Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower ATX case

So I've decided to start the posts about my friend's Oh Baby! computer by talking about a couple of the parts that are used in the build. Firstly I will be talking about the Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower ATX case. The rig cost 65 dollars (not including tax or shipping and on sale from 90 dollars at Newegg.ca) not including a 15 dollar mail-in rebate. I don't like to rely on mail-in rebates as the deciding factor of price of the rig because sometimes the mail-in rebate does not get fulfilled. For a 65 dollar rig that is normally 90 dollars, I expected a bit more from Corsair on this one. There's a few things missing that should have been included with the rig especially considering it's price range. That being said, it does still have some very nice features to which I will be going over in this overview of the Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower ATX case. For the rest of this overview I will be referring to this rig as the 300R rig.

First off, the box. It comes in a plain brown and black box with artwork of the 300R rig both assembled and also showing off all the separate features of the rig on the other side of the box. On the side are the dimensions of the 300R rig, as well as materials used, color (it only comes in black), model number, amount of drive bays available on the rig, included cooling fans, amount of expansion slots on the rear of the rig, motherboard support sizes, front I/O ports available, and the type of power supply to be used (which like most cases is ATX). One thing I would have liked to see on the side is the maximum amount of fan mountings available (if you are looking at rigs in a store) just simply to be a bit more thorough. 

The Corsair Carbide 300R box

The side of the 300R box

The back of the 300R box

Inside the box, we find the 300R rig encased in an expanded polystyrene shell. It is good quality polystyrene so if you order online the rig itself should not be damaged during shipping. I personally prefer open cell foam packaging instead of expanded polystyrene simply because it absorbs shock a bit better without breaking, but expanded polystyrene has worked for years so why not continue to use it?

Inside the Corsair 300R box

Upon removal of the box, expanded polystyrene and plastic bag surrounding the 300R rig, taped to it is a bag containing the "manual" and a red card saying along the lines of don't return it to the store if defective but instead contact Corsair to get it RMA'd. A fair amount of hardware from computer manufacturers have this same notice, but within 30 days I would consider returning it to the store for RMA prior to sending it to the manufacturer. The "manual" (if you even want to call it that) on the inside has the same artwork as on one of the sides of the box (outlining the 300R rig's features). On the back of the manual it indicates the amounts of screws and other included accessories of the rig. All of the included screws and tie downs are black in color. This is the first gripe I have with the 300R rig is the screws that it comes with. Firstly, it only comes with ten motherboard/rig/hard drive screws. Nine of those ten screws are going to be used to secure the motherboard (if using a standard ATX board) leaving you with one screw left. What are you supposed to do with one screw? Would have loved to see more along the lines of having enough screws to secure an ATX motherboard, enough to secure two hard drives (if not using the "plug and play" style of grommets on the trays) as well as enough to secure a power supply simply because black screws on the outside of the rig makes it look a lot more aesthetically pleasing to the eye if everything else is black as well. Possibly even a few extras just in case you happen to lose a few of them somehow. The 300R rig comes with sixteen SSD or 2.5" hard drive screws to mount the drives to the bottom of the removable trays (which I will go over after discussing the outside of the rig). This is fine and good as they're black screws to go with the aesthetic of the inside of the rig but sixteen? If you were going to include enough screws for all of the 2.5"/3.5" drive bays to be filled with SSD/2.5" drives, why not include more motherboard/rig screws? Lastly, the rig comes with sixteen standard fan screws, as well as four long skinny fan screws. I'm not entirely sure what the long screws are for as all of the fan slot areas use standard fan screws that I can see. Maybe it is for the front, but I never took off the front of the rig to inspect it as I never got around to doing so. Once again, with enough screws to install fans in to pretty much all of the fan slots on the computer, why Corsair did you only include ten motherboard/rig screws (especially at it's price point)? My CM690 II rig which goes for approximately the same price as the 300R rig (at regular price of 90 dollars) it came with screws enough to fill pretty much almost two rigs. Very disappointed in this. One last thing that the 300R rig comes with that is not indicated on the back of the manual is it comes with a motherboard standoff that you can screw into. They started including this because by default the rig is configured so that there's simply an alignment pin style standoff in the middle of the inside of the rig to allow for easier alignment of all of the holes on the rig to match up with the motherboard installation holes but some people prefer the extra security of having all of the screw holes secured to the motherboard, especially considering where the pin is located is an almost crucial screw hole that helps keep the motherboard rigid around where the heat-sink is installed.

