The Antec C8 is one of the next cases on our review list! What do you want to see after that one? We're building the ATX roster again! Check out our prior ATX case review: th-cam.com/video/m-AMD01GVZE/w-d-xo.html Grab a GN Modmat or T-Shirt to support our testing! store.gamersnexus.net/
The 7000d I just now finished building was an absolute pleasure to build with. I recomend it, and it's big but it's not extremely big, I 100% recomend, even for just an air cooled rig.
My only surprise is that people are surprised great companies go bad. All successful companies start off with great people that really cared about the product they make and sell, and the goal is not just profit margins, but they take pride in their work that happens to also make them some money. But eventually success means expansion, and expansion means investors, and investors means your company is now at the mercy of people investing, the same people that demands maximum profit returns. These investors pressure you to hire "financial experts" that show you how to "cut costs", which in reality is really cut quality. Boeing is the primary example. All companies go through the same cycle.
And before Boeing it was McDonnell Douglas that grew too large to succeed (Looking at you Dc-9 and Dc-10) Great points made here. The problem is you upgrade after 5-10 years and you think the company that sold you a quality product beforehand would do so again. Games are the same way. For example when Blizzard started it was owned and operated by gamers that were programmers and passionate about the industry. A very stark difference to Blizzard of today.
Corsair has always been a company that only cares about half of the details for some reason. It's like the engineers get halfway through designing something and realise they used 90% of the budget and time, so you end up with a weird mix of well thought out, slightly over-engineered bits with crap that they found lying around the factory that "seems like it should work'.
@@leonro They've grown a lot in the past few years and have more and more different types of parts, and their development QC and manufacturing QC have suffered as a result. They are having trouble transitioning to a larger company, and all the while they are charging top tier pricing as compared to other mass market brands. Steve really hits it here, it's a good concepts, but the deliver and support is all over the place.
@@leonro Corsair made a killing during the PC boom during COVID lockdowns. In 2021, they had $101 million in profits. In 2022, they lost $61 million. In 2023, Corsair made $3 million. In Q1 2024, Corsair lost $12.5 million. Corsair has $252 million in inventories, so they have a lot of stuff rotting in warehouses. Also, U.S. government 25% tariffs are going to be reinstituted on PC cases, higher end power supplies, GPUs and other products from China. Corsair is going to pass down the tariffs to consumers or eat some of the cost.
for those who dont know, it was corsair that revolutionized case design when they released their first case (the Obsidian 800D). really sucks to see such cases from them today
I dunno if there's something wrong with me or I've got to that age where nothing pleases me more than hearing the likes of Steve and Louis Rossmann rip into companies with a certain sarcastic humour on the side 😅
@@WiiamGamer55 I have a 4000D-AF but only because I wanted to top mount a LF2 280mm and it's possibly the only mid tower that can do that (and only with certain MBs). It's not terrible, but it's ugly and lifeless, and the power button feels cheap and mine has a defective LED. I am switching to air cooling and a fractal north. I would rather a H5 Flow than the ugly and uninspired 4000D.
Hard to believe this is the same manufacturer that gave us the fantastic Carbide Air 540 case 11 years ago - the first dual-chamber design (long before Lian Li), solid construction with plenty of space (for a midtower form factor) and air flow. Still rocking one to this day. Its only flaw is the lack of a mesh filter in the bottom, but this can be fixed with aftermarket magnetic filters such as DEMCiflex.
I still use this case. It's brilliant. I have had the power button become dodgy a few years back but Corsair sent out a whole front module for me to replace it with (I'd asked for a service manual so I could plan the repair without taking it apart, reassembling to use the PC and then repeating to repair it). It was well out of warranty then. I ended up wiring in an emergency stop button as a secondary power button anyway as I needed a way to rapidly shut down the PC for security and smacking a big red button seemed the best way.
When I worked retail back when the Bronze Age was transitioning into the Iron Age, one of my illustrious duties was to build the display models for the furniture department of all of the stores. That cammed 'quick turn' screw brought back some extreme frustrations re low quality hardware that was designed to only worked once, and if they didn't work from the factory, you were left with trying to hide an angle bracket somewhere. A good idea that was reduced to bottom barrel castings meant to do a precision job just to save money. That last sentence wraps my feelings on this entire case.
My first case I ever bought was a Corsair C70 Vengeance. It was olive drab green, fully steel box, and had 2 super convenient carry handles. I don't know if it was ever thermally exceptional, but it was definitely a good build quality.
I ran the same case for over a decade, upgrading only last year. Same military green and everything. Great for LAN parties, and I have so many good memories attached to the unique design.
@@qanniqtuq I still use mine too while the USB ports kept working on mine the rubber in the tool-less drive cages perished but replacing them with 6-32 bolts fixed that. Only 10 minutes in and I'm seeing too much plastic to even bother with this, sad.
I'm not even shopping for parts right now - I built a PC a year ago and I'm good for a few more years - but I still love watching product reviews like this. I love knowing that I can trust you guys to dive deep and provide complete, unbiased reports.
@@jimmeyj503 I haven't built a pc in close to a decade, and had a box of cord, wires, fans, lights, etc. I did buy a cheap clearance prebuilt, and am slowly buying parts for a new build, and decided to try using some of those fans at least for both the prebuilt and the new pc. Well, the prebuilt, which has holes, that appear to be the same size as a fan, doesn't have any holes that a fan could attach to, and the mb has no extra pins to add fans. With the new build, the case can fit them, but the pins don't fit on the mb as they are 3 pin and the mb seems to need 4. I was kinda sad as some of those fans were still "new" in package, from sales long ago to be used with future builds.
That high price with no case fan started with Lian Li's O11 series actually. It's very strange that people still went for those without even saying anything. Now more companies following this rule, 200$ for case and another 100/150$ for case fans.
I had to chuckle at the monologue starting at about 12:22. To add to it, metric units and especially SI units *are* freedom units. They provide freedom from having to divide/multiply by unwieldy constants. How many inches in a mile? Multiply 5280 by 12. How many cm in a km? Just move a decimal point. Further, the SI specific heat/temperature/volume/mass units are all coherent with H2O, a key substance for the existence of all known life. In particular 1 Calorie is the amount of heat that will raise 1 cc of water 1 degree Centigrade. And BTW, 1 cc of H2O masses 1 gram so one liter of H2O masses one kg. Since a liter is very nearly one quart, 1 kg is about the same as a quart of water. That's pretty easy to remember and may help those feeling bamboozled by kg units. Regardless, SI units are are freedom, units, freedom from having to remember peculiar constants or having to do multiplication/division with factors other than 10 (to match having 10 fingers to count with). The vaunted feet/inches.etc. are from the Imperial system, whose name appropriately reflects how far from freedom the latter units actually are.
It's almost as if they rushed into being a publicly traded company and are now cutting every corner possible to attempt to justify their existence to shareholders.
THANK YOU!!! I've been in a search for a new case for my pc built. This case was in my top 3. that's for the insight ill be going with some else NOW!!!
I remember reading someone in a previous case review saying how they couldn't wait for GN to review these Corsair cases because they'd bought one... Ouch lol
@@Henrik_Holst for positive reinforcement that they bought a good product. For most people - if you like it and it suits your needs, that's all that matters.
