Corsair Carbide Air 240 Case Review

Conclusion

Aesthetically, the Carbide Air 240 is certainly eye-catching and very well designed. We cannot really claim that it is a unique case, both because many cubic cases are available and because it is based on the same external design as the Carbide Air 540, a case released over a year ago. However, this does not reduce the aesthetic value of the Carbide Air 240. Based on a minimalistic design of simple geometric shapes and grids, the Carbide Air 240 is a case that attracts attention without being extravagant. It is an understated, yet elegant design that ought to look great on any desk.

Due to its unorthodox shape, there are some limitations as well. For example, despite the width of the case, it is not possible to install very tall CPU coolers, leaving the end user to either settle for a smaller cooler or go for a liquid cooling solution instead. The large width is also going to be a problem for spaces and offices designed to hold standard tower cases, as the cubic Carbide Air 240 will obviously not fit.

One major weakness of the Carbide Air 240 is that there are no external drive slots, for 3.5" or 5.25" devices. Some advanced users have ditched optical media (never mind floppy disks and the like) a long time ago, but others still like to install a DVD-RW or Blu-ray drive. This severely limits the potential of the Carbide Air 240 to be used as a media center. However, that was never the intended purpose of this case, as it has obviously been designed to house little monster gaming PCs, not to function as an HTPC.

When it comes to performance, the Carbide Air 240 delivers as promised. It should easily be able to cover the thermal needs of even the most powerful gaming system that can fit inside it, even with the stock cooling setup if no overclocking takes place. For low-noise setups and overclocking, the installation of at least a good CPU cooler is highly recommended. If a Mini-ITX motherboard is installed, the installation of two liquid coolers, one for the CPU and one for the GPU respectively, can help to create a very powerful system with low operating noise. Unfortunately, due to space limitations, the installation of two GPUs and two liquid coolers does not seem possible, so it would be rather difficult to create a silent dual-GPU gaming system.

As far as quality goes, the Corsair Carbide Air 240 is a very well made product for its class. The plastics are solid and the mechanical cohesion of the chassis is very good as well. Our only complaint would concern the use of metallic meshes as dust filters. Although these metallic meshes are durable and convenient, they will not help with smaller dust particles at all. Furthermore, the panels need to come off in order to clean them, which is not very convenient. The mesh on the right side panel is an exception, as it is denser and can be cleaned very easily.

Recommending the Carbide Air 240 is easy enough, though as usual that depends on individual preferences. Aside from the fact that aesthetics are an entirely subjective matter, which is typically a major factor when it comes to choosing a case, the unorthodox design of the Carbide Air 240 is simply not meant for the majority of the users. Simply put, it is not a product meant for the average Joe to stick beneath an office desk and forget about it. Instead, this is a case meant to show off your powerful and yet compact gaming system, with an eye-catching cubic design. If that's what you're looking for, the Carbide Air 240 is definitely worthy of consideration. Pricing is reasonable as well, with both the white and the black models listed at Amazon and priced at $90 – $40 less than the larger Carbide Air 540.