The Corsair Carbide 300R rig

The paperwork included with the 300R

Inside the 300R manual

Back of the 300R manual

The included screwable motherboard standoff

Now on to the slightly more important things. First, the outside of the rig. It looks quite aesthetically pleasing to the eye being all matte finished. The front of the rig has a large vent area (which has a dust filter) to which two 140mm fans can be installed for intake fans (one comes pre-installed). Near the top it has the power button (which lights up white when the system is on), the HDD activity LED, the reset button, microphone and headphone jacks, and two USB 3.0 connectors. The power button and reset button are quite clicky and (in my opinion) a bit cheap feeling. They are fairly stiff and make quite a loud click noise. By comparison, they are very similar to a power button on a notebook in terms of feel when pressed. Short travel distance with a loud click rather than a softer less resistant and longer travel distance button with a slightly less audible click (like on most standard ATX rigs). I'm not sure why Corsair went with this style of button, but at least it's not used often enough that I would be bugged by it's feel.

The front panel of the 300R rig

A closer look at the front I/O panel

On the top of the rig comes holes for two 120mm or 140mm fans to be installed. This is where we run into another issue with this rig. Because the 140mm holes are centered on the hole area, the front 140mm fan (one closest to the front of the rig) can actually block the top 5.25" bay from having a DVD drive installed (more on that in the upcoming building post). You might be able to put like a 5.25" card reader into the top slot (because a number of them are shorter than a DVDRW drive) though. The holes for the fans have little rubber washers to help reduce some vibration when the fans are mounted. I would suggest using the top fan area as an exhaust area.

The top of the 300R rig

On the side panel, it comes equipped with holes for (once again) two 120 or 140mm fans to be installed. I would have liked to see those same rubber washers included on the side panel as well, but Corsair didn't include any. In the future, it would be nice if Corsair included extra washers in with all the screws simply because any vibration prevention that is included in the rig makes it a better choice (especially considering all the fan mount areas are against metal which does not help with vibration nearly as much as plastic does).  The other side of the rig is just a plain side panel with no holes of any kind, so it will not be discussed in this overview.

The side of the 300R rig

On the rear of the rig, we see the included 120mm fan that is pre-installed as well as the area for the I/O shield to be installed, three possible areas to install liquid cooling tubing (the metal covers below the 120mm fan), the seven expansion slots, an extra exhaust area, and lastly the bottom mounted power supply area. The area for the liquid cooling tubing is another gripe I have with this rig. For it's price point it should have has rubber grommets installed already for liquid cooling because over 90% of the rigs in this price range include holes for liquid cooling and have rubber grommets already pre-installed. Even though we aren't using liquid cooling in the Oh Baby! rig, it's still something that this rig should have had included.

The rear of the 300R rig

Now on to the inside of the rig. The overall finish of the inside of the rig is to be expected from it's price point, a fairly nice black satin/matte finish all around the inside of the rig. The first thing I noticed when I opened the side panel was the massive cut out for the CPU backplate. I don't think anyone will ever have a problem with not having a large enough cut out for any current market motherboard backplates for any current motherboard sockets. The rear of the motherboard tray has a fair amount of cable routing space, but not enough to be able to easily close the side panel when a lot of power supply cables are installed. I would have liked to see more space on the inside of the rig for cable routing (possibly by using the rail style design of side panels rather than flat style or more space between the side panel and the area for the cable routing to allow for easier closing of that panel. The system comes with the standard affair of four cable routing hole areas. There also happens to be a fairly large hole just below the 5.25" bays. 

The inside of the 300R rig (with the right side panel installed)

The large CPU backplate cutout (also notice the standoff with the pin)

The inside of the 300R rig (with the right side panel removed)

The back of the motherboard tray area

The bottom of the rig has a dust filter for the power supply (which is easily removed for cleaning) if you plan to configure your power supply fan to intake through the bottom of the rig (which is recommended). Also on the bottom of the case there are four rubber feet to help with vibration dampening and keeping the rig in place. I can honestly say that the rubber pretty much sticks in place because any time I had to move the rig I had to actually lift it up off the ground because if I tried to slide it on the floor it would skid instead of glide (which is a good thing).

The bottom of the 300R rig with removable dust filter installed

The removable dust filter partially removed

Once again, we see the 120mm rear exhaust fan that is included as well as the 140mm intake fan included on the front. What I find interesting is how the 140mm front intake fan is by default configured to just intake air into the system and not blow air directly on to the hard drives. I may consider changing the position of this fan, but for now I have left it as it is.