Really wish you guys added a “best case scenario”(pun intended) category where you filled the cases with what you consider to be optimal fan placement/setup, and same standardized fans. Seems like that would honestly be more useful than a lot of the info you provide, considering many people buying these $150+ cases are willing to invest time watching videos like these above all would want to know what the best fan setup is, and how cases perform against each other with that best real world setup. I get it’s not as “scientific “ or properly standardized. But it’s also probably the closest thing to a real world use case for a lot of people. Love the case reviews though truly well done.
Filling a case with fans often makes performance worse, not better, because you're directing air in and out before it hits the parts. Published videos about it 5+ years ago. Maybe we can do another one.
@@GamersNexus yes, that is the point. In reality people who care about min maxing cases would LOVE to have a “recommended max setup” from you guys. I have a Corsair air 540(which you mentioned in the video) and half the time adding a fan makes it worse. I did so much research to try to figure out which setup was best, as I’m sure a lot of people do who watch these videos. Just saying that would be VERY useful and interesting information. If I could have watched a review and you guys recommended which fans are worth putting in, and what the Corsair air 540 did with that “optimal fan” setup compared to other cases… would have been the most important info in the whole review. As I said love the reviews even without this, just food for thought. For instance for me right now the most important bit of information is possibly “does the fractal torrent improve if you add more fans”. Or “does the fractal north XL Potentially match a fractal torrent if you spend more on fans, and add fans above and beyond the stock config, or would adding more fans do nothing or hurt temps? And I would guess these are questions a lot of people who are this interested in cases to watch dozens of these videos have.
The more reviews I see of GN, the more I love the FRACTAL DESIGN tower case. This one costs $189 USD and comes with five cooling fans (two 7,087 in PWM and three 5,512 included in stock)... Have you seen its thermal and noise analysis on GN? Wow!! 😍
All men are fallible. Steve Burke is a man. Steve Burke is fallible. Personal conclusion: Be skeptical of Steve in the true spirit of skepticism. He's earned high confidence, but not unquestioning trust. Is Steve a God? He has not demonstrated himself to be one... yet. That is perhaps a new test that they can design.
Yeah, I built my current rig in a 5000d. I had issues but it was solid, like steve said. The mesh filters are nice, the 6500's mesh looks like actual garbage lol
this guy is what we really because those like linus are profit oriented….linus is good to watch but there is no trust. trust is the most important thing whether it is business,personal or otherwise.
Cut corners on the most important parts, but still provide a lot of attention to detail that's probably more expensive than making the important bits good.
It’s just about the same as any other of these wack a** fish tank cases. None of them really make sense. Having a chamber where fans push air towards literally none of the components is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
I love my Carbide Air 540 case and am still using it today with a 5800X3D and 3090. Sad to see Corsair has gone downhill so far with the successor. I love dual chamber case design generally because it's so much easier to hide any wire mess in the 2nd compartment. I even store extra cables and screws back there in a little box so I have them handy when needed.
@@TautolonautHey, guns are one of the few places we use any commie french numbers. As I understand it, it is also among the few places everyone else uses any freedom units. Caliber is "whatever unit the inventor of the cartridge was using at the time", be it .45 inches, 9 millimeters, .308 inches, or 7.62 millimeters. (Machining uses decimal inches. Yes, I know. (Don't ask about shotgun gauge. That way madness lies.)
A blue king 95 pro is fair performance and looks AMAZING! Best dual chamber in my opinion. I never get tired of walking in a room and seeing it. on or off. :)
I have an old Obsidian 900D Airflow that I bought back in ancient times and I love just about everything about it. Though I was looking at some newer designs recently and boy have they gone downhill, for example a couple of them made it abundantly clear the designer had never built a computer - You could have a power supply OR HDDs but not both, physically impossible to fit both. It wasn't even for lack of internal volume, if they'd shifted the drive cage over with the inch or two they had available it would have been fine. I think there has to be a rule that when you spec and design a case you have to build a computer using everything you specced for and it has to work.
Corsair has been letting their quality slip and only focusing on one goal, profits. Like you said the company is 3x bigger than when they were actually "good" and now they've got a board to please which leads to mixed products like these cases. Have had nothing but issues with almost everything Corsair in my build I cannot wait until it's time to upgrade and get some quality parts in my rig! Thank you for your reviews, unbias and in-depth!
This actually started happening in about 2003. Back then they were one of several overclocking orientated brands who made high quality stuff for a premium. Some where around that time they got bought and turned all corporate and immediately cut quality on their products but maintained their prices. What they did well was have a massive marketing budget that made people think they were bigger than they were and thus achieved a lot of success. They have kept up this formula since then.
@@ffwast corsair's psus have been made by tons of companies really. The tx series for examples is made by great wall, then the RMx was made by CWT (not sure about the newer models) and even Flextronics for the AX models.
@@mechapope9168 if that helps you cope, but it doesn’t matter how they change the homework up, to some lesser or greater extent it’s still an o11 copy at the end of the day.
DUDE!!! I've bought 4000d airflow for my build and it had loose motherboard screws on the inside, not to mention that it has wobbly panels and shitty dust(or rubbish?) filter on the top. this video is so relatable now
@@GamersNexus I mean it's ok overall, but sadly something gone wrong. wobbly panels are not the issue aside from the motherboard screws tbh. such a small but important thing
@@GamersNexus I've had one for a couple years, the power button feels really cheap and doesn't have an LED. Seems minor but it gets to you after a while as it's the only part of the case you regularly interact with. It was a good case at the time but since I bought it much better options have come out. Built a friends PC in a H5 Flow and I rate that case much higher personally, and it's significantly cheaper.
i recently purchased an air carbide 240 and i'm glad i tursted my feeling to went for an older generation product. especially for the easily removable drive bays.
Given the way it's trademarked I'd suggest what it actually means that Corsair *calling* it "QuikTurn" is the part that is trying to be protected, as in the actual name not the screw design. My understanding is that they'd need a patent to protect the screw design and that the trademark could only apply to a name/marketing term associated with your brand. This would be like selling your coasters as "DrinccBois™", it's still a coaster, you're just protecting the fact that you're *choosing* not to call it that. ...the world of marketing is *extremely* silly.
I GENUINELY like the placement of the drive sled. Having drives be easily accessible is super nice. I'd LOVE a case that has a backplane at the front for drives to plug into
I've owned the Corsair 600T and LOVED it. It's now my son's gaming rig. I went with a new build and chose the ASUS TUF GT501 (white) because of the great ratings (Sorry, Corsair, you can't win them all). I love it. If Corsair can do better than produce a box of a case, give us more dynamics, and provide some great looks, I'm all in again.
I am SOOOO glad that I just built in what I wanted, and didnt wait for some "new, shiny" case. I built in an "Old, shiny" case, The 5000D Airflow. Now, weirdly enough (and maybe others could explain this) I built in a 4000D RGB case and it was SO much easier than the 5000D.
a comment, I made months ago, was to someone saying that XYZ had copied der8auers O11. My comment was Corsair Carbide 540 2014. Great case still, btw. I love you GN.
