While this Carbide 400R is far from an ugly duckling (gosh I've seen a dozen of pooh pooh Transformer like cases, no idea who wants to buy them ) it isn't an eyecatcher either.  The case has a rather traditional look with no frills. But it's quite comon knowledge that looks can be deceiving. Them little details is what it's all about. Optional fans can be installed, all foreseen to being damped by rubber grommets. It's ready to fit Corsairs new Hydro100 dual rad cooling solution.  The Thumbscrews that stay fixed in the sidepanels. And so on. In fact everything on this case is quite cleverly executed. To give you another example : the top grip, to carry the case, is another of them things that you don't spot at first glance.

Cooling wise this case doesn't dissapoint at all. Sporting 2 x 120mm front fans and one 120mm rear fan. Corsair leaves you the option to switch on the white LEDs of the dual front fans for aesthetic purposes. The rear 120mm fan is more than willing to suck out hot air, yet all remain at a low noise level. Cooling upgradability is excellent. Two top and 2 sidepanel positions are awaiting your favourite 120-140mm fans for extra airflow.  On the bottom one more ( depending on your PSU lenght ) and even the HD bay can be upgraded with two more fans. That's a total of 10 fans, quite impressive for a mid tower sized case. The top gril can also easily house a 240mm radiator or Corsairs latest Hydro 100 cooler. Though your radiator only has to be about 25mm thick, otherwise you might have clearance problems.

The protrusions on the left sidepanel allow for fitting the fans (without reducing the allowed height of your CPU cooler) On the right, the protrusion makes it childsplay to tuck away the abundance of power supply cables.

Another nice feature is the USB3.0 cable that can be connected straight to the motherboard. a feature we already saw with the Coolermaster Storm case. Though Corsair includes an adapator to still hook it up to the old fashioned USB2.0 motherboard connectors. Very clever again.

Cable managament is a breeze due to the intelligent big cutouts around the motherboard tray and due to the protrusion on the sidepanel . This case could be certified from 7 to 77 years. It's so easy and straightforward to work with.

Even though 95 euros can seem a lot for a mid tower sized case, you for sure get what you payed for. A top quality build, no rough edges, impeccable coat finish, clever design and it's them little extras that top it off. I must say Corsair has impressed me with this build. The attention to detail is top notch and the case is very easy to work in. Last but not least it cools great too. A well deserved high end award !

PROS :

• nicely crafted design
• superior air cooling and fan upgradability
• Little extra details top it off

CONS :

• no windowed/white version (yet)

I wish to thank :

Gareth Ogden from Corsair for the 400R review sample and the Dominator 1600C8 kit

Milan and Rogier from Asus for the motherboard and GPU support

The Tones crew for the support !