The front 140mm intake fan included with the 300R

All of the drive bays have tool-less design in one way or another. The three 5.25" bays have a locking mechanism that I haven't really seen on a rig before, but seems to work rather well. I was a bit confused at first when I actually went to install the DVD drive as to how it locks, but now I understand it perfectly. When a drive is installed into the bay, the lock pops out and in order to unlock the drive you push on the lock and slide the drive out simultaneously. This is why the "push" is written on the buttons. Also, behind the tool-less lock, is two screw holes which you can use to help secure the drive if you are worried that the lock may come undone during transport. On the other side of the 5.25" bays, to keep with the tool-less idea, there is a fin that sticks out with a dimple to which when you slide the drive in the dimple locks into the rearward screw hole on that side to help keep the drive in place. Also, note that the drive bay covers have no metal inner cover (which comes on a lot of rigs) attached to the frame of the rig. This allows for a bit quicker of installation of a drive into a bay because all you need to do is push the two somewhat flexible tabs inward and push the bay cover out the front of the rig.

The tool-less 5.25" locking devices (top ones in locked position and bottom in unlocked position

The inside of the 5.25" bays

The four 3.5"/2.5" bays have a rack style design where you simply squeeze the two tabs together inward and the slide the corresponding tray out. I personally don't like this style of design as the drive and tray are not really secure in it's bay and can wobble a fair amount. It would be nice to see a tighter tolerance on the rails for the trays so that there's less wobble to allow any installed mechanical drives to last longer. The plastic used for the trays is of standard quality and has a bit of flex to it to allow for ease of installation for the 3.5" drives. The drives come pre-installed with four rubber grommets with metal pins to allow insertion of a 3.5" drive. I would have liked to see the same indentation and ability to move the rubber grommets that are nearest the tabs to the middle of the tray for any 2.5" to 3.5" tray conversions to be able to install without any screws (as the 2.5" to 3.5" trays are shorter than a 3.5" drive).

The 3.5" drive tray partially removed

The internal connectors of the case are of a standard affair. The case has jumper style connectors for the HD audio, the hard drive and power LED's, as well as jumpers for the reset and power switches. Also, the USB 3.0 connector is designed to be installed on to most modern motherboards (ones that include a front panel USB 3.0 connection). One thing I would like to see from more manufacturers is a USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 header converter so that if people purchase a case with a USB 3.0 on the front but don't have an internal header for it on their motherboard they can connect it up to 2.0 so that they can use front headers still. The only company thus far that I've seen do this is Antec but I would like to see more manufacturers follow this same idea.

The headers for the front I/O panel

The rear of the case where the expansion slots are located are secured by thumb screws. Each expansion slot cover is removable and reusable. The thumb screws that are pre-installed are a bit stiff and seem like the holes they screw into were tapped for slightly smaller threads. This is a bit of a ding on the rig as it claims tool-less but you pretty much need a screwdriver to screw the thumb screws in and out simply because they are so stiff.

The expansion slot area and pre-installed thumb screws

Finally, for the motherboard installation area, the standoff and the screw holes were a bit confusing at first glance. I was curious at first why Corsair did not include standoffs for all of the holes on the motherboard tray area, but the I took a bit of a closer look to realize that the holes all around the middle standoff were actually indented out further. While this was a good idea, the indents aren't actually of the exact same height as the standoff in the middle of the tray, so when installing the motherboard it warps a bit simply because the holes of the standoff and the tray are not square with one another. That being said, it does cut down on necessary screws to be installed into the rig so less time having to install things.

The motherboard tray standoffs
(notice the difference in height between the outside standoffs and the middle screwed in standoff)

While this case was only 65 dollars (plus tax and shipping) when I purchased it, I don't think I could really recommend it again in it's standard price point of 90 dollars. The lack of extra case screws, no included rubber grommets for liquid cooling, only two fans included, lack of cable routing space (if using a lot of power supply cables) and stiff expansion slot thumb screws are huge hits to the Corsair Carbide 300R rig's design. It does have some included nice features that some other cases don't include (such as the easily removed dust filter for the power supply and extremely large CPU backplate cutout vs more standard sized cutout) but I find that for the price point, the flaws are a bit too large of a problem for the standard price of 90 dollars. For 65 dollars it's up against the Antec One Illusion rig which has amazing cable routing space (due to their side panel design), large CPU backplate cutout, rubber grommets for the liquid cooling, all of it's fan slots filled (120mm fans on top, rear, side and front of the case) and USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 front header converter for a price point of 60 dollars (not including tax or shipping) at it's regular price. If Corsair were to fix most these flaws I would say it would be a fair bit more competitive in it's standard price point of 90 dollars as well as in the 60-70 dollar range as well (if they start selling at a standard price of 65 dollars).

The next post will be covering an overview on the MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA1155 motherboard.