Great! review, GN (Steve). Thank you! Please keep doing this as a reputable companies/makers should react (to improve) accordingly if they want to keep their followers. Unfortunately, typical business practice, lower the cost (sacrificing quality and R&D) to increase the revenue (up with the product pricing). I used to own this case (psu and AiO) brand and opt to own another brand that is worth the price vs product's quality (after-sales support).
@@christopherwood2290 i removed the extra HD cages i love the side plexi mounts for fans i wanted the OD green case i'm going to look for one and get some wood furnishes for it.
The gap under the PSU mount is for hiding/storing the cables of non-modular PSUs. There was a Cooler Master or Antec case that had something similar a decade ago.
@@GamersNexusI agree that it's a poor decision in this day and age, especially wit full modular PSUs being the norm rather than the exception, but it's purpose was obvious to me and I felt the need to comment. .
What weirdo is gonna buy a $200 case but get a non-modular PSU? The amount of people that you suggest this "feature" is for is close to 0. And that's not a percentage, just total people.
I was in the market for a new case a couple months ago and I remembered my good old Corsair days and checked them out... ... End result is I quickly bought a Fractal case and its closest competitor in my shopping list was Lian Li.
I would love to see a revisit of the Air 540, 4000D, and 5000D Airflow cases. I would also like to see reviews of the variants: 3000D Airflow, 3000D RGB Airflow, 4000D RGB Airflow, 4000D Airflow QL Edition, 4000X RGB, 5000D RGB Airflow, 5000X RGB, 5000X QL Edition (try with the Airflow panels), 7000X RGB. I know most of these cases are probably not worth it price to performance but still would interesting to see, nonetheless. Side note: the updated 4000 and 5000 cases have fan mounts on the psu shroud.
Steve : I wrote about the Carbide Air 540 in 2013 Me : *_*Looks down at his Carbide Air 540, still rocking 11 years later_** Yes you did Steve, yes you did.
@@CptJistuce Eh, I've personally never had a need for more than two on the front, I prefer to keep most peripherals plugged into the back and out of sight.
@@DannyGraves1775 Principle of the thing. Used to have six USB ports on the case and only two ports' worth of header. Now I've got ... probably ten ports' worth of headers and the case only has two? (Well, four, since my current case is a decade old.)
Looks like the case engineers at Corsair are trying to level up to become car engineers. One ever bothers to check if there's enough room for the actual parts!
I got a 100R ! Bought it because it was only new case I could find locally, from a brand that wasn't of questionable quality, with something I still highly desire, that being 2x 5.25" bays and 4x 3.5" bays.
My first and only case was the white air 540. I've loved it over the 10 years I've been on PC and honestly I can see myself building my next system in it as well. Really sad to see how far corsair has "sagged" since then.
I am so happy with Corsair out of my life! I love my O11D EVO. I did try using 10 Corsair fans before their new connect system and they were awful to look at. Returned them for Lian Li AL120 fans, went from 20 fan cables and two fan controller hubs to 8 fan cables and 1 hub. I also had room to put my HDD cage back in. I also dropped the K95 Platinum for the Logitech 915TKL, best keyboard I've used. I always had a Logitech mouse so the Superlight fits in nicely. The best thing of it all, NO iCUE SOFTWARE! I use Signal RGB and FanControl for lighting and cooling. So much lighter on resources. To be fair, my daughter's case is a Corsair 4000D and she is using my old Corsair AIO and fans and iCUE does seem better now but I'm not going back.
Wow - thank you for this! I have an E-ATX motherboard with an old Molex connector at the bottom and needed to find an E-ATX case that would leave clearance at the bottom for the connector. So I was considering this case, but this would be a terrible mess given how much airflow I'm going to need to manage. You saved me time, money and trouble.
I'm buying this for my own project Zero build... However my airflow setup will be: Intake: - Bottom and front ( both 3x 120mm fans) Exhaust: - Top (3x 120mm fans) - Side (3x 120mm fans on AIO exhausting the hot CPU air OUT of the case while getting fresh from front/bottom) - Back (1 x 140mm fan) With this both the CPU and GPU are getting their own fresh supply of air.
I bought a 650D many moons ago, and the largest of their AIO coolers they advertised as fitting into it. Turned out the cooler didn't fit, and when i contacted Corsair about it they did some tests and said "oh, you're right, it doesnt fit", and removed it from the list of AIO coolers that fit. Fast forward to a few years ago, I bought a Crystal 280x RGB, and that had exactly the same problem as here, where the EATX 12v wiring cut-out needs to marry with a hole you must have to drill through your HDDs. So yeah, they didn't forget how to do things just lately. They've been forgetting how to make things properly for a long time.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE if you plan on using the 6500 case with an mATX Project Zero motherboard: While the bottom cutouts match up fine, those headers go right into the bottom of the power supply. So while you can technically install it you won't be able to use the Front Audio header, USB 2.0 header (1 or 2, I can't remember) and one of the ARGB headers at least. I ended up returning mine for a Z970 Project Zero motherboard and the bottom headers come out below the power supply on ATX boards. I posted details of this issue with a picture on both the Corsair and Gamers Nexus subreddits.
I used a computer case Gamers Nexus recommend in one of the best chassis videos. I won't say which one but it is fantastic. Thanks for doing the work for us so we don't have to waste money finding out the hard way.
I have yet to have a bad experience with Corsair, i have only jad good ones for years and even to this day. The iCue software has had no real problems the entire time I've used it. The products are great and only issues were down to me. Only problem i habe had that wasnt me, was UPS shattering a back panel of a case I bought, which Corsair sent me a new back panel for free, no s&h fees either. I'm continuing to buy their products cause I have not had problems. They are my favorite brand and the variety of products I love.
Changing of the guard in the PC world. Lots of new companies coming in and doing things better than the usual suspects. I for one am happy about this. It promotes evolution in design and hopefully more competitive pricing.
I just bought this case 2 weeks ago. To be honest, I really like it! I obviously cannot argue with the points Steve made but I do feel that some of them do not really have an impact on the overall experience with the case The final push on why I choose this case, is the side panel on hinges! I absolutely love that concept especially because I will be interchanging decorative aspects regularly. Something to keep in mind though that Steve did not mention: I bought a Z790-P board which is atx but it leaves the cutouts on the right side very much visible. Any cable running behind it, will be in plain side basically.
Corsair had great cases in the early 2010's. 650D, Air 540, Air 240, 250D, Graphite 760T, Graphite 380T. Great cases, unique, so many cool new features (at the time). Then the case market moved to tempered glass ovens and Corsair (and everyone else) forget they were supposed to be making cases for COMPUTER COMPONENTS and instead focused on the Twitch crowd that just want RGB's and nothing else. Now we have full size ATX cases that don't even come with freakin HDD bays and no 5.25" front panel support. Instead just mostly empty boxes with a bunch of lights that most people will turn off when they get sick of lights shining in the corner of their eyes.
Amazing review, I am currently looking into these double chamber cases, so this review really helps me narrow down the options.It's sad the state Corsair has fallen, I had many products from them in the past and most of them were great.
I have a 680x with custom front, side, and top panels that have holes to allow for airflow and I’d be willing to put money on it being one of the best cases on the market. My 4090 never touches 60c under heavy loads with the fans at 50%. Absolutely incredible, it performs better than if I had it in the open air due to every fan slot having a 140mm ML fan mounted in them.
I really like the new graphic showing how the hardware is sourced (either from the manufacturer, a viewer or bought without the manufacturer's knowledge) it allows us to know if they could have just handed you a golden sample or not :)
Man. I used to love Corsair cases. I think the Air 540 was one of the last I owned, and it was awesome. One thing I hate right now, is how case manufacturers just follow trends. They copy a design by a competitor that is selling well. Originality in design feels rare today. It feels like the automobile market; I often can't tell one make/model from another.
Wow, thank you so much for this video Steve. I have been using my Corsair Carbide Air 540 for over 10 years now. When Corsair announced this case, I was going to upgrade to it without even waiting for the reviews after having skipped the Air 740 and the 680X, but now thanks to your review showing just how poorly built this case is, you saved me $200 and single-handedly ensured I will never be wasting my money on it. Guess I am just stuck on my 540 for the foreseeable future due to its 5.25" drive bay and dual HDD slots in a chamber style case.
I bought my brother the 5000d airflow and when we were finish building it i has to stop myself from driving back to best buy with my credit card ... its a beautiful case
Oh man, my wife has a green Vengeance case and loved it dearly. We're still using an Air 540 for one of our machines in the house, too. Absolutely fantastic cases. Sad to see Corsair going down this route now.
The Antec C8 is one of the next cases on our review list! What do you want to see after that one? We're building the ATX roster again!
Check out our prior ATX case review: th-cam.com/video/m-AMD01GVZE/w-d-xo.html
Grab a GN Modmat or T-Shirt to support our testing! store.gamersnexus.net/
O11 Vision!
Definitely Montech King 95 !
Please review some MONTECH’s cases, they actually have many great cases, like King 95 or the new Sky two GX. I think they are so underrated !
When are the yearly and half-yearly case roundups? Please do those!
Ditto on Montech cases, specifically KING 95 Pro and SKY TWO.
0:57 - "Aftermarket plastic structure that we've branded....Corsair's Oh SH*T Moment of Product Design"
Corsair: "Oh sh*t!!!"
That filter is horrible! That's "random cheap AliExpress case" stuff.
I have the D5000 airflow. This seems like a step back in some areas, but its cool with back-focused cases.
The 7000d I just now finished building was an absolute pleasure to build with. I recomend it, and it's big but it's not extremely big, I 100% recomend, even for just an air cooled rig.
@@volvo09 and you bet that china would make better filter replacements for the 6500X
My only surprise is that people are surprised great companies go bad. All successful companies start off with great people that really cared about the product they make and sell, and the goal is not just profit margins, but they take pride in their work that happens to also make them some money. But eventually success means expansion, and expansion means investors, and investors means your company is now at the mercy of people investing, the same people that demands maximum profit returns. These investors pressure you to hire "financial experts" that show you how to "cut costs", which in reality is really cut quality. Boeing is the primary example. All companies go through the same cycle.
Management that are alienated from the product they are managing will always destroy the product.
And before Boeing it was McDonnell Douglas that grew too large to succeed (Looking at you Dc-9 and Dc-10)
Great points made here. The problem is you upgrade after 5-10 years and you think the company that sold you a quality product beforehand would do so again.
Games are the same way. For example when Blizzard started it was owned and operated by gamers that were programmers and passionate about the industry. A very stark difference to Blizzard of today.
Corsair has always been a company that only cares about half of the details for some reason. It's like the engineers get halfway through designing something and realise they used 90% of the budget and time, so you end up with a weird mix of well thought out, slightly over-engineered bits with crap that they found lying around the factory that "seems like it should work'.
Encrappification is inevitable.
@@ripplecutter233 Enshittification*. Gotta love it 😌
Corsair: "How can we make our downward spiral go even faster?"
GN: "We got you"
QuikTurn ™
What downward spiral? I haven't kept up with PC stuff lately.
yup. After my Virtuoso headset went out on me, and they refused to warranty it, I decided to stop buying their products.
@@leonro They've grown a lot in the past few years and have more and more different types of parts, and their development QC and manufacturing QC have suffered as a result. They are having trouble transitioning to a larger company, and all the while they are charging top tier pricing as compared to other mass market brands. Steve really hits it here, it's a good concepts, but the deliver and support is all over the place.
@@leonro Corsair made a killing during the PC boom during COVID lockdowns. In 2021, they had $101 million in profits. In 2022, they lost $61 million. In 2023, Corsair made $3 million. In Q1 2024, Corsair lost $12.5 million. Corsair has $252 million in inventories, so they have a lot of stuff rotting in warehouses. Also, U.S. government 25% tariffs are going to be reinstituted on PC cases, higher end power supplies, GPUs and other products from China. Corsair is going to pass down the tariffs to consumers or eat some of the cost.
for those who dont know, it was corsair that revolutionized case design when they released their first case (the Obsidian 800D).
really sucks to see such cases from them today
That aggressive blurry zoom over to Bulbasaur had me rolling.
Quality stuff.
Time code?
@@Fluke1x 10:09
if they let the image unblur, Nintendo would have C&D'd them
@@othtorpotato9960
It's just a plushie,, chill
I dunno if there's something wrong with me or I've got to that age where nothing pleases me more than hearing the likes of Steve and Louis Rossmann rip into companies with a certain sarcastic humour on the side 😅
Steve and Louis, 2 greats when it comes to ranting at a sh1tty company.
Guess we getting old and world is getting cheaper. It's fun to watch both of them do major f U to the companies that deserve it lmao
They forgot for many years, remembered slightly with the 4000/5000D and then forgot again.
Slightly? 5000d and 4000d airflow are good cases.
The 4000D and 5000D Airflow cases were good. Huge disappointment to see them go backwards.
@@WiiamGamer55 I have a 4000D-AF but only because I wanted to top mount a LF2 280mm and it's possibly the only mid tower that can do that (and only with certain MBs).
It's not terrible, but it's ugly and lifeless, and the power button feels cheap and mine has a defective LED. I am switching to air cooling and a fractal north. I would rather a H5 Flow than the ugly and uninspired 4000D.
Maybe I was harsh with the slightly.
yeah, i had a 5000d airflow and loved the quality
Hard to believe this is the same manufacturer that gave us the fantastic Carbide Air 540 case 11 years ago - the first dual-chamber design (long before Lian Li), solid construction with plenty of space (for a midtower form factor) and air flow. Still rocking one to this day. Its only flaw is the lack of a mesh filter in the bottom, but this can be fixed with aftermarket magnetic filters such as DEMCiflex.
Heck, I still have that case
Me too. I really like it. I bought those air filters too :)
@@Demopans5990 same, i was looking at replacing it with the 6500d next year... im not any more
I still use this case. It's brilliant. I have had the power button become dodgy a few years back but Corsair sent out a whole front module for me to replace it with (I'd asked for a service manual so I could plan the repair without taking it apart, reassembling to use the PC and then repeating to repair it). It was well out of warranty then.
I ended up wiring in an emergency stop button as a secondary power button anyway as I needed a way to rapidly shut down the PC for security and smacking a big red button seemed the best way.
I have my air 540 too!
When I worked retail back when the Bronze Age was transitioning into the Iron Age, one of my illustrious duties was to build the display models for the furniture department of all of the stores. That cammed 'quick turn' screw brought back some extreme frustrations re low quality hardware that was designed to only worked once, and if they didn't work from the factory, you were left with trying to hide an angle bracket somewhere. A good idea that was reduced to bottom barrel castings meant to do a precision job just to save money.
That last sentence wraps my feelings on this entire case.
My first case I ever bought was a Corsair C70 Vengeance. It was olive drab green, fully steel box, and had 2 super convenient carry handles. I don't know if it was ever thermally exceptional, but it was definitely a good build quality.
That was back when the name of the game was heavy-duty cases! Corsair was really scrappy back then.
I still use mine (in white). The usb ports are not working anymore. Use it with a 5800 and a 9700XTX. Temperatures are good for me.
Legendary case
I ran the same case for over a decade, upgrading only last year. Same military green and everything. Great for LAN parties, and I have so many good memories attached to the unique design.
@@qanniqtuq I still use mine too while the USB ports kept working on mine the rubber in the tool-less drive cages perished but replacing them with 6-32 bolts fixed that.
Only 10 minutes in and I'm seeing too much plastic to even bother with this, sad.
love GN's reviews.. brutally honest and still strangely supportive.. like a loving parent who just found their kid set fire to the house.. again
He's not angry. he's just... Disappointed.
I'm not even shopping for parts right now - I built a PC a year ago and I'm good for a few more years - but I still love watching product reviews like this. I love knowing that I can trust you guys to dive deep and provide complete, unbiased reports.
Same here, always good to keep tabs on the PC part market to be honest. Can never have too much info
$200 and no fans are you serious? Antec and Montech are way better for the price and comes with fans.
I mean in general I support no fans, as I have accumulated a lot over the years and do not need more. But that should be reflected in the price....
Agreed there are those like myself who are budget who wouldn't want to shell the money on fans off the rip.@@jimmeyj503
@@jimmeyj503 I haven't built a pc in close to a decade, and had a box of cord, wires, fans, lights, etc. I did buy a cheap clearance prebuilt, and am slowly buying parts for a new build, and decided to try using some of those fans at least for both the prebuilt and the new pc. Well, the prebuilt, which has holes, that appear to be the same size as a fan, doesn't have any holes that a fan could attach to, and the mb has no extra pins to add fans. With the new build, the case can fit them, but the pins don't fit on the mb as they are 3 pin and the mb seems to need 4. I was kinda sad as some of those fans were still "new" in package, from sales long ago to be used with future builds.
That high price with no case fan started with Lian Li's O11 series actually. It's very strange that people still went for those without even saying anything.
Now more companies following this rule, 200$ for case and another 100/150$ for case fans.
Corsair seemingly has decided to hope people buy their products based on their history, not on their actual quality 😔
This is pretty well Corsair 101. "We once made great stuff (about 20 years ago) so pay our prices"
Sounds like Microsoft.
@@malphadourCorsair is inconsistent 101. The stuff the output is either A tier or D tier, no in between, same with pricing.
@@notjustforhackers4252 wait Microsoft makes products? I thought they just made terrible windows updates
@@KmartKingpin Windows IS a product... a terrible one for sure but still a product 🤣
Thank you for holding companies and your peers accountable. Using your platform to support consumers is what earns you my support. ✊🏽
I dont know why I found it so funny when Steve ran out of breath at 7:05
His dedication to keeping this video under half an hour.
I had to chuckle at the monologue starting at about 12:22. To add to it, metric units and especially SI units *are* freedom units. They provide freedom from having to divide/multiply by unwieldy constants. How many inches in a mile? Multiply 5280 by 12. How many cm in a km? Just move a decimal point. Further, the SI specific heat/temperature/volume/mass units are all coherent with H2O, a key substance for the existence of all known life. In particular 1 Calorie is the amount of heat that will raise 1 cc of water 1 degree Centigrade. And BTW, 1 cc of H2O masses 1 gram so one liter of H2O masses one kg. Since a liter is very nearly one quart, 1 kg is about the same as a quart of water. That's pretty easy to remember and may help those feeling bamboozled by kg units.
Regardless, SI units are are freedom, units, freedom from having to remember peculiar constants or having to do multiplication/division with factors other than 10 (to match having 10 fingers to count with). The vaunted feet/inches.etc. are from the Imperial system, whose name appropriately reflects how far from freedom the latter units actually are.
It's almost as if they rushed into being a publicly traded company and are now cutting every corner possible to attempt to justify their existence to shareholders.
Never realised they'd sold their soul to the stock market. Now I understand why their quality has just plummeted in the last 4 years.
Same as most of the board partners as well…its a race to the bottom
THANK YOU!!! I've been in a search for a new case for my pc built. This case was in my top 3. that's for the insight ill be going with some else NOW!!!
Just wait one more week for conputex.
I am sure there will be a lot of new options
@@MarcoMiyagi im looking at the phanteks nv7!
Thank you for maintaining your use of the metric system
I remember reading someone in a previous case review saying how they couldn't wait for GN to review these Corsair cases because they'd bought one... Ouch lol
Better off waiting for the review, and then buying something else, a lot of the time.
@@Skobeloff... yeah and who on earth wants a review on something they already have bought and used?
@@Henrik_Holst It would often be the last thing you wanted to see. A video on how you bought the wrong thing.
@@Skobeloff... exactly, wonder if they hope that it will review great and that this somehow would give them points or something.
@@Henrik_Holst for positive reinforcement that they bought a good product.
For most people - if you like it and it suits your needs, that's all that matters.
I'm still rocking a corsair 750d airflow edition, I don't think I'll ever change it, it fits everything and will do for the foreseeable future.
Really wish you guys added a “best case scenario”(pun intended) category where you filled the cases with what you consider to be optimal fan placement/setup, and same standardized fans. Seems like that would honestly be more useful than a lot of the info you provide, considering many people buying these $150+ cases are willing to invest time watching videos like these above all would want to know what the best fan setup is, and how cases perform against each other with that best real world setup. I get it’s not as “scientific “ or properly standardized. But it’s also probably the closest thing to a real world use case for a lot of people.
Love the case reviews though truly well done.
i thought the same thing - especially with high end cases a lot of people just slap as many and as big of fans as they can into the case
Filling a case with fans often makes performance worse, not better, because you're directing air in and out before it hits the parts. Published videos about it 5+ years ago. Maybe we can do another one.
@@GamersNexus yes, that is the point. In reality people who care about min maxing cases would LOVE to have a “recommended max setup” from you guys. I have a Corsair air 540(which you mentioned in the video) and half the time adding a fan makes it worse. I did so much research to try to figure out which setup was best, as I’m sure a lot of people do who watch these videos. Just saying that would be VERY useful and interesting information. If I could have watched a review and you guys recommended which fans are worth putting in, and what the Corsair air 540 did with that “optimal fan” setup compared to other cases… would have been the most important info in the whole review. As I said love the reviews even without this, just food for thought.
