my PC is louder than the front!), but not a tool for absolute measurements.
ShieTar - Monday, September 16, 2013 - link
Thanks for the link. And as I suspected, it notes "The SL130 is rated to go as low as 30dB". The instrument will realize if it is measuring less than 30dB, the software will just refuse to put a number to those measurements as it can no longer be accurate in this region.That the difference to the mobile app, of course if it is showing 20dB it might be 25 dB in reality, but a silent room (no traffic noise nearby, no AC running, etc) will easily be below 30dB. If you can hear another person breathing, its probably closer to 10dB.
Its understandable and scientifically correct for Dustin to not post results below 30dB then (even if his equipment would make a guess), but in reality there is still a slight difference between a 30dB and a 25 dB installation. It is more relevant for people trying to keep their system running while they read/sleep in the same room, and generally unnoticeable whenever your PC is generating sounds/music.
briandel - Sunday, August 25, 2013 - link
The use of 'hail mary' in the article doesn't make sense. A hail mary would be a desperate attempt at something with a low probability of success. 'Slam dunk' would be more appropriate sports analogy.Amoro - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I think they did a worse job than the 300R.CPU Stock: 0.4 degrees C lower
GPU Stock: 6.0 degrees C HIGHER
Load Noise Levels Stock: 2.2 decibels HIGHER
Primoz - Sunday, September 15, 2013 - link
"Meanwhile, the 300R is essentially overwhelmed and the 330R is able to produce better acoustics under stress."This is prolly switched around?
gelatinous_blob - Thursday, October 3, 2013 - link
"I love the Nanoxia Deep Silence cases and would easily recommend one over the 330R"It would be good to elaborate on this. I'm evaluating cases and it would be good to know in what ways the Nanoxia is preferable.
Max22258 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
I have bought a 330R to replace an Antec case that I had. Right from the start I found my old Antec case with the side panel latch was a much better design then the corsair. I wish they would have panels that latches instead of the old sliding hook that are dated from the beginning of personal computer. I had problem installing the panel on one side when the computer case was upright. Also I do have a corsair power supply, when I installed the motherboard and the video card, the six pin connectors could not reach the motherboard and video card, I had to use an extension. Also when installing SATA cable for a drive, you should use the 90 degree connectors, mine were touching the side panels. At the top if you want to install the 140 mm fans, you cannot have the top panel installed, the clips for the top panel falls right on the mounting screws. They should have design the top panel to enable the mounting of the 140 mm fans. Also there was no manual, as I searched on how did they install theses fans. The foam covering must be removed and only one fan can be mounted.All of these points should have make your review, I have look for years at Arnand Tech for advice and reviews. I am quite disappointed with this review.
Max 22258