Corsair enters the case market - UPDATE

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• surt - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link

  That better be a seriously insulating panel above it, otherwise all your heat from your power supply is flowing up into your components. I don't know why they wouldn't have inverted that design decision.

• murray13 - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link

  Well either you really don't know that much about cases and power supplies, or you had a big brain fart.
  
  The power supply at the bottom is the best place for it. Power supplies exahust their heat out the back. All of the lowest internal temperature cases put the power supply right where Corsair has.
  
  Looks pretty good. Does the case have room for a triple radiator with fans at the top? Looks like it just might. I agree with 4 hot swap HD's isn't enough. There is a lot of wasted space up front. Doesn't look like there is any type of filter on all that intake space on the bottom of the case, big minus. And lastly, I don't NEED a window. I hope there will be a version without one.

• lucyfek - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link

  from my experience (antec p180 - if I'm correct) the only advantage of PSU being at the bottom of the case is lowered center of the mass (and who cares). All else is just a pain
  wiring - since most cases does not invert motherboard
  extra noise - in standard design heat that's rising from components is expelled through PSU (that usually have a fan), bottom PSU forces you to use additional fan on the top of case
  price - as usual higher - for the novelty factor
  
  I agree with you on the window - useless

• v12v12 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link

  Lmfao You don't know what you're talking about guy.
  
  1) The temp at the bottom of the case is negligible and won't affect the PSU efficiency rating worth mention.
  
  2) The placement requires much longer cables, the typical PSU will need to be flipped over = Mobo-24pin + general cable placement nightmare.
  
  3) The amount of dust and hair etc. on the bottom will quickly compound and remove that so-called temp advantage.
  
  4) Makes for mounting liquid cooling units a PITA and a huge danger as the liquid could leak to the HEART of the computer's most important part eh?
  
  Has ANY case designer learned from Intel's FAILED and disastrous attempt to make BTX the new standard? LOL... Damn these manufacturers are dumb; they continually follow the sheep/fanboy designs and fail like the rest.
  
  ATX designs are FINE, the problem lies with case manufacturers and this KEY phrasing, which most largely choose to ignore: MANAGED AIR FLOW?! Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. Apple does it, and it's nothing new, nor ingenious. When you have an open case with wires and crap EVERYWHERE and tons of little air-flow obstructions = vortexes and tons of dead-air spaces which lend to even more temp rises and hot spots.
  
  Now what would happen if we ISOLATED heat producing components and cleared obstructions from the path of air-flow? Air-speed increases, which results in more turbulence at the heat source. Turbulent air removes (cools) heat faster than pure laminar flow. Wires and other crap create early turbulence thus slowing the flow of cool air, and thus by the time it gets to the heat source = it's already slower, and picked up more heat energy and thus is less efficient.
  
  Anyone can make their own managed-air-flow from even cardboard and tape. It will greatly reduce your internal component temps since only the heat source(s) will be disturbing the airflow and thus giving up heat more rapidly, than some over-sized box, full of huge fans creating all kinds of turbulence and lower efficiency.
  Just try it... make yourself a duct of cardboard that isolates the CPU HSF and watch your temps drop dramatically.
  
  Think of it like a huge wide open road way Vs a highway (European). Which is going to be faster from A to B? No “lanes” or direction for people to follow so anything can happen. Or a set of lanes to isolate drivers from one another so they can continue directly to point-B.
  
  BTX is trash.
  

• MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, March 5, 2009 - link

  High end cases all disagree with you. Antec p182, 900, 1200, coolermaster cosmos, stacker, HAF, lots of lian-lis, silverstones, hp blackbird, etc.

• v12v12 - Saturday, March 7, 2009 - link

  Yeah? Well SCIENCE agrees with me... Look up the initial claimed benefits of the BTX design (~2004) right here on Anandtech. You'll note the posters experiences and most industry users exp is that BTX works for small form factors "better" than ATX and that's it. But as many know those designs are already/partially instilling managed-air-flow.
  
  A big open box with some re-positioned components, only 3-6 inches apart is still a big open box = highly inefficient either way. ATX is fine, and would be more so with proper air-flow-management.

• v12v12 - Friday, March 6, 2009 - link

  Yeah? Well SCIENCE agrees with me... Look up the initial claimed benefits of the BTX design (~2004) right here on Anandtech. You'll note the posters experiences and most industry users exp is that BTX works for small form factors "better" than ATX and that's it. But as many know those designs are already/partially instilling managed-air-flow.
  
  A big open box with some re-positioned components, only 3-6 inches apart is still a big open box = highly inefficient either way. ATX is fine, and would be more so with proper air-flow-management.

• murray13 - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link

  Oh, almost forgot, the three blow holes at the top do NOT look like they are 120mm. That would be a very big no, no!!!

• MadMan007 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link

  I think they are and the case is just extra wide. See the fan next to the I/O plate? I'm guessing that's a 120.

• yyrkoon - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link

  Looks nice enough to be a re badged Lian Li case. Hard to tell if the innards are good enough to make it a great case though . . .