For instance for me right now the most important bit of information is possibly “does the fractal torrent improve if you add more fans”. Or “does the fractal north XL Potentially match a fractal torrent if you spend more on fans, and add fans above and beyond the stock config, or would adding more fans do nothing or hurt temps? And I would guess these are questions a lot of people who are this interested in cases to watch dozens of these videos have.
@@GamersNexus This would be a great video to redo with some new visualizations really showing what the extra fans are doing to the airflow
@@user-bk8cr6cb9hI guess the problem is that optimal setup depends on what you put inside (what GPU? Tower cooler? CLC? What RAM profile?)
The more reviews I see of GN, the more I love the FRACTAL DESIGN tower case. This one costs $189 USD and comes with five cooling fans (two 7,087 in PWM and three 5,512 included in stock)... Have you seen its thermal and noise analysis on GN? Wow!! 😍
corsair reached the point where they sell you a 40€ case for 140€
This guy is not afraid to call out poor quality when he see's it-trust his advice 100%
All men are fallible.
Steve Burke is a man.
Steve Burke is fallible.
Personal conclusion: Be skeptical of Steve in the true spirit of skepticism. He's earned high confidence, but not unquestioning trust. Is Steve a God? He has not demonstrated himself to be one... yet. That is perhaps a new test that they can design.
Yeah, I built my current rig in a 5000d. I had issues but it was solid, like steve said. The mesh filters are nice, the 6500's mesh looks like actual garbage lol
this guy is what we really because those like linus are profit oriented….linus is good to watch but there is no trust. trust is the most important thing whether it is business,personal or otherwise.
@@NoneofyourBusiness-gy9ywdamn, get off your knees
I mean, it gets him money, so…
Thank you for using a good, normal and easy to understand measuringsystem.
Corsair: How can we cut corners on all level?
GN: I'll make sure to point them out!
Cut corners on the most important parts, but still provide a lot of attention to detail that's probably more expensive than making the important bits good.
It’s just about the same as any other of these wack a** fish tank cases. None of them really make sense. Having a chamber where fans push air towards literally none of the components is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
@@godnamedtay Airflow doesn't just go straight. It can round a corner perfectly fine.
@@Slimmeyy I mean, physics says not really tho. Maybe we have a different definition of “just fine”
Corsair: cut corners everywhere but not those random two panels. Make sure those are bulletproof armor panels.
Still own my Air540. Still probably my favorite case to build in.
Those trademarked screws being displayed on the crystalline jewelry display stand was awesome.
I love my Carbide Air 540 case and am still using it today with a 5800X3D and 3090. Sad to see Corsair has gone downhill so far with the successor. I love dual chamber case design generally because it's so much easier to hide any wire mess in the 2nd compartment. I even store extra cables and screws back there in a little box so I have them handy when needed.
Really you're so afraid of cables?
@@gorkskoal9315 More like lazy. The front of the case looks good, the back can be a mess of wires, I'm never looking at it.
I'm bummed. Was about to buy this case to build a custom loop in. Thanks for the warning Steve
12:38 We demand you use Giraffes, Washing Machines and Bananas for size comparison!!!
I feel that these are realistic demands and second this.
How could you forget the most american measurement of all - football fields
An even more 'Merican measurement would be eagles wingspan.
@@rspanther Weapon ranges?
@@TautolonautHey, guns are one of the few places we use any commie french numbers.
As I understand it, it is also among the few places everyone else uses any freedom units. Caliber is "whatever unit the inventor of the cartridge was using at the time", be it .45 inches, 9 millimeters, .308 inches, or 7.62 millimeters. (Machining uses decimal inches. Yes, I know.
(Don't ask about shotgun gauge. That way madness lies.)
"Corsair saw what they are doing with video cards" Literally read my mind 100% same thought word for word as you said it.
I think you need to give ''Banana-tech" a chance. Everyone knows a bananas curve is the optimal airflow path.
Exactly, it's for aerodynamics
A blue king 95 pro is fair performance and looks AMAZING! Best dual chamber in my opinion. I never get tired of walking in a room and seeing it. on or off. :)
I have an old Obsidian 900D Airflow that I bought back in ancient times and I love just about everything about it. Though I was looking at some newer designs recently and boy have they gone downhill, for example a couple of them made it abundantly clear the designer had never built a computer - You could have a power supply OR HDDs but not both, physically impossible to fit both. It wasn't even for lack of internal volume, if they'd shifted the drive cage over with the inch or two they had available it would have been fine.
I think there has to be a rule that when you spec and design a case you have to build a computer using everything you specced for and it has to work.
Corsair has been letting their quality slip and only focusing on one goal, profits. Like you said the company is 3x bigger than when they were actually "good" and now they've got a board to please which leads to mixed products like these cases.
Have had nothing but issues with almost everything Corsair in my build I cannot wait until it's time to upgrade and get some quality parts in my rig!
Thank you for your reviews, unbias and in-depth!
This actually started happening in about 2003. Back then they were one of several overclocking orientated brands who made high quality stuff for a premium. Some where around that time they got bought and turned all corporate and immediately cut quality on their products but maintained their prices. What they did well was have a massive marketing budget that made people think they were bigger than they were and thus achieved a lot of success. They have kept up this formula since then.
As far as I can tell they're still top dog in small form factor power supplies but those are actually built by great wall
@@ffwast corsair's psus have been made by tons of companies really. The tx series for examples is made by great wall, then the RMx was made by CWT (not sure about the newer models) and even Flextronics for the AX models.
And my god, WHAT a board. Almost completely devoid of anyone with experience in the market they are in, it's mostly just private equity goons.
@@matteo964 They have some seasonics as well, same as a lot of PSU brands. I think Seasonic is the only maker that also has a sales brand.
Steve’s remodeling his channel on the cable news model of 24/7 outrage-prn.
Corsair R&D heads: "GN hasn't done case reviews in forever. Just throw a shitty 011 copy together."
GN: *_Case reviews again_*
Corsair: *_seething screeching noises_*
its more like a bigger 280x case, not everything with glass in the front and fans at the bottom is a 011 copy
@@mechapope9168 if that helps you cope, but it doesn’t matter how they change the homework up, to some lesser or greater extent it’s still an o11 copy at the end of the day.
@@dark___matter_ so a case that came out before a 011 is a copy of a 011, makes sense
@@dark___matter_ Does Lian Li pay you for posts like this? Its a box for computer parts. Seething about "copying" another manufacturer is just silly
@@stuartfury3390 is Corsair paying you enough? My initial comment was a meme, you mfs are the ones jumping on here like your mamma has been hit 😂
I still have my C70 in white on my old build. Thing is solid and still looks great. My current is a 4000D and it's been great.
DUDE!!! I've bought 4000d airflow for my build and it had loose motherboard screws on the inside, not to mention that it has wobbly panels and shitty dust(or rubbish?) filter on the top. this video is so relatable now
The 4000D has been pretty good in our experience, especially for the price
@@GamersNexus I mean it's ok overall, but sadly something gone wrong. wobbly panels are not the issue aside from the motherboard screws tbh. such a small but important thing
@@GamersNexus I've had one for a couple years, the power button feels really cheap and doesn't have an LED. Seems minor but it gets to you after a while as it's the only part of the case you regularly interact with. It was a good case at the time but since I bought it much better options have come out.
