No deviation from the previous packaging. No flashy box art, only the most necesarry is printed on the box. Listing the main specifications on one side, an exploded 3D view on the other. New however are the carrying grip cutouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aesthetic wise this case looks similar to the other Carbide cases. Impressive for cooling fanatics are the two 120/140mm cutouts on the top and also room for two similar fans on the sidepanel.

 

 

 

This time no fan controller, nor LED function. Everything has been reduced to a bare minimum to keep the price low. Two USB3.0 connectors up front and the in and out audio jacks.

 

 

A big cutout behing the CPU socket is there to facilitate CPU cooler assembly. Four large oval cutouts in the motherboard tray help cable routing big time. Talking about hiding cables, there's plenty of room behind the motherboard tray.

 

 

 

There's only room for four HDD's. Less storage in this 300R then it's two bigger brothers. The 400 and 500R can house up to six HDD's. Due to the lacking top HDD cage, the maximum graphics card length supported is a massive 450mm. On the rear we spot ventilated back plates. Sadly no rubber damped support for the power supply.

 

 

 

The front pops off with a gentle pull. You can see the single 140mm fan and optional room for a 2nd one. The fan is top mounted to provide direct flow onto the graphics card. A dust filter is integrated in the front mesh.

 

 

 

 

A close up on the front 140mm fan, responsible for direct air flow on your GPU and motherboard. A humongous cutout in the motherboard tray and four smaller oval ones for easy cable routing. Only one HDD cage in the 300R, supporting up to 4 HDDs or SSD's. The little brown cardboard box includes all the required screws, zip ties and and co.

 

 

 

The 300R case rests on 4 rubber feet. The well designed slideable bottom dust filter for the power supply, can be easily removed.

 

 

 

 

 

Talking about dust filters, the front panel has got three. A big one in the front for the 140mm fan, but also two smaller ones for the side vents.

 

 

 

 

The Corsair Carbide 300R was filled with the following components :

• Asus Sabretooth X79 mainboard
• Intel 3960X OC'ed at 4.5Ghz 1.37Vcore
• Corsair Hydro80 cooling
• 16Gb G.Skill RipjawsZ 2133C9 rams
• GTX480 Fermi graphic card
• 1 x Intel 520 240GB SSD
• 2 x Western Digital 1TB Caviar Green Hard Drives
• Corsair TX850 Power Supply.

 

We still opt  to use the X79 Sabretooth board for it's Thermal Radar software and readout points. Making our life way easier !

 

 

 

 

Due to the numerous cutouts and more than plenty of room behind the motherboard tray another clean build is a no brainer. Easily spottable is the room for graphics cards and the direct airflow from the 140mm fan.

 

 

 

Our Corsair Hydro 80 had to be used for cooling down the OC'ed 3960X. Screwless design is available for the three 5,25 inch drives. Cable routing is pure childs' play. However no rubber grommets for the cutouts, every penny had to be saved it seems.

 

 

 

So weird to not have compatibility with their own Corsair Hydro 100 cooler. There's just not enough clearance to fit that dual fan radiator in the top.  Official reply from Corsair is the following : who's gonna fit a 100 euro cooling into a 65 euro case ? Well that sole individual on the planet has to be me :P. One centimeter and a half was all that was needed for a tight fit. But at least it was doable, now the H100 fans just touch the motherboards heatsinks.

 

 

 

Looking at the temperature results we can't look around the graphics card results. GPU idle as load results are a few degrees lower than most of our cases reviewed. This case is targeted at gamers and this seems to be a major focus point. As it keeps one of the most vital parts, the GPU pretty well cooled.

 

 

The processor temperatures are on par with the cases that we have tested with the Hydro 80 cooler. With a H100 we would have easily nibbled of another 10-15°C of them temps making this 300R a cooling monster.

Corsair has added another nicely crafted case to it's popular Carbide series. Even if it's the cheapest case Corsair has ever launched, in the already pretty saturated mainstream case market, this 300R maintains a high standard of build quality. In fact it's up to the two other Carbide cases we have already tested. Comparing this Carbide 300R with the last Midi tower case we reviewed, the Xilence Black Hornet, this case is at a total different level. More targeted at gamers that want to have maximum cooling, but still want to keep everything well balanced regarding value for the money. This little 300R case fit's that bill perfectly.

 

 

The graphics card temperatures of our Fermi based GTX480 is among the best we have seen till now in a Midi Tower case. Come on Corsair, include one extra 140mm fan in the top. That would have been the icing on the cake. Admittingly that hot air hardly get's trapped in this case, as the entire top is meshed. The extra options to mount up to five more fans will keep even the hottest hardware in mint operating conditions. Some might find the storage capacity of four HDD's or SSD's a bit on the low side. Though I usually run one SSD and one or two storage drives in my daily setups. So to me there's no real point to argue that this Carbide 300R is a well balanced case, that has got slick looks. Sporting a good build quality, good airflow and best of all is that it retails around 65 euros. Which is an acceptable price level for most gamers. Too bad the Hydro 100 is a no go with this Carbide case.

 

This Carbide 300R is a big entry for Corsair in the mainstream market. And they have proven with this model that no cutback have to be made at looks, build quality nor GPU compatibility. If you are out for a case, don't overlook this 300R. It's a steal for that price ! For it's cooling performance Madshrimps are awarding it with the performance award. And looking at all of the above listed, the value award is more than deserved.

 

 

 

PROS :

• Affordable price
• Good cooling performance
• Smart design
• Cable management 

CONS :

• No Hydro100 compatibility

 

I wish to thank Gareth form Corsair for sending us the Carbide 300R. As always a pleasure to work with !