Built a friends PC in a H5 Flow and I rate that case much higher personally, and it's significantly cheaper.
@@holobolo1661The 4000D power button does have an LED
@@ninjay2k317 Oh really? I guess mine has always been broken lol. (before you ask, yes I have correctly installed the FP connectors)
i recently purchased an air carbide 240 and i'm glad i tursted my feeling to went for an older generation product. especially for the easily removable drive bays.
Given the way it's trademarked I'd suggest what it actually means that Corsair *calling* it "QuikTurn" is the part that is trying to be protected, as in the actual name not the screw design. My understanding is that they'd need a patent to protect the screw design and that the trademark could only apply to a name/marketing term associated with your brand. This would be like selling your coasters as "DrinccBois™", it's still a coaster, you're just protecting the fact that you're *choosing* not to call it that.
...the world of marketing is *extremely* silly.
Correct, they applied for a trademark of the name QuikTurn - it's not a registered trademark yet either, otherwise they'd have an (r) on it.
Truly hilarious their "quick turning screw" design is just "more proprietary screws for you so you have to buy from us in case you lose any"
I GENUINELY like the placement of the drive sled. Having drives be easily accessible is super nice. I'd LOVE a case that has a backplane at the front for drives to plug into
If only they werent integrating with project zero on this one...
Steve and his buddies/co-workers are BRUTAL!! Keeping companies accountable 👍🏻🔥🔥
You want you companies one flop from bankruptcy so they don't get ideas of taking liberties.
Bro-workers, if you will.
I've owned the Corsair 600T and LOVED it. It's now my son's gaming rig. I went with a new build and chose the ASUS TUF GT501 (white) because of the great ratings (Sorry, Corsair, you can't win them all). I love it. If Corsair can do better than produce a box of a case, give us more dynamics, and provide some great looks, I'm all in again.
Glad I went 5000D Airflow.
Same here, got it back in September and I love it
Same
I went with the go-big-or-go-home 7000d airflow and it's seriously the most fun I've ever had building in a case.
@@eleven99 I have 7000D airflow it's a disappointment compared to a Coolermaster HAF 700 (non-evo)
Same
I am SOOOO glad that I just built in what I wanted, and didnt wait for some "new, shiny" case.
I built in an "Old, shiny" case, The 5000D Airflow. Now, weirdly enough (and maybe others could explain this) I built in a 4000D RGB case and it was SO much easier than the 5000D.
a comment, I made months ago, was to someone saying that XYZ had copied der8auers O11. My comment was Corsair Carbide 540 2014. Great case still, btw. I love you GN.
Great! review, GN (Steve). Thank you! Please keep doing this as a reputable companies/makers should react (to improve) accordingly if they want to keep their followers. Unfortunately, typical business practice, lower the cost (sacrificing quality and R&D) to increase the revenue (up with the product pricing). I used to own this case (psu and AiO) brand and opt to own another brand that is worth the price vs product's quality (after-sales support).
I believe this is a fundamental flaw of publicly traded companies. The problem is they become beholden to shareholders who expect constant growth.
The Black Corasiar C70 is my current case, and i still love it, and it will be host to my AM5 build as well
I still have the olive drab C70. Great case. Wish cases would actually become more basic in nature instead of so much bloat.
@@christopherwood2290 i removed the extra HD cages i love the side plexi mounts for fans i wanted the OD green case i'm going to look for one and get some wood furnishes for it.
That drive cage is a stunning example of "Design by CAD, screw the mockups".
The gap under the PSU mount is for hiding/storing the cables of non-modular PSUs. There was a Cooler Master or Antec case that had something similar a decade ago.
Yes, except there are boundless other places to do the same and they hindered compatibility by putting it there.
@@GamersNexusI agree that it's a poor decision in this day and age, especially wit full modular PSUs being the norm rather than the exception, but it's purpose was obvious to me and I felt the need to comment. .
What weirdo is gonna buy a $200 case but get a non-modular PSU? The amount of people that you suggest this "feature" is for is close to 0. And that's not a percentage, just total people.
@@Slimmeyy I said that was it's purpose, I never said it was a smart design decision. Kindly don't claim I've said or typed something that I didn't.
Man, they need to bring back 5.25" drive bays. That's the traditional solution, shove all the extra cables into an unused drive bay.
I was in the market for a new case a couple months ago and I remembered my good old Corsair days and checked them out...
... End result is I quickly bought a Fractal case and its closest competitor in my shopping list was Lian Li.
I would love to see a revisit of the Air 540, 4000D, and 5000D Airflow cases. I would also like to see reviews of the variants: 3000D Airflow, 3000D RGB Airflow, 4000D RGB Airflow, 4000D Airflow QL Edition, 4000X RGB, 5000D RGB Airflow, 5000X RGB, 5000X QL Edition (try with the Airflow panels), 7000X RGB. I know most of these cases are probably not worth it price to performance but still would interesting to see, nonetheless. Side note: the updated 4000 and 5000 cases have fan mounts on the psu shroud.
Steve : I wrote about the Carbide Air 540 in 2013
Me : *_*Looks down at his Carbide Air 540, still rocking 11 years later_** Yes you did Steve, yes you did.
I still can't believe that case has so much space on the front and only two USB ports.
@@CptJistuce Eh, I've personally never had a need for more than two on the front, I prefer to keep most peripherals plugged into the back and out of sight.
@@DannyGraves1775 Principle of the thing. Used to have six USB ports on the case and only two ports' worth of header. Now I've got ... probably ten ports' worth of headers and the case only has two?
(Well, four, since my current case is a decade old.)
Absolutely excited that I'm sticking with my 5000d airflow lol
Thanks for an honest review on the mesh. Most videos just hype these things up and don't talk about the downsides
Looks like the case engineers at Corsair are trying to level up to become car engineers.
One ever bothers to check if there's enough room for the actual parts!
Still using my Corsair 450D. Build is almost 10 years old. Will be used again for AM5 later this year or early next year.
Corsair Carbide 100R , 200R , Spec 01 , Obsidian 450D and Obsidian 750D ware awesome cases
still use my 800d
I got a 100R ! Bought it because it was only new case I could find locally, from a brand that wasn't of questionable quality, with something I still highly desire, that being 2x 5.25" bays and 4x 3.5" bays.
true i had a obsidian 450D in the past with a i7 3770k, Amd r9 290 system in it
I am desperately trying to make my ancient 350D survive a few more years(front panel io got trashed)
@@Lyoishi everyone with a legacy corsair case feels the pain. i just need a fan shroud for my hotswap bay and id have the whole setup again😭
I am so glad I went with a Fractal Torrent instead of the 6500D/X like I was originally intending to.
I miss my old Corsair 250D ITX "GameCube" case.
I love how Steve's graying is turning him onto X-Men's Rogue
My first and only case was the white air 540. I've loved it over the 10 years I've been on PC and honestly I can see myself building my next system in it as well. Really sad to see how far corsair has "sagged" since then.
Same here, when I do a new build it’s only internal products that get changed!
I am so happy with Corsair out of my life! I love my O11D EVO. I did try using 10 Corsair fans before their new connect system and they were awful to look at. Returned them for Lian Li AL120 fans, went from 20 fan cables and two fan controller hubs to 8 fan cables and 1 hub. I also had room to put my HDD cage back in. I also dropped the K95 Platinum for the Logitech 915TKL, best keyboard I've used. I always had a Logitech mouse so the Superlight fits in nicely. The best thing of it all, NO iCUE SOFTWARE! I use Signal RGB and FanControl for lighting and cooling. So much lighter on resources. To be fair, my daughter's case is a Corsair 4000D and she is using my old Corsair AIO and fans and iCUE does seem better now but I'm not going back.
Wow you are getting skinnier, good job
Wow - thank you for this! I have an E-ATX motherboard with an old Molex connector at the bottom and needed to find an E-ATX case that would leave clearance at the bottom for the connector. So I was considering this case, but this would be a terrible mess given how much airflow I'm going to need to manage.
You saved me time, money and trouble.
Thanks for using kilograms.
Got myself a 5000D air last year and cant be happier.
I still use my 540 because of your review. Thanks for saving me 10 years of money!
about to move my system from my carbide 540 after 11 yrs it hosted 3 builds , definetly keeping as a 2nd i loved the case
I'm buying this for my own project Zero build... However my airflow setup will be:
Intake:
- Bottom and front ( both 3x 120mm fans)
Exhaust:
- Top (3x 120mm fans)
- Side (3x 120mm fans on AIO exhausting the hot CPU air OUT of the case while getting fresh from front/bottom)
- Back (1 x 140mm fan)
With this both the CPU and GPU are getting their own fresh supply of air.
I bought a 650D many moons ago, and the largest of their AIO coolers they advertised as fitting into it. Turned out the cooler didn't fit, and when i contacted Corsair about it they did some tests and said "oh, you're right, it doesnt fit", and removed it from the list of AIO coolers that fit.
Fast forward to a few years ago, I bought a Crystal 280x RGB, and that had exactly the same problem as here, where the EATX 12v wiring cut-out needs to marry with a hole you must have to drill through your HDDs. So yeah, they didn't forget how to do things just lately. They've been forgetting how to make things properly for a long time.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE if you plan on using the 6500 case with an mATX Project Zero motherboard: While the bottom cutouts match up fine, those headers go right into the bottom of the power supply. So while you can technically install it you won't be able to use the Front Audio header, USB 2.0 header (1 or 2, I can't remember) and one of the ARGB headers at least. I ended up returning mine for a Z970 Project Zero motherboard and the bottom headers come out below the power supply on ATX boards. I posted details of this issue with a picture on both the Corsair and Gamers Nexus subreddits.
I have a 3000D and I love it, I wanted something understated. I built a computer to game not to put pictures of it on instagram.
I bought the 4000d 3 years ago after one of your review and i'm not regretting it. It's still like brand new.
I used a computer case Gamers Nexus recommend in one of the best chassis videos. I won't say which one but it is fantastic. Thanks for doing the work for us so we don't have to waste money finding out the hard way.
You know you're in trouble when the best thing you can say about the case is the coloring of the washers.
I have yet to have a bad experience with Corsair, i have only jad good ones for years and even to this day.
The iCue software has had no real problems the entire time I've used it.
The products are great and only issues were down to me.
Only problem i habe had that wasnt me, was UPS shattering a back panel of a case I bought, which Corsair sent me a new back panel for free, no s&h fees either.
I'm continuing to buy their products cause I have not had problems. They are my favorite brand and the variety of products I love.
Changing of the guard in the PC world. Lots of new companies coming in and doing things better than the usual suspects. I for one am happy about this. It promotes evolution in design and hopefully more competitive pricing.
I just bought this case 2 weeks ago. To be honest, I really like it!
I obviously cannot argue with the points Steve made but I do feel that some of them do not really have an impact on the overall experience with the case
The final push on why I choose this case, is the side panel on hinges! I absolutely love that concept especially because I will be interchanging decorative aspects regularly.
Something to keep in mind though that Steve did not mention: I bought a Z790-P board which is atx but it leaves the cutouts on the right side very much visible. Any cable running behind it, will be in plain side basically.
Corsair had great cases in the early 2010's. 650D, Air 540, Air 240, 250D, Graphite 760T, Graphite 380T. Great cases, unique, so many cool new features (at the time). Then the case market moved to tempered glass ovens and Corsair (and everyone else) forget they were supposed to be making cases for COMPUTER COMPONENTS and instead focused on the Twitch crowd that just want RGB's and nothing else. Now we have full size ATX cases that don't even come with freakin HDD bays and no 5.25" front panel support. Instead just mostly empty boxes with a bunch of lights that most people will turn off when they get sick of lights shining in the corner of their eyes.
Amazing review, I am currently looking into these double chamber cases, so this review really helps me narrow down the options.It's sad the state Corsair has fallen, I had many products from them in the past and most of them were great.
I think I'd still go for the air 540 despite it being an older case…or just an o-11 since it's basically what Corsair tried to do with this case.
I'm so glad I just bought the Torrent. Yes, the cable management is tight. The performance makes up for it. I never have to worry about overheating.
You and Techsource should do a collab would love to see both of you discuss gaming PCs both of you are well educated in this discipline.
I have a 680x with custom front, side, and top panels that have holes to allow for airflow and I’d be willing to put money on it being one of the best cases on the market. My 4090 never touches 60c under heavy loads with the fans at 50%. Absolutely incredible, it performs better than if I had it in the open air due to every fan slot having a 140mm ML fan mounted in them.
I haven't seen a computer case in years that I want to buy anymore.
I really like the new graphic showing how the hardware is sourced (either from the manufacturer, a viewer or bought without the manufacturer's knowledge) it allows us to know if they could have just handed you a golden sample or not :)
Man. I used to love Corsair cases. I think the Air 540 was one of the last I owned, and it was awesome.
One thing I hate right now, is how case manufacturers just follow trends. They copy a design by a competitor that is selling well. Originality in design feels rare today. It feels like the automobile market; I often can't tell one make/model from another.
Wow, thank you so much for this video Steve. I have been using my Corsair Carbide Air 540 for over 10 years now. When Corsair announced this case, I was going to upgrade to it without even waiting for the reviews after having skipped the Air 740 and the 680X, but now thanks to your review showing just how poorly built this case is, you saved me $200 and single-handedly ensured I will never be wasting my money on it. Guess I am just stuck on my 540 for the foreseeable future due to its 5.25" drive bay and dual HDD slots in a chamber style case.
I wish I still had my C70, that case was awesome!
11:53 never seen bread with a twist tie that cheap
Good to see case reviews happening again. Please keep them coming!
I bought my brother the 5000d airflow and when we were finish building it i has to stop myself from driving back to best buy with my credit card ... its a beautiful case
Oh man, my wife has a green Vengeance case and loved it dearly. We're still using an Air 540 for one of our machines in the house, too. Absolutely fantastic cases.
Sad to see Corsair going down this route now.
I though the yellow USB A ports indicate they support high-current so they are just following